We liked last week’s Chicken Monday (actually Wednesday) so much we made it again!
Sous vide chicken breast, mashed potatoes and packet gravy, broccoli
The two of us shared one chicken breast, one mashed russet potato, and one broccoli top. I thought one large potato wouldn’t be enough but it made quite a lot of mashed potatoes.
While looking through some recipes for Rosh Hashanah on the internet I came across an article talking about a Seder for the new year celebration. Much like a Passover Seder it had lots of ritual ingredients but also a fun twist. The original Hebrew or Aramaic had lots of puns when talking about the different foods. So we decided to give it a try saying the blessings but also incorporating puns in our meal.
Our Rosh Hashanah Seder plate
Clockwise starting from the carrots at 12 o’clock are carrots, black-eyed peas, golden beets, dates, apples, butternut squash, pomegranate seeds, and leeks. In the center standing in for a ram’s head are two heads of roasted garlic. So with the exception of our daughter wrapping the dates in bacon, it was totally vegetarian.
Most of the blessings have to do with vanquishing our enemies and gaining merit. You can also imagine how we worked in puns using dates, squash, leeks, etc. I made the bread and we toasted each other with wishes for a happy and healthy new year.
Autumn soup and black-eyed peas and leeks with pomegranate seeds
Our main course was a soup made of puréed root vegetables and vegetable stock and a ramikan of black-eyed peas, leeks, and pomegranate seeds.
I ordered a wedge salad for dinner. I was feeling pretty good about myself for ordering a salad for dinner. It turns out that it was a hunk of iceberg lettuce smothered in a dressing that was supposed to be blue cheese but mostly tasted like eggs with hunks of bacon in it. I did not eat much.
Giant smothered wedge salad
Tonight’s dinner was kind of a replay of one of last week’s lunches. We bought some fresh pita, roasted some beets, added a bunch of mint to add to the tabbouleh, and finished up the hummus. We are leaving for home on Saturday and need to use up our bits and pieces. Tomorrow night we will eat out so we won’t be cooking again until Sunday.
Hummus with pita, tabbouleh and roasted golden beets
At our house we celebrate some Christian, some Jewish, and some National holidays. We are a celebrating kind of family. Last night John and I had a small celebration of the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashanah. It is nice to have two New Years every year. It is a second chance to head yourself in the right direction again and to reflect on the past months.
Rosh Hashanah dinner of sous vide chicken breast, chicken gravy, mashed potatoes, and broccoli
John is loving his sous vide. Even though this chicken breast had not thawed (because we forgot to put it in the refrigerator yesterday) it still came out perfectly. It just takes the water a little longer to come up to temperature. We leave it in for at least an hour and a half after that. The gravy comes from a McCormack packet and is only 25 calories for 1/4 cup. The mashed potatoes I made with a little butter and olive oil plus milk. The broccoli is just briefly steamed.
We were supposed to have apples and honey for dessert which is traditional. Since we never eat dessert we totally forgot.
One of the pitfalls of dieters everywhere is denial. I cannot eat this and I must not eat that. What happens inevitably is that when you finally give in and eat your treasured food, you eat way too much of it. Or another scenario plays out that while you are busily trying to find and eat alternatives, you end up eating the alternatives and then the desired food anyway. Eat what you like but do it in moderation!
This dinner features a favorite, spaghetti with meat sauce. I slowed things down by eating a first course of salad.
Salad of dark greens and cabbages
We always weigh out our pasta before cooking it so we do not over-indulge. Since I was slowed down by the salad, I even remembered to take a picture this time!
Spaghetti and tomato, basil, and ground beef sauce
Today I ate steak,
Yesterday all vegetables.
I feel conflicted.
Steak with baked and grilled potato and tabbouleh
Here is something you can do to help yourself and the world. Try a totally vegan day! It is not as difficult as you are probably imagining.
I started my day with an English muffin and peanut butter. Easy, but check the ingredients lists!
For lunch we had hummus with pita and tabbouleh. I know you can buy tabbouleh at the supermarket deli but try making it at home. It is so much better. The ingredients are parsley, mint, green onions, garlic, and tomatoes which you can whiz in your food processor or chop by hand. Add soaked and drained bulgur. (You can soak it while you are preparing the rest of the ingredients.)Dress with lemon juice and olive oil. Season with salt and pepper.
Hummus, pita, and tabbouleh
Moving along to dinner I made ribollita which is an Italian vegetable soup thickened with bread. I had some leftover baguette from the fancy hors d’oeuvres the other night and it was hard as a rock. Perfect for ribollita! Basically you cook all the vegetables you have in your refrigerator.
All the vegetables in my refrigerator (except broccoli and Brussels sprouts) cooking away
I added a can of diced tomatoes and you can use vegetable stock or water for the liquid. After the vegetables are cooked, add a drained can of cannellini beans and warm them through. Take a stick blender or mash by hand a little of the soup to thicken it up. Lastly add the chunked up stale bread and let it cook for another 10 minutes. Garnish with basil and green onions.
Ribollita
So that is my total vegan day. It tasted really good and I feel good about myself.
Fish tacos and black beans
John cooked up some Pacific cod and I made the black beans and condiments for tonight’s Southwest inspired dinner. I had a can of Rotel and added that to the black beans along with some onions, cumin, and cilantro. The condiments with the fish are fresh salsa, shredded cabbage, cilantro, and green onions. The crema is a combination of plain yogurt, salt, and cumin.
Since we are in Utah, state of bad restaurant dining, we decided to prepare a favorite meal at home. We would start with fancy hors d’oeuvres and then have a scallop dinner. In preparation we skipped lunch so less guilt would be involved.
I made two types of crostini – 1. Tomato, onion, and basil 2. Chicken liver pate with Thai pickled vegetables. My dinner contribution would be small so I tried hard on the hors d’oeuvres.
On the left are chicken liver pate and Thai pickled vegetables crostini and on the right tomato, onion, and basil
I made the pate myself from actual chicken livers. I am not impressed with the quality of the livers from Harmon’s and if I made these again I would buy my chicken livers somewhere else. I also pickled the carrots, onions, and cabbage. The tomato crostini were much easier.
John fried the scallops after coating them with seasoned panko breadcrumbs and fried them outside in our electric wok. I know fried food is taboo but we don’t do this often and scallops are a very low calorie protein. I steamed new potatoes and broccoli and mixed up some Fish Market tartar sauce.
Fried scallops with steamed new potatoes and broccoli
It was a delicious birthday celebration. What, no birthday cake you ask? Nope, we are not sweet eaters. I would rather spend my time making hors d’oeuvres rather than dessert.
Omnivore 