Vegetarian balance meal – 7/13/17

Posted on July 16, 2017 by Beebamom

Last night I had a burger and I am not apologizing but I do need to balance out that meal calorie-wise and ecologically. So tonight we made a vegan chickpea, ditalini, and vegetable stew. I make this frequently but I usually switch up the vegetables so it doesn’t get boring.

Chickpea, ditalini, and vegetable stew

Today’s vegetables are onions, green onions, bell pepper, mushrooms, carrots, celery, tomatoes, zucchini, and kale. What a lot of goodness! I also have plenty of leftovers for lunch or maybe another dinner.

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Celebrating the Twelfth of July – 7/12/17

Posted on July 13, 2017 by Beebamom

On the Fourth of July we were in the Shetland Islands which is part of the United Kingdom. Needless to say they do not make a big deal over our War of Independence! Not wanting to ever miss a holiday, we settled on tonight for our typical patriotic dinner. We had hamburgers and salad.

Hamburger and salad

A special thank you to our daughter who grew the wonderful tomatoes.

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Home on the range – 7/10/17

Posted on July 11, 2017 by Beebamom

I am home again from my travels to Norway and beyond! I wish I could have posted more of what we had to eat while we were away but the WiFi did not lend itself to much in the way of posting.  I had to let my travel and personal blog take over.

So here we are just home late last night and I am thinking about what to make on this jet lagged Monday.  The best thing about having a set piece for Mondays is that I do not have to think too hard. It’s Chicken Monday!

Chicken breast with smashed potato salad and broccoli salad

John sous vide the chicken breast and I had mine with with BBQ sauce. Since it is really hot here, I steamed the potatoes and added the broccoli briefly towards the end of the cooking.I made a celery seed dressing for the broccoli and an olive oil dressing for the potatoes.

On a personal note, I gained four pounds during the vacation and now I know that I need to make healthful meals at home to counteract all the eating. I loved a lot of the food that we had on our special trip and I do not regret having eaten what  I did. There is no point in feeling guilty.

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Fish soup – 6/24/17

Posted on June 24, 2017 by Beebamom

Creamy fish soup

While walking about Bergen, Norway we stopped at Bryggeloftet & Stuene for a bowl of fish soup. Shrimp, mussels, and salmon were in the soup and so perfectly cooked that I can only imagine that they dropped them in the hot soup right before serving. Ditto for the vegetables that still had a bit of crispness to them. Once you have made a flavorful stock cooking the fish in it at the last minute or adding parcooked vegetables right before service is the best way to insure a great soup.

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Simple delicious vegetarian first course – 6/23/17

Posted on June 23, 2017 by Beebamom

They say you eat with your eyes first. You can take the most humble ingredient and raise its level to stardom with just a little care – presenting, the beet.

Beets with pickled onions, walnuts, and goat cheese

I had this for dinner at restaurant 26 North in Bergen, Norway. The beet were roasted and raw and their earthiness contrasted nicely with the goat cheese, crunchy walnuts, and piquant pickled onions. Plus it was a colorful joy to look at.

How  much time do we take at home making our food look beautiful? Not enough!

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Some airline food – 6/22/17

Posted on June 23, 2017 by Beebamom

Cauliflower soup and salad

It is hard to eat decently on a flight but here is a first course on KLM that was decent and tasty. Cauliflower soup, a colorful mixed salad in a delft bowl, a saucer of olive oil (?), and a whole grain roll. Note the cute Dutch clogs salt and pepper shakers.

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Another hot night! June 20, 2017

Posted on June 20, 2017 by Beebamom

It is still hot. Enough, already! No cooking. I bought a rotisserie chicken and potato salad at the grocery store. My contribution was a broccoli and carrot salad with a sweet, tart celery seed dressing.

Cold chicken breast with potato salad and carrot/broccoli salad

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Hummus with pita and Lebanese tabbouleh – June 19, 2017

Posted on June 20, 2017 by Beebamom

It is really hot here in the Bay Area. We never expect hot weather to last more than three days and we are hunkering down to try to preserve our cool. Sunday night the power went out and we were moaning a lot about how would we survive without air conditioning!   Anyway, one thing we were not going to do was turn on the oven or boil a pot of water.

For dinner I made Lebanese tabbouleh and served it with hummus, pita, and some olives and pepperoncini.

Hummus and pita with Lebanese tabbouleh

Lebanese tabbouleh accents the parsley rather than the grain. Only 1/4 cup of bulgur wheat is used while there was three cups of parsley and some mint too. I got the recipe from the New York Time Cooking site.

Good dinner for a hot night! (Looking forward to cooler temperatures in Norway soon!)

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Grilled lamb and cauliflower with couscous – 6/4/17

Posted on June 19, 2017 by Beebamom

I discovered that I took a picture of one of the meals we made when the kids were visiting. Since it is hot for cooking in the kitchen in St. George in the summer, we made this boneless leg of lamb on the grill long with some cauliflower. We have a special grill sheet for cooking vegetables on.

Grilled boneless leg of lamb with grilled cauliflower and stovetop couscous

This dinner’s leftovers were made into lamb fajitas few days later.

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I haven’t deserted my blog! June 17, 2017

Posted on June 17, 2017 by Beebamom

In way of explanation I have not deserted my blog it is just that between the family’s visit and a trip to Norway this coming week, I haven’t been doing much cooking.

I will try to remember to take some pictures of what we eat over the next few weeks for a taste of Norse, Scottish, and English fare.

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