Grilled shrimp, coconut rice, peapods, and pineapple salsa
Looks good, right? As they say, looks can be deceiving. This was one of the worst dinners we have made in a long time. The best component was the pineapple/habanero salsa I bought. Good concept, bad execution. Way over-salted shrimp, grainy undercooked rice, and flaccid peapods were all offenders. Oh well, even good cooks can have bad days.
“Don’t try this at home!”
I know that you cannot live your life eating only ultra low-calorie protein. I have tried that and merely rebounded after starting to eat “normally” again. And, if you are not a vegetarian or vegan, chances are that you will want to eat evil red meat from time to time. The solution to this problem is portion control.
Last night we had ribeye steak. I kept my portion small and filled my plate with vegetables and half a baked potato.
Ribeye steak, grilled potato, and broccoli
See, not so bad! John grilled the steak (a little too rare for me) and also the baked potato which I had microwaved before it hit the grill. Speaking of the baked potato, you do not need a whole potato. Plus you don’t need to drown it in butter or sour cream or bacon. I had mine with tomatoes and sometimes I have it with ketchup so I can pretend that it is French fries. The rest of the dinner was broccoli that I steamed and added a pat of butter to. Be sure to eat the stems and well as the florets!
Eating on the road and when we first arrive at the Utah house is always hard. We started out today eating the hotel complimentary breakfast. This is a lot like an airline breakfast. The food is cheap. I had some kind of scrambled eggs that were mostly a cubed egg product. There was also the thinnest bacon ever. I wish I had taken a picture of it. It was translucent. I also had an English muffin which had to go through the toaster conveyer belt four times. I brought my own tea from home so at least that was good.
Then it was time to hit the road. Since neither of us had slept well it was important to be alert for road fatigue. By the time we reached Primm, NV I had been nodding off and it was my turn to drive. We stopped and got coffee frappucino for a hit of caffeine and sugar.
By the time we reached St. George it was 1:30 PM and we needed some fuel and there was no food in the house. We stopped at Costa Vida, a Mexican chain fast food restaurant. We ordered shrimp tacos which were pretty so-so served with some slopped on rice and beans in an aluminum container. Not appetizing!
Shrimp taco with rice and beans
Around 8 PM we had a simple dinner of salad and some frozen eggplant Parmesan that we zapped in the microwave.
Salad with components that made the long ride from California to Utah in a cooler
Frozen eggplant Parmesan cooked in the microwave
Tomorrow we will sit down and discuss a menu for the next week. I find that eating reasonably usually needs a plan.
We are leaving for Utah tomorrow so we need to eat up some of these vegetables that we have in the refrigerator. Plus the herbs outside are growing rampantly and we should use one of those as well. With this in mind I decide on baby broccoli, tuna, and penne with mushrooms, onions, and oregano.
We have only a tiny space to grow anything and most of it is shady all day. But we use the brighter spots to grow some herbs. It is amazing how fabulous a few fresh herbs can be in a dish.
Parsley, oregano, chives, and thyme
Sage
Rosemary
The dish came out quite well. It tasted really light. I think fresh fish would have made a difference over canned tuna but you have to make do with what you have.
Tuna, baby broccoli, and penne with mushroom, onions, and oregano
And now I need to go and pack!
Normally we do not fry anything. However, we found that these scallops which ended up being too watery to sear properly can be cooked to delicious perfection by frying them. If the only thing you ever eat fried are scallops very occasionally, I say go for it.
Fried scallops with new potatoes and green beans
The scallops were breaded with panko breadcrumbs and fried for three to four minutes or until they were golden brown and delicious. Make sure to get as much liquid out of the scallops as possible by pressing them with paper towels several times. Be sure to season all the components of your dredging station.
So while John cooked the scallops I made steamed new potatoes which I tossed in a little olive oil, onions, and spices. I also steamed the green beans and served them with a mustard vinaigrette. The tartar sauce is a light mayo/mustard combination with a bit of relish, lemon juice, and grated onion.
Our daughter who rarely eats with us because our food is boring, said the scallops were so unbelievably delicious. Now I think we need to be treated to one of her meals that she cooks!
This pad Thai, adapted from a Food and Wine recipe, may be quick to cook but the prep time is not minimal. There is a lot of chopping and sauce making ahead of time. Here is the original recipe
http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/quick-shrimp-pad-thai
I substituted Trader Joe’s Sriracha Baked Tofu for the shrimp and doubled the sauce cutting way back on the sugar and tweaking it as I went along for the right balance of fish sauce ( vegetarian fish sauce is available online or you can find a recipe for it on the internet), sugar, and lime juice. I also added julienned snow peas and carrots for more vegetables.
Vegetarian Pad Thai
Since TJ’s did not have any bean sprouts and I did not have any peanuts, those were omitted but they would have given the dish a nice crunch on top. It turned out really tasty and I will definitely make it again. (Plus there is a lot left over for an extra dinner.)
Whether I am at home or dining out I rarely eat two pieces of bread or roll when having a sandwich or burger. Either I take off the top piece and hand-hold by the bottom bread and a lettuce leaf on top or I eat my sandwich with a knife and fork. I have been doing this for so long that when I do eat the whole sandwich it is just too much bread!
Tonight’s burger was almost a lettuce wrap plus we reduced the amount of meat by an ounce in each burger. Gotta say I did not miss it! There are so many little things you can do to take control. Try one of my tips the next time you have a burger or sandwich!
Semi lettuce wrap burger and Italian salad
The braised pork shoulder is finally finished so it seems like the beginning of a week. With that in mind, we prepared Chicken Monday on Thursday.
Sous vide chicken breast with gravy plus mashed potatoes and spinach
John and I shared a boneless, skinless chicken breast that he sous vide with some spices. He also made up a packet of chicken gravy (25 calories for 1/4 cup.) I mashed up one Russet potato plus a little rutabaga with some sour cream and butter. The spinach was frozen and microwaved. This was a homey although somewhat boring dinner.
As I promised to myself I am eating like a rational human being today. I told John to eat the rest of the pork and I would eat something vegetable based. We have plenty of veg hanging around in the refrigerator and after the always enjoyable task of cutting them up, I gave them a quick sauté, mixed the cooked ditalini in, and finish the sauce with some pasta water.
Ditalini with vegetables
The nice thing about this meal is that the leftovers can be easily mixed with some vegetable or chicken broth for lunch tomorrow!
We used to have a restaurant nearby called Fuzio’s that served a dish called Firecracker Fusilli. It went out of business here but I see that it is still in San Francisco and Modesto. Anyway, it was a spicy pork and pasta dish and John always used to order it. (I always ordered vegetarian pad Thai.) Yesterday he suggested we try making it with our never ending supply of pork from the pork shoulder we braised.
Firecracker FusilliIn the recipe it said we were supposed to braise the pork in pineapple juice, soy, cilantro, ginger, and garlic. Since our pork was already braised, I made a sauce using those component ingredients in smaller amounts. You are also supposed to make a pesto out of habanero chiles but we used Fresno chiles. The whole thing is garnished with the pesto, sour cream, cilantro, and green onions. It was delicious.
And with this dish I am done eating the pork and done eating out of control. We are going on an anniversary trip in about a month and I cannot keep up this pace and fit into any of my clothes. I told John to finish the pork tonight and I will go my own route.
Omnivore 