Visiting family! – 6/3/17

Posted on June 3, 2017 by Beebamom

Our son and two grandsons are here for a little over a week. The dinners we prepare are going to be more kid-centric and less dining lite.

The first night they were here we had Zayde burgers or hamburgers made by their grandfather. Since I have posted what seems like a hamburger every week, I decided to skip the picture.

Tonight we had some old school tacos. Ground beef, shredded cheese, hard taco shells, etc. It was a big hit with the kids and we adults liked it pretty much too. It got us to talking about the first place we ever had tacos (Jack in the Box, 1971). I went with John before we were a “couple.” It was pretty exciting with the orange grease running down our arms.

Taco

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Move along, it’s just leftovers – 6/1/17

Posted on June 3, 2017 by Beebamom

Today we had lunch at the club here. I had a tuna sandwich on white toast eating only the bottom bread of the sandwich and holding on to it on the top with a piece of lettuce. Nonetheless it was a more filling lunch than usual and so our dinner plan went out the window. We decided to just heat up our leftover chickpea stew after adding a little more broth. So, ho-hum, nothing exciting here.

Leftover chickpea stew with toast points

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OMG I love sausages! – 5/31/17

Posted on June 1, 2017 by Beebamom

We were supposed to be having shrimp and grits but I just didn’t feel like it. I suggested a dinner we’ve made before, sausages and polenta (or sausages and grits.) It was not too hard to get John to go along. He grilled two sweet Italian sausages and I cooked up some onions and peppers. Instead of making the polenta and a vegetable we served the sausages cut in half and each half sausage on a half hamburger bun with the sausage and peppers on top. Since the roll was soft you could curl it around like a taco. I am so evil to change our plans but it was so delicious!

Italian sausage with onions and peppers

 

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Meatless Tuesday’s chickpea stew – 5/30/17

Posted on June 1, 2017 by Beebamom

Chickpea Stew

Healthy and delicious chickpea stew is one of my favorite meatless dishes. It takes a fair amount of chopping but comes together pretty quickly. If you are good at multi-tasking you can be chopping quicker cooking vegetables at the same time as you are sautéing the onions.Then add the carrots, celery, zucchini, and garlic. Next comes the broth and a can of tomatoes followed by a can of chickpeas. Cook a cup of ditalini for the recommended time on the package in the bubbling soup. At the end add a container of pre-washed greens. Heat the whole thing through and you are done.

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More Memorial Day Grilling – 5/29/17

Posted on May 30, 2017 by Beebamom

Memorial Day is, among other things, the unofficial start of summer. In some places such as Florida and here in Utah it certainly feels like summer has been going full blast for a while. Nonetheless it is time to get out your white shoes and turn on the grill.

For our second day of grilling we went with chicken thighs, cauliflower and corn on the cob.

Grilled chicken thighs, grilled cauliflower, and corn on the cob

John cooked the chicken on indirect heat and added the BBQ sauce near the end. We have a special grate for cooking vegetables. I put the corn in a plastic bag with some butter and salt and microwaved each ear for about 1 1/2 minutes. (Leave a little opening in the bag so steam can escape.) Clean-up for this dinner is minimal!

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Memorial Day Grilling – 5/28/17

Posted on May 29, 2017 by Beebamom

Half roll-half wrap burger with Texas caviar

We had our Memorial Day grill fest on Sunday instead of Monday and we had my favorite, burgers. Once again I served them in my semi-roll style. When eating this you flip it over so the roll is on the bottom and the lettuce is on the top. Easy to hold, tastes like the real thing, and saves probably one hundred calories. Also made up some more Texas caviar but this time with fresh tomatoes, black-eyed peas, and a cayenne chile for some extra spice!

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Grilled shrimp, coconut rice, peapods, and pineapple salsa – 5/27/17

Posted on May 28, 2017 by Beebamom

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!”

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Portion control – Steak, baked potato, and broccoli – 5/26/17

Posted on May 27, 2017 by Beebamom

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!

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Utah arrival day – 5/25/17

Posted on May 25, 2017 by Beebamom

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.

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Baby broccoli, tuna, and penne – Eat down dinner – 5/23/17

Posted on May 23, 2017 by Beebamom

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!

 

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