Penne with asparagus – 4/27/17

Posted on April 27, 2017 by Beebamom

Hello from Southern Utah! We left on Wednesday around noon and stayed overnight on the road. Had some spicy Buffalo chicken wings at Chili’s for dinner.

Tonight’s dinner is the vegetarian dinner we were supposed to have Tuesday.

Asparagus and penne

I know we just had this recently but when the asparagus is in season you just have to go for it.  It is already creeping back up in price.

While the water is heating up for the pasta I saute onions and garlic and cut up the asparagus into penne shaped pieces. In the last minute of pasta I add the stalks to the water and then sauté the penne, stalks, onions, garlic, and the asparagus tips with some of the pasta water. If you like, add some Parmesan.

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Chicken curry – 4/25/17

Posted on April 27, 2017 by Beebamom

Well, here it is Tuesday and we were supposed to have this chicken on Monday. We had a late lunch on Monday and the whole dinner plan went by the wayside. So we had an old favorite that John calls BFD, breakfast for dinner!

Tonight the chicken made an appearance with a new curry spice I got from Penzeys, Rogen Josh. It smells really good. John did a rub on the chicken and also put it in the rice. I cut up some onions, garlic, carrots, and broccoli to make the dinner filling and healthier.

Chicken Curry with broccoli and carrots

We are taking the leftovers with us to Utah. We should be eating our vegetarian day on Thursday from the desert.

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Tacos with an Asian twist – 4/23/17

Posted on April 23, 2017 by Beebamom

I bought a spice at Penzey’s, Singapore Seasoning. It smelled really good, warm and inviting. We were supposed to be having pork tacos tonight. But do they need to be tacos with Mexican spices? Why not dry rub the pork with the Singapore spice and base the dish on Asian flavors?

Asian slaw and black beans with Asian spices are the sides, plus some toppings for the tacos

The slaw is dressed with a peanut sauce and the other dish has black beans, corn, carrots, cilantro, jalapeño and a sweet and salty sauce.

John sautes the pork and warms the toritillas. The whole dish is served with a crema made with yogurt, salt, the Singapore seasoning, and a little sugar.

Asian pork tacos with peanut slaw and Asian flavored black beans

 

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Pork fried rice – 4/22/17

Posted on April 23, 2017 by Beebamom

Happy Earth Day! To help save the earth we had a dinner that was mostly vegetables and rice.

Pork fried rice

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Sometimes you just gotta have a burger – 4/21/17

Posted on April 23, 2017 by Beebamom

I have been pretty much getting my way with the food choices lately so I thought I’d throw a bone to John and let him have a hunk of meat. I suggested burgers because if I am going to have a hunk of meat, I’d like it to be a burger. We started out with an innocent enough salad.

Italian salad prepackaged with greens, cheese, salami, and dressing

Then John cooked the burgers. When forming the patties he puts in a little baking soda (thanks to America’s Test Kitchen for the hint) which keeps them really moist. They came out a little rare for me but were pretty tasty nonetheless.

Rare hamburger with ketchup on a hard roll

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Last minute Thursday – Potstickers and salad – 4/20/17

Posted on April 20, 2017 by Beebamom

Potstickers and dipping sauce with cucumber, tomato, cilantro salad

I had to rustle this up out of the refrigerator and the freezer after we returned home around 8PM. Tonight was our grandson’s first band concert. The traffic was brutal on the way over and merely bad on the way home.

So I needed something easy and fast.

Potstickers in the freezer and some leftover tomatoes and cucumbers for salad made an unlikely but quick dinner.

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Leftover Wednesday – Lamb Tacos – 4/19/17

Posted on April 20, 2017 by Beebamom

So extra pictures did not do the trick as far as blog traffic was concerned. Nonetheless I have two pictures today.

Ingredients!

So I have leftover lamb, onions, and taco seasonings for the tacos along with feta cheese, mint, lettuce, and scallions. I am putting this in a small corn tortilla. The black beans will mix with the spicy Rotel. I am combining cucumber, onions, and tomatoes with some spices, sugar, and vinegar for a little salad.

This comes together quickly and here is the finished dish –

Lamb tacos with feta and mint, spicy black beans, and cucumber and tomato salad

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Chickpea stew- Vegan/Vegetarian Tuesday – 4/18/17

Posted on April 19, 2017 by Beebamom

My daughter told that she had received some advice about getting more people to read your food blog. More pictures! And recipes! Hmmm, I almost never put in recipes because I don’t make things that are recipe driven usually. But I guess I could do more pictures. So before I get to the finished product picture, here is a picture of ingredients.

Ingredients for chickpea stew

Much more than actually cooking, I like to cut things up. I would be the perfect sous chef.  This chickpea stew has plenty of chopping and is inspired by the NYTimes Cooking’s “Chickpea Stew with Orzo and Mustard Greens.” Except that I use ditalini, kale, add zucchini, and substitute Rotel for the fresh tomatoes. The recipe calls for chicken stock, vegetable stock, or water and finishing it with Parmesan cheese. What you do depends on whether this is vegan or vegetarian or neither.

Oh, and here’s a picture of the pot burbling on the stove. (I forgot a took this one.) Don’t add the kale until the very end.

Chickpea stew cooking

The recipe makes a lot. I have enough left over for another meal. The ingredients are inexpensive and the whole thing comes together in about half and hour.

Chickpea stew with crusty bread

Mmmm, cheap, fast, healthy, and really tasty!

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Chicken (or no chicken) Monday, new style – 4/17/17

Posted on April 18, 2017 by Beebamom

Penne with chicken, mushrooms, onions, dark greens, and cherry tomatoes

Note: this dish could easily be made vegan by omitting the Parmesan and substituting the chicken with tofu, beans, or chickpeas

Today instead of cooking two chicken breasts, some starch, and a vegetable, I made this dish instead. I think it looks pretty yummy. In the time that it took for the water to heat up and boil for the penne, we sauteed the one breast of diced up chicken, mushrooms, onions, garlic, and tomatoes. Then when the pasta was very al dente we tossed it together with the chicken, onions, and mushrooms and some dark salad type greens, added a cup of pasta water and olive oil for a sauce, and garnished it with the sauteed cherry tomatoes, parsley, and Parmesan cheese.

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Inverted shepherd’s pie,sort of – 4/16/17

Posted on April 16, 2017 by Beebamom

On Saturday we got the family together for our annual Passover Seder. It is more of a springtime celebration for us than a religious event although we carefully follow the ceremony in the Haggadah. We talk and laugh and sing songs and it is a totally enjoyable event and respectful to John’s heritage. What we had was matzoh soup, grilled lamb, mashed potatoes, and asparagus. Tonight we had leftovers and I wanted to try to turn my leftovers more in keeping with my new dining regime. So I made an inverted shepherd’s pie.

Inverted shepherd’s pie

I took a scoop of the mashed potatoes and shaped them into a ring, then I added quite a bit of broccoli, then some small pieces of lamb, and I finished it with topping of chopped leaf lettuce and parsley and drizzled on a bit of chimmichurri sauce.

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