Hot and sour soup with crispy wontons, cilantro, and green onions
Granted I did not make this myself but it fits the bill (mostly) with my new way of eating. There is pork in it but just a bit. Mostly the soup consists of vegetables in a flavorful broth. The crispy wontons although not exactly dining lite were a nice crunch factor.
Once we were back we started eating like we normally do, a hunk of meat, a vegetable, and a starch. As I ate I thought about my meals in Italy and how much I enjoyed them. They were not centered around meat. I don’t want to eat meat-centric anymore. I told John that changes were coming. He said okay.
Here are two meals from last week that I did not enjoy eating.
Hunk of meatloaf, baked potato half, and spinach
Sliced thick-cut pork chop with butternut squash and broccoli
Here is something from my new way of eating –
Penne and asparagus
I have no doubt that I can find plenty of interesting soups, stews, pastas, rice dishes, and more! I am not necessarily cooking all vegetarian but meat is taking a backseat from now on.
I am back from our 3+ weeks in Italy and pretty much over the jetlag. Before I get back to my regular posting I thought I would include a few more dishes from the trip. As the trip got longer we seemed to migrate towards a substantial breakfast and lunch and then a sandwich or nothing in the evening. We needed the food energy in the earlier part of the day and we just crashed at night.
We probably ate pizza twice a week (or more)
Spaghetti can vongole – this was another go-to dish. Always good
Sometimes we ate a little more experimentally like these baby octopi…
Or seafood crudo
almost everything we had on the trip was delicious and amazingly, we all lost weight. It had to be all the walking!
Sorry for the delay! We have been experiencing massive wifi woes. In my defense I mostly only ate some of the dishes I ordered. I had my faithful husband eating what I left over. Plus we have been walking miles and on our feet for hours each day as we see the fabulous art of the Renaissance. We have been too heavy on the carbs and not eating enough vegetables. I am trying to order better but it is hard. Without much commentary, here are some of the things on my menu the past few days.
A small bowl of orchiette with tomato sauce and ricotta
So much risotto with zucchini
Massive Oslo buco ( I could not eat even half)
Yay! I ordered a salad
Eek, my bad, lasagna!
Caprese salad
Only dessert so far, a small gelato
John, daughter, and I are off tomorrow for a three week vacation to Italy!! Depending on the Internet service I will be posting some yummy Italian food over the next few weeks. It should be great fun and pretty delicious. Tonight, though, we have to deal with all the stuff left in the produce drawer.
Stir-fry vegetables and rice
This is basically like our shrimp dish a few nights ago except no shrimp. I love me some vegetables! Ciao for now!
We were supposed to eat pasta with peanut sauce and broccoli tonight but since we didn’t feel like doing much or eating much we just made our own small dinner. John ate some sort of leftovers that we had in the refrigerator and I made a frittata,
Frittata and toast
My frittata consisted of two eggs, broccoli, onions, and poblano chiles. I topped it with some EVOO and balsamic vinegar. The overdone toast is more bread from my lunch sandwich yesterday.
Yesterday daughter and I went out to lunch. I ordered a tomato, mozzarella, and arugula sandwich on a baguette. I got an enormous sandwich – nearly a whole baguette’s worth. So I took more than half of it home. Unfortunately the bread got pretty mushy so I decided to deconstruct the sandwich and have a sort of Caprese salad for lunch today.
Deconstructed mozzarella and tomato sandwich into Caprese salad
I added some Boston lettuce and oregano since I did not have basil. I had to toast the bread pretty hard to get rid of the sog. And I cut up the pale sandwich tomato and sprinkled it over the lettuce and used some fresh tomatoes of my own. A little EVOO and some good balsamic vinegar and I had created a winner at almost no cost.
Shrimp stir fry with rice
Finally we are back to eating something reasonable. Along with the shrimp that John marinated, I cut up a variety of vegetables – onions, carrots, celery, snow peas, garlic, ginger, poblano chile, and Brussels sprouts. I usually add cabbage but since we didn’t have any, Brussels sprouts would have to do. We also made some steamed white rice which I decorated with some black sesame seeds.
This is the best way to reheat pizza in my opinion. Reheating pizza in the microwave alone gives you a sodden crust but don’t abandon your microwave completely! Microwave a slice for 30 to 45 seconds and then put the piece in a preheated frying pan. The crust crisps up in a minute or two. Watch that it does not burn. You end up with warm toppings from the microwave and a crisp crust from the frying pan. Good as new!
Reheated day old pizza with a small salad
This was a pretty fancy dinner for a Wednesday night especially since we opened a bottle of Deerfield Ranch 2007 Reserve Cabernet Franc. What was the occasion? It was our grandson’s 11th birthday! Even though he was not here to celebrate with us (that will be Sunday when we go to the movies and out for pizza) there is no reason to pass up a chance to celebrate.
Rib cap steak with grilled potato and asparagus
John sous vide the beef and then hit it and a nuked russet potato on the grill to give them an even better flavor. And, yay, it is asparagus season (at least in Mexico) so these yummy stalks are on sale and should keep coming as the asparagus season moves north to California. Tip: if you peel the bottom of the stems you will get a better yield per stalk. It will snap off closer to the bottom.
Omnivore 