Fajitas – 1/18/17

Posted on January 19, 2017 by Beebamom

Fajitas are a Tex-Mex dish and the word “fajitas” means little strips of meat.  In the recipes I looked at most called for skirt steak but what we had was leftover ribeye steak from the “too rare” night. Unfortunately ribeye doesn’t translate well into fajitas. The flavor of the sauce overwhelmed the more subtle beef flavor. Dinner was enjoyable anyway.

Leftover steak fajitas

Leftover steak fajitas with Mexican-ish rice

I jazzed up some Rotel to add to the leftover rice medley and to use as salsa on the fajitas. That’s not sour cream, it is crema made from non-fat yogurt with some salt and cumin. Wish this had been better but it was still fun to eat.

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My First Vegan Day (I think) – 1/17/17

Posted on January 17, 2017 by Beebamom

Today I made a conscious effort to have a total vegan day.  Maybe I have eaten vegan at other times by happenstance. Today I decided to keep my diet plant based. For breakfast I had peanut butter on toast.  For lunch I had hummus, tabbouleh, and salad with pita.  Now I just needed to keep it going.

I saw a recipe on the New York Times cooking site that I thought would be tasty and could be adapted to be vegan and decided to give it a try.

Lentil soup with lemon, an adaptation of a New Yourk Times Cooking recipe

Lentil soup with lemon, an adaptation of a New York Times Cooking recipe

This recipe, I thought, would work well in case John wanted to put some sausage in it. The original recipe called for red lentils and some chicken stock. I used brown lentils and water. I bulked up the the vegetables and as it turned out John was okay with no meat. Here’s the original recipe  – http://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1016062-red-lentil-soup-with-lemon.

Aothough I am more of carnivore and probably definitely more of vegetarian than a vegan, I enjoyed my day and think it would be good to incorporate one of these days into each week.

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Chicken Monday – 1/16/17

Posted on January 17, 2017 by Beebamom

Just a regular chicken Monday. Boneless skinless chicken breast, green beans, butternut squash, and a little packet gravy. The breasts were 8 ounces each so we have leftovers but we ate up all the vegetables.

Butternut squash cut in half and seasoned with salt, nutmeg, and a little olive oil

Butternut squash cut in half and seasoned with salt, nutmeg, and a little olive oil

After about an hour at 400F the squash is ready to be scooped out and mashed

After about an hour at 400F the squash is ready to be scooped out and mashed

McCormick's Chicken Gravy, only 20 calories for 1/4 cup

McCormick’s Chicken Gravy, only 20 calories for 1/4 cup

Pan roasted chicken breast with butternut squash and green beans

Pan roasted chicken breast with butternut squash and green beans

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Mediterranean lunch at home – 1/16/17

Posted on January 16, 2017 by Beebamom
Hummus, tabbouleh, salad, toast points, olives, and pepperoncini

Hummus, tabbouleh, salad, toast points, olives, and pepperoncini

We have a place we go to here in St. George called Mad Pita Express and they make an appetizer sampler that includes hummus, tabbouleh, olives, pepperoncini, pita, pickled beets, and some sort of potato salad. I don’t have all those things on my plate but this is near enough and only lacking in things I do not need like a lot of olive oil and the potato salad. I bought the hummus but I made the tabbouleh. Here’s how –

Soak a cup of bulgur wheat for 15 minutes or so to soften. Meanwhile in the food processor whiz up a big bunch or two of parsley, a quarter cup of mint leaves, 3 green onions, and a clove of garlic. Drain and squeeze out as much water as possible from the bulgur. In a large bowl combine the bulgur, the mix from the food processor, the juice of one lemon, and 1/4 cup of olive oil. Add salt to taste.  Let the flavors combine for an hour or so.

 

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Burger and a salad – 1/15/17

Posted on January 16, 2017 by Beebamom
Burger and a salad (and the best beer ever!)

Burger and a salad (and the best beer ever!)

John is the grill man and I am the vegetable lady. Tonight while he was preparing the burgers I was busy making a tasty salad and the cauliflower from the previous post. For my salad I used the mix “Kale Italia.” It consists of radicchio, kale, mizuna, and arugula. Using these mixes is not exactly cost effective but I know if I bought all those different kinds of salad greens that they would turn to slime before I used them all. The salad also had tomatoes, green onions, mushrooms, and croutons. I am not a big salad fan so if I am going to make one, I like to throw in a lot of stuff.

Burger note: John mixed in a quarter teaspoon of baking soda along with some salt.  The baking soda keeps the meat tender.  We saw the cooks on America’s Test Kitchen do this.

Amazingly we found Schneider Weiss beer at the liquor store here in Utah. It is my favorite. If you are ever in Munich I strongly suggest you stop by Schneider’s.  It is just off the east end of the pedestrian area near the Isar Gate. Along with fabulous beer they have all kinds of sausages, pretzels, and tasty traditional German food.

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Cauliflower snack! – 1/15/17

Posted on January 16, 2017 by Beebamom
High temp roasted cauliflower

High temp roasted cauliflower

This cauliflower is so delicious! We eat it like it is a snack. Here’s the way to make it.

Heat your oven to 500F convect. Cut the cauliflower into florets. Lay out on a sheet tray lined with aluminum foil. Drizzle with olive oil and mix it in thoroughly so that all pieces have some. Sprinkle with salt. Put in the oven on the middle rack. They should look like the ones above in about 10 minutes or so. (Keep your eye on them!) Add more salt if needed.  Enjoy!

Posted in Vegan, Vegetables, Vegetarian | Tagged | 1 Comment

OMG, delicious fried scallops! – 1/14/17

Posted on January 15, 2017 by Beebamom

Never tried fried scallops? They are fabulous- crunchy on the outside and soft and sweet inside. They are the only fried food that we make.

Fried scallops with rice medley and haricot vert

Fried scallops with rice medley and haricot vert

After drying the scallops thoroughly, I dredge them in seasoned flour, then dip them in egg, and finally roll them around in panko breadcrumbs. John uses our electric wok to cook them (outside so the kitchen is not coated in grease!) I made the combo rice this morning in the oven and gave it a little more flavor with the addition of bell pepper and green onion. The beans are simply steamed.

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A rare steak – 1/13/17

Posted on January 14, 2017 by Beebamom

Yes, we rarely have steak and we rarely have a steak so rare!

Ribeye steak with grilled potato and "seasonal" vegetables

Ribeye steak with grilled potato and “seasonal” vegetables

On Thursday and Friday we traveled to St. George, Utah for a little fun in the sun. Most of the way here it rained furiously and it is still raining today (Saturday). So much for sun. But we can have fun anywhere and part of yesterday’s fun was going to the grocery store and John negotiating with the butcher to cut him just the steak he wanted.

Our grill at home has a propane tank and the one here is natural gas. Propane cooks hotter and unfortunately John did not leave the steak on long enough. Fortunately after we ate the bits that were cooked enough to eat, we have a lot of steak leftover which we can use for another day.

I microwaved the potato until it was almost done and then oiled it up and John stuck it on the grill. We always laugh at “seasonal vegetables” because when you get them at a restaurant they are usual a dismal mound of summer squash, baby carrots (ugh), and the odd piece of broccoli. My seasonal vegetables were tasty sliced carrots, garlic, onions, mushrooms, and a good bit of broccoli all sautéed together until just crisp-tender.

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Who me, make a dessert? – 1/11/17

Posted on January 13, 2017 by Beebamom

On Wednesday we celebrated our grandson’s 8th birthday.  We decided on a pizza party and got a couple of pizzas and I also made an “Italian salad.” But it being a birthday I really needed to come up with some sort of candle blowing dessert.  Our daughter pointed out that kids don’t really care how “real” a cake and frosting is so I went with a box cake and a tub of frosting. I am not proud of this but both grandkids ate two cupcakes and did not seem offended by my meager offering. Plus I left the extras behind so there was no chance that anyone at our house we eat any more.

Happy 8th birthday, Sam!

Sam just before he blows out the candles

Sam just before he blows out the candles

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Tuesday’s GBOF (giant bowl of food) – 1/10/17

Posted on January 10, 2017 by Beebamom

Just as Monday is a themed dinner day so is Tuesday. I think Tuesday is my favorite, Giant Bowl of Food day. It consists of copious vegetables, a little bit of protein, low fat, and complex carbohydrates. It is important, at least to me, to be able to have seconds.

Chicken fried rice

Chicken fried rice

Today’s GBOF is yesterday’s chicken and an assortment of vegetables plus an omelet sliced up. I made some brown rice in the morning and let it cool. Flavorings are sesame oil, soy sauce, ginger, and garlic.

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