Shrimp and grits with broccoli
Jon took a turn at the stove last night with a Cajun dish. He cooked up a lot of red bell pepper, poblano, and onions. He made some very yummy grits, and cooked the shrimp separately. I made some broccoli. We have a refrigerator filled with delicious leftovers!
Lasagna
On Wednesday I made an Italian/American lasagna. I call it Italian/American because from what I have read, Americans are so much more about putting lots of meat into their Italian dishes than actual Italians do.
I used no-boil noodles and followed the directions on the package more or less. Although I kind of overdid it with the ricotta, it still tasted really good. It was hard to take a small portion!
We decided on Asian cuisine for our Tuesday dinner. One dish we enjoy from our take-out place is Mongolian beef. It doesn’t look too difficult to replicate. I found a recipe that looked doable on http://Rasamalaysia.com (search on the website for Mongolian beef). Here is what ours looked like –
Mongolian beef served over rice with a green salad
Since I wanted a smaller portion, I filled half my plate with salad. I think the bitter greens with the acidic dressing were a nice counterpoint. I can definitely see broccoli with this as well.
We would have liked it spicier and next time will add chili flakes to the marinade and two super chiles to the sauce. (Our recipe was tripled since we were feeding more people.) Also I think searing the meat hard would give it more depth of flavor.
Tomorrow we are making lasagna for our Italian entry!
Mexico is our first stop on our culinary tour. We all pitched in to prepare the dinner. Jon and John worked on the meat and vegetables for the fajitas and I made the beans and rice. Here’s my two favorite guys in the kitchen.
Jon and John in the kitchen
We used boneless skinless chicken thighs sliced into strips. We bought a packet of fajita mix because I wasn’t sure I had all the spices in the house. I mixed the black beans with a little of the juice from a can of Rotel and some of the vegetables. The rest of the liquid from the Rotel went into the cooking liquid of the rice. Jon mixed up a tasty spread of sour cream and chipotles in adobo. Yum, what a great dinner!
Chicken fajitas with spicy black beans and Mexican rice
After having dinner at our friends’ house on Thursday, Chinese food on Friday, and driving to Utah on Saturday, it is time to get back to cooking!
We are spending two weeks in beautiful Utah red rock country. Our son is here for the first week and then we are going solo for the second. What better way to start off his visit than to make his favorite meal, meatballs and gravy over noodles with green beans!
Meatballs and gravy over noodles with green beans
This week we are doing a different world cuisine each night. Sunday’s dinner was plain ol’ ‘Merican. Tomorrow’s will be Mexican. Dining “lite” is a little harder when you want to please a loved one. I think the best thing to do will be to shrink portion size.
Spiced eggplant with bulgur salad and yogurt
Note: For a vegan dish omit yogurt.
John had a day in the office today so I was officially in charge of dinner. Since I am cooking it usually means something vegetarian is in the offing. Tonight’s dinner is a new recipe for me from Bon Appetit by Yotam Ottolenghi, an Israeli chef. So we are doing a delayed celebration of Rosh Hashanah. Our daughter has made a delicious honey cake as well.
For the spiced eggplant it is basically a bunch of spices smeared atop eggplant halves and baked in the oven for about an hour. During the cooking time you can hydrate the bulgur and then add the herbs, fruit, and nuts. The dish is served with some yogurt that we added sumac to.
Here’s the recipe – http://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/spiced-eggplant-with-bulgur-salad
When I make it again I would cook the spices for the eggplant first since they came out a little raw tasting. Also I did not use as much oil or salt. The bulgur could have used a little more punch, maybe some chiles, and it did require quite a bit of seasoning.
The honey cake was served with sliced up plums in honey with thyme. Yum! Here is a link to her blog post with the recipe.
Honey cake with plums
Our entire dinner consisted of seafood cakes, corn, and coleslaw but I made the corn first (2 large ears in a plastic bag with some butter and microwaved 5 minutes, so easy!) and we totally devoured it before I even thought about my camera.
Demolished corn
Here is how the rest of the meal happened. We had a small piece of cod and a few shrimp in the freezer that needed using. I made crab-type cakes out of them after chopping them up and adding previously cooked onions and carrots, plus some parsley, panko breadcrumbs, an egg, a dollop of mayo, and some Old Bay and salt. While we ate the corn I let the cakes firm up in the refrigerator.
To cook, John browned them in a pan and finished them in the oven. They were a little dry due either to not enough fat or maybe too hard a sear but tasty nonetheless. I made some coleslaw with leftover cabbage from taco night and spiced it up with siracha. We made a whole dinner out of bits and pieces and leftovers! The only new ingredient was the corn.
Seafood cake with spicy coleslaw and greens
Finally a proper Chicken Monday on the correct day! Lately we have been having quick cooked sides because it has been hot but Monday it was cool all day. Time to break out the root vegetables!
Sous vide chicken breast with mashed rutabagas and broccoli
John manned the immersion circulator and then finished the chicken breasts under the broiler for a little color. He also made up the packet of gravy. Rather than haul out the pressure cooker, I microwaved the rutabagas for around 20 minutes after peeling and chopping them up into fairly small chunks. Really, the peeling, which I do with my chef’s knife, is the most time consuming part of preparing the rutabagas. The broccoli was simply steamed. Both the broccoli and the rutabagas got a pat of butter.
Much like the meatloaf meal the other day, this is also comfort food to me.
It was chilly out on Sunday and so a perfect day for a little comfort spree. Here it is almost ready for serving –
Meatloaf, IYBS, new potatoes
IYBS, you ask? Incredibly yummy brussel sprouts! Aptly named by my family due to their quick steam and then sauté in some butter, sugar, and sherry. I got these at the farmers’ market on Saturday and when I handed over my bag, the cashier said $8.00! Guess I should have asked what the price was first.
Best thing about meatloaf? Meatloaf sandwiches the next day on white bread with ketchup!
Meatloaf, brussel sprouts, new potatoes, and a ketchup/hoisin/fish sauce combo
P.S. My menu has been revamped with Chinese take-out moved to Friday.
First of all Happy Anniversary to our son and his wife who have been married for 16 years!
Cheerios with strawberries
Credit: https://stylethrifted.wordpress.com/
Today we invited our son and grandkids over while their mom went to garage sales with her sister and a girlfriend. Our son refers to these visits as his trifecta – tennis, lunch, and a nap! After tennis we all went out to lunch. I had a vegetarian Philly (half roll only) and some fries. John had buffalo chicken wings and a salad. After lunch and a game of chess, our company departed and we took the nap part of the trifecta. When it got to dinner time neither of us was very hungry so we ate a bowl of Cheerios with strawberries.
Sadly I will have to reprint my menu because the week is now screwed up. Sigh.
Omnivore 