Burgers and protein power salad – 9/1/16

Posted on September 3, 2016 by Beebamom
Burger and protein power salad

Burger and protein power salad

This is an easy make, easy clean-up dinner. John makes the burgers and grills them. I open the container of salad and put some on each plate. But wait, there is more to this. The reason I bought the salad is because I wanted to see what was in it. I don’t like it too much because it is sweet. It must have a bunch of sugar in it. I do like the flavor of the lentils, chickpeas, and edamame. It also has pepitas and sunflower seeds in it as well as a bunch of other vegetables. I can make this so much better and much more cheaply! And I will.

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Chickpeas, pasta, and vegetables – 8/31/16

Posted on September 3, 2016 by Beebamom
Chickpeas, pasta, and vegetables

Chickpeas, pasta, and vegetables

Wait, didn’t I just make this? Yes, but it is so delicious and vegan besides! Anyway, it has different vegetables in it so the taste is a little different. I could eat this every week and I guess I do!

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Lasagna – 8/30/16

Posted on August 31, 2016 by Beebamom
No-boil lasagna noodles

No-boil lasagna noodles

No doubt you are asking yourself, how can this be dining lite? It’s not. But there are things you can do to make this meal not a terrible choice. First control your portion size and don’t go back for seconds! Next, use cheeses that are at least part skim milk and low fat ground beef. Third, don’t make so many layers! My lasagna had noodles on the bottom, top, and only one layer in the middle. Also you could use ground turkey or just vegetables.

Using the no-boil noodles makes creating this dish a snap. You get maximum accolades for minimal effort!

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Chicken breast with vegetable rice – 8/29/16

Posted on August 31, 2016 by Beebamom
Chicken breast with rice and vegetables

Chicken breast with rice and vegetables

Finally a Chicken Monday that actually falls on a Monday! We used the sous vide technique to cook our chicken breasts to a perfect temperature and then glazed them with BBQ sauce and put them under the broiler. This is such a good way to cook chicken! It comes out moist and delicious. The broiling helps to improve its appearance and sets the BBQ glaze.

We had some leftover rice from our traditional Sunday Chinese take-out to which I added some broccoli, carrots, tomatoes, mushrooms, and onions as well as Tex-Mex spices.

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August 27, 2016 – Fast Pad Thai with Shrimp

Posted on August 27, 2016 by Beebamom
Pad Thai with shrimp

Pad Thai with shrimp

Note: for a vegetarian dish omit the shrimp and substitute tofu. As far as the fish sauce is concerned, I think some combination of vegetarian soy sauce and lime juice might achieve a similar taste.

Fast, well maybe fast if you have someone cooking and another chopping. The perfect dish for us! So chop, chop, chop and stir fry. In about half an hour we have it all assembled and cooked. I chopped up some cilantro, peanuts, and green onions for garnish. Also I put some bean sprouts on top. For a pad Thai without the onus of preparing tamarind, this was really tasty.

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August 26, 2016 – Leftovers

Posted on August 27, 2016 by Beebamom
Turkey meatloaf, new potatoes, and vegetable medley

Turkey meatloaf, new potatoes, and vegetable medley

The 20 oz. package of ground turkey plus all the other ingredients make a really big meatloaf! Even though we are big portion eaters, there was plenty leftover for a second dinner. Trying to avoid going to the store made the sides a challenge. I had a bag of new potatoes but just scraps of vegetables.  At restaurants they are always giving you a side dish of “seasonal” vegetables which are really what they have lying around the kitchen and have nothing to do with what season it is. So here is my “seasonal” vegetable medley made from a quarter of a cabbage, half an onion,one carrot, and a few florets of broccoli. It was a fine side when sautéed in a little olive oil.

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August 25, 2016 – Turkey meatloaf with Italian salad

Posted on August 27, 2016 by Beebamom
Turkey meatloaf with Italian salad

Turkey meatloaf with Italian salad

This turkey meatloaf turned out much better than I had hoped. What made it quite good was chopping about 3/4 lb. crimini mushrooms very finely in the food processor and the sautéing them until they were dry. Also finely chopped onions and garlic were added to the sauté. Mixed together some pano breadcrumbs, eggs, and milk. When the mushroom mixture cooled down, I added it and the breadcrumb mixture to a 20 oz. package of ground turkey (Costco). Salt, a little ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, and my secret ingredient for making everything have a depth of flavor, fish sauce, rounded out the components of the dish.  Cooked it for 50 minutes at 400F and it turned out really well! I will probably make this again adding some chopped parsley and maybe some sort of nuts for a little crunch.

 

 

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August 24, 2016 – Penne with sauce

Posted on August 24, 2016 by Beebamom

Tonight we were supposed to be having turkey meatloaf. However, I was out in the afternoon and John was at work so the prep (which is considerable) did not happen. I defrosted some spaghetti sauce that I made in July and we always have penne around, so, voila, dinner.

Penne with spaghetti sauce

Penne with spaghetti sauce

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August 23, 2016 – Vegan dinner

Posted on August 23, 2016 by Beebamom

Tonight I made an adaptation of a NY Times recipe, Lentil and Carrot Salad with Middle Eastern Spices. My dish was not a salad but a lentil stew with carrots, cabbage, and broccoli.

Lentil stew with carrots, cabbage, and broccoli and Middle Eastern spices

Lentil stew with carrots, cabbage, and broccoli and Middle Eastern spices

The spices I used were cumin, coriander, and cardamom plus there were onions and garlic and a very hot chile. We ate it with Pugliese bread. It was yummy.

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August 20, 2016 – Sous vide BBQ glazed chicken, oven fries, and Cole slaw

Posted on August 21, 2016 by Beebamom

To make up for last night, we made everything tonight! We decided to try using the sous vide technique on the chicken breasts and then brush on some BBQ sauce and broil briefly to make the skin crispy. It worked great! The breasts came out cooked perfectly and were not dried out at all. Not even the thinner parts.

While the chicken was cooking we had a little appetizer of carrots, artichokes, and olives

While the chicken was cooking we had a little appetizer of carrots, artichokes, and olives

In addition to the chicken, I made some baked potato fries and cole slaw. It was a really tasty dinner.

BBQ sous vide chicken with oven fries and cole slaw

BBQ sous vide chicken with oven fries and cole slaw

 

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