Ribeye steak with roasted cauliflower and grilled asparagus
I don’t eat much beef but today we had an intense workout with our trainers today and felt pretty depleted. It was actually my idea to prepare steak which is unusual. John grilled the steak to a perfect medium rare while I roasted the cauliflower and pan-grilled the asparagus. Since we were eating meat that is calorie dense, we decided to have two vegetables instead of a vegetable and a starch.
So this is Meatless Monday except on Tuesday!
Penne and asparagus
I love how the thyme flowers are the focus of this picture! This is such a good dish that highlights the seasonality of asparagus. It is easy to make. Just cut the asparagus into a penne shape, then sauté the onions, mushrooms, and garlic. When the penne is ready, dump it in the pan with the onion mixture and the asparagus. Add some reserved pasta water and cook until the the water is mostly absorbed. Top it with some fresh thyme and an additional drizzle of good olive oil.
Chicken breast with roasted butternut squash and zucchini
I am back after three weeks in Italy where we dined on a lot of pasta and many pizzas along with almost daily disappointing over-cooked vegetables. I have decided that the best way to eat vegetables when traveling in many European countries is to have them either pickled (Northern Europe) or in salads (mostly everywhere else.)
I enjoyed my vacation from “dining lite” but it is good to be home again and in control. I tried to convince John that it was Meatless Monday but he has a lot of years of Chicken Monday ingrained in him. So chicken for dinner on Monday and Meatless Tuesday tomorrow.
As per usual John cooked the chicken perfectly and I roasted and mashed a butternut squash and prepared the zucchini with onions, mushrooms, and garlic. It was a comforting American style dinner.
A note about vacation weight results: Although I ate pretty much whatever I wanted but no desserts and drank a glass or two of wine at dinner, I did not gain any weight! This is because we walked and walked, up to 6 or 7 miles a day. I need to start sightseeing in my hometown!
Pacific cod with chickpea purée and zucchini
I was thinking that with all their fiber that chickpeas would be lower in calories. They are 120 calories for a half of a cup times 3 1/2 servings in a can equals 420 calories that I whizzed up with a little olive oil, lemon juice, water, and thyme. So I only took two tablespoons. Sigh.
Luckily the cod is very diet friendly and I think zucchini are mostly water so it did not work out too badly. John was in charge of cooking the fish and I made the purée and sautéed the zucchini, a perfect division of labor.
Lamb chop with butternut squash and asparagus
Sometimes I literally have to throw John a bone. Last night was a meat night. He’s been super about eating a lot of vegetarian meals and fish but he does get a hankering for something on the hoof occasionally.
Since it has been raining a lot here in California this week, we decided to sous vide the lamb instead of grilling it. It came out perfectly medium rare and then we stuck it under the broiler to give it some browning. The butternut squash I roasted and then mashed and asparagus is just cut up and sauteed.
Spaghetti with zucchini and pine nuts
This recipe that I adapted from NYT Cooking was delicious. The “sauce” had a real buttery flavor although there was no butter in it! First I salted and drained the zucchini while the onions, garlic, and pine nuts were cooking in 2 teaspoons of olive oil. Then in went the zucchini to cook while the whole wheat pasta boiled. When drained, the spaghetti went into the vegetable mixture and I used a cup of pasta water to make a sauce. If you like it can be garnished with a drizzle of olive oil and some Parmesan cheese.
This is definitely a keeper!
Null Soup
Today I went out for breakfast. Try as I might I have a hard time with all the breakfast goodies like hash browns and bacon. There are also unexpected pitfalls. The milk was full fat and the piece of toast was larger than expected. Even though I did not eat the hash browns and gave away some of the bacon and had my egg poached so there wouldn’t be extra fat, I still ended up with more calories at breakfast than usual.
To counteract this I made null soup for lunch. This is a recipe from my old Weight Watchers days. Under one of the old programs this soup has zero points. The soup is warm and filling. It can be made with chicken or vegetable broth. The vegetables can be anything you have handy as longer as they are not starchy vegetables. I used onion, carrot, celery, mushrooms and broccoli. Enjoy!
Penne with asparagus, mushrooms, and carrots
I love vegetables. I also love pasta. So this dish is a perfect storm of what I love. John sautéed the mushrooms, onions, and garlic in a little olive oil. Two minutes before the penne was done I added the carrots and asparagus stalks to the boiling water. With a minute to go, in went the asparagus tips. Drain. Combine the penne and veg in the mushroom pan. Add a little reserved pasta water. Serve topped with green onions and a little very good olive oil. Bliss.
Turkey chili and kale
One way to make your plate look like it is overflowing is to fill up the empty space with a big salad as I did with tonight’s dinner. Plus I do enjoy the mingling of the spicy chili and the acidic salad dressing.
What really helps bring some depth to what could be a blah turkey chili are lots of great spices, multiple kinds of chiles, finely chopped and cooked until they are dry mushrooms, and a little fish sauce to really bring the umami flavor to the fore.
Shrimp with polenta and broccoli
The polenta in this dish makes it seem so luxurious and yet there is only one teaspoon of butter in the whole pot. Both the shrimp and broccoli take the same amount of time to cook. The shrimp is quickly seared and the broccoli is cooked with just the water clinging to it and a little butter. A quick and delicious dinner.
Omnivore 