Tonight we are going to a concert where our son is singing. We are having dinner at Mistral in Redwood Shores. I choose two things from the appetizer menu, a beet salad and a Mediterraean sampler. The beet salad is fabulous! There are red and gold beets, pieces of orange, and also raw beet slices. The Mediterraean sampler has pita with sun-dried tomatoes, hummus, and baba ganoush. The dinner is delicious, filling, healthy and meatless!
Ethereal beet salad
Mediterraean sampler
Chicken leftover soup
After an exciting four days in Tampa for our nephew’s wedding, we flew home on Sunday. I returned with a terrible cold. Monday – I can’t even remember what we ate. Tuesday – we ordered out. It is Wednesday and I am still sick. Time for chicken soup! But we haven’t been to the store since we got home! So this is a soup of tired leftovers in the refrigerator.
For a little excitement we sous vide the chicken. There are also onions, celery, garlic, ginger, mushrooms, corn, and kale added to the mix. Once the chicken is done, we add ditalini and lastly the chicken pieces to warm through. I think my cold is feeling better already.
Golden beets and feta cheese salad
We had this salad as part of our dinner last night. Roast the beets wrapped in aluminum foil in a 400F oven for about 40 minutes. When cool enough to handle remove the skin using two paper towels. Dress the greens with a oil and vinegar with a touch of orange juice. Compose the salad with the greens on the bottom, then golden beets, some orange segments, and feta cheese. (I also think some sort of blue cheese would be brilliant as well.) Not shown in the picture were also toppings of red onions and candied pecans.
Penne, broccoli, cherry tomatoes, and carrots
Guess what? We are in Florida! We arrived Friday night and are staying a week for a family wedding. The first several days we are staying at my sister’s in Marco Island. I haven’t really been in control of dinners and so far we’ve had ribs and deli salads and chicken and deli salads.
My turn today! For meatless Monday we started with a large salad and followed that up with a penne dish. The dish was dressed with a little olive oil and was easy and healthy.
Wakame salad and sashimi
Tonight it was like old times with both of our kids home. We went out to dinner at a local Japanese restaurant. I am still working on finding the exact order I want. Last time I had hamachi nigiri and it was delicious but not enough. So this time I went for a combination plate. I liked the tuna, salmon, and one of the others but there were a few unidentified pieces that left me cold. The wakame salad, though, was wonderful. I need to find a source for that product!
Pasta with asparagus, carrots, and peanut sauce
Yes, pasta with peanut sauce again. It is so easy and tasty! John wanted meat and I did not so we opted for separate dinners. He made a fancy chicken dish while I cut up carrots and asparagus in a similar shape and blanched them. The asparagus is from the very ends of the stalks. I peeled them until I got to the tender part. I love this meal!
We went out to dinner with friends on Tuesday. I forgot to take pictures of a totally forgettable meal. It is difficult to dine “lite” when eating out but I did my best by having a salad and seared scallops. Unfortunately the scallops were not very good. The best things on the plate were arancini, fried rice balls. (Of course!)
I am making some weight loss progress and will try to get back on the straight and narrow today. However, today’s challenge will be lunch out with my daughter. All good times seem to revolve around food!!
Grilled shrimp with polenta and asparagus
See all those shrimp? They only total up to about 150 calories. We put them on two skewers so they wouldn’t twirl around when grilled. The polenta is from Bob’s Red Mill. It is good quality and very tasty with a few herbs and a little butter. Our ratio is 5 to 1 for creamy polenta. While John grilled the shrimp my job was to stir the polenta and steam the asparagus. Asparagus is on sale this week for $2.99 a pound. I used to only buy it when it was $1.99/lb. but I am afraid those days are not coming back.
This is a delicious and filling dinner in the 300-350 calorie range.
Noodles with peanut sauce
First, since this involved pasta, I was too much in a hurry to eat it for any photo taking. This picture comes from The Girl Who Ate Everything blog. If you want to learn how to make peanut sauce, I’d check it out.
For me this is a fast and really easy dinner. Boil three ounces of spaghetti. I used whole grain. Eight minutes and it’s done. Add two tablespoons of bottled peanut sauce, some sliced green onions, and toasted sesame seeds. Dinner!
Tonight’s dinner is a version of Niçoise salad. It has all the usual ingredients except that they are all served warm.
Warm Niçoise salad
Omnivore 