Pan-roasted chicken breast with butternut squash, broccoli, and gravy
Just a comforting, homey meal on Monday. John made the chicken and I roasted the butternut squash and sautéed some broccoli. The gravy is from a McCormick’s chicken gravy packet. Nothing fancy here but very satisfying.
Chickpea and vegetable soup
I was not sure whether to call this a soup or a stew. There are so many vegetables in it that it eats more like a stew. It is filling and delicious and you can eat a large portion without feeling guilty.
It’s simple and quick to make. Sauté some onions in a little olive oil, add garlic, a sprinkle of hot pepper flakes, and an herb. Add carrots, celery, tomatoes, a can of rinsed chickpeas, and a couple of cups of chicken or vegetable stock and a couple of cups of water. Bring to a boil. Add a small pasta like orzo or ditalini. When the pasta is al dente stir in some greens. I used an arugula/kale salad mix. Season with salt and pepper to taste. When the greens wilt, you’re done!
Can be served with some scallions on top, a drizzle of olive oil, and a grate of Parmesan cheese (for non-vegans.)
Note: For a thicker consistency you could take out a cup of the chickpeas and vegetables with a little of the broth, whiz it up, and then stir back into the soup.
Cod and polenta with parsley sauce and broccoli
This is a favorite dinner of ours. John marinated the cod in olive oil, rosemary, bay leaves, lemon zest, and hot paprika. It bakes around 12 minutes in a 400F oven. He also made the polenta which is 1 cup of polenta to 5 cups of water so it is a loose, creamy consistency.
My contribution as vegetable lady was to steam the broccoli. We had found some broccoli with stems. Seems like a lot of stores are just selling crowns these days. So I used stem pieces along with florets. I also made a parsley sauce. It’s easy to do – just parsley, a little water, lemon juice and zest plus a olive oil whizzed up with a stick blender.
I see that this is the sixth time I’ve posted this cod. Sometimes I serve it with a chickpea sauce and the vegetables vary but it is always a winner.
Ribeye steak with grilled potato and spinach
There is just no way to put a vegetarian spin on this meal! After a hard workout today and a week of vegetarian, chicken, and shrimp meals, we decided to grill a steak.
John trimmed most of the fat off and did a super job grilling the steak to medium rare. I microwaved a baking potato until almost cooked through, sliced it in half, seasoned and oiled it a little, then gave it to John to cook with the steak. I have to admit that this was a pretty easy meal for me, the vegetable lady, to make. Even the spinach was pre-made, Stouffer’s spinach soufflé.
Now back to vegetarian, seafood, and chicken!
Curried rice with chicken and vegetables
Vegetarian note: We have made this with cauliflower or chickpeas standing in for the chicken. It turns out equally well.
Tonight’s dinner was waiting for us in the freezer. We made it the last time we were in St. George anticipating that there might be a night we didn’t feel like cooking. In all fairness to this dish, it is much better fresh. The rice did not come through the freezing process well. It turned a little mealy.
To make this John sautes spices in some butter, cooks a lot of onions in the now spiced butter, and then adds the rice and some chicken or vegetable stock to cook the rice. Part way through the cooking he adds pre-cooked chicken (or chickpeas or cauliflower), carrots, and raisins. We usually make a bunch and then eat it for various lunches throughout the week.
Pasta fagioli with arugula salad
First of all if you omit the pancetta and use vegetarian broth instead of chicken broth this a vegetarian dish. If you omit the Parmesan rinds along with the pancetta and switch chicken broth to vegetarian broth then it is vegan. That being said…
This is an adapted recipe from Giada’s Food Network pasta fagioli. John sautes the pancetta and adds some onion and leek, there’s a bunch of herbs, garlic, and he adds some carrots, the broth, and half the beans. After a little cooking, he adds the ditalini and the Parmesan rinds and finally some puréed beans. With toasted bread, olive oil, and grated Parmesan the soup is finished. We served this with an arugula and tomato salad.
Barbecue chicken with root vegetable mash and broccolini
Well, yum. Chicken thighs on the grill are always appealing to me and John has cooked them perfectly. My charges, the vegetables, are interesting. I have a whole rutabaga plus a another piece left over from the North African stew we made last week. Ditto for part of a small butternut squash. Rethinking this, it probably would have been tastier if I had roasted them. But I steam them and they turn out a little chunky when I mash them. It is not an unpleasant texture. A quick sauté on the broccolini and we are ready for dinner.
Shrimp on succotash with new potatoes
I thought I was going to make green beans with the shrimp but the beans did not make the trip in the cooler to Utah well. So what to do? I have some fresh broccolini and celery as well as corn in the freezer. Succotash? I don’t like succotash because usually it has lima beans in it. I find their texture mealy. I decide to cut off part of the broccolini stems and combine that with celery, onions and garlic along with the corn. Success!
I steam the potatoes and John sautes the shrimp. The dinner takes about 1/2 hour to make. The sweetness of the corn goes well with the shrimp. The potatoes pop with a little butter, salt, and parsley. This is a good dinner and quick and easy to make.
North African bean stew with barley and winter squash
New recipe tonight! From New York Times Cooking a North African bean stew with barley and winter squash. This was a really tasty and filling vegetarian dish. We made up a new (to us) spice blend called baharat. Two thumbs up from John so we will be making this again!
The barley gives an unexpected chew and pop. The yogurt topping with hot paprika and cilantro was a good cool/hot element. Use vegetable stock to make this vegetarian. Vegans can enjoy this by using vegetable stock and omitting or substituting the yogurt.
Scallops, new potatoes, and snow peas
Seared scallops are always a favorite. How can any food so delicious be also low in calories!? It is something that the diet gods must have overlooked. Tonight’s scallops are served with steamed new potatoes and sautéed snow peas. The yummy sauce in the foreground is The Fish Market’s (SF area) delicious tartar sauce. It’s a combination of light mayo, rasped onion, garlic powder, yellow mustard, sweet relish, and Tabasco sauce. It is especially delicious on the potatoes!
Omnivore 