Omnivore

Long ago on a family vacation we had a horrid meal in Utah. Actually we had several horrid meals over many years when eating out in Utah. Nonetheless we went ahead and bought a vacation place here in Utah and we must occasionally find a way to dine out. John came up with a solution. One must always order the item on the menu that has the least steps performed on it by a human. The classic example is “kill cow, cook cow, eat cow.” It has served us well.

On Tuesday we ate lunch at the Mongolian BBQ in the Zion Outlet Mall in St. George. First you get a bowl. Then you walk down a counter with an array of fresh vegetables, par-cooked noodles and frozen slivers of meat choosing what you would like to eat. You add various sauces. You hand it to one of the cooks and he cooks it on a large, very hot flat top grill. A couple of times around the grill and it is done. I always get a vegetarian bowl. In my case it is pick veg, cook veg, eat veg. Safe and delicious.

The Mongolian BBQ is our son, Jonathan’s, favorite restaurant in St. George. I am betting that when he is here next week we eat there a minimum of three times.

Sorry the picture is so small. I took it with my phone.

Vegetarian bowl at the Mongolian BBQ, St. George, Utah

A new recipe! We found some farro at Dixie Nutrition here in St. George. First thing Tuesday morning, I parboiled the pepper halves and cooked the farro according to my brown rice recipe from Cook’s Illustrated – preheat the oven to 375, put 1 1/2 cups of farro in an 8 X 8 glass baking dish that has been sprayed with cooking spray, add 1 tsp. of salt, and add 2 1/3 cups of boiling water. Cover this tightly with a double layer of aluminum foil. Bake one hour and then stir it around to fluff it up. Allow it to sit another 5 minutes loosely covered. I mixed the farro with black beans, mushrooms, onions, tomato paste, and chili type spices and moistened it with some plain canned tomato sauce that I had added chipotle powder and cumin to. Later in the day I stuffed the peppers and added additional sauce on top. These were then baked in a 350 oven for 45 minutes.

I really like the combination of ranch dressing and salsa for a salad dressing but I do not like all the calories. My dressing consisted of yogurt, a tablespoon of light mayo, lime juice, salsa, cumin and cilantro. Tasted good to me.

Bell pepper stuffed with farro and black beans and salad with creamy salsa dressing

I have been a little concerned that John is getting too skinny so I am encouraging him to eat more. Although eating a bunch of red meat isn’t a good idea, a hamburger every few months I think is okay. So he grills himself a hamburger and grills me a mushroom and everybody’s happy.

On today’s mushroom burger I also used a half an ounce of goat cheese, arugula, and some red bell pepper that we had charred on the grill and peeled. John’s burger and mine were served on sandwich rounds. I also microwaved a couple of baking potatoes, cut them in half and seasoned them with olive oil spray, salt, pepper and garlic powder. John grilled these as well. Our dinner was rounded out with an arugula and tomato salad with non-fat Italian dressing. The addition of the goat cheese and bell pepper made my burger especially tasty.

Portobello burger garnished with goat cheese, arugula and roasted red pepper served with grilled baked potato and salad