Except for chopping up potatoes, onions, leeks, and celery everything else is pretty much a pantry item. We used canned minced clams, clam juice, the liquid from the clams, and some heavy cream. We made a big pot of it in the hopes that there would be plenty left over. Only problem is that we all liked it so much that each of us had two bowls! There was only enough left for John’s lunch on Saturday.
Tonight Sarah made us a Mediterranean bowl. Loaded on top of rice were chickpeas, slivered red onions, hummus, tomatoes, cucumber, parsley, olives, and feta cheese. We gave it a drizzle of olive oil and it was ready to eat. It was tasty, healthy, and filling. I am really enjoying Sarah’s Thursday night creations.
Lots of folks here in Northern California are celebrating Lunar New Year. Since we are a family who likes to share in the celebrations of lots of cultures, we decide to make a holiday dinner of Asian treats. We started off with pot stickers. I cannot claim to have made them. The Ling Ling pork and vegetable pot stickers come in a frozen bag but I did have to follow directions and try to get them unstuck from the pan!
After our first course of pot stickers we completed cooking the Vietnamese soup, pho, with beef. I used a shortened recipe from Jet Tila of the Food Network. We started by enhancing some beef stock with spices, onions, ginger, and fish sauce. When the stock has cooked for a bit you sieve it and serve the soup with some cooked rice noodles, jalapeño, onion slices, bean sprouts, cilantro, basil, and some very thinly sliced beef. We took a short cut and used some rare beef sliced from the deli.
Here’s a link to Jet Tila’s recipe in case you would like to try making it.
Here’s a picture of how ours turned out. We had too many accompaniments for the amount of broth. Next time we will double the amount of beef broth.
We had fun trying some dishes that we don’t normally make. It was also pretty delicious!
Instead of our usual chicken enchiladas we decided to go with chicken tacos this week. I shredded up a chicken breast from our Costco chicken and fashioned a make-your-own taco bar. John toasted tortillas and we filled our tacos with the shredded chicken, shredded cabbage, chopped onions, cheese, salsa verde, and a sprinkling of our spicy beans. The beans were simply a combination of canned black beans and Rotel (a spicy tomato mixture) and some cumin. (In typing this up I just realized I forgot the cilantro!)
The dinner was fine but I think that we will be going back to enchiladas next week!
It’s chilly out but not too cold to grill hamburgers! We had a summer dinner at the end of January. John did a great job grilling our burgers to medium rare. I made a fresh salad to go along side. January or June, grilled hamburgers are a great dinner.
Our dinner for Sunday night was a hearty pasta bowl. While the salted water heated up I sautéed the mushrooms with onions and garlic and wilted the kale in the same pan. When the penne was cooked John drained it and put it in my pan of vegetables. I stirred the penne and veg and then added a half cup of pasta water and a tablespoon of olive oil. We sprinkled some Parmesan cheese on top.
We make a very loose polenta, about a ratio of 6:1, and use it as both a starch and a sauce. It is especially good with broccoli. John cooks the salmon in a 400F oven for 10 to 12 minutes depending on thickness and it is cooked but still moist inside. The whole dinner comes together in about 30 minutes. Easy, quick, and delicious!
Thursday night is Sarah’s night for cooking. It is fun for us to try the dishes she enjoys. Tonight we had a pasta dish that combined spaghetti with buttery cabbage and onions, parmesan cheese, and was topped with crumbled feta. It was delicious! We all wished we could have had seconds.
Here’s the recipe she used. She sent me a text saying “less butter and oil obvi.” She knows I would have cut the bounteous butter and oil obviously.
https://www.thetakeout.com/dinner-recipe-cabbage-fettuccine-pasta-a-pantry-stapl-1842532208/
On Tuesday along with our purchase of rotisserie chicken from Costco we also got a package of loin lamb chops. John does such a good job grilling them and we all enjoy gnawing on the bones. For my part I did the zap part of the potatoes (microwaving) and then handed the cooked, split, oiled, and salted potatoes off to John to give them a bit of char on the grill. IDBS refers to Incredibly Delicious Brussels Sprouts. The halved sprouts are started off in a pan with a little water. They are sprinkled with salt, a bit of sugar, and dotted with butter. They cook cut side down, covered for around 10 minutes. Taking off the cover the remaining water dissipates quickly. At this point I add a shot glass of dry sherry. It really enhances their nutty flavor. The sprouts continue to cook until the cut side is brown. They turn out so delicious!
Thursday night it is Sarah’s turn to cook. I hear she is making a pasta and cabbage combo. Can’t wait!
Omnivore 