The meatballs are hidden under all the spaghetti.
This dinner was a sub for the fresh ravioli that spent too long in the fridge and got moldy. It was too bad but any (non-moldy) pasta dinner is A-OK with me. Boxed spaghetti, frozen meatballs, and jarred sauce made a perfectly acceptable dinner for us.
Occasionally frozen tuna steaks go on sale at the local grocery stores. I usually snap up a few and keep them in my freezer until we are in the mood for tuna. John marinates them in soy sauce, ginger and garlic powders, and salt for 15 to 30 minutes. He heats up a tablespoon of neutral flavored oil in a frying pan and cooks them for 3 to 4 minutes a side depending on how thick they are.
We served these with rice and broccoli that I sauteed in a pan with a splash of water, 1/2 teaspoon sesame oil, a teaspoon of butter, chili flakes, and salt. It felt like we were eating a fancy dinner at a restaurant!
John and I typically go out to lunch about every two weeks. Our restaurant of choice has been Bangkok 101. We love Thai food and especially Thai basil eggplant with tofu. We were really looking forward to it last week since we have been away over the holidays and were really craving our favorite dish. You can imagine our dismay when we arrived at the restaurant and it had closed. There was a big sign saying Indian Restaurant Coming Soon. Nooooo!
In the same little strip mall there is another restaurant, Mom’s Pho and Banh Mi. Obviously not Thai but we like pho and banh mi so we figured why not? I ordered the vegetable pho and it was truly great. The broth was delicious and the bowl was full of cabbage, carrots, tofu, shiitake mushrooms, and noodles. I added bean sprouts, basil, cilantro, and jalapeño from the dish of accompaniments. WOW.
We still need to find a new Thai restaurant but it is nice to know we have a delicious fallback.
Tonight we have tilapia tacos with all the fixings. We get our tilapia frozen in a bag of portion sized pieces from Costco. John thaws the two pieces overnight in the refrigerator and cooks the pieces in a little oil in a large frying pan. Broken in half they fit into two tortillas that he sears over an open flame on the stovetop.
My job is to make the fixings. I use the liquid from a can of Rotel to spice up the beans along with a shake of cumin and chipotle powder. While the beans heat up and the fish cooks I chop up a piece of red onion, an avocado, and a mango. I shred some cabbage. We serve the tacos with the tomatoes from the can of Rotel and a wedge of lime. This is a quick dinner that your whole family can enjoy.
On Wednesday Sarah made a delicious lasagna. The large 9×13 dish held enough for two dinners.
Sarah made a traditional lasagna with ground beef, tomato sauce, ricotta cheese, mozzarella, and Parmesan cheeses. It was delicious. We were really glad to have a second lasagna dinner on Thursday!
This is an easy chicken dinner you can make it in 15-20 minutes using shortcuts. First make a packet of chicken gravy (like McCormack’s). Then cut off a breast of rotisserie chicken and slice it into pieces. Put that into the chicken gravy that you’ve made. Turn to low to warm the chicken. Steam some broccoli and add a pat of butter when serving. Get a packet of Idahoan mashed potatoes. Follow the directions on the packet. (The directions are to dump the contents of the packet into 2 cups hot/boiling water and stir around. Let it sit for a minute and then stir again. That’s it.)
Put the chicken and mashed potatoes on a plate or bowl. Cover with gravy. Add the broccoli to the plate. The end.
This isn’t a fancy guest-grade dinner but it is super easy, quick to make and pretty tasty plus the potatoes are lump free!
According to my Weekly Menu we are supposed to be having a chicken dinner. I changed the plan because I was craving pasta. John cooked up a bunch of penne and I cut up the broccoli into very small pieces and put the pieces in a colander. My idea was to strain the pasta and at the same time blanch the broccoli. Ta da! It worked perfectly. I added a half cup of reserved pasta water and a couple of tablespoons of olive oil into the penne and broccoli mixture. Each bowl also had a sprinkle of parmesan cheese.
A perfect, easy dinner for when you are craving pasta! The chicken can wait until tomorrow.
Omnivore 