Tonight was our typical Classic Chicken Dinner. It consisted of rotisserie chicken, chicken gravy, broccoli, and Idahoan mashed potatoes. The only real cooking I did was to steam the broccoli. John really enjoys this easy dinner. We make it often.
On Wednesday of my no-planning week we decided we wanted pizza. Having dinner delivered hot to our door is always very alluring. John ordered an extra large Italian sausage pizza. The three of us ate half of it (2 slices each) on Wednesday and then reheated the other half on Thursday. I was going to make a salad on Thursday but forgot.
I think I am done with my no-planning lifestyle. I am having trouble remembering what day of the week it is without my menu hanging in the kitchen. I am also not eating as many vegetable as usual. So I am finishing off the week with some planning. Friday will be classic chicken and Saturday will feature tilapia in a mustard sauce. I have broccoli to go with the chicken and asparagus as a side with the tilapia. Sunday is our egg day and the day to figure out what next week’s menu will be.
Happy St. Patrick’s Day! I am about half English, a quarter German, and a quarter Irish by my imprecise reckoning. I know there were Sullivans and Martins in my past. So at least Sarah and I have some claim to this holiday. I followed a recipe from NYTimes Cooking to make my corned beef and vegetables.
https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1020074-corned-beef-and-cabbage?smid=ck-recipe-iOS-share
It took a long time to cook. I probably overcooked the meat a bit since I cooked it longer than the recommended time but it still tasted good. The real stars were the carrots which really picked up the briny flavor. I know that John is looking forward to the leftovers for lunch today!
In this bowl (hiding beneath the lettuce) are all the ingredients you might find in a chicken burrito. There is rice, chicken, corn, black beans, salsa, cilantro, and green onions. The chips take the place of a tortilla and the sour cream is just for general yummy-ness. This is super easy to make and good for hot summer nights.
John always refers jokingly to hot dogs as tube steaks. We enjoy Nathan’s all-beef “tube steaks” and I served them with a salad and sauerkraut.
Sometimes you just feel like having a piece of beef. This dinner really hit the spot this week.
We did not feel like going through the mess of a complicated dinner so we opted for air-frying fish fillets and making a packaged salad. It was easy and we enjoyed it.
After declaring that it was too hot to be cooking anything last night, Sarah departed the kitchen and left us to our own devices. I decided I wanted a summery pasta meal so we blistered some cherry tomatoes, sauteed corn, and made a sauce for our whole grain penne with olive oil and pasta water. It was a taste of summer to come.
We watched Jet Tila make this recipe on Food Network. The most important step to remember is, have your mise en place ready before you start cooking anything. The whole cook time is about 10 minutes. A couple of things I would do differently would be to cut the red bell peppers in shorter pieces and to increase the sambal while decreasing the oyster sauce.
KUNG PAO SHRIMP
John as always is our master chef of grilling. The hamburgers were done perfectly and enjoyed by all. Sarah contributed the Takis potato chips which were the worst chips ever! They were totally saltless and tasteless. We threw them out. I made the salad. I chose to have my burger open faced which really slows down the eating process. I cut it up with a knife and fork, so civilized!
Even though the calendar says it is still winter, with temps in the 70s, this was an ideal night for grilling!
Omnivore 