A while ago we bought a package of three NY strip steaks for $6.99/lb. Unfortunately unlike the two others in the package this steak was a little tough. John cooked it to a perfect medium rare and I paired it with a grilled baked potato and a combo of broccoli and cauliflower. It was still a good dinner but it could have been great.
When I saw this recipe calling for whole fish and all its fussiness I knew there was a way to make the dish easier. I pulled out a couple of frozen tilapia, defrosted them, and John and I made the best tilapia dish ever. John cooked the fish for about 10 minutes at 450F after first adding the citrus juices, orange zest, salt pepper, turmeric, and sumac. It came out delicious!
We served the fish with simply steamed white rice, orange and lime pieces, and a zesty herb, kale, and Romaine salad dressed with lemon juice and olive oil. After this dinner it will be hard to convince me to eat tilapia any other way.
Below is the original recipe with a whole fish. You can make it with a filet of white fish for an easier preparation.
SUMAC FISH
I think every time we have this dinner I say to John, I wish I could have another hamburger! They are so good! Tonight the little char on the bun was the perfect complement to the medium rare burger. A little mayo, ketchup, and sliced onion made my hamburger complete.
Tonight, instead of buying an expensive prepared salad I shredded some cabbage, thinly sliced part of an onion, and grated a carrot and made my own coleslaw dressed with a combination of light mayo, Dijon mustard, and cider vinegar as well as salt and pepper. If you like sweet slaw you could add sugar. John sprinkled his portion with celery seed. It was a fine dinner for a hot August night.
This is our second dinner made from the rotisserie chicken I bought at Costco. Now that we have used both breasts, the rest of the chicken will be used for lunches, solo dinners, and chicken stock.
We used instant mashed potatoes to keep from heating up the kitchen. Surprisingly John really likes these potatoes. I prefer my regular preparation of peeling, boiling, and mashing the potatoes with some milk and butter but I am willing to take this short cut. I wouldn’t use them for Thanksgiving dinner but instant mashed potatoes for a ho-hum weeknight dinner is fine.
I cooked the broccoli in lemon juice and butter and it turned some of the florets yellow. It must have been some chemical reaction between the broccoli and the acidic lemon juice. I will not do that again!
This is a tangy hot weather salad. I adapted it from a much more complicated recipe. Using rotisserie chicken, a mini-prep processor, a box grater, and a zoodler made this dish much easier.
Vietnamese Chicken and Rice Noodle Salad
Tonight we finished off Saturday’s lasagna and added a fresh salad.
If it were practical we would eat this every week!
I am finally returning to Breakfast for Dinner or BFD on Sundays. Nachos with eggs is one of my favorites. In the bottom of my bowl are tortilla chips then warmed black beans, corn, and kale. This is followed by a scrambled egg and salsa. Next up is shredded cheese and since we were out of green onions I used some fried onion bits. I popped the whole thing in the microwave until the cheese melted, probably about 45 seconds. Voila! An egg dish that was tasty and fun to eat!
I know this is not a hot weather dish. But we did beat the heat by making the sauce and assembling the lasagna on Friday morning, then refrigerating it. We finished up by baking it at 7 AM on Saturday. Saturday evening we cut ourselves pieces and heated our portion up in the microwave. It was so, so good.
In order to stretch the lasagna into two meals (we love lasagna and could have eaten the whole 9×13 dish in one sitting), I made a big salad and reminded everyone that salad is a part of dinner!
I prepared an easy vegetarian/vegan dinner for a hot evening. The hummus is simply one of Sabra’s varieties and the rice crackers are from Trader Joe’s. They are gluten free. After doing so much nothing as meal prep I decided to fancify my tossed salad by making it a chopped salad. Along with some small pieces of Romaine lettuce I chopped up celery, carrots, tomatoes, cauliflower, feta, scallions, and cucumber. I dressed mine with Bolthouse blue cheese dressing but vinaigrette would work as well.
For a vegan meal omit or replace salad dressing and feta.
Omnivore 