Pan-fried gnocchi with mushrooms and kale. 9/30/24

Posted on October 1, 2024 by Beebamom
Pan-fried gnocchi with mushrooms and kale

This started out as a sheet pan recipe.

https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1022479-sheet-pan-gnocchi-with-mushrooms-and-spinach?smid=ck-recipe-iOS-share

However, it is 99F outside and we are trying to keep the house cool so we changed it to a pan-fry cook and also decided to use raw kale instead of cooked spinach.

I have eaten gnocchi two times before this and have been unimpressed. This third time I was also unimpressed. Give me potatoes or give me pasta. Don’t try to mush them together! This just seemed like a heavy, sauceless plate of food. I think John liked it though. He ate the leftovers for lunch. So maybe it’s just me.

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Lamb stuffed baked peppers. 9/29/24

Posted on September 30, 2024 by Beebamom
Lamb and rice stuffed peppers with yogurt

This is a new recipe for us. We saw Sunny Anderson make something similar on The Kitchen and thought we would give it a try. Here is her recipe. https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/sunny-anderson/sunnys-easy-rice-and-lamb-stuffed-peppers-16716844.amp

I par-cooked the peppers, drained the lamb fat, and added some tomato sauce to mine. I also used the yogurt as a garnish rather than a sauce.

My negatives are that it was a bit greasy and the lamb flavor was lost. I guess I like my regular ground beef, rice, and tomato sauce better.

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Linguine with Meatballs. 9/28/24

Posted on September 29, 2024 by Beebamom
Linguine with meatballs

As often happens I get tired of cooking at the end of the week. So I decide to push the gnocchi dish into next week. The gnocchi is shelf stable and onions, kale, and mushrooms will last a while longer.

So I use up the rest of the linguine in the package, pour out the remainder of the frozen meatballs, open a jar of Rao’s tomato and basil sauce, and voila! dinner. I do put a little of my own spin on the sauce with red pepper flakes, garlic powder, and oregano.

It turns out really yummy. Now I wonder if I will bother making my own spaghetti sauce or meatballs in the future!

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Grilled NY Strip Steak. 9/27/24

Posted on September 28, 2024 by Beebamom
Grilled NY strip steak, asparagus, grilled sweet potato, tomato salad

When I was a teenager I remember my father grilling steaks on Saturday night. We each got a steak and we all looked forward to it. At our house we are not giving out one steak per person but John’s excellent grilling job means that we usually eat as much as is grilled.

Along with the steak I prepared sweet potatoes to be finished off on the grill, steamed asparagus, and a tomato salad with Boursin cheese balls.

Our plates were very colorful and appealing. The food was outstanding.

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Hummus, Tabbouleh, Skordalia. 9/24/24

Posted on September 25, 2024 by Beebamom
Hummus, tabbouleh, skodalia with pita

I did not write a post Monday because we called for pizza delivery due to the extreme temperatures. Unfortunately it was even hotter on Tuesday (100F!) Luckily I had planned a no-cook dinner.

The hummus was store-bought but I made the tabbouleh and skordalia. For the tabbouleh I use a recipe from Martha Shulman at The NY Times https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1012585-tabbouleh?smid=ck-recipe-iOS-share. It puts the emphasis on the parsley rather than the bulgur wheat although I do up the bulgur wheat to 1/2 cup instead of 1/4 cup. My family thinks it is the best!

I also made skordalia which is a garlicky, lemony potato dish. I used some microwave potatoes for the mashed potato part and added olive oil, 1/2 cup fresh lemon juice, and a bunch of garlic. It didn’t turn out exactly like the skordalia that I have had at Mediterranean restaurants but the family ate it for dinner and finished it up for lunch today.

We have a couple of reasonable weather days before the hot comes back on Friday. (Will it ever end!!?) I am running out of no-cook ideas!

Posted in Grains, Hot weather meals, Legumes, Mediterranean, Middle Eastern, Salad, Vegan, Vegetables, Vegetarian, Weeknight dinners | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Weekly Menu. September 23-29, 2024

Posted on September 23, 2024 by Beebamom

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Shrimp,Broccoli, Rice. 9/21/24

Posted on September 22, 2024 by Beebamom
Shrimp, rice, and broccoli

John did his expert sauté of the shrimp and I steamed some broccoli and chopped up a bit of oregano from the garden to give the rice a little pizazz. As we get toward the end of the cooking week the dinners get simpler to make but still taste great.

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Cavatappi and meatballs. 9/20/24

Posted on September 21, 2024 by Beebamom
Cavatappi and meatballs

Cavatappi is hollow, corkscrew shaped pasta. I know I have said that I prefer strands with red spaghetti sauce but John likes shapes so we compromised. It turned out to be really delicious! I took a cup of leftover Rao’s tomato and basil sauce and added V-8, tomato paste, oregano, chile flakes, and oregano. Doing this expanded the amount of sauce I had. The meatballs were simply Rosina’s frozen home style meatballs I added them, still frozen, to the sauce as I was cooking it.

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Chilean Sea Bass. 9/19/24

Posted on September 20, 2024 by Beebamom
Chilean sea bass, tarragon rice, and asparagus

It is amazing that we can make such a delicious dinner so quickly. Since we had some white rice already cooked I merely heated it up in the microwave with a little butter and some minced tarragon. Adding an herb to white rice really is an easy and “fancy” hack. John roasted the seasoned and oiled sea bass fillets in a 400F oven for 12 minutes and during that time I steamed the asparagus and finished it with a pat of butter.

This was a no occasion, special occasion dinner. It is great to treat ourselves to a delicious, although pricy, piece of fish once in a while.

Posted in American, Easy, Fish, Kitchen tips, Methods, pescatarian, rice, Special occasion, Vegetables, Weeknight dinners | Tagged | Leave a comment

Costco Rotisserie Chicken. 9/17/24

Posted on September 18, 2024 by Beebamom
Costco rotisserie chicken with mashed potatoes and broccoli

After our usual Tuesday lunch outing Sarah and I stopped at Grocery Outlet and Costco. At Costco we picked up a rotisserie chicken for $4.99.

When we got home Sarah took apart the chicken and I shredded one of the breasts to freeze for a dinner next week and the other one was destined for dinner tonight. We also had a bag of chicken skin for cracklings, thighs, legs, and wings for lunches, and the picked carcass for stock. What a lot of value from this chicken!

John sliced up the breast and warmed it gently in chicken gravy. I made mashed potatoes and broccoli. It was a quick, easy, and economical dinner!

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