Sliced chicken breast and rice with gravy and mixed vegetables
Tonight is dinner number one from our Costco rotisserie chicken. Sarah is our expert chicken disassembler and now we have bags of dark meat, white meat, and shredded white meat (my job is shredding) in the refrigerator and additions to our stock-to-be in the freezer.
John makes the gravy from a packet and gently warms up the sliced chicken breast. He made the rice yesterday so it only needs warming in the microwave. I am running low on vegetables so I make a combination of broccoli, carrots, and shallot. In less than 30 minutes dinner is ready.
Grilled NY strip steak, grilled baked potato, sautéed Brussels sprouts
Gosh, we are having tasty meals this week! John grilled the steaks to a perfect medium rare and tended over the potato I had baked earlier so that the surface slightly charred. I made what my family calls IDBS, incredibly delicious Brussels sprouts. The flavor of the sprouts is enhanced with butter, sugar, salt, and dry sherry.
Pan-fried scallops with a beurre blanc sauce, instant mashed potatoes, sautéed broccoli
Tuesday’s dinner was supposed to be salmon with a mustard sauce. I ask John to take out a couple of pieces of salmon to defrost. He cannot find it. John is notorious for not being able to find things in the refrigerator and freezer so I am not concerned. I will find the salmon myself I think. No such luck! A quick pivot to sea scallops saves the day!
His job is to cook the scallops. My job is to cut up and cook the broccoli, prepare the mashed potatoes, and make the beurre blanc. I call unfair division of labor! John reconsiders and takes over the potatoes.
Costco is not carrying the scallops that we have used forever. Our previous ones were U-12s, big and luscious. These new ones are a bit smaller but at least are not packed in preservative. John cooks them for a smidge too long but they still come out pretty tasty.
I am scrambling to get the broccoli in the pan and figure out how to make a beurre blanc. The sauce needs some oversight or else it will split. It is basically an emulsion of white wine and white wine vinegar and butter with some minced shallot and a tablespoon of milk or cream as a stabilizer. The butter needs to stay cold and is whisked into the liquid off heat. There are a lot of recipes for beurre blanc on line. It turns out that it is pretty easy to make and mine does not break.
Our dinner turns out really tasty and we are happy with it. But we are still hoping that Costco will bring back the large bags of scallops!
This was an easy peasy dinner made by boiling the hot dogs, toasting the buns, eating the leftover bean salad from our cookout yesterday, and warming up a can of sauerkraut.
An easy dinner tonight because we are setting up for Christmas in August tomorrow. Since John and I missed Christmas last year while we were away cruising and catching Covid, we still owe the family a celebration and gifts.
Tonight, though, we are making a dinner of frozen “take out” wings and a salad with blue cheese dressing. Tomorrow will be a cook-out with burgers, hors d’oeuvres, Texas caviar, and cake and ice cream.
This pasta dish was supposed to be orecchiette with sausage and kale. Since I could not find orecchiette for less than $5.19/lb. I decided that $0.99 medium shells would be a fine substitute. Along with my on sale pasta I got spicy Italian bulk sausage which was marked down $2.00 because it was nearing its sell-by date. Add to that about $1.00 worth of kale and we had a delicious dinner for the three of us for around $5.00 with enough leftover for another meal! I love a good bargain!
I sautéed the the sausage with onion and garlic and skimmed off the excess grease before adding in the pasta that John had expertly cooked. Then I added a lot of kale and some pasta water and stirred it all together. A garnish of olive oil and Parmesan cheese completed the dishes. Yum!
I made six stuffed pepper halves around 6:30 AM on Wednesday morning. First I opened the front and back doors and put on the fans. It is quite cool this time of day so all the cooking and baking does not heat up the house. As an added plus I am a morning person and at my energy peak first thing in the AM. It’s all downhill from then on. The idea of merely heating my pre-made dinner in the microwave at dinner time is very appealing to me.
For the peppers I used red bell peppers. They are more easily digestible although more expensive than green ones. My stuffing consisted of sautéed ground beef seasoned with salt, pepper, oregano, red pepper flakes, and garlic powder. After skimming the grease out of the pan, I sautéed some chopped onions and then added tomato paste. A little wine deglazed the pan. I added a large can of crushed tomatoes and enough cooked rice to thicken the sauce.
The red bell pepper shells got a head start cooking with four minutes in the microwave. Then I put the filling into the shells, added a little of the leftover crushed tomatoes, and baked them in a 350F oven for 30 minutes. After baking I let them cool off and then put them in the refrigerator until it was time for dinner.
I like a dinner that incorporates meat, vegetables, and a starch all in one. Stuffed peppers checks all those boxes.
Note: to create a vegan or vegetarian dish omit Parmesan cheese.
This yummy vegetable and legume creation comes together in about a half an hour if you are a fast chopper. I tend to start the onions cooking while I am chopping up the rest of the veg. Here’s the recipe –
Not only is this tasty and super healthy but it is so attractive! Taking pictures of vegetable dishes is way easier than trying to make a hunk of meat look good.
Shrimp tacos with mango salsa and spicy black beans
It has been just about a month since we had this dinner. Not only is it delicious but healthy too! Plus the calorie count is pretty low. So, win, win, win!
John as usual cooked the shrimp perfectly while simultaneously charring the corn tortillas over an open flame. I made the mango salsa with the spicy tomato part of a can of Rotel and a ripe mango. The spicy black beans were cooked in the juice from the can of Rotel and further spiced up with cumin and chipotle powder.
Not shown were our before-sies, guacamole and tortilla chips and a margarita. You can’t be perfect all the time!
Omnivore 