Chili? 6/19/24

Posted on June 20, 2024 by Beebamom
Chili?

Why can we not make chili that tastes like chili!? The problem this time was that we used the trimmings from our Father’s Day ribs and the BBQ sauce remnants on our Qbits (John’s name for the leftovers) made the whole pot of chili too, too sweet. Granted I do not like sweet things to begin with but this was way over the top for me. I tried all sorts of remedies—more salt, Tabasco, fish sauce, and even instant coffee grounds but nothing wiped away the taste. Since John ate 3 bowls I think he liked it fine. Next time I am commandeering the kitchen and following a recipe that has no hint of sweet!

P.S. The salty tortilla chips on top helped some.

Posted in American, Legumes, Pork, Southwest U.S., Vegetables, Weeknight dinners | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Grilled NY Strip Steak. 6/18/24

Posted on June 19, 2024 by Beebamom
Grilled NY strip steak, grilled baked potato, asparagus

Yummy meal tonight. We took advantage of a sale on these steaks for 6.97/lb. at Safeway. They came in a pack of four so it was kind of a gamble. This first steak which was about 1 lb. was a good size for the three of us. We each got 4 slices and a bit of bone to nibble on. John cooked it on the grill in about 6 minutes and then let it rest for 5 minutes. It turned out a perfect medium rare.

An easy way to grill a baking potato is to cut it in half, score it, and add a little olive oil and salt on the cut side. Then microwave it until a knife slides in easily. John took over at this point putting the potato halves on the grill to get some char. The asparagus was simply steamed in a little water.

Posted in American, Beef, Easy, Grilling, Methods, Vegetables, Weeknight dinners | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

Vegan Chickpea Stew. 6/17/24

Posted on June 18, 2024 by Beebamom
Chickpeas with ditalini and greens

This is one of our go-to vegan dishes. It is packed full of a variety of vegetables and is filling due to a can of chickpeas and a half cup of soup-sized pasta. The vegetable broth is enhanced by adding a can of Rotel. This is a great way to use up vegetables that may be getting tired. Whatever you have on hand just chop it up and add it to the pot!

Posted in American, Legumes, Pasta, stew, Vegan, Vegetables, Vegetarian, Weeknight dinners | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Father’s Day faux cookout. 6/16/24

Posted on June 17, 2024 by Beebamom
St. Louis style ribs with Texas caviar and tortilla chips

I started out thinking that for Father’s Day we would grill some meat and corn plus serve a salad for John, our daughter, our son, who is also a dad, and his kids. But then I started thinking about all the work that would make for John since he is our griller. So I asked him if he would prefer ribs from the deli that we could just heat up in the microwave and the answer was an emphatic, yes! Then the grilled corn morphed into corn chips, and the only thing I ended up making was Texas caviar, a glorified two bean salad. Our daughter made a chocolate cake which we served with dark chocolate pretzel ice cream.

Everybody loved everything! Well, the grandkids did not eat the salad but that was okay because now we have plenty of leftovers. We had a great time sitting on the patio talking and laughing for hours. Happy Father’s Day!

Posted in American, Easy, Holidays, Hot weather meals, Legumes, Pork, Salad, Vegetables | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Weekly Menu. June 17-23, 2024i

Posted on June 16, 2024 by Beebamom

I post a weekly menu in the kitchen. I can easily refer to it when I am making a shopping list and our daughter checks off the dinners she would like to participate in. However, the menu is not etched in stone and depending on unexpected events, the weather, and general cooking malaise we are flexible. In fact two of the dinner we were supposed to eat last week have migrated to this week’s menu.

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Shrimp and polenta with broccoli. 6/14/24

Posted on June 15, 2024 by Beebamom
Shrimp and polenta with broccoli

For this dinner we make a very loose polenta so it acts like a thick sauce. It is delicious with the sautéed shrimp and broccoli. As an added element I toasted up some French’s fried onions. So far I have not been able to brown them rather than cook them until they are black. They go from golden to black very quickly. If they look perfect in the pan it is probably already too late.

Posted in American, Easy, Grains, Kitchen tips, pescatarian, Shellfish, Vegetables, Weeknight dinners | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Asian tofu bowl. 6/13/24

Posted on June 14, 2024 by Beebamom
Asian tofu bowl

Since I am not supposed to do much these first couple of days after my cataract surgery I left most of the prep up to the rest of the family. Here is what our prep looked like—

Now it was just a matter of heating up some rice and individually selecting what we wanted in our bowls. I chose marinated tofu, shredded cabbage, cucumber, cilantro, Fresno chile, green onion, avocado, lime, soy vinaigrette, and sesame oil. It was quite yummy and we have enough components for our daughter to compose another dinner tomorrow night.

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Everything grilled! 6/11/24

Posted on June 11, 2024 by Beebamom
Grilled lamb chops, sweet potato, and cauliflower

Today’s division of labor was my doing the prep and pre-cook on the sweet potato and cauliflower while John prepped the lamb chops and cooked everything on the grill.

The loin lamb chops turned out perfectly medium rare and the sweet potatoes were great with some char. I was hoping that the cauliflower would pick up more brown from the grill. We used a slotted grill pan to cook them but I think we need a different technology for cooking vegetables. The pan must have agreed since it broke. I think I will look for a hinged grilling basket so the vegetables get more exposure and can be turned over.

Posted in American, Easy, Grilling, Hot weather meals, Lamb, Vegetables | Tagged | Leave a comment

Chicken with gravy and vegetables. 6/9/24

Posted on June 11, 2024 by Beebamom
Chicken and gravy with carrots and broccoli plus mashed potatoes

Uh oh, I am getting behind with my posts again! It must be due to unexciting dinners. On Sunday instead of our usual eggs we used up the rest of our Costco rotisserie chicken. This week’s chicken yielded two dinners and two lunches. Quite a bargain for $4.99!

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Weekly Menu. June 10-16, 2024

Posted on June 9, 2024 by Beebamom

This week has a couple of events. Sunday the 16th is Father’s Day and I am trying to come up with food that will let John relax instead of cook. But it also needs to be something that the grandkids will eat so it is currently up in the air until I hear back about whether they like ribs. The other event is that I am having cataract surgery on Wednesday so I want to make something light for Tuesday and then we will just get take-out on Wednesday.

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