John, ever eagle-eyed, caught a mistake in yesterday’s recipe. It should read 2 cups of water or broth not 4! Here is the updated recipe.

John, ever eagle-eyed, caught a mistake in yesterday’s recipe. It should read 2 cups of water or broth not 4! Here is the updated recipe.


Since I returned home from vacation we have made scrambled eggs Thursday night and skipped dinner altogether on Friday. The 8 hours of jet lag makes it hard to contemplate making meals. On Saturday, though, we decided that eating a regular meal at the correct time would help put me back in the Pacific time zone.
This is an easy dinner with lots of flavor. John made the polenta while I made the beans and the little salad on top. Wish we would have had an avocado but they were all hard as rocks.
Here’s the recipe as I have adapted it –


Hi, I’m back from my wonderful vacation with our daughter. I hope you enjoyed the couple of posts from John while I was gone. I think I am going to try the chicken enchilada casserole he made one of these days.
It is so good to get back to the food that I normally make and eat. I certainly ate a lot more red meat and fried things than I usually do. Tonight’s dinner was easy, nutritious, and certainly less calorie-dense than my cruise food.
John roasted the seasoned tilapia in the oven for about 12 minutes at 400F. I steamed the combination of russet and baby red potatoes and cooked the broccoli in a little water. I also made a mustard sauce out of mayo, yellow mustard, Dijon mustard, whole grain mustard, lemon juice, garlic powder, chopped cornichons, a little Splenda, and a tablespoon of water to make it more sauce-y.

John seems to be doing fine cooking for himself. One of the things he made is this chicken enchilada casserole. It looks easier than our regular chicken enchiladas since it is stacked instead of rolled. Maybe I will try this the next time I make chicken enchiladas.

I see that John has decided to cook once and eat twice. Planned-overs are great especially if you are cooking for one. He used our chana dal recipe but substituted toor dal. I find the toor dal too mushy so I am glad he is eating it while I am away.

As promised John sent along a picture and recipe of his first solo meal since I left on vacation. Congee is an Asian rice porridge suitable for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. Thanks and ❤️ to John!
Savory Dinner Congee (kind of a hot and sour vibe)
2 Tbs chopped onion
1 Tbs chopped ginger
2 cloves garlic, chopped
some chili flakes
1 slice deli ham, chopped
1 cup leftover cooked rice
2 cups chicken broth
2 Tbs rice or cider vinegar
1 Tbs soy sauce
1/2 cup or more diced leftover chicken
1 egg
1/4 tsp sesame oil
leftover vegetables, chopped
1 scallion, sliced thin
Sweat the onion, ginger, chili flakes and ham in a little oil.
Add rice and broth. Stir to combine. Bring to strong boil.
Boil at least 10 minutes, whisking often until the mixture thickens.
Reduce heat. Add vinegar, soy sauce, and chicken. Stir to combine and heat through.
Crack the egg into the mixture. Let sit for at least 3 minutes until the egg white is set.
Whisk mixture to break up egg white and disperse egg yolk thoroughly.
Add sesame oil and any chopped vegetables at this point. Stir and simmer to warm through.
Correct with additional salt, soy, vinegar, chili, sesame oil and/or Tabasco as needed.
Ladle into bowls and garnish with scallions.
Makes 2 ample bowls.

I am taking a vacation with our daughter starting tomorrow. Since we will be on a plane for a long time I wanted to make sure dinner tonight was easy on my digestive system. Therefore we made chicken breast with a gluten free gravy, plain white rice, and asparagus. It turned out fine and I feel confident that my tummy will be happy tomorrow.
I will send along a post if we eat something interesting. Maybe I can get John to send me a picture or two of what a guy makes and eats when he is on his own. Otherwise I will be back posting regularly in a couple of weeks.

This potato stew is so delicious! We could not help ourselves and ate the whole pot. According to Wikipedia Gochujang is a savory, sweet, and spicy fermented condiment popular in Korean cooking. We found it in our regular grocery store’s Asian section in a red rectangular plastic container.
The stew is pretty simple. It starts out by sauteeing onions and garlic, adds the Gochujang, chicken or vegetable stock, potatoes, and a can of cannellini beans. After 10 minutes you add kale and cook it another 10 minutes. Two changes we made to the recipe from the NY Times Cooking was to add both waxy and russet potatoes and to omit the honey. It is sweet enough from the Gochujang.
Here’s a link to the recipe I used.
https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1024082-gochujang-potato-stew?smid=ck-recipe-iOS-share
NY Times Cooking is behind a paywall but no doubt there are plenty of recipes on the internet.
Seriously, I could eat this every week!

Since I have trouble digesting gluten, sandwiches and burgers on buns are no longer in my dinner plans. I know that there are gluten-free breads but they are a woeful substitution. Last night I decided just to eat the innards of a traditional grilled hamburger. I put the meat on a bed of lettuce that had a smear of mayo and topped it with onions and ketchup. It was not like the real thing but it was fine.
I made our family favorite, Texas caviar, as a side. The combination of beans and fresh vegetables that is spiced up with a jalapeno, Tabasco, and chipotle chile powder is really tasty.