Chilean sea bass, potato puffs, broccoli 11/22/23

Posted on November 22, 2023 by Beebamom
Oven roasted Chilean sea bass, potato puffs, and broccoli

And the hits keep coming this Thanksgiving week! So far this vacation week with our son we have made skirt steak tacos, seared scallops, grilled ribeye steak, and now roasted Chilean sea bass. What a yummy week fitting of Thanksgiving when we are thankful for our family and the bounty of our great country.

Wednesday’s dinner was quick and easy to make. The potato puffs (tater tots) went in the oven first and the fish followed with 15 minutes to go. Both cooked at 400F so we needed the potatoes to cook a little longer since the package calls for 450F. I started the broccoli after the fish was in the oven for 5 minutes. Using a delicious fish like Chilean sea bass is all it takes to make a dinner special.

Since I am writing this on Thanksgiving morning, Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you will take time out from your busy day today to relax, enjoy your family and guests, and be thankful.

Posted in American, Easy, Fish, pescatarian, Vacation cuisine, Weeknight dinners | Tagged | Leave a comment

Thanksgiving leftovers. 11/21/23

Posted on November 22, 2023 by Beebamom
Grilled ribeye steak, baked grilled potato, asparagus, leek, and Brussels sprouts melange, beurre blanc sauce

Since we did not have a traditional Thanksgiving dinner, we did not have traditional leftovers. I know Turkey Day leftovers are great until they aren’t. We finished up our leftovers the day after Thanksgiving after a run to the grocery store to pick up a couple of additional items.

We had some of the braised leeks, mushrooms, and asparagus left over but not quite enough so I added some Brussels sprouts. We had enough mashed potatoes but I felt I needed to cut down on my butter and cream intake so I got one new potato which I microwaved and gave half to the guys in their mash and half to me after a quick trip to the grill. Finally since we had no protein leftover we bought a ribeye steak that John expertly grilled.

So really this dinner wasn’t a lot of work but it was a little more than heating up a plate of leftover turkey and sides. It tasted like a whole new addition to our week’s menu.

Posted in American, Beef, Easy, leftovers, Vacation cuisine, Vegetables, Weeknight dinners | Tagged | Leave a comment

Thanksgiving three days early. 11/20/23

Posted on November 21, 2023 by Beebamom
Scallops, mashed potatoes, braised leeks, asparagus, and mushrooms in a beurre blanc sauce

I will bet that this does not look like your Thanksgiving plate! But with the exception of mashed potatoes all these foods were available in some form to the Pilgrims. According to Wikipedia, Atlantic scallops were being gathered from the cold Atlantic waters as early as the 1500s. Asparagus was brought over from Europe in the 1600s, and wild leeks and mushrooms were abundant. Only the potato, a new world vegetable from South America, had not yet made it to Pilgrim-land.

Why did we celebrate on Monday? Because that is when the local grocery store has fresh scallops. You do not want to keep your scallops hanging around from Monday to Thursday.

But why not go the traditional turkey route? First, no one here is a big turkey fan, second, this dinner is super delicious, third, our son makes it, and fourth, all of the above.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Posted in American, Holidays, pescatarian, Shellfish, Special occasion, Vacation cuisine, Vegetables | Tagged | Leave a comment

Skirt steak tacos. 11/19/23

Posted on November 20, 2023 by Beebamom
Skirt steak tacos and salad

On Saturday we spent the whole day in the car getting to St. George, Utah. Then the first order of business was to pick up sushi for dinner and buy the fixings for Sunday’s dinner.

Our son brought along some of his blend of taco seasoning and made a delicious dinner for us of skirt steak tacos and I rustled up a salad to complete our Sunday supper.

Posted in American, Beef, Easy, Mexican, Salad, Vacation cuisine, Vegetables, Weeknight dinners | Tagged | Leave a comment

Sheet pan dinner. 11/16/23

Posted on November 17, 2023 by Beebamom

Cooking an all-in-one dinner is a bonus for the cook, the diners, and the clean-up crew. Here is a picture of my sheet pan as it came out of the oven.

Turkey sausage, cauliflower, mushrooms, carrots, broccoli, and potatoes

The cook (me) has merely to chop up the vegetables cutting them in sizes that will make them cooked through all at the same time. I used a plastic bag to toss the vegetables in oil and salt. The sheet tray cooked at 400F for 28 minutes.

The diners (John and me) have a stunning, colorful plate. Roasted vegetables are the tastiest way to eat vegetables. The roasting process brings out their natural sweetness. The only garnish we used was mustard.

Wow! Look at my plate!

Finally the clean-up crew (John) has only to discard the aluminum foil from the sheet pan and load two plates, some cooking utensils, and two forks and two knives in the dishwasher.

Seriously, a sheet pan dinner is a win-win-win for both of us.

Posted in American, Easy, Kitchen tips, Methods, Poultry, Sheet pan, Vegetables, Weeknight dinners | Tagged | Leave a comment

Kung Pao Shrimp. 11/14/23

Posted on November 15, 2023 by Beebamom
Kung pao shrimp with rice

This is the third time we have made this shrimp recipe by Jet Tila.

https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/kung-pao-shrimp-7112947

The first time was with shrimp and it turned out well. The second time we tried it with pork and it bombed out. So shrimp seems to be a better choice for us since once again it turned out quite delicious. We happened to have cashews on hand and they are really a better choice than peanuts which we used the first time.

The most vital part of the recipe is to have all the components ready when you heat up the pan. The cooking goes very fast and there is no time to chop something up or look for an ingredient.

Posted in Asian, Chinese, Easy, Kitchen tips, pescatarian, Recipes, rice, Shellfish, Vegetables, Weeknight dinners | Tagged | Leave a comment

Quaker Oats meatloaf, baked potato, mixed vegetables 11/13/23

Posted on November 14, 2023 by Beebamom
Quaker Oats meatloaf, baked potato, cauliflower and broccoli

I tried a new meatloaf recipe from Quaker Oats replacing the bread crumbs with old fashioned rolled oats or quick oats. It came out quite good except for being a bit crumbly. I have seen other recipes using quick oats which are finer in texture. Maybe they would have made the meatloaf hang together better but I just used what I had on hand. Here is the recipe –

https://www.quakeroats.com/cooking-and-recipes/classic-meatloaf

Since the meat loaf had to roast in the oven for almost an hour at 350F I zapped the potato halves in the microwave for 4 minutes to make up for the lower temperature and then stuck them in the oven with the meatloaf. They came out perfectly cooked.

Finally when the meatloaf and potato were done I sautéed the broccoli and cauliflower in a covered pan with 1/4 cup of water, a tablespoon of butter, and salt. After a few minutes I uncovered the pan letting the water evaporate and causing the vegetables to brown in the residual butter.

I served my plate with a puddle of ketchup which I love with baked potatoes and meatloaf. Excitingly we have enough meatloaf leftovers for lunch today!

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Breakfast for Dinner. 11/12/23

Posted on November 13, 2023 by Beebamom
Scrambled eggs and broccoli over Asian rice

For this Sunday’s BFD John made his usual omelet and I tried something different. At lunch I had a banh mi bowl from Lee’s Sandwiches, a local chain. As the rice component there was a jasmine rice that had some sweetness to it. I did not eat all of it so I figured that the rice could be the base for my dish.

I added a little soy sauce to the rice so it would not taste sweet and also added some broccoli florets and green onions. Heating up the rice in the microwave was enough to cook the florets and green onions. Then I scrambled two eggs to a soft curd and put them on top of the rice and broccoli. A garnish of green onions completed my BFD.

It was pretty tasty. I wish I had added more vegetables but I was feeling lazy.

Posted in Easy, Eggs, leftovers, Methods, rice, Vegetables, Vegetarian, Weeknight dinners | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Weekly Menu. November 13-17, 2023

Posted on November 12, 2023 by Beebamom
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Chickpea stew/soup. 11/11/23

Posted on November 12, 2023 by Beebamom
Chickpea stew/soup

Usually we make this recipe using ditalini as the stew pasta. Since I have been cutting out gluten in my diet we needed to find a different starch. I thought about adding potatoes or maybe rice noodles but I had a box of casarecce that was made from chickpea flour so I decided to go with that.

This is a soupy stew with carrots, celery, onion, garlic, and zucchini. For the tomato flavor I used a can of Rotel. It uses a can of chickpeas and a handful of greens. The liquid is some sort of stock (I used chicken stock) and it can be finished with a grating of Parmesan cheese. A Parmesan rind is also a good flavor booster. Of course if you want to keep this vegan you would use vegetable stock and omit the Parmesan cheese.

A word about chickpea pasta. It does not have the flavor or texture of regular pasta. It kind of disintegrates in your mouth. It has a distinct chickpea flavor which in this dish was not awful. I would hesitate using it in other dishes.

Posted in American, Legumes, Pasta, Recipes, soup, stew, Vegan, Vegetables, Vegetarian | Tagged | Leave a comment