Buffalo chicken wings and salad. 11/2/23

Not having a menu has dinner topsy-turvy this week. Since we did not take a flank steak out of the freezer early enough for dinner our fallback plan was to make some frozen Buffalo chicken wings and have a salad. It was easy but hardly worth reporting on.

I used a Taylor Farms Steakhouse Wedge as the base for our salad. I switched out the dressing using Bolthouse blue cheese dressing on mine. The Bolthouse dressing is yogurt based and many fewer calories. I used it for a chicken wing dip as well.

Salad with crumbles and cherry tomatoes dressed with Bolthouse blue cheese dressing

The chicken wings were cooked from frozen on a sheet pan for 22 minutes at 425 F and then for 5 minutes more at 450 F. They came out nice and crispy. We dipped them in hot sauce and blue cheese dressing.

Buffalo chicken wings with celery and carrot sticks and dips

I think we are back on track now. Dinner on Friday is grilled flank steak, Saturday is chicken enchiladas, and Sunday, our usual Breakfast for Dinner. Then it’s a new week of meal planning!

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Too much sauce! 11/1/23

Spaghetti with too much tomato sauce!

I had some tomato sauce left over from last week’s pasta meal. Once I put it in a pan to reheat John and I agreed that it looked like it wasn’t enough for the amount of pasta that he was making. So I added another 14 ounce can of crushed tomatoes which made the amount too much! Deciding that having a small amount of sauce left over again made no sense, we went ahead and just used it all. A lot of sauce was perfect for John but too much for me! I ended up with lots of sauce left in my bowl (which John ate up afterwards.) I need to divide it up into two equal portions the next time I make spaghetti sauce. Plan ahead!

Posted in American, Easy, Italian, Pasta, Vegan, Vegetables, Vegetarian, Weeknight dinners | Tagged | Leave a comment

Shrimp with polenta and broccoli. 11/1/23

Shrimp with polenta and broccoli

We have not planned a menu or gone food shopping for this week but we always have shrimp, broccoli, and polenta on hand. Except for all the stirring of the polenta (we take turns!) this is a really easy, quick, delicious dinner!

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Sheet pan turkey sausage and vegetables. 10/30/23

Sheet pan turkey sausage with potatoes, carrots, onions, zucchini, and cabbage

Sheet pan cooking is so easy and the clean-up is minimal. I preheated the oven to 425F and cut up, oiled, and salted some potatoes, carrots, onions, zucchini, and cabbage. After 20 minutes I added the turkey sausage for the last 10 minutes. The zucchini was overdone but everything else turned out great. I ate my plateful with some yellow mustard while John enjoyed his with a few grinds of pepper. A great, quick, easy, and tasty dinner!

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Ethiopian fare. 10/29/23

Ethiopian platter served over injera

Our daughter has had her best friend visiting from Belgium for the last several days so we have been eating out a lot. Her friend is originally from the Los Angeles area and when he comes to visit she and he like to visit all the ethnic cuisines that he doesn’t have in his local area around Ghent. We have been eating Mexican, Vietnamese, and our favorite, Ethiopian, cuisines while he has been visiting.

This yummy platter with various dishes is served on a bed of injera which is an Ethiopian bread made from the ancient grain, teff. Various things on the platter are spicy lentils, split peas, salad, greens, a combo of potatoes, cabbage, and carrots, plus two meat dishes of lamb, and chicken. A basket of rolled up pieces of injera are served and you tear off pieces to grab mouthfuls from the platter. No knives and forks!

It is super delicious and we had a good time sharing dinner and reminiscing about previous times we had been there. It’s been 4 years since our last visit what with the pandemic and the fact that it is about 25 miles away but it is such a treat that we want to go more often.

Hopefully we will get back to our regular cooking at home regime on Monday.

Posted in Dining out, Ethiopian, Grains, Lamb, Legumes, North African, Poultry, Salad, Special occasion, Vegetables | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

New England Clam Chowder. 10/27/23

New England Clam Chowder

Here is my recipe for New England clam chowder. The heavy cream measure is as decadent as you like, anywhere from 2 tablespoons to 1/2 cup or more. The consistency is soupy not paste-like. I think it is delicious.

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Sous vide pork tenderloin with new potatoes and broccoli. 10/25/23

Sous vide pork tenderloin with steamed new potatoes and broccoli

This is our last try with pork tenderloin. According to Serious Eats if you cook the tenderloin in a sous vide bath set at 130F, the pork should come out flavorful, juicy, and tender. You do not have to worry about not cooking it until well-done because time X temperature equals cooked enough to kill any problematic bugs.

John seasoned the pork with garlic, onion, thyme, salt and pepper. After it came out of the bath it got a quick sear on the grill. The pork came out tender, slightly juicy, and tasteless. So we are officially giving up on pork tenderloin. As far as I am concerned the only good pork is pork butt, country ribs, bacon, and sausage.

In order to make the tenderloin taste like something I dipped it in barbecue sauce. Then it tasted like barbecue sauce. I also steamed some potatoes and broccoli which were definitely more flavorful than the pork!

Posted in American, Grilling, Pork, sous vide, Vegetables | Tagged | 4 Comments

Spaghetti with tomato sauce. 10/24/23

Whole grain spaghetti with tomato sauce

Originally we were supposed to be having chickpea stew for dinner. When we looked for the ditalini we discovered that it had been used. So, what to do? I decided on making a quick tomato sauce and using the pasta that we had!

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Easy and quick spaghetti sauce

  • 1/2 large onion, chopped
  • 2 teaspoons olive oil
  • 1 tablespoon oregano
  • Pinch of red pepper flakes
  • 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 2 tablespoons tomato paste
  • 1/4 cup white wine
  • 2 14 oz. cans Muir Glen fire roasted crushed tomatoes
  • Salt to taste

Heat the oil. Add the onion, garlic powder, oregano, salt, red pepper flakes and cook until the onion is softened. Add the tomato paste. Stir mixture and cook for a minute. Add the white wine and deglaze the pan. Add the two cans of tomatoes. Cook for 1/2 hour covered at a simmer, stirring occasionally. Correct for seasoning before adding pasta to the sauce. This recipe makes enough for two dinners so be sure to put half of the sauce in a container to refrigerate or freeze before adding the pasta.

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Before draining the pasta we always reserve a cup of salty, starchy pasta cooking water. Use the water to get the consistency of the sauce to your liking.

This on-the-fly dinner turned out super yummy! Using good ingredients like Barilla pasta and Muir Glen tomatoes makes a difference.

Posted in Easy, Italian, Pasta, Recipes, Uncategorized, Vegetarian, Weeknight dinners | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Roasted salmon with tarragon sauce, succotash/maque choux, and steamed new potatoes. 10/23/23

Salmon, succotash, and potatoes

This was a pretty fancy dinner for a Monday night! This is our first time trying Atlantic farm raised salmon and we liked it a lot. John seasoned the fish and cooked it in a 400F oven for 12 minutes. The fish was beautifully cooked without the albumin coming out the sides. I made a white wine, butter, and tarragon sauce to go with it.

For the vegetables I steamed some new potatoes and made kind of a cross between succotash and maque choux. Plus I added edamame instead of lima beans because I do not like lima beans. (I have a very short list of things I do not like—lima beans, peas, and raw oysters.) First I sautéed chopped onion, garlic, and poblano chile . Then I added defrosted kernel corn and let that cook on low while I was waiting for the fish to finish. Finally I added the edamame just so they would get warm but still retain their bright green. A couple of tablespoons of cream finished off the dish.

The dinner was delicious but too rich and too much for me to eat! I had leftover everything which John happily ate. Next time a smaller portion of salmon and plain vegetables are what we will be making!

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Weekly Menu. October 23 – 29, 2023

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