Grilled lamb chops, sweet potato, asparagus 10/9/23

Posted on October 10, 2023 by Beebamom
Grilled lamb chops, sweet, potato and asparagus

This is a pretty quick to make dinner. The whole thing took about 1/2 hour. And that it included heating up the grill for 15 minutes! While John was waiting for the grill to heat up I prepped the asparagus and microwaved the sweet potato which would spend time very briefly on the grill.

Once the lamb chops went on the grill John cooked them about 10 minutes rotating them so all sides got cooked evenly. He grilled the sweet potato halves to get a char on the surface. During this time I cooked the asparagus in a little water and added a pat of butter after they drained. When the lamb was done it rested briefly while we assembled our plates with sweet potato and asparagus.

The dinner was delicious!! It was a bit too much for me and I had a lamb chop and part of the sweet potato left over for John’s lunch tomorrow. Lamb is definitely our favorite red meat.

Posted in American, Easy, Grilling, Lamb, Methods, Vegetables, Weeknight dinners | Tagged | 1 Comment

Southwestern Bowl. 10/8/23

Posted on October 9, 2023 by Beebamom
Southwestern bowl

Tonight I made a new egg dish similar to my scrambled egg nachos. I broke up some tortilla chips into bite-sized pieces for the base.This was followed by scrambled eggs, corn, and beans. I melted two ultra thin slices of cheese over the top and then garnished the dish with sliced green onions and a dollop of light sour cream.

I needed to use more seasoning on the corn and beans, maybe cumin and chipotle powder. On the whole it was very filling and almost like a layered Southwestern dip with the chips already included!

Posted in American, Easy, Eggs, Legumes, Methods, Mexican, Southwest U.S., Vegetables, Weeknight dinners | Tagged | Leave a comment

Weekly Menu. October 9 – 15, 2023

Posted on October 8, 2023 by Beebamom

Because John, our son, and I will not be home for Thanksgiving week we have moved our celebration closer to Canadian Thanksgiving. And because the grandchildren do not like traditional Thanksgiving food we are having a taco bar at our son’s house. He plans on having steak, shrimp, and chicken to stuff in our tacos. Along with this we will have some hors d’oeuvres, a bean dish, various salsas, and dessert. So it’s an American tradition, in a Canadian timeframe, serving Mexican food. Or North American Thanksgiving!

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Buffalo Chicken Wings and Salad. 10/7/23

Posted on October 8, 2023 by Beebamom
Buffalo chicken wings and salad

Now they we have bought a large bag of Foster Farms Take-Out Buffalo chicken wings to keep in the freezer we have a go-to dinner whenever we do not feel like cooking. I think it is probably a good idea to have a backup dinner since it keeps from going the more expensive and fattening out-to-dinner or takeout route.

These chicken wings are quite good, gluten-free, come with a spicy sauce, and cook in the oven in about 25 minutes. I also made a southwest salad to go with the wings.

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Polenta with meaty spaghetti sauce. 10/6/23

Posted on October 7, 2023 by Beebamom
Polenta with meaty spaghetti sauce

John made a somewhat thicker polenta for this dish which was paired with my homemade spaghetti meat sauce. I was craving an Italian dish and I am unable to process gluten anymore. This seemed like a good thing to try. John liked it a bunch but for me the sauce overwhelmed the taste of the polenta and it was all one texture.

My solution with my second helping was to have the sauce with tortilla chips that were broken into smaller pieces. The chips could stand up to the sauce taste-wise and did not lose their texture if you merely put them on top and ate a bit of the sauce with the chip piece. It wasn’t ideal but I liked it better than the polenta/sauce dinner. After all, polenta and tortilla chips are in the same family!

Posted in American, Beef, Easy, Italian, Vegetables, Weeknight dinners | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Tuna salad, salad. 10/8/23

Posted on October 6, 2023 by Beebamom

Today it turned stupidly hot, in the 90s. C’mon October! The rest of the country is cooling down but here on the West Coast we are going in the opposite direction for the next two or three days. All this complaining is an explanation as to why I made tuna salad and plopped it on top of a big bowl of salad. I refuse to run the AC this late in the year!

Tuna salad and salad

The salad is merely a kit salad from Taylor Farms. Steakhouse Wedge is our favorite. I added some walnut pieces for texture. My tuna salad consisted of solid white albacore packed in water, light mayo, diced celery, capers, sweet relish, and chopped parsley. Usually I make it half mayo and half plain Greek yogurt but since John was eating it I went the mayo only route. He made himself a sandwich for sandwich and salad dinner and I am sure he put even more mayonnaise on the bread.

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Vegetable rice noodle soup and kung pao pork. 10/4/23

Posted on October 5, 2023 by Beebamom

I made a couple of dishes yesterday. One was a vegetable soup with rice noodles.

Vegetable soup with rice noodles

I love a big bowl of vegetables and noodles. Since I have acquired this gluten sensitivity I have been missing noodles. Last week I made a quick pho-like soup which was good but it was missing an assortment of vegetables. Today’s soup was brimming with different vegetables and a helping of rice noodles underneath. I used some of my homemade chicken stock but to keep it vegan use a vegetable broth.

I was more a helper than the main cook on our dinner, kung pao pork. Last week our kung pao shrimp had turned out quite tasty using a recipe by Jet Tila. I thought trying it with pork tenderloin might be a good idea. It was pretty good but even though John cut the pork in thin slices and stir-fried it quickly it came out dry. We have one more pork tenderloin in the freezer. I really do not know how to make it juicy and delicious.

Kung pao pork
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Chilean sea bass, new potatoes, broccoli. 10/3/23

Posted on October 4, 2023 by Beebamom
Chilean sea bass, new potatoes, broccoli

This Tuesday seemed like a special occasion since we were dining on Chilean sea bass. Such a delicious fish! We have two more pieces left in the freezer before this fish will be relegated to “on sale” or actual special occasion only. It has gotten way too expensive.

John cooked the fish in the oven at 400 F for 14 minutes. It came out perfectly! I steamed the potatoes and cooked the broccoli in a little water. The three of us really enjoyed this dinner.

Posted in American, Easy, Fish, Methods, pescatarian, Special occasion, Vegetables | Tagged | Leave a comment

Weekly Menu October 2 – 8, 2023

Posted on October 2, 2023 by Beebamom

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Faux chicken pho. 9/30/23

Posted on October 1, 2023 by Beebamom
Faux chicken pho

Authentic pho showcases a delicious broth that takes hours to make. My quick version which I made up on the fly started with some homemade chicken stock but you could use a good packaged chicken stock as well. I have tried to recreate my recipe below. Everyone has a different flavor preference so start with the amounts listed in the recipe and then go from there, tasting along the way. Don’t forget a squeeze of lime at the end!

I can also see doing this recipe with beef or tofu!

Posted in Asian, Poultry, Recipes, soup, Vegetables, Vietnamese, Weeknight dinners | Leave a comment