Grilling on Labor Day. 9/4/23

Posted on September 5, 2023 by Beebamom
Grilled hamburgers, coke slaw, cucumber salad, chips

John makes the most perfect hamburgers! They are juicy and medium rare. What a fine dish to close out the summer and celebrate Labor Day!

For my part I made coleslaw with a dressing of mayo/yogurt, vinegar, and celery seed. I like to make my own coleslaw because my dressing tends to be much lighter and not so sweet as the stuff you buy at the deli counter. In addition I made a cucumber salad with red onions. (We currently have a lot of cucumbers from the garden.) And finally I pleaded for chips instead of tater tots so we did not have to turn on the oven.

It was a really enjoyable meal and there was not a scrap left over!

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Breakfast for Dinner! 9/3/23

Posted on September 4, 2023 by Beebamom
Scrambled eggs, turkey kielbasa, cherry tomatoes with basil

It is hard to keep coming up with different things to do with eggs every Sunday. Sometimes I just have to go back to the basics. Tonight’s BFD is simply soft scrambled eggs. The secret to not getting a dried out hard scrambled egg is to turn off the burner way before it looks done but keep scrambling the eggs in the residual heat in the pan. If it turns out there isn’t quite enough heat left to get the eggs to your liking then just turn the heat back on for 20 seconds and then turn it off again.

I also needed to use up a 3 ounce piece of turkey kielbasa so I chopped it up and cooked it before the eggs. When they were browned I took the turkey kielbasa pieces out and wiped the pan and then cooled the bottom of the pan under some cool water. Otherwise the eggs would start to cook too quickly and I would lose the soft curds.

My plate was still looking to empty so I added some sliced home-grown cherry tomatoes sitting on a base of home-grown basil. I lightly dressed the tomatoes and basil with sherry vinegar and olive oil. And of course you cannot forget to salt both the tomatoes and the eggs.

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Weekly Menu. September 4 – 10, 2023

Posted on September 3, 2023 by Beebamom

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Grilled steak and potato with tomato/cucumber salad. 9/2/23

Posted on September 3, 2023 by Beebamom

Grilled steak and potato with tomato and cucumber salad

All-American dinner tonight! John grilled the rib eye cap steak perfectly and did a fine job on the potatoes that I had microwaved earlier. A real star of the dinner was the tomato, cucumber, and red onion salad I made with fresh produce from our daughter’s allotment at the Community Garden. I salted the components first and let them sit for a while. Right before serving I added basil, white wine vinegar, and olive oil. It was really delicious!

Happy Labor Day weekend!

Posted in American, Beef, Easy, Grilling, Hot weather meals, Methods, Salad, Vegetables | Tagged | 1 Comment

Tilapia with mustard sauce, new potatoes, and broccoli. 9/1/23

Posted on September 2, 2023 by Beebamom
Tilapia with mustard sauce, new potatoes, and broccoli

Happy September! I hope it is cooling off where you are. We had a very pleasant day with highs only in the 70s. It is actually supposed to be un-hot for the next three days so I am imagining maybe even using my oven!

While a piece of fish, some potatoes, and broccoli might seem pretty boring, the mustard sauce is what makes everything tastier. It is super simple to make. Just combine a couple tablespoons of mustards, a dollop of mayo, a splash of water, a little sugar or sweetener, a tablespoon both of vinegar and olive oil and stir it together. If you want to get fancy add some capers and/or chopped pickles and stir in some chopped parsley at the end.

John sautéed the fish for 4 minutes per side. I steamed the potatoes and cooked the broccoli in a little water. This is an easy weeknight dinner that, depending on the size of your potatoes, can be ready in less than one half hour.

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Hummus and tabbouleh. 8/30/23

Posted on August 31, 2023 by Beebamom
Hummus and tabbouleh with tortilla chips

I am hoping that Wednesday was our last really hot day of the season. I am well-known in my household for saying repeatedly, Do you think it’s over? Is this the last day? all through September. Our son got married on October 1 and it was 95F for the outdoor ceremony so hoping that August 30 is the last hot day is just wishful thinking!

I made the tabbouleh in the food processor and used my mini processor for finely chopping up the garlic, stems, and tomatoes. It is the first time I used the larger parsley stems and it came out fine. I think I will continue using the stems. It always seems a shame to throw out half of each bunch.

Our hummus was flavored with garlic and sprinkled with sumac. John used pita for scooping up his hummus but I had to go with tortilla chips due to my gluten intolerance problem.

Well, maybe it’s the last time for our hummus dinner until next summer (but probably not.)

Posted in Hot weather meals, Legumes, Middle Eastern, Salad, Vegan, Vegetables, Vegetarian, Weeknight dinners | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Tuna tataki with salad. 8/29/23

Posted on August 30, 2023 by Beebamom
Tuna tataki with salad

This is such an easy but delicious recipe to make. I found it on the Food Network site. John coated the tuna according to the recipe and seared it quickly. I took a shortcut on the salad using prepackaged greens. The ginger dressing was easy to make with my mini food processor. It does such a great job with mincing ginger and shallots (or onion.)

Tuna Tataki

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Lentils with turkey sausage. 8/28/23

Posted on August 29, 2023 by Beebamom
Lentils with turkey sausage and veg

Just when I was saying we were in for at least another 4 weeks of summer we threw in one of our more winters dishes into the lineup! I have to admit it was a nice change from our usual summery fare.

After sautéing the mushrooms, onions, and garlic with the cut up pieces of turkey sausage we added carrots and celery, a cup of picked over and rinsed lentils, and 4 cups of chicken broth plus a bay leaf. Salt and pepper is a given as always. The combination cooked at a simmer for 45 minutes.

It was really good and reminded us of the stews and soups we can look forward to. It is quite economical and packs a protein punch. This dish is easily made vegan or vegetarian by substituting vegetable stock for chicken stock and omitting the turkey sausage.

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Vegetable stir-fry with eggs. 8/27/23

Posted on August 28, 2023 by Beebamom
Vegetable stir-fry over rice combo with eggs

Sunday dinner is always a good time to clean out the vegetable bins in the fridge. Tonight’s combination included carrots, celery, cabbage, onion, mushrooms, and broccoli. I did a quick stir-fry maximizing efficiency by starting with the longer cooking veg like carrots and ending up with broccoli florets and cabbage. My seasonings were garlic and ginger powders and soy sauce.

I put the vegetables over a base of half and half white rice and riced cauliflower. Then I used the same pan that I had cooked the vegetables in to soft-scramble a couple of eggs to put on top.

This turned out to be quite a big bowl of food! I wasn’t sure I would be able to eat it all. But of course I persevered!

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Weekly Menu. August 28 – September 3, 2023

Posted on August 27, 2023 by Beebamom

Pretty exciting that we are heading into September! Are you dreaming of no more heat domes and heartier fare on the table? Well, we aren’t. Here in Northern California September is usually one of the hottest months of the year along with its pal, August. Since the middle of the week are three days with highs in the middle to upper 90s we are sticking with food that requires little cooking, can be grilled outside, or can be made first thing in the morning and reheated in the microwave.

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