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!
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.
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.)
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
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.
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!
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.
In Safeway’s weekly ad there was a sale for “ONE DAY ONLY!!” loin lamb chops for $5/lb. We love loin lamb chops especially when cooked on the grill. We bought three meals worth. As an aside, taking advantage of sale prices is really complex. Some things are on sale only one or three days, must be digitally down loaded, or bought in combination with other items. It is like they really want to make it as confusing as possible for the consumer to take advantage of their sales. Anyway, we negotiated our way through the trickery and even managed to spend almost exactly $50 which earned us an additional $10 off.
While I was busy microwaving the sweet potato and broccoli so they would be ready to be merely seared, John heated up the grill and put the lamb chops on. It did not take long for him to cook the lamb plus sear the sweet potato and broccoli. The lamb came out rosy pink and the sides were yummy. In the contest of who got the lamb bones picked clean of all meat John was the winner with our daughter coming in second, and I was last. Nonetheless a tasty dinner was enjoyed by all!
John and I made this casserole of enchiladas and baked them before 9 AM. What a pleasure to have this completely made before the hot weather invaded the kitchen! All I had to do at dinner time was to make the salad. We each microwaved our own enchiladas. They took one minute a piece.
To construct the enchilada casserole John passed the corn tortillas over the flame on the stove to make them pliable. I cupped the tortilla in my palm and filled it with a teaspoon of jarred salsa verde. Then a layer of chopped onions followed by a small handful of shredded chicken from a rotisserie chicken, and then some shredded cheese. Finally I put an additional teaspoon of salsa verde on top. I rolled the tortillas closed and put them seam side down in a 9” x 13” glass pan which had a skim coat of salsa verde in the bottom.
Before I put them in a 350F pre-heated oven I spread the remaining cheese, onions, and salsa verde on top. The enchiladas baked for 30 minutes covered and an additional 15 minutes uncovered.
Chicken enchiladas are a family favorite and they definitely did not disappoint when we reheated them later in the day. A salad was all that was needed to complete the dinner.
Thursday’s dinner was a celebration of summer—outdoors grilling, bright tomatoes, and corn on the cob. Since I have sadly been having trouble digesting gluten I had my hamburgers with its condiments of red onion, ketchup, and mayonnaise bunless. Sitting in its nest of a salad with blue cheese dressing, it was almost as good as eating it with a hamburger bun.
Our second course was corn on the cob. I found some butter and sugar (both yellow and white kernels) corn at a local grocery. It took me back to the days when we lived in Massachusetts and butter and sugar corn filled the bins of roadside farm stands. I cook my corn by putting it in a heavy plastic bag, left open, or in a dish covered with plastic wrap, adding a tablespoon of water, and cooking it in the microwave on high for two minutes per ear. Serve the ears with butter and salt.
Omnivore 