Breakfast tacos for dinner! 7/9/23

Posted on July 10, 2023 by Beebamom
Breakfast tacos for dinner

I am always looking for something new to have as my Sunday “Breakfast for Dinner” or BFD. We had some shells leftover from our graduation party so I decided breakfast tacos would make a fine dinner.

I love the stand and stuff shells from Old El Paso with their squared off bottoms. You put them in the microwave for about 10 seconds for two and they come out warm, still crispy, and pliable. The box says that 2 are 130 calories which is a lot less than I was thinking they would be.

Along with a couple of eggs I scrambled a veggie patty that I had cut into small dice and a slice of ultra thin cheddar plus salt. I piled the egg mixture into the two taco shells added some halved cherry tomatoes and a drizzle of spicy avocado sauce.

No boring Sunday supper for me! I enjoyed my concoction and can see it appearing frequently on my BFD Sundays!

Posted in American, Breakfast For Dinner (BFD), Easy, Eggs, Hot weather meals, Mexican, Southwest U.S., Vegetables, Vegetarian, Weeknight dinners | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Weekly Menu. July 10 – 16, 2023

Posted on July 9, 2023 by Beebamom

This week is starting out cool, then spiking into the 90s for a day, followed by seasonal temperatures in the 80s, and then ending in a blaze of heat for the weekend. So I am trying to roll with the temperatures, keeping the food and kitchen cool on the hot days and just my typical fare on the other days.

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Tuna cakes and salad. 7/8/23

Posted on July 9, 2023 by Beebamom
Tuna cakes with tartar sauce and salad

After already eating a lot of legumes this week, we decided to change the menu on Saturday from lentils and turkey sausage to tuna cakes and salad. Plus changing to tuna cakes allowed us to use up the last of our mashed potatoes and tartar sauce.

Back in the early 1990s we used to watch a PBS cooking show called Cucina Amore with Nick Stellino. One episode had him making tuna cakes using leftover mashed potatoes. I made it a couple of times back then but not since. When trying to figure out what to do with the leftover mashed potatoes that old recipe popped into my brain.

I have included the “sort of“ recipe I have. For the six tuna cakes we made we had more mashed potatoes (at least a cup) and less tuna (1-7 ounce can.) We also used some shredded Mexican blend cheese that was on hand instead of Parmesan and basil instead of parsley. Our tuna cakes were probably a little more potato-y but that was fine. The recipe is pretty forgiving.

Posted in American, Fish, leftovers, pescatarian, Recipes, Vegetables, Weeknight dinners | Tagged | Leave a comment

Chicken and chickpeas with mashed potatoes and broccoli 7/7/23

Posted on July 8, 2023 by Beebamom
Chicken and chickpea stew with mashed potatoes and broccoli

Friday night’s dinner was a lot like the Moroccan chicken we had last week except I cooked cubes of chicken in the broth instead of using rotisserie chicken. To be honest the chicken came out a bit dry probably due to leaving it in the broth too long.

I also served this dinner with a couple of sides, (leftover) mashed potatoes, and broccoli. Traditionally you would serve couscous with the chicken and chickpeas but I am a “waste not, want not” kind of person. The sauce from the chicken dish tasted good on the potatoes. Broccoli, the vegetable which is always seasonal somehow, was simply steamed.

Posted in Easy, Legumes, North African, Poultry, stew, Vegetables, Weeknight dinners | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Scallops, mashed potatoes, broccoli. 7/6/23

Posted on July 7, 2023 by Beebamom
Scallops, mashed potatoes, broccoli

Kind of a fancy no-occasion dinner for a Thursday night. Actually it was more like, here are a few items that need to be used so how can we put them together?

The scallops were nearing the end of their freezer life. The Russet potatoes’ eyes were growing, and the broccoli looked a little limp so John seared the scallops and I made mashed potatoes, steamed broccoli, and a loose lemony tartar sauce to try to tie it all together. The sauce was fine with the scallops and broccoli but a little weird with the potatoes.

We ended up with a very nice dinner and enough mashed potatoes to use with our chicken and chickpeas instead of couscous tomorrow night. It may be another weird pairing!

Posted in American, pescatarian, Shellfish, Vegetables | Tagged | Leave a comment

Chickpeas with ditalini and kale. 7/5/23

Posted on July 6, 2023 by Beebamom
Chickpeas with ditalini and kale

Chickpeas with ditalini and kale is a vegan or vegetarian dish that makes you feel good about yourself for choosing such a healthy dinner. It is packed with vegetables, delicious, and pretty to look at with all its bright colors. I chopped up my vegetables early in the day so that when supper time rolled around the whole dish took less than a half hour to make. Since the recipe is for 4 we have plenty left over for at least 2 delicious lunches this week.

Posted in Easy, Healthy tips, Legumes, Pasta, Recipes, soup, stew, Vegan, Vegetables, Vegetarian, Weeknight dinners | Tagged | Leave a comment

Grilled hamburgers, salad, and chips. 7/4/23

Posted on July 5, 2023 by Beebamom
Grilled hamburger, salad, chips

Happy Fourth of July to all that celebrate it! As is traditional we had a grilled entree. Hamburgers are my favorite meat to eat grilled and John does a spectacular job cooking them perfectly. On my part, I did a spectacular job assembling a Taylor Farms Steakhouse Salad (our favorite) and opening a bag of potato chips. Whew! Hard work for me today!

Since we had had a party with the whole family on Sunday when John grilled flank steak for tacos, tonight’s Fourth of July celebration was a little anti-climactic although heart-felt. I am including a picture of the Statue of Liberty that I took two weeks ago when we sailed into New York harbor.

Posted in American, Beef, Easy, Grilling, Salad, Vegetables, Weeknight dinners | Tagged | Leave a comment

Fish tacos. 7/3/23

Posted on July 4, 2023 by Beebamom
Fish tacos with southwest salad and spicy beans

We had some leftovers from Sunday’s graduation party and decided to use them in tonight’s dinner. The tacos are filled with pan-fried tilapia, shredded cabbage, diced onions, salsa, and Greek yogurt crema. The beans are a mix of pinto, black beans, spicy tomatoes, and cumin. The salad is a packaged Taylor Farms southwestern salad.

Normally I would never eat a crispy tortilla but we had these “stand-up” shells left over and they were surprisingly good. The calorie count was only 130 for two shells. Plus you heat them up for only a few seconds in the microwave which keeps them crispy but also pliable—no shattering taco when you take a bite!

Posted in American, Easy, Fish, Kitchen tips, leftovers, Legumes, Mexican, pescatarian, Salad, Southwest U.S., Vegetables, Weeknight dinners | Tagged | Leave a comment

Weekly Menu. July 3–July 9, 2023

Posted on July 3, 2023 by Beebamom

Starting off with another hot day Monday but then cooling off for the rest of the week. It looks like we can go back to our regular cooking regime. This week features 3 vegan/vegetarian meals, 2 seafood, 1 chicken, and 1 beef.

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Hummus with pita, tabbouleh, Israeli salad. 7/1/23

Posted on July 2, 2023 by Beebamom
Hummus with pita, tabbouleh, and Israeli salad

The temperature outside got to 105 F today. Our house stays pretty cool since it’s built on a slab but we finally turned the a/c on around 6 PM. It was definitely not a day to be cooking anything so I made a couple of salads and served them with hummus and pita.

One thing with salads, though, they are really time consuming to make! Cooking some fish or a burger and steaming broccoli is way easier and quicker. John was my helper today squeezing lemons, picking mint leaves, and being generally helpful by reaching things that are on high shelves and doing a lot of clean-up.

The tabbouleh I make is very parsley intensive. I used three bunches along with quite a bit of mint, scallions, and a little garlic and tomatoes. There is only a quarter cup of bulgur wheat which is first soaked for 20 minutes. The dressing is basically just lemon juice, olive oil, and salt. I make it a few hours before dinner so that the bulgur wheat can soak up the dressing.

There are lots of recipes online for Israeli salad. Most of them have the vegetables finely chopped. I made my cucumber, tomato, and onion chunky. It is quicker to do. I seed the cucumber and get some excess water out of it by salting it and letting it sit for an hour in a colander. I also added some mint to the salad and dressed it with lemon juice and olive oil. A sprinkle of sumac as a garnish is nice.

So for the last two nights we have had two really tasty dinners without heating up the kitchen. When I mentioned that they both had been vegan the family seemed surprised. So delicious, filling, and good for us!

Posted in Grains, Healthy tips, Hot weather meals, Methods, Middle Eastern, Salad, Vegan, Vegetables, Vegetarian | Tagged , | 1 Comment