We are starting off our healthy eating regime this week with three vegan/vegetarian meals, two chicken meals, one fish meal, and a party meat meal. (Steak tacos because that is what our grandson requested!) The tagine, roasted butternut squash with lentils, and the cumin roasted salmon are all dishes we have never made before so that will be exciting!
We made this dinner from ingredients we always have on hand—pasta, a can of tuna, mushrooms, broccoli, onion, garlic, and parmesan cheese. John is in charge of making the pasta and I take care of everything else.
I chop all my ingredients up ahead of any cooking. First I sauté the mushrooms in olive oil spray, then I add the onions, and finally the garlic and some oregano. I leave these over a low flame while I check to see where John is at. When the pasta water is boiling I have 8 minutes to finish the vegetables.
When the pasta is down to 4 minutes I turn up the flame under the vegetables and add the broccoli florets with a half cup of the boiling pasta water and cover the pan. John drains the pasta reserving a cup of pasta water. He adds the fusilli to the vegetables and I stir it around adding some of the reserved water and a little olive oil. When everything is well incorporated I turn off the stove and gently add the tuna flakes. I try to keep the tuna in identifiable pieces.
Once the tuna is warm, serve the dish with a sprinkle of Parmesan and a drizzle of olive oil.
What an easy and tasty meal for any weeknight! We used tilapia and John cooked it simply with some seasoning and spices on our cooktop in a pan with a little olive oil. You could use any fish you enjoy or even shrimp. Keep it simple like we did or maybe use some mayo or mustard and add panko breadcrumbs for some crunch.
John heated the tortillas directly over the flame on our stove but you can also microwave or heat them up in the oven.
For my part I made the spicy beans. I used a can of rinsed black beans and a can of Rotel original spicy tomatoes. I heated these together in a pot with some cumin, chipotle powder, and salt.
All that is left to do is assemble the dish. Our tacos had toppings of green onions, shredded cabbage, salsa verde, and lime. I spooned the beans into a separate container and topped them with sliced green onions as well. A handful of tortilla chips might have been a nice side but we are trying to keep our dinners healthy while we shed the extra pounds from our cruise.
The red lentils cook in a vegetable broth or water with sautéed ginger, onion, and garlic, plus turmeric, cumin, cayenne, and salt for about 20 minutes. It should be kind of soupy and the lentils will break down somewhat. I use a packaged pre-washed chopped kale as a base. Then I make a layer of 1/3 pre-cooked white rice and 2/3 cauliflower rice which I have mixed together and heated in the microwave. The lentils go on top with a squeeze of lemon and a green onion garnish. I sometimes use a bit of sriracha for extra spiciness.
John and I are so happy to be back in our own kitchen! Not to say that it wasn’t pretty special eating out for a month and not doing dishes but we really like cooking for ourselves and controlling what goes in the food we eat.
John cooks the shrimp perfectly. It only takes a couple of minutes on each side. One half cup polenta cooks with 3 cups of water and two teaspoons of butter. It needs stirring frequently during its 20 minute cook. We take turns with the stirring. I cut up and steam the broccoli when John puts the shrimp to cook in the pan. It only takes about 5 minutes.
This is a delicious, low calorie meal. With the loose polenta almost like a sauce for the shrimp and broccoli it seems almost decadent.
Hello again! John and I are back from a month long celebration of a special anniversary. We took a cruise exploring Norway all the way up to the Arctic Circle, Iceland, a very disappointing deletion of seeing Greenland and Newfoundland due to ice, and finally Nova Scotia and ending up in NYC yesterday and flying home.
Obviously we are both in need of some “Dininglite” and I am happy to be home and more than ready to spend time in the kitchen fixing food my way. We are finishing off this week with some favorites and will get more adventurous next week when we have had time to think about new dishes and do some serious grocery shopping.
Note: This will be my last post for a while. I hope to start up again on a regular basis in July.
We started off dinner with a large platter of salad for the three of us. I have been enjoying my salads with Gorgonzola crumbles lately.
Then we moved on to fusilli and mushrooms in a pesto sauce. It was a good use of the leftover basil from last week’s Thai dish.
We will probably be having this dinner frequently over the summer. John grills the burgers and I make a prepackaged salad and open a bag of potato chips. What an easy dinner with minimal mess!
It does remind me however that I do not have very good control when it comes to potato chips, my absolute favorite snack food. Next time I need to have a different easy side. There is no use in trying to keep my weight stable if I sabotage myself. Sigh.
Although you cannot see them in the picture my dinner salad is full of tasty tidbits. Hiding under the lettuce and scrambled egg are tomatoes, mushrooms, green onions, ham strips, croutons, Gorgonzola crumbles, and a drizzle of olive oil and a splash of rice wine vinegar. This was so good that I may make another one for lunch tomorrow!
Of course you can put in whatever components you have on hand. I might go a more Asian route tomorrow adding edamame, shredded cabbage, a sprinkle of furikake, and a soy vinaigrette. Keep your salads interesting and you are more likely to make them and enjoy them!
This look like a pretty simple dinner. In fact it is quick and easy. But the quality of the components is so good that a simple piece of fish with vegetables can become a special occasion dinner.
I am, of course, talking about the Chilean sea bass which is the just the most delectable fish. It is pricey but the results are so good that it is worth the splurge. John cooked the fish in a 400F oven for 14 minutes and it was perfect. The fish flaked apart in unctuous pieces.
I steamed the potatoes and sautéed the broccoli. A squeeze of lemon over the fish and potatoes and a sprig of tarragon was all that was needed for garnish.
Omnivore 