In October of last year we got lots of basil from the community garden. I made quite a bit of pesto and froze it in large cubes. I defrosted two of them for our pesto pasta. To add volume to our pasta servings, John spiralized a zucchini to mimic noodles and then we served our pesto noodles and zoodles over a bed of raw kale.
We made a quick visit to Costco and picked up a rotisserie chicken. When I got home I disassembled it taking off the meat and then made stock out of the bones etc.
For dinner I had the chicken tenderloins and John had the leg, thigh, and wings. We made a chicken gravy packet and sautéed some mushrooms for it. The chicken pieces were reheated in the gravy.
I peeled the butternut squash, chopped it into 1 inch pieces and cooked it in the microwave. It took 15 minutes on high. The broccoli was simply steamed.
This dinner is like a stream-lined Thanksgiving, delicious and satisfying, plus made easier by the use of a rotisserie chicken.
I am a person who likes a good buy. When I saw that I could get a pound of local ground Kobe beef for $4.99 and a bag of Kettle chips for $2.50 plus it was senior day with an additional 10% off, it was time to change plans. What better way to celebrate that it is finally Spring and it has stopped raining than for John to fire up the grill and have a “picnic-ky” dinner.
There is nothing on my plate that I don’t love. First I would rather eat a grilled hamburger than a fancy steak. Salad with blue cheese dressing? Yes, please! And potato chips are my all-time favorite evil pleasure.
So I threw my healthy eating menu out the window for one night and had a glorious splurge of all the things I like best! You just have to do it occasionally. No regrets!
What a delicious dinner this turned out to be! Usually stuffed peppers are made with ground beef and rice but we had some leftover lamb pieces in the freezer that John ground up in the food processor and I had a container of spaghetti sauce with mushrooms from last week and then farro seemed like a really yummy accompaniment to those elements.
I make farro the same way as I make brown rice, in a 375F oven. Spray a square baking dish. Add 1 1/2 cups of rinsed farro, 2 1/3 cups hot water, and a teaspoon of salt. Bake for 1 hour. Let sit 5 minutes and then fluff.
The ground lamb was sautéed with onions, garlic, oregano, chile flakes and salt. Then I mixed in half of the farro and some of the tomato sauce. I loaded the mixture into three halved bell peppers that had been softened in the microwave. I added the remaining sauce on top, covered the baking dish with aluminum foil, and baked it in a 350F oven for 40 minutes.
The flavors really went well together. We have one stuffed pepper leftover and even though it is technically mine I think I will be super nice and let John eat it for lunch today.
Gochujang is a spicy Korean paste. Our daughter uses it frequently but this my first recipe to use it in. The amount suggested in the recipe is mildly spicy and will not blow your head off.
You serve the stew with rice so it is a 3-carb dinner, potatoes, beans, and rice. Who doesn’t love carbs! I served my portion with my combo brown and wild rice with plenty of riced cauliflower. There is also a large component of greens. I used kale. It doesn’t take long to make so it is good for weeknight dinners.
John pronounced it very tasty and we will put it into our vegan/vegetarian rotation.
Change in plans today since I discovered we were out of an essential ingredient for gochujang potato stew. I have only made Moroccan chickpea stew once before and it is really delicious. But it takes a lot of chopping and a wide variety of ingredients and is more of a weekend dish than a weeknight one. With me chopping and John at the stove we started around 5 PM and were able to eat by 6:45.
Lots of interesting ingredients and spices in this stew, preserved lemon, turnip, chard, fennel, cinnamon, etc. The original recipe calls for dried chickpeas but that is too time consuming so we used canned. I cut the recipe in half since it serves 6-8 and half was really filling for hearty eaters like John and me.
Frozen ahi tuna was on sale for two pieces weighing a total of 11 ounces for $4.99. Such a good price that we had to give it a try. It was very good! I am glad I bought a second package for a later date. John made an Asian seasoning and seared it so it was just warm in the center but still red.
On the vegetable side I made an oyster sauce (oyster sauce, rice wine vinegar, and soy sauce with a pinch of sugar) for a bunch of steamed broccoli. The sauce was good with the fish and rice mix as well.
For the rice I used part of a microwave brown and wild rice pack and mixed it with riced cauliflower. This way I could eat a half cup serving with no guilt.
Liked this dinner a lot! No doubt it will appear on the dinner rotation again.
Preparing the polenta at a 6:1 ratio gives you almost a sauce. It is surprisingly delicious with broccoli. That’s why I steamed A LOT! On one side of the fish are the florets and on the other, the chopped up stems. The tilapia is simply seasoned and roasted in a 400F oven for 12 minutes.
The Kenwood Restaurant closed 10 years ago but before they did we asked for and they graciously gave us the recipe for their delicious Kenwood shrimp. We make it every once in a while and it is delicious.
Last night we treated ourselves to a bit more cream in the sauce. Usually we only use two ounces and make up the rest of the volume with shrimp stock or clam juice. The original recipe calls for a cup of cream. We probably used 6 ounces plus the shrimp stock. There were three of eating and everyone enjoys more sauce.
Omnivore 