Shrimp tacos, Mexican rice, spicy beans. 1/25/23

Shrimp tacos, Mexican rice, and spicy beans

Wednesday’s dinner was more like what we normally eat at home. It was lighter on the fat and the portion size was certainly smaller than the gigantic steaks of yesterday. However, it was just as tasty and filling.

John, as usual, cooked the shrimp perfectly. The tortillas were a little flimsy and I ended up eating my tacos with a knife and fork. Along with the shrimp the taco encased cabbage, onions, salsa, and guacamole. I have never put guacamole in a shrimp taco before and it was wonderful. I think I will be making shrimp tacos with guacamole from now on.

I call this rice Mexican rice because I have had this tomato-y, spicy rice at Mexican restaurants. To make the rice I use the liquid portion of a can of Rotel plus enough water for the amount of rice. I add the solids in after the rice is cooked. Everyone liked it. The beans are simply 2 cans of drained black beans, 1 can of Rotel, and 1/4 teaspoons of cumin, heated together.

So another vacation day dinner. We tend not to eat out while we are here because 1) cooking together is fun, and 2) this area is not known for its great cuisine. Tomorrow our son is making a fancy dinner for us. I am really looking forward to it!

Posted in American, Easy, Methods, Mexican, pescatarian, rice, Shellfish, Southwest U.S., Vacation cuisine, Vegetables, Weeknight dinners | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Ribeye steak, twice-baked potato, broccoli. 1/24/23

Ribeye steak, twice-baked potato, and broccoli

This vacation week is a cavalcade of food I do not usually eat. John seems excited by the prospect of dinners that include beef, cheese, and butter plus salty, crunchy snacks with cocktails. It is our son’s birthday week and I want him to eat what he likes. I shall repent at leisure for this over-indulgence.

There is a gas grill right outside the kitchen door here and John used it to cook the steaks perfectly. We like ours medium-rare. We each got our own steak which was too much for any of us to eat. Everyone is interested in leftover steak sandwiches for lunch or steak and eggs for breakfast.

The original plan was to microwave the potatoes and then finish them on the grill. That is the method we use at home. Since I am an indulgent mom I asked our son if he would prefer a twice-baked potato and his eyes lit up. After microwaving the potatoes I sliced the potatoes in half and scooped out the potato innards. The shells went into a 350F oven to crisp up while I mashed the innards with butter, milk, and cheddar cheese. After stuffing the creamy, cheese-y concoction back into the potato shells I baked them briefly followed by short stint under the broiler.

I cooked the broccoli in a little water and butter. Afterwards I garnished the florets with Parmesan cheese.

I just want to state that although our dinners have been and will be over-the-top this week, zero desserts have been eaten. At least it helps that I do not like sweet things. It is my one saving grace.

Posted in American, Beef, Easy, Grilling, Methods, Special occasion, Vacation cuisine, Vegetables | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Penne with tomato sauce and meatballs. 1/23/23

Penne with tomato sauce and meatballs (picture by sunbasket.com)

As often happens when I make pasta I am so excited to eat it that I forget to take a picture. Luckily there are plenty of images on the internet of penne and meatballs.

Although I purchased pre-made frozen meatballs, I did make the sauce. Making spaghetti sauce is easy. I sautéed onions and garlic adding red pepper flakes, oregano, and salt as they were cooking. Next came a can of tomato paste followed by 1/4 cup red wine to deglaze the pan. Then a large can of Muir Glen crushed tomatoes. I let that cook together for half an hour and then added the frozen meatballs. The whole mixture cooked together for another half hour and then it was time to correct the seasoning, serve it up, and garnish with Parmesan cheese.

It was pretty yummy although the meatballs were a little spongy. Homemade meatballs would have been so much better. But, hey, I am on vacation and allowed to take some shortcuts!

Posted in American, Beef, Easy, Italian, Pasta, Vacation cuisine, Vegetables, Weeknight dinners | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Shrimp street tacos and salmon summer rolls. 1/22/23

Shrimp street tacos

I am always trying to find items which will not blow my food budget when we are on a road trip. Although these tacos came with chips (which I gave away to my dining partners), shrimp and corn tortillas are always a good choice. I wish they had not squirted the pink stuff on top but otherwise this lunch was pretty good. We are so happy that Tia’s in St. George, Utah seems to be prospering especially since most restaurants in the area are closed on Sundays and we were hungry!

After we got to our destination and checked into our condo for the week, we headed to the grocery store for supplies. Sushi was the easy dinner for Sunday night. When you have been on the road driving all day the idea of making a complicated dinner was a non-starter. I chose salmon summer rolls. We raised our glasses of Negroni sbagliato and wished each other a very happy vacation.

Salmon summer roll picture thanks to tastykitchen.com
Posted in Dining out, Easy, Fish, Japanese, Mexican, pescatarian, Shellfish, Vacation cuisine, Vegetables | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Hamburger and salad. 1/20/23

Hamburger and salad

Tonight we enjoyed a hamburger which John cooked beautifully on the grill. If I could only choose one way to eat beef it would be this, a simple burger with a slice of onion on a bun with a smear of mayo on the bottom and ketchup on top. The salad was good too!

Posted in American, Beef, Easy, Salad, Vegetables, Weeknight dinners | Tagged | 1 Comment

Thai basil eggplant with tofu. 1/19/23

Thai basil eggplant with tofu over rice

This dish is our attempt to recreate our favorite dish from a local Thai restaurant. It ended up as kind of a Thai-Vietnamese mash-up which was good but a little too salty. We made nuoc cham, a Vietnamese sauce whose main ingredient is fish sauce. John marinated the tofu in it and we poured it over the whole dish towards the end of cooking. It was a bit much on the salt level and not quite the right taste.

Obviously Thai basil eggplant is a work in progress. If we ever get it right, I will post a recipe. If any of you have a recipe, I would love to try it.

Posted in Asian, rice, Thai, Vegetables, Vietnamese, Weeknight dinners | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Noodles and Zoodles with peanut sauce. 1/18/23

Noodles and Zoodles in peanut sauce

This is the first time I have made this recipe and I am pretty happy with how it turned out. Further down the page is the recipe I started with. I changed the soba noodles to 6 oz. of fettuccine and one medium zucchini spiralized. I made the full amount of sauce because we love sauce but just the amount of vegetables for two people. The recipe calls for PB2 which is peanut butter powder. Peanut butter powder has much fewer calories than using full fat peanut butter. So by reducing the fat calories and having lots of vegetables by using zoodles we ended up with a healthy dish.

Since this is a photo of the recipe the links are not live.

Posted in Asian, Healthy tips, Pasta, Vegan, Vegetables, Vegetarian, Weeknight dinners | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Classic chicken dinner, 1/16/23 and Open-faced tilapia sandwich with salad, 1/17/23

Apparently I forgot to post yesterday so today is a two-fer.

Rotisserie chicken and butternut squash/potato mash with gravy and broccoli

My classic chicken dinner is always served with butternut squash, rutabaga, or potato mash. Sometimes, like Monday night, it is a combination because I don’t have enough of any one thing. I cooked the butternut squash and potatoes in the Instant Pot for 15 minutes and they always come out totally mashable. They are so tender that I can mash them with a fork easily.

The chicken comes from a Costco rotisserie chicken. We have decided it is such a good deal ($4.99!) that we will always buy one when we go to Costco. Once home I take the chicken apart for use during the next few days and I even make chicken stock out of the carcass. Yum, chicken vegetable soup! I think I will have it for lunch today.

Broccoli is always the vegetable of choice for Classic Chicken Dinner. We also made gravy from a packet of chicken gravy mix by McCormack.

Open-faced tilapia sandwich with tartar sauce and a salad

John and I enjoy the mild taste of tilapia for our open-faced sandwich. While John cooks the fish I make a tartar sauce from mayo, relish, capers, yellow mustard, grated onion, a squeeze of lemon, and a squirt of sriracha. The bread component is an Artesano sausage roll that I toasted. For salad tonight I used a Taylor Farms pre-packaged chopped steakhouse wedge that comes with croutons, bacon bits, and a blue cheese dressing. Easy, tasty dinner!

Posted in Easy, Fish, Instant Pot, Poultry, Salad, Vegetables, Weeknight dinners | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Breakfast for Dinner 1/15/23

Soft scrambled eggs, veggie breakfast sausage, rye toast

This is my iconic Breakfast for Dinner plate. No bells and whistles, it is just straightforward eggs, toast and a plant-based sausage patty. Along with a hot cup of tea this dinner is the perfect easy meal to end my week.

Posted in American, Breakfast For Dinner (BFD), Easy, Eggs, Vegetarian | Leave a comment

Weekly Menu. January 16-22, 2023

This week is abbreviated by a little vacation. John and I will be heading to Utah and taking our son on his birthday trip. There is nothing he likes better than to spend a week playing tennis and golf. One thing that he and I have always done together is to plan, shop for, and cook meals. He is a pretty good cook although a little on the messy side. Having a rental where he can cook and I do not have to stress over the mess is ideal!

I bought a Costco rotisserie chicken today and took all the meal off for use in our roast chicken dinner on Monday and for lunches during the week. I have even made stock with the carcass. On Wednesday I am hoping we will follow through and make the noodles and zoodles with peanut sauce that we were supposed to have done last week.

I will probably be a little less DiningLite on vacation but I will try to post whatever reasonable meals we make.

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