Dining out: Vegetable pho

Posted on January 19, 2026 by Beebamom

John and I typically go out to lunch about every two weeks. Our restaurant of choice has been Bangkok 101. We love Thai food and especially Thai basil eggplant with tofu. We were really looking forward to it last week since we have been away over the holidays and were really craving our favorite dish. You can imagine our dismay when we arrived at the restaurant and it had closed. There was a big sign saying Indian Restaurant Coming Soon. Nooooo!

In the same little strip mall there is another restaurant, Mom’s Pho and Banh Mi. Obviously not Thai but we like pho and banh mi so we figured why not? I ordered the vegetable pho and it was truly great. The broth was delicious and the bowl was full of cabbage, carrots, tofu, shiitake mushrooms, and noodles. I added bean sprouts, basil, cilantro, and jalapeño from the dish of accompaniments. WOW.

We still need to find a new Thai restaurant but it is nice to know we have a delicious fallback.

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Weekly Menu. January 19-26, 2026

Posted on January 19, 2026 by Beebamom
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New England Clam Chowder. 1/17/26

Posted on January 18, 2026 by Beebamom
New England Clam Chowder
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Tilapia tacos with all the fixings. 1/16/26

Posted on January 17, 2026 by Beebamom
Tilapia taco and spicy beans

Tonight we have tilapia tacos with all the fixings. We get our tilapia frozen in a bag of portion sized pieces from Costco. John thaws the two pieces overnight in the refrigerator and cooks the pieces in a little oil in a large frying pan. Broken in half they fit into two tortillas that he sears over an open flame on the stovetop.

My job is to make the fixings. I use the liquid from a can of Rotel to spice up the beans along with a shake of cumin and chipotle powder. While the beans heat up and the fish cooks I chop up a piece of red onion, an avocado, and a mango. I shred some cabbage. We serve the tacos with the tomatoes from the can of Rotel and a wedge of lime. This is a quick dinner that your whole family can enjoy.

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Lasagna! 1/14/26 and 1/15/26

Posted on January 15, 2026 by Beebamom

On Wednesday Sarah made a delicious lasagna. The large 9×13 dish held enough for two dinners.

Lasagna hot out of the oven

Sarah made a traditional lasagna with ground beef, tomato sauce, ricotta cheese, mozzarella, and Parmesan cheeses. It was delicious. We were really glad to have a second lasagna dinner on Thursday!

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Easy chicken dinner. 1/13/26

Posted on January 14, 2026 by Beebamom

This is an easy chicken dinner you can make it in 15-20 minutes using shortcuts. First make a packet of chicken gravy (like McCormack’s). Then cut off a breast of rotisserie chicken and slice it into pieces. Put that into the chicken gravy that you’ve made. Turn to low to warm the chicken. Steam some broccoli and add a pat of butter when serving. Get a packet of Idahoan mashed potatoes. Follow the directions on the packet. (The directions are to dump the contents of the packet into 2 cups hot/boiling water and stir around. Let it sit for a minute and then stir again. That’s it.)

Put the chicken and mashed potatoes on a plate or bowl. Cover with gravy. Add the broccoli to the plate. The end.

This isn’t a fancy guest-grade dinner but it is super easy, quick to make and pretty tasty plus the potatoes are lump free! 

Sent from Yahoo Mail for iPad

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Whole grain penne and broccoli. 1/12/26

Posted on January 13, 2026 by Beebamom

According to my Weekly Menu we are supposed to be having a chicken dinner. I changed the plan because I was craving pasta. John cooked up a bunch of penne and I cut up the broccoli into very small pieces and put the pieces in a colander. My idea was to strain the pasta and at the same time blanch the broccoli. Ta da! It worked perfectly. I added a half cup of reserved pasta water and a couple of tablespoons of olive oil into the penne and broccoli mixture. Each bowl also had a sprinkle of parmesan cheese.

A perfect, easy dinner for when you are craving pasta! The chicken can wait until tomorrow.

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Weekly Menu. January 12 – 18, 2026

Posted on January 12, 2026 by Beebamom
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Spicy chicken and mushrooms. 1/10/26

Posted on January 11, 2026 by Beebamom

This is a recipe that I adapted from the NYTimes Cooking site. Because we almost exclusively use rotisserie chicken for our chicken dishes, I omitted chicken thighs that needed to be cooked and subbed in thick slices of rotisserie chicken breast. Plus I also omitted a bunch of anchovies and added 1/2 teaspoon of fish sauce. Here is a link to the original recipe.

https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/763568708-one-pan-spicy-chicken-thighs-and-mushrooms?smid=ck-recipe-iOS-share

Here’s my adapted recipe –

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This dish is spicy and salty with plenty of umami. There is no need for any extra salt as the miso provides all the salt you need. Definitely serve the chicken with rice as there is plenty of sauce for it to absorb. The picture of the spicy chicken and mushrooms is not mine but is a picture that accompanied the original recipe.

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Gochujang potato stew with bean and greens. 1/9/26

Posted on January 10, 2026 by Beebamom

This is a NYTimes Cooking recipe that you should be able to access since the link has a “share” on it..

https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1024082-gochujang-potato-stew?smid=ck-recipe-iOS-share

It is pretty much carbo heaven since you have a combo of potatoes, beans, and rice. There is also quite a bit of salt in it. I woke up today with puffy eyes. It is really tasty comfort food that I am willing to make every once in a while.

Posted in Asian, Legumes, rice, stew, Vegetables, Vegetarian, Weeknight dinners | Tagged , , | Leave a comment