Tilapia with a pesto sauce and roasted zucchini, carrots, and red onion
We took the humble tilapia and elevated it with a perfect cook, a homemade pesto, and delicious roasted carrots, zucchini, and red onion. Our dishes were garnished with a drizzle of olive oil and a chiffonade of fresh basil.
I put the vegetables coated with olive oil, salt, and pepper in a 425F oven. After 15 minutes John added the fish. They cooked together for 11 minutes and everything was done. We were amazed at how delicious it all turned out. It just goes to show you don’t have to spend $25-$30/lb. for some delicious fish.
We had a little Mexican party tonight. It started off with chips, guacamole and margaritas. For the main course we made chicken fajitas. We bought a little packet of chicken fajita seasoning mix which gave us instructions on how to make the chicken, peppers, and onions. Instead of flour tortillas we used corn tortillas. It all turned out pretty tasty and we enjoyed our little fiesta!
Tofu bowl with riced cauliflower, edamame, cabbage, avocado, cucumber , Fresno chile, cilantro, lime wedge, and soy vinaigrette
The avocado finally ripened and we dined on my favorite bowl of our three, the marinated tofu bowl. This is another almost no-cook dinner. I heated up my cauliflower rice in the microwave but if you prefer actual rice you would have to cook it.
As you can see in the picture’s caption there are a lot of components which need to be chopped up. John gave me a hand with it so the meal prep went fairly quickly. I make the vinaigrette in my mini prep processor. I love this little machine! It does a super job finely chopping the garlic, ginger, and green onions. After those are whizzed up I add 1/2 cup soy sauce, 1/3 cup rice wine vinegar, and 1/2 teaspoon sesame oil. The dressing also benefits from a splash of water and should be sweetened to your taste. I leave the oil out of the dressing and we each put a drizzle of it on top of our bowl. Delicious!
Our recalcitrant avocado has decided to wait another day to ripen. Apparently the apple in the bag that is supposed to make it ripen faster has made a pact with the avocado to lengthen its time on earth. Who thought fruits and vegetables could be so sly?! John and I looked over this week’s menu to find something else that we could make for dinner with minimal preparation. Since for some inexplicable reason the temperature outside is 93F in the middle of October, we decide to make the Greek salad and hummus which we were planning on for Saturday.
We were a little short of lettuce so we stretched the greens with cabbage and kale. Other additions were pepperoncini, red onion, olives, cucumber, tomatoes, a Serrano chile, and crumbled feta cheese. I dressed my salad with some no-fat salad dressing I had made. The hummus was straight out of a container from the store and the pita was my favorite, Toufayan whole wheat pita.
We enjoyed our dinner with its salty, spicy tang from the salad and the creaminess of the hummus. I will need to remember this dinner next summer when we are looking for a no-cook dinner.
Tonight we were supposed to have a tofu bowl for dinner. However apparently no one told the avocado it was supposed to be ripe by Tuesday and so it sits stubbornly in its clipped paper bag with only an apple as a companion. I picked an unripe avocado on purpose when I went to the store last Friday. I wanted to make sure it would stay unripe until Tuesday. As of right now it looks like we will not be eating a tofu bowl until at least Thursday.
So, what to do. I still wanted to go the vegan/vegetarian route and I want to save the pita and hummus meal for a hotter day. Pasta to the rescue. It takes no convincing anybody at our house to eat pasta. I had some broccoli that definitely needed eating and some new kale that would make a nice base. I cooked the mushrooms first, followed by the onions and garlic. When the pasta went into the boiling water I added the broccoli to the vegetables and kept them on low. The fusilli was done in about 7 minutes and I turned up the heat under the vegetables and the pasta joined them. I added about a cup of pasta water and cooked it all together for three minutes. A small glug of olive oil and a few basil leaves finished the dish.
When I suggested we have chicken on Monday John voted for these chicken wings. This is the ultimate easy dinner and probably one of the more expensive ways to eat chicken wings without getting them at a restaurant or as take-out. We bought a frozen, prepared bag of wings and just heated them in the oven according to the package instructions.
Since I like the flats and John likes the drumettes we are the perfect couple for wing eating. Along with our easy wings I bought a Taylor Farms chopped salad that came with Buffalo ranch dressing. The celery and carrot sticks we made ourselves.
I think we need to find a good baked-in-the-oven Buffalo chicken wing recipe because these wings are not part of my healthy eating lifestyle!
Grilled hamburger with onion and bean salad (aka Texas Caviar)
Even though I had to eat practically nothing all day to fit this hamburger into my diet regimen, it was worth it. Every once in a while I just crave eating like a normal (American) person. You know, a hamburger on an actual bun that has a top and a bottom. Normally I only eat open-faced sandwiches, bread on the bottom and a lettuce leaf on top so I can hold my “sandwich” in my hand. So the hamburger with its bun is a real luxury. John cooked them perfectly even though it was too dark outside for him to see what he was doing.
I made a bean salad which had black beans, black eyed peas, corn, tomatoes, onion, scallions, carrots, celery, red bell pepper, and a Serrano chile for a little zing. I dressed it with an almost fat-free Italian dressing comprised of Good Seasons mix, cider vinegar, water, and one teaspoon of olive oil. To emulsify the mixture and thicken it since it is mostly water, I use 1/4 teaspoon xanthan gum. The salad is seasoned with plenty of salt, cumin, and 5 shakes of Tabasco. We ate the entire bowlful!
This dinner consists of lentils cooked with onions, garlic, carrots, and celery with sautéed turkey sausage added at the end and served over a bed of kale. Every time we make a pot of this we eat the whole thing. It is so tasty and good for us!
Wow, I have been recording my dinners almost every day for 11 years! I started out just putting in pictures of my dinner plate but have evolved to making comments and tips on how to make the dinners I eat and even include a few recipes. I enjoy looking back over the various dinners we have had and get ideas for future dishes. Also sometimes I think to myself, “Oh, that was so good! I wonder why I haven’t made it again!” Anyway, dininglite.blog will always be exactly what I eat. It helps me to stay accountable to eating in a healthy manner which so far has made my life better. I am glad you are here. Thanks for being part of my food journey.
Eggplant Parmesan Pasta
Eggplant parmesan pasta
I love eggplant parmesan but I do not love frying eggplant. So to make this healthier dish I cut the eggplant in cubes and sprayed them with olive oil spray and roasted the cubes in a 425F oven for 25 minutes. I also made tomato sauce with a large can of fire-roasted tomatoes, tomato paste, olive oil, onions, garlic, dried oregano and pepper flakes but you can just use your favorite jarred sauce if you want. To assemble the dish I placed some kale on the bottom of my bowl, followed by fusilli that I had finished in the sauce, then the eggplant cubes, some shredded mozzarella, more tomato sauce, and grated parmesan cheese on top.
It was soooo good! It tasted very much like the fried version but without all the oil. We are definitely having this again!!
Omnivore 