John pan roasted the fish and I made the beans with yellow bell and jalapeño peppers, onions, and garlic spiced up with Tabasco sauce, cumin, and chipotle powder. The garnishes were avocado crema and yogurt. We warmed the tortillas in the oven and combined the fish with tomatoes, shredded cabbage, avocado crema and yogurt. This is an easy and enjoyable dinner.
We made this dish once in 2021 and I was not a total fan. It was merely okay. Obviously I had forgotten that I did not really care for it when I suggested it this week as one of our vegan/vegetarian entrees.
This time, however, we worked on it to make it a much better dish. First we added extra vegetables – carrots, celery, poblano and red bell peppers, and mushrooms. Instead of two cans of plain diced tomatoes, we added one can of Rotel and one can of Muir Glen fire roasted tomatoes with garlic. Then with the addition of a tablespoon of smoky paprika and a tablespoon of vinegar we were almost done.
The final touches to our dish were to add a base of raw kale to complement the cooked kale in the stew, a drizzle of olive oil, and a good squirt of sriracha. Now we had a dinner worth the time and trouble it took to make it! You can find the original recipe here but I really recommend trying the tweaks I suggested.
Tonight John took the lead on dinner making both the creamy polenta and the shrimp. I was relegated to broccoli duty. John makes his creamy polenta with a ratio of 1:5.5 or in this case 1/2 cup polenta to 5 1/2 cups of water. It cooks for about 15 minutes and come out really creamy. Once he was ready to cook the seasoned shrimp, I turned on the broccoli which steamed in a little water and 1 teaspoon butter. The polenta was really great with the shrimp and the broccoli.
I really, really enjoy our pasta Wednesdays and this was a particularly delicious one. I had a little of the red sauce that I made last week leftover so I added a can of Rotel to it to spice it up. A chopped up poblano pepper that I sautéed with mushrooms and onions helped along with the spicy-ness. After the sauce cooked for a bit and right before I added the cooked pasta, I threw in a couple of handfuls of chopped kale.
I topped my bowl with a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese (omit in a vegan preparation) and a drizzle of olive oil. It really was a perfect bowl of pasta!
Sumac and za’atar are the spices on this Middle Eastern flavored dish. We made this on a sheet pan and it looked promising. However, the flavor turned out bland and the texture was uniformly dull. I figured that cooking the chickpeas for 30 minutes at 425F would give them some texture but it just made them starchy. The tofu which joined the tomatoes for the last 15 minutes were nicely browned but not crispy. The tomatoes were very tasty. Until I find a way to improve this I won’t post a recipe but I probably will not make it again.
I have been toying with the idea of getting an air fryer. I wonder if cooking it that way would help…
Four vegetables in tonight’s dinner. I cooked the butternut squash and the parsnips in the Instant Pot on high pressure for 12 minutes with an immediate steam release. They were totally tender and mashed easily. The broccoli and cauliflower steamed briefly. The gravy was leftover turkey gravy from 2021! We had defrosted it for Thanksgiving last week. Finally we only had a little rotisserie chicken left to heat up in the gravy but all the vegetables made the dinner filling and delicious!
John grilled the burgers to perfection and I assembled a pre-packaged salad. No inventiveness in this meal but if I am going to have a red meat dinner, I would always choose a hamburger over a fancy steak.
We had an all-hors d’oeuvres Thanksgiving dinner with the whole family. Each person brought an item or items in appetizer form. It was fun and relaxed although probably as much work as doing the whole big traditional spread. Here are some pictures of our dinner.
When we all sat down at the table there were more yummy treats.
I would like to say that is all I ate but it is so easy to have just one more of this or that. Plus there were desserts. I made Indian pudding served warm with vanilla ice cream and there were also three kinds of pies.
For dinner the night after Thanksgiving we had an instant replay of leftovers. Now I think we are done with Thanksgiving foods and can get back to almost normal! I think grilled hamburgers are on the menu for Saturday night. They are kind of a treat too. But after that John and I have to address our weight gain from too much indulgence. (Although my birthday is coming up and then there are Hanukkah latkes, and Christmas cookies. Sigh.)
Our vegan pasta dish this week was so delicious and so filling! Using tomatoes, mushrooms, and chunks of zucchini plus stretching my pasta allotment with zoodles gives me a portion size that I really enjoy. The zucchini really did double duty! Think about adding more vegetables to your pasta dishes and you will end up with a healthier and more plentiful dinner.
Omnivore 