While I was away John saw an episode of America’s Test Kitchen where they made this North African dish. He thought it looked doable and good so we put it on the menu for this week. We tweaked the recipe a bit and made it spicier and more stew-like. You can use chicken stock or keep it vegan by using vegetable stock. It turned out pretty well and we will probably make it again.
Here’s the recipe with changes we made in parentheses.
After marinating the tuna for an hour in soy sauce, ginger powder, garlic powder, and a few drops of sesame oil John coated the pieces with black and white sesame seeds. Then he seared it for two minutes on each side. The rice was made earlier in the day and reheated.
I made the bok choy. Since the pieces I had were larger I cut each one in half. I followed the recipe below which ended up with some extra sauce to put on the rice. This was a really healthy and delicious dinner.
Bok Choy in Oyster Sauce
1 tablespoon soy sauce
3½ tablespoons oyster sauce
Pinch of sugar
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
1 tablespoon neutral oil
1 tablespoon sliced or minced garlic
4 to 6 bunches of baby bok choy, approximately 1½ pounds, cleaned, with ends trimmed (divided in half if large)
Combine soy sauce, oyster sauce, sugar and rice vinegar in a bowl and set aside.
Heat oil in a skillet or wok set over high heat. When it shimmers, add garlic, then bok choy, and stir-fry for 2 minutes. (Be careful not to burn garlic!) Add 2 to 3 tablespoons water to the skillet or wok, then cover it and allow to cook for 2 to 3 minutes more, until bok choy has softened nicely at its base.
Remove bok choy from the skillet or wok and place it on a warmed platter. Drizzle the sauce over the greens and serve.
As much as I love going on vacation and eating dishes that someone else prepares and cleans up, I am always happy to come home to my own kitchen and my own way of cooking. My bowl of pasta is made simply with a little olive oil, fresh mushrooms, broccoli, and zucchini plus a cup of seasoned pasta cooking water. This vegan entree is easy and delicious to make.
Hi, I am back from having a fabulous vacation with my daughter and ready to get back to eating in a healthy and delicious manner. That is not to say that during our vacation I ate in a totally reckless manner but I did have a few desserts plus bigger breakfasts and lunches than I usually do. I was going to post some dinners while I was away but the internet was pretty feeble on the boat and I could not upload pictures.
This week’s menu has four vegan or vegetarian dinners, one chicken, and two seafood. I hope this inspires you to make some good choices this week!
John made some really yummy hamburgers out on the grill in the dark! He says he can tell if they are done by how they feel and the length of time they have been cooking. This is why I leave all the protein cooking up to him! I would have to cut them in half to see if they were done enough!
I bought organic grass-fed beef for these burgers. We usually just eat the regular grind that comes from the grocery store and I was afraid that maybe these would taste strange. But, no worries, they came out tasting just about the same and they were juicy and delicious.
I like my burgers with a smear of mayo on the bottom half of the bun so that it does not get sogged out and ketchup and a slice of red onion on top. I bought a Taylor Farms salad and added some extra lettuce since there were three of us eating.
On Thursday I am off with my daughter on a 10 day vacation. Maybe I will post some airplane food tonight. We are flying SwissAir for the first time and I wonder what kind of Swiss delights they will have. For the rest of the ten days if I eat something exceptionally good or bad I will post it. Strangely, having a record of what I eat helps me to remember what I did during a trip.
At last we had a rainy day here in Northern California! So we scuttled our plans to have grilled hamburgers and went with a rainy day soup. The clam chowder I make is not the thick type you usually associate with New England clam chowder but a much lighter one that depends on homemade shrimp stock and bottled clam juice for most of its liquid with only a small amount of half and half or heavy cream to enrich it.
I use canned minced clams and its liquid for the clam portion but I peel and dice the potatoes and slice the leeks, celery, and onions by hand. Luckily I have thyme and tarragon still growing on the patio. We made extra soup for two reasons. Our daughter joined us for this dinner and proclaimed it as “Great!” a rare accolade. Also since she and I are leaving for a mom and daughter trip on Thursday I wanted some leftovers for John. Although he is totally self-sufficient in the kitchen I know he will appreciate a few easy dinners while we are gone.
I garnished my bowl with broken up pretzel sticks because someone ate up the oyster crackers. Actually they were quite good on top. They did not get mushy fast and added a nice pop of saltiness.
While John was having an omelet (again!) for his Sunday supper, I decided to raid the produce bins in the refrigerator, use up the rest of the pulled chicken from enchilada night, and break up some whole wheat spaghetti for something different. For the vegetable component I chopped up mushrooms and onions and sautéed them first. Then I added chicken stock and water plus a teaspoon of what we call chicken salt (chicken bullion.) Carrots, celery, broccoli, cabbage, parsley, and the shredded chicken were next in the pot. Lastly I broke up thin stranded whole wheat spaghetti for a kind of noodle effect. About nine minutes later my soup was done. It was tasty and filling plus I have enough leftover to start another pot of soup for lunch this week!
Starting on Thursday I will be taking a 10-day vacation with our daughter. Poor John is staying at home and will have to cut up his own vegetables! I offered to chop up a bunch of stuff before I leave but he said no. Since he does all of the protein cooking anyway, he can buy himself a bag of salad for a complete meal. He is also talking about ordering Chinese food which he never gets to do since we instituted the healthy lifestyle plan. Plus we made extra Chana dal and we will also have leftover clam chowder so I do not think he will starve.
My plan is to eat seafood or vegetarian during our trip. Daughter and I have made a pact not to comment on or criticize each other’s food choices. Hopefully that will help. If I manage to eat a healthy dinner while away I will post it here.
We make our Chana dal in an Instant Pot where it cooks under pressure for 15 minutes. It is full of spices, ginger, garlic, a can of Rotel, and plenty of vegetable broth. I serve my portion over riced cauliflower and kale while John has his with regular white rice. I got my recipe from the Piping Pot Curry website and have modified it to our taste over time. If you are interested in making it, the Piping Pot Curry recipe is a good place to start.
This is almost an instant replay of a dinner we had last week. We enjoyed last week’s rendition of this fish dinner plus we had one frozen cube of pesto left so our only change was to add mushrooms to the sheet pan.
After preheating the oven to 425F and oiling up and seasoning the vegetables I started roasting them for 30 minutes. Half way through John added the tilapia in a separate dish. Everything was done at the 30 minute mark. All that was left to do was add the pesto which had defrosted in a little bowl to room temperature. This was a very economical, healthy, and tasty fish dinner.
Omnivore 