Chicken enchiladas and spicy black beans. 10/27/22

Posted on October 28, 2022 by Beebamom
Chicken enchiladas and spicy black beans

Usually when we make enchiladas John heats the tortillas on the stove’s open flame and then hands them off to me. This method means I have to cradle this hot tortilla in my hand and try to fill it fast enough that I don’t get burned. Plus often they are too crispy and not pliable. I looked up various recipes which called for lightly frying them or dipping the tortillas in hot enchilada sauce. Both methods seemed to have similar problems. I decided that since the whole casserole of enchiladas was going to bake in the oven anyway that I would just use the tortillas raw.

I have to admit that a couple of the tortillas tore a little when I rolled them up but once they were nestled against one another and covered in sauce and cheese no one could tell the difference. And I did not get burned in the process. So win-win!

I stuffed the tortillas with shredded chicken, sautéed onions and peppers (including a spicy habanero), cheese and a drizzle of salsa verde. I put them in a 8×12” baking dish which was coated with the salsa verde. Nine tortillas fit down the length of the dish with another two along the side. I covered the top with more salsa verde, the remaining onions and peppers, and a sprinkling of Mexican blend shredded cheese. The casserole baked at 350F for 30 minutes.

Along with some black beans which were spiced up with a can of Rotel our dinner was solidly in the category of “family favorite.”


Posted in American, Legumes, Methods, Mexican, Poultry, Southwest U.S., Vegetables | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Zoodle-mania. 10/26/22

Posted on October 28, 2022 by Beebamom

So here is a silly/stupid thing I did. I wanted to make some zoodles to augment our pasta dish. Unfortunately I pulled a cucumber out of the fridge instead of a zucchini! John snitched a few strands out of my pile of cuke-oodles and remarked that my zoodles tasted like cucumber. Thank goodness he discovered my mistake before I put them in the pasta! I turned my errant cucumber zoodles into a first course salad.

Cucumber zoodles with tomatoes and radishes

For our main course we had fettucine augmented with (zucchini) zoodles and meat balls in a tomato sauce. This was delicious and very filling with 3oz. of pasta and a whole pile of zoodles.

Fettuccine and zoodles with meatballs and tomato sauce
Posted in American, Beef, Italian, Pasta, Salad, Vegetables, Weeknight dinners | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Singapore shrimp with rice and snow peas. 10/25/22

Posted on October 26, 2022 by Beebamom
Singapore shrimp with rice and snow peas

The sauce is what makes this shrimp Singaporean. It is salty from fish sauce, tart from rice wine vinegar, spicy from chili garlic sauce, and tomato-ey sweet from ketchup. You can find the recipe from the last time I made it – https://wordpress.com/post/dininglite.blog/12473 We make a half recipe since only John and I are eating it.

It is a little fussy to make. First you sear the shrimp and take it out of the pan. Then you cook the finely chopped garlic, onion, and ginger. (I use my mini-prep for this) and then you add in the sauce which needs to be cooked since there are raw shrimp in it. Finally you add back in the whole seared shrimp and warm up the whole thing together.

Fussiness aside, this is a very tasty dish with the sauce hitting all the taste points!

Posted in Asian, pescatarian, rice, Shellfish, Vegetables | Tagged | Leave a comment

Seared tuna, lentils, and broccoli 10/24/22

Posted on October 25, 2022 by Beebamom
Seared tuna, lentils, radish, and broccoli with a warm soy vinaigrette

We were supposed to be making lentils with turkey sausage tonight but we saw a nice piece of tuna at Costco and took the lentils in a different direction. I whizzed up a little onion, garlic, and ginger in my mini-prep, sautéed them, and added the lentils and water. In 20 minutes at a low simmer they were done. While I steamed the broccoli John quickly seared the sesame seed encrusted tuna. We had some leftover soy vinaigrette from last week so I zapped it in the microwave and dinner was ready.

Do lentils go with tuna? Not totally but the soy vinaigrette tied everything together.

Posted in Asian, Easy, Fish, Legumes, Methods, pescatarian, Vegetables, Weeknight dinners | Tagged | Leave a comment

Weekly Menu. October 24-30, 2022

Posted on October 23, 2022 by Beebamom
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Tilapia with pesto and roasted vegetables. 10/22/22

Posted on October 23, 2022 by Beebamom
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.

Posted in American, Easy, Fish, Methods, pescatarian, Sheet pan, Vegetables | Tagged | Leave a comment

Chicken fajitas. 10/21/22

Posted on October 22, 2022 by Beebamom
Chicken fajitas

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!

Posted in Easy, Mexican, Poultry, Vegetables, Weeknight dinners | Tagged | Leave a comment

Tofu bowl. 10/20/22

Posted on October 21, 2022 by Beebamom
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!

Posted in Asian, Easy, Healthy tips, Hot weather meals, Legumes, Methods, Salad, Vegan, Vegetables, Vegetarian, Weeknight dinners | Leave a comment

Greek salad with hummus and pita. 10/19/22

Posted on October 20, 2022 by Beebamom

Greek salad with hummus and pita

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.

Posted in Easy, Hot weather meals, Mediterranean, Salad, Vegetables, Vegetarian, Weeknight dinners | Tagged | 1 Comment

Fusilli with mushrooms, broccoli, and kale 10/18/22

Posted on October 19, 2022 by Beebamom

Fusilli with mushrooms, broccoli, and kale

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.

Posted in Easy, Methods, Pasta, Vegan, Vegetables, Vegetarian, Weeknight dinners | Tagged | 1 Comment