Sesame salmon bowl. 9/21/22

Posted on September 22, 2022 by Beebamom

Sesame salmon bowl

The bowls we make like this are a combination of components with varying proteins over rice with a dressing. Today’s protein is salmon but we also make this with shrimp and tofu. The vegetables remain constant – cucumber, avocado, cabbage, edamame, and Serrano or jalapeño peppers.

What ties the dish together is the wonderful dressing. The soy vinaigrette is especially delicious. Mix together 1/4 cup low sodium soy sauce, 3T white vinegar, 2T vegetable oil, 2T chopped green onions, 2T minced ginger, and 1/4t toasted sesame oil. You may want to consider putting in a dash of some sort of sweetener. We like plenty of the dressing so we make a double portion.

We serve our salmon and vegetables over rice and garnish with cilantro and furikake.


Posted in Asian, Fish, Hot weather meals, Legumes, pescatarian, Recipes, rice, Vegetables, Weeknight dinners | Tagged | Leave a comment

Fusilli in tomato sauce with zucchini and mushrooms. 9/20/22

Posted on September 21, 2022 by Beebamom

Fusilli in tomato sauce with zucchini and mushrooms

I am so glad that the weather has been cool enough to permit pots of boiling water and simmering sauce. After sautéing the mushrooms, onions, pepper, and garlic I added 2 tablespoons of tomato paste and cooked that briefly. Next I deglazed the pan with red wine. I added a 28 oz. can of fire-roasted diced tomatoes and left the whole pot to simmer with the lid slightly ajar for half an hour.

At this point John turned on the water to boil and I browned the zucchini half-moons in olive oil spray and a teaspoon of butter. I did not want to put them straight into the sauce because they would have disintegrated. When the pasta was cooked and about two cups of the cooking water reserved, I put about half of the sauce in with the zucchini and John added the fusilli. Half the reserved pasta water went in with the fusilli and the other half went into the leftover sauce which had thickened up quite a bit during its simmer. I will save the remaining sauce for another application in the future.

What a delicious dinner! We practically licked out our bowls!

Posted in Easy, Italian, Methods, Pasta, Vegetables, Vegetarian | Tagged | 1 Comment

Leek and potato soup. 9/19/22

Posted on September 20, 2022 by Beebamom
Leek and potato soup with garnishes

Tonight’s leek and potato soup began life a few weeks ago as Instant Pot Vichyssoises. We had a bunch left over so we heated it up to come back as leek and potato soup! No need to eat it cold this time. The temperatures have dropped by about 40F and it even, weirdly, rained. Usually we don’t get rain until November.

But the rain is welcome as is a pot of warm soup. For garnishes we added oyster crackers, chopped scallions, and bacon. If you want to keep this vegetarian just omit the bacon.

Posted in American, Easy, Leftovers For Dinner, soup, Vegetables, Weeknight dinners | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Composed salad. 9/18/22

Posted on September 19, 2022 by Beebamom
Composed salad

On Sunday morning with one little pot of water I hard boiled an egg, blanched broccoli, and cooked a small potato. Everything else was chopped and assembled at dinner time. As a base I used a combo of green leaf lettuce, cabbage, and kale. The dressing was simply olive oil, red wine vinegar, salt and pepper.

Posted in American, Easy, Eggs, Hot weather meals, Legumes, Salad, Vegetables, Vegetarian | 1 Comment

Weekly Menu. September 19 – 25, 2022

Posted on September 18, 2022 by Beebamom
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Chana dal with kale and cauliflower rice. 9/17/22

Posted on September 18, 2022 by Beebamom
Chana dal with kale and cauliflower rice

Tonight all we had to do was warm up the leftover Chana dal in a pot and heat up the rice in the microwave. Although it is hard for us to have leftovers because we like to eat a lot of everything, last week we made a double recipe of Chana dal to insure we had leftovers! Chana dal are dried, split chickpeas that I make in our Instant Pot with lots of spices, a spicy tomato blend, onions, garlic, and ginger. There are plenty of recipes for it on the internet and the recipe I have adapted for our use is posted below.

I like to serve Chana dal on a bed of raw kale with rice or cauliflower rice. It makes a giant bowl of food! I garnish mine with sriracha for extra spiciness.

Posted in Easy, Indian, Instant Pot, Leftovers For Dinner, Legumes, Recipes, Vegan, Vegetables, Vegetarian, Weeknight dinners | Tagged | Leave a comment

Steak, grilled potato, and asparagus. 9/16/22

Posted on September 17, 2022 by Beebamom
Grilled rib eye steak, grilled potato, and asparagus

Tonight we are finishing up our celebrations. Our final celebration is marking the anniversary of John’s retiring from full-time employment. We have enjoyed these years without the tedious commute and the office politics. Better that he be employed as my number one cook of all things meat, fish, or fowl! Tonight he is grilling a rib eye steak and finishing off the potato that I microwaved. I am also in charge of the asparagus which was on sale for $2.99/lb. That is an excellent price!

On Saturday we are returning to our healthy eating regimen. We both have a few (or more) pounds to lose. As much fun as it has been eating with abandon these last three days, I am looking forward to getting back to normal. When we plan our menu on Sunday I imagine we will include lots of seafood and vegetables.

Posted in American, Beef, Easy, Grilling, Special occasion, Vegetables | Tagged | Leave a comment

A fine dining dinner. 9/15/22

Posted on September 17, 2022 by Beebamom

Mostly John and I cook at home every night. But sometimes we splurge, go off our diets, and let someone else do the cooking. Since this is our 50th anniversary year, and John’s birthday, plus the anniversary of John’s retirement day, we decided to indulge ourselves in a fancy dinner at a restaurant that we enjoy. The following is the dinner they made for us.

A mezze plate for two, summer beans, duck rillette, fermented cabbage, salami, white anchovy, tomato jam, country pate, tomatoes, and potato chips
Hamachi, apple granita, chalaquita, sorrel, and tiger’s milk
Ajo blanco soup, scallops, cucumber, jalapeño, and aji salt
King salmon, cucumbers, sticky rice, sweet pepper purée, habanadas, and celery

Stemple Creek Ranch rib eye, beet mole, zucchini, shallot confit, chanterelles, and jus

“Queso helado”, coconut, cinnamon, coffee granita
Posted in Dining out, Special occasion | Leave a comment

Chilean sea bass, Vichy carrots, zucchini and onions. 9/14/22

Posted on September 16, 2022 by Beebamom

Roasted Chilean sea bass, Vichy carrots, zucchini and onions

This was John’s birthday dinner! He chose Chilean sea bass and we negotiated on the vegetables. He said he wanted two vegetable instead of a starch and a vegetable. After he decided that he wanted the zucchini, onions, and garlic that I make, I suggested Vichy carrots. The zucchini is simply sauteed with onions and garlic in olive oil. The Vichy carrots are started in a pan with water that comes half way up the sides of carrots, a half tablespoon of brown sugar, and a teaspoon of butter. As the carrots cook the water evaporates and then the butter and sugar make a glaze. If the water gets too low you just add some more until the carrots are cooked.

Along with the zucchini which came from our daughter’s garden we had three different herbs that I grow in pots on our patio. They were tarragon on the fish, thyme on the carrots, and basil on the zucchini.

Even though it was his birthday John cooked the fish. Better to have someone who knows what they are doing make the sea bass than me! Happy Birthday, John!

Posted in American, Fish, Methods, pescatarian, Special occasion, Vegetables | Tagged | 1 Comment

Light shrimp scampi with broccoli 9/13/22

Posted on September 14, 2022 by Beebamom
Light shrimp scampi with broccoli

This is a quick-cooking dinner that can be served with pasta, rice, or even polenta. Unlike a typical shrimp scampi with its tablespoons of butter and oil, this lighter version has a total of 1 teaspoon of olive oil per person and no butter. We ate this with 2 ounces each of Carba-Nada fettuccine and a lot of broccoli for a light and filling dinner.

Posted in Easy, Healthy tips, Italian, Pasta, Recipes, Shellfish, Vegetables, Weeknight dinners | Tagged | 1 Comment