Penne arrabbiata 5/17/24

Penne arrabbiata

This is a recipe that I found on Serious Eats and adapted to our tastes. Here’s the original website https://www.seriouseats.com/penne-pasta-arrabbiata-sauce-recipe. We changed it up a bit because we like our spiciness coming from various sources—the red pepper flakes for overall heat, Tabasco for front of the mouth spiciness, and Sriracha for zingy sweetness.

The original recipe says it serves six but that is less than 3 ounces a person. That’s definitely not enough for us! We made all the sauce for 8 ounces of pasta. There was some sauce left over but that is always okay in our house. Someone will always find a use for it.

Spicy Roasted Cauliflower and Onions, Hummus Sauce, and Salsa with Roasted Tilapia and Potato and Squash Mash. 5/16/24

Spicy Roasted Cauliflower and Onions, Hummus Sauce and Salsa with Roasted Tilapia and Potato and Squash Mash

The real star of this dinner was the roasted cauliflower and onions with the hummus sauce and salsa. Not only were the sauce and salsa good on the vegetables but they were also really good on the fish! I had a purple cauliflower so I used that but the original recipe used white cauliflower. Since I did not have the tahini that was called for I used hummus. I am including my adapted recipe.

Chickpeas, ditalini, and greens. 5/15/24

Chickpeas, ditalini, and greens

You can make this weeknight dinner vegan, vegetarian, or not depending on whether you garnish it with dairy cheese or use chicken stock instead of vegetable stock. Our dinner used what we had on hand, Parmesan cheese and chicken stock.

This is quite easy to make although there is quite a bit of chopping up of vegetables. The vegetables get par-cooked first and then finish cooking during the time it takes the ditalini (or any other small soup pasta) to cook. It needs quite a bit of salt so keep tasting and seasoning as you go along. We make ours to a stew-like consistency but just add more stock if you want it soupy.

Grilled hamburger and salad. 5/14/24

Grilled hamburger and salad

Although here in California we can pretty much grill stuff all year long there is something about sitting outside while it’s warm and still light out watching John flip burgers that screams summer. John is an expert at medium rare burgers which we serve on seeded buns with mayo smeared on the bottom bun and, on top, ketchup and red onion.

The salad was a Taylor Farms Buffalo chopped salad. Happily the salad dressing was not sweet which so many of the Taylor Farms salad offerings are. I always check the list of ingredients for the salad dressing to make sure that sugar (or some sugar-like substance) is not one of the first few ingredients.

Classic chicken dinner. 5/13/34

Chicken, gravy, butternut squash, and broccoli

We have tended to make a chicken dinner on Mondays for years now. In fact our son often makes chicken dinner on Mondays for his family, a holdover from his youth.

Monday’s chicken dinner was rotisserie chicken breast reheated in chicken gravy, mashed butternut squash, and broccoli topped with fried onions. It was like having Thanksgiving dinner on a regular weekday night.

Swedish tea ring. 5/12/24

Swedish tea ring

For Mother’s Day our daughter baked me a Swedish tea ring. It is a yeast coffee cake filled with almond paste, almonds, and raisins. It is reminiscent of a coffee cake we used to buy from the bread man when I was a kid. Back in the day we had a milkman, a bread man, cleaners and laundry, who stopped at our house with their wares or to pick up or deliver stuff. Anyway I loved this coffee cake and on special occasions such as Mother’s Day I get to choose the coffee cake or pretzel rolls or cookies and she makes them from scratch for me.

Later in the day our son invited us to his house where he made a steak dinner which also included twice baked potatoes, sautéed Brussels sprouts, creamed kale, and homemade sourdough bread. Plus I got lots of cards from John, my kids, and grandkids. What a sweet family I have!

Shrimp tacos with chopped salad. 5/10/24

Shrimp tacos

I used crispy stand-up taco shells for our shrimp tacos tonight. John cooked the shrimp to perfection and three large shrimp per taco made for a filling dinner. Along with the shrimp the taco was completed with shredded cabbage, tomato salsa, and sliced mango.

I also made a chopped salad which echoed the tomato, cabbage, and mango from the taco. The dressing was a combination of ranch and spicy avocado sauce.

Chopped salad with avocado ranch dressing and mango

This has been a Mexican-inspired week what with vegetarian nachos on Sunday, chicken enchiladas on Wednesday, and tacos on Friday. Add to that an Asian dinner on Tuesday and an Italian one on Thursday and it really reflects the versatility of American dining.

Penne with mushrooms and asparagus. 5/9/24

Penne with mushroom and asparagus

I really like the look of penne and asparagus. The asparagus mimics the shape of the penne. Plus this is super simple and quick to make. While the water is heating up for the pasta is plenty of time to cook the mushrooms with some chopped onions and garlic. In the last couple of minutes that the pasta is cooking it is time to add the asparagus to the mushrooms with a little pasta water. When the penne is al dente drain it and add it to the vegetables with 1/4 cup additional pasta water and a tablespoon of olive oil.

When serving add additional olive oil and (optional) parmesan cheese.

Chicken enchiladas. 5/8/24

Chicken enchiladas with spicy black beans

We went to Costco today and bought a rotisserie chicken. Out of the chicken we will fashion our enchilada dinner, a classic chicken and gravy dinner, and a couple of lunches. Each enchilada is a combination of salsa verde, shredded chicken, onions, and cheese. I roll them up and snug them into a casserole dish. They cook for about 35 minutes at 350F with a 5 minute broil at the end. I usually make around 15 enchiladas so there are plenty for dinner and some leftovers over for lunches.

Salmon bowl with soy vinaigrette 5/7/24

Salmon bowl with soy vinaigrette

We make this bowl three different ways—one with shrimp, one with tofu, and one with salmon. This is a good hot weather meal since it is basically a salad with rice and a quickly cooked piece of fish.

The vinaigrette is a whizzed up combination of garlic, ginger, green onion, soy sauce, and rice wine vinegar. I usually add a splash of water and a little sweetener. The oil is handled individually at plating.

In addition to the fish and rice there are cucumber slices, edamame, shredded cabbage, avocado, Serrano chiles, and cilantro.

Yum, this is so good!