What I Ate for Dinner - Trader Joe's to the rescue!

I did NOT feel like fixing dinner the other night. I stood in front of my freezer, contemplating my options, which basically boiled down to either cooking something or eating a TV dinner. Neither option seemed particularly appealing.

And then, peeking out from behind some frozen ground beef, I saw it! Trader Joe’s Shrimp and Vegetable Stir Fry! It’s a self-contained meal with shrimp, veggies and a salt-and-pepper mixture, and all you have to do is stir-fry it.

But. I didn’t feel like expending the effort to get out a pan.

Yes, I was feeling JUST THAT LAZY. Shut up.

BUT! I figured that it had similar ingredients to a TV dinner, and THOSE are microwaveable, so why not the stir fry?

As it turned out, it takes a LOT longer to zap something that isn’t meant to be zapped. Altogether it took about 10 minutes in the microwave, and the veggies did come out a little weird. Also the shrimp were a little tough. (I didn’t care. I didn’t have to stir-fry.)

Having said that, I drained the water off and it was perfectly fine. (I will note here that when you stir-fry this stuff, it’s FANTASTIC. Microwaved . . . slightly less fantastic. But still good!)

The picture at the bottom is an entire package. So figure on one package serving 2 moderate adult-sized portions. Since the whole package is fairly low-cal, I ate the WHOLE FREAKIN’ THING, and it was YUMMY. MMmmmmmmm . . .

Wait, what? Where was I? Oh! Oh, yeah.

I almost always add some sort of extra sauce to it: oyster, plum, hoisin, peanut, whatever. But in truth, it’s really good as is, and it’s relatively inexpensive! (No, I don’t remember how much I paid for the package. Wouldn’t that be nice? *sigh*)

What I Ate for Dinner - Old School Chicken Salad

I LOVE chicken salad. With lots of mayonnaise and celery and onions. I LOVE IT. But I have to admit that I don’t usually eat it on bread. My favorite way to eat it is spooned over a generous plate of cooked, chilled broccoli. I know, I know, it sounds weird. But it’s really, REALLY good, especially in the summer when it’s hot out, and the cool chicken salad and broccoli is a nice change from regular, lettuce-based salads.

The key here is to use LOTS of vegetables (well, lots for chicken salad, anyway) and REAL chicken, chopped. Don’t use canned chicken, although chopped pre-cooked chicken works just fine.

Yum.

The Recipe:

1 pound cooked chicken, chopped
6-8 green onions, white and green parts, thinly sliced
5-7 large celery stalks, chopped
Mayo, salt and pepper to taste

Combine all the ingredients in a large bowl and stir to combine. Chill, and then serve over cooked, chilled broccoli.

FANTASTIC. Really. ;)

Less Congestion Pot Roast for Dad

This is the second dinner I made for my dad.  Beef is really too fatty to benefit congestion, but it does have some stuff he needs (iron, e.g.), and he requested it!  Ha!  I agreed, as long as it he agreed not to add potatoes, which contribute to his congestion.  So, with that compromise, here's what I did!  (And the stuff that helps congestion is in bold print!)

3 lbs. beef for slow cooking!

Salt

Pepper

1 14-oz. can beef broth

1 huge onion, or 2 smaller ones

2 large cloves garlic, chopped

4 medium zucchini, cut into 4 chunks each

6 medium carrots, cut into 5 or 6 chunks each

Into a 6-qt. slow cooker, place beef.  Sprinkle with a little salt and a lot of pepper.  Add the onion and the garlic.  Pour the broth around the edges.  Cook on high heat for 5-6 hours.

Add the carrots, making sure they're in the broth.  Add the zucchini chunks, placing them on top of the roast and carrots.  This way, they won't be completely mushy when everything else is done!  Cook for another 1-1 1/2 hours, or until the carrots are tender when you poke them with a fork.  (AKA "fork tender.)

Dad wanted bread to substitute for his beloved potatoes, so I bought him some bread made of half quinoa and half wheat, because wheat worsens his congestion, too.  I toasted a slice of bread, buttered it, laid it on a plate, put meat on it, and ladled the beef broth over it.  With vegetables on the side, he felt he'd been given manna!  Ha!  He ate all of it!

And now, I have both chicken and beef to shred for tacos and other dishes that I can use more of the peppery spices that seem to do the best work for de-congesting!  Woohoo!

I'll keep you posted on our progress!  At this point, he's actually walking farther than he was 3 days ago!  I'm excited!  He's breathing better, so he's not as breathless as quickly!  He's even feeling optimistic, so that's a plus, too!

What I Ate for Dinner - the Half-A$$ed hors d'oeuvres

Ok kids, I'm dealing with some bug issues at my apartment, so this is a SERIOUSLY compromised post. There will also be no Sunday post, as I will be scrubbing everything down after fogging the WHOLE FREAKIN' PLACE.

Not that I'm frustrated. Ahem.

BUT! There's still a half-a$$ed post for today! Woo-hoo!

This is for Karen L., who asked about hors d'oeuvres to serve at parties: preferably easy ones that didn't look like they came from a package. THIS is my specialty, folks: finger foods that look WAY more impressive than they are. (Because I love feeding people, but at some point I WANT TO PLAY, TOO.)

The Stuff (because you know, it's not really a recipe):

Hands-down, the easiest thing (which is still impressive-looking):
Salami
Cheese
Crackers
Fruit

But wait! It's better than it sounds.
Salami: Get a good quality salami. You can get something presliced, but if it came from Oscar Mayer, pass on by. Get a package (or 2) of the Columbus brand (found in the fancy cheese case). They have regular AND peppered, and I usually grab one of each package.

Cheese: At least two kinds. I like a double- or triple- cream Brie and a soft blue, and occasionally a Jack or Cheddar, if I'm not sure of my guests' tastes (Cheddar is a SUPER safe choice). Trader Joe's makes a FABULOUS soft blue (Castello? Costello? Something like that. Squeeze it a little: it will be as soft as a good Brie. When you find that blue - or bleu - cheese, that's it! Buy it! Buy a LOT of it! YUM . . . )

Crackers: Two words, folks: WATER. CRACKERS. Doesn't really matter what brand. Whole-grain crackers work, too, but only the fancy kinds. Don't go busting out the Triscuits, ok? (Although I DO love some Triscuits, I won't lie.)

Fruit: The part that makes your spread look fancy! Red grapes or sliced apples. If you slice apples, squeeze some lemon juice over them. It'll change the taste a little, but it will still be good with the other ingredients. I'm not gonna lie though, red grapes are my FAVORITE. They're AMAZING with salami and blue/bleu cheese.

The key to that spread is to put everything on plates, and ARRANGE it. It doesn't really matter HOW you arrange it; just don't dump it all on there, and it will look fantastic.

So there's that. Depending on the gathering, you also can't go wrong with potato chips and onion dip. I'm working on a substitute for the packaged dip, but honestly that Lipton crap hits people right in the nostalgic part of their brain. It's ALWAYS a winner.

Cookie dough! Even from a package, in teeny-tiny cupcake holders. These are a little time-consuming though, and be advised that they don't keep out on a table very well for very long: they turn a funny color. Yeesh. But a few at a time are always good. I use a cookie dough scooper (yes, really - STOP LAUGHING AT ME!), which forms them into little balls, so they look cute(that's the part that's time-consuming), and then sprinkle some cocoa powder over the top of them. Mmmmmm.

Ummm . . .

Bruschetta is easy if you have a broiler. Get a baguette, slice it up the night before, toss it in the fridge with a package of Bruschetta topping. The next day, arrange the slices on a broiler sheet, top them with the Bruschetta topping and broil them for about 3 minutes. Ta-da!

Alternately, you can brush the bread slices with some olive oil (or if you're lazy like me, just pour some olive oil on a plate and dip the bread in), sprinkle them with garlic powder (or add minced garlic to the oil on the plate), salt and pepper, and then dust them with grated Parmesan. Broil for the usual 3 minutes, and they'll be nice and toasty without TOO much cheese.

Olives! Olives are great and easy. Toss them in a pretty dish, put a smaller dish of toothpicks on the side, and you're done! But go to the olive bar for these, and get a couple of kinds: Kalamata, maybe some cheese- or garlic-stuffed green ones, whatever looks good. Do not, I repeat, DO NOT buy your olives in the jar in the middle aisles of the store. They taste funny for this type of thing. DO. NOT. Seriously.

Antipasto platters are also good. Remember that baguette? Slice it up and arrange it on a platter. Now on a separate platter, pile up some prosciutto (or thinly sliced ham), a little salami, some jarred roasted red peppers, some jarred sun-dried tomatoes, a little bit of olive tapenade, and some knives to spread all the stuff with. Let people build their own almost-crostini ('cause you know, crostini are toasted, and these aren't)! If you're feeling REALLY adventurous, add some pickled vegetables. (Giardiniera is fabulous - and I probably misspelled it - I never can remember how to spell it. But it's pickled carrots, cauliflower and pepperoncinis. YUM.)

Put out a dish of cleaned radishes. Next to that put a dish of butter and some salt. You dip the radish in the butter, sprinkle a little salt over it, and you're done! (Yes, really. It's good. I SWEAR.)

Watercress sandwiches! Ok, I know that sounds weird. But they're YUMMY. You need a baguette, sliced (are you seeing a theme here?). Put some butter on each slice and top it with some watercress. The watercress has sort of a peppery bite to it, and the butter balances it out nicely. Sprinkle a little coarse sea salt over the top, and it's pretty, too!

What else can I think of? Hmm . . .

OH! Meatballs! But not in BBQ or Teriyaki sauce, because EVERYBODY does that (unless you make a REALLY, REALLY good one). Serve meatballs in marinara sauce, with a little dish of toothpicks on the side. (You can either make your own marinara, or buy a good quality version from the store. Either way works.) Seriously, I know it seems sort of pedestrian, but people love meatballs. Sprinkle a little Parmesan cheese over them if you want it to look fancy.

Ok, I think I'm tapped for now. (Nope, one more: if your friends are like MY friends, put out some hummus and pita chips. But put the hummus in a bowl and drizzle a little olive oil over the top. A LITTLE, I'm not kidding about that part. But it makes it look more gourmet. If people only knew . . . )

Ok, NOW I'm tapped out. No pictures today (I can't even IMAGINE cooking all that for a post), so you'll have to use your imagination! And if you have any other ideas that have worked well for you in the past, by all means post them in the comments!

What I Ate for Dinner: Chinese-Style Soup – AKA Marste’s Soul Food

When I have a stomachache or cramps, or when I’m tired and weepy, or when I’m just emotionally exhausted and need to feel taken care of, this is what I eat. The ingredients vary – the recipe below is LITERALLY what I ate for dinner Thursday night – but it almost always includes garlic, ginger, onions, beef broth and soy sauce. (Sometimes that’s ALL it contains.)

The rest of the ingredients change depending on what I have in the fridge at the moment. I’ve used bok choy (fantastic), crab (well, imitation crab, anyway), beef, ground turkey (the consistency was weird on that one, though), carrots, green beans, lettuce (yes, really – it was good, too!), chopped celery (also good!), tomatoes, mushrooms – whatever is in the fridge.

What you see below is what I had in the fridge last night, so it’s what I had for dinner. As written, it won’t serve many, but you can just double it to feed a family. The whole thing, start to finish, took me about 15 minutes. Yes, really.

The Recipe:
Serves 2

½ Tbs canola oil
1 clove garlic, minced OR ½ tsp garlic powder
¼ cup frozen, pre-chopped onion
¼ tsp ground ginger
1/8 tsp 5-spice powder
1 Tbs low- sodium soy sauce
1 tsp fish sauce
2 cups beef broth
1 handful frozen broccoli
1 or 2 pre-cooked chicken breasts, chopped (I use Trader Joe’s grilled chicken strips)
2 handfuls raw spinach (prepared)
½ package Chinese rice noodles (optional)

On the side:
chili paste
vinegar
sesame oil

If you’re using noodles, prepare those first. Boil them according to the package directions, and drain them. (Don’t worry about them getting cold; we’re going to pour boiling soup over them in a minute.)

In a pan, heat the canola oil. Add the garlic, onion, ginger and 5-spice powder, and sauté until the onion is translucent. Add the soy sauce, fish sauce, and beef broth and bring just to a boil. Add the frozen broccoli and the chicken and bring back to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer about 3-5 minutes, until the chicken is hot in the middle. Add the raw spinach and stir just until it wilts, about 15 seconds.

If you’re using noodles, portion the noodles out into bowls and pour the broth over the top. Otherwise just dish yourself up some soup!

Serve with vinegar, chili paste and sesame oil on the side, and let each person doctor their soup to taste.


Yeah. I know it looks a lot like this one. I had a lot of the same (visible) ingredients on hand. The spices are different though, so it doesn't TASTE the same. Really. ;)

What I Ate for Dinner: Clams and Brittany Beans from Trader Joe's

I came up with this entirely by accident. I had some stuff in the freezer, but nothing to make an “official” recipe. So I threw it all into a bowl together and zapped it, and it turned out better than I expected!

The Recipe:
Serves 2

1 package Trader Joe’s Steamed Clams in White Wine and Garlic
1 package Trader Joe’s Brittany Beans (a mixture of green beans, wax beans and carrots) or Fritto Misto (eggplant and zucchini in olive oil)
Grated Parmesan cheese to taste
Red pepper flakes to taste (optional)

Microwave the clams according to the package directions. While they heat, pour the beans into a microwave-save bowl. Remove the clams from the microwave and set them aside while you zap the beans (about 4 minutes, stir, zap 2 more minutes).

Put half the beans in a bowl and pour half the clams (with sauce) over them. Top with Parmesan cheese (and a sprinkling of red pepper flakes if you like).

It’s fast and easy, and looks good enough to feed your date!

What I Ate for Dinner: Breakfast Time!

This is what I eat for breakfast, Monday-Friday (and sometimes on the weekends, too!). I started eating this when I started trying to eat a LOT more protein, and it has just enough junk-food associations to be something I'm willing to eat first thing in the morning. (I've always been someone who prefers biscuits and gravy to oatmeal for breakfast. I can't STAND fat-free carbs for breakfast: they upset my stomach like WHOA.)

I don't normally post nutritional breakdowns, but since I did this specifically to get the nutritional content, I happen to know these (approximate) numbers:
Calories: 270
Carbs: Beats me. Not very many, that's for sure.
Protein: 40 grams. Yeah, you read that right. FORTY. GRAMS. (But I'm NEVER hungry before lunch anymore, so that's nice.)
Fat: 7-10 grams, depending on how much non-stick spray you use.

The Recipe:
Non-stick spray
3/4 cup egg substitute (or 3 whole eggs, though that changes the nutritional info above)
1 slice Veggie cheese, American flavor
2 slices Jennie-O Turkey Ham*
Salt and pepper

Spray some non-stick spray into a microwave-safe bowl and pour in 3/4 cup of egg substitute. (You can use 3 real eggs, but then you have to crack and scramble. I'm in a hurry in the morning, so I stick with substitute.) Microwave for about 2 minutes.

While that zaps, put your ham on a plate. When the eggs are done, put the ham in the microwave (COVERED!) for 1 minute.

While the ham zaps, tear the Veggie cheese into bits and throw it in the eggs with some salt and pepper. Mix the whole thing together with a fork. (It's ok if the eggs are still a little runny - they're going back into the microwave.)

Take the ham out, and put the egg mixture back in for 1 minute.

Take the eggs out, use the fork to stir the "cheese" in, and dump them on your plate with the ham.

Eat fast, you're running late! ;)


*Note: the ham requires advance planning. I buy the Jennie-O Turkey ham in a package as close to 2 lb as I can, then cut it into 16 as-equal-as-possible slices (the nutritional breakdown on the package is for 2 oz of "ham", so it evens out). I pack the slices in sandwich bags, 4 to a bag, and put them in the freezer. Then I just pull a bag out and throw it in the fridge when I use the last of the bag that was ALREADY in the fridge. It's thawed by the next morning.

What I Ate for Dinner, Redux

So remember this post? Yeah. We haven't been so great about posting to that category (or at least *I* haven't - it was my bright idea, so I won't hold Mom to posting it). ;)

But last week when we were away, I remembered to program a post. And that made me feel like maybe, just MAYBE I was going to be ok and consistent about things. Woo-hoo! So I'm resurrecting this category as a permanent fixture.

I'll post something every Friday under "What I Ate for Dinner." It won't always be dinner, and often it won't really be "recipes," per se. It will be more the kind of thing where you can buy a couple of packages of things and throw them together for a quickie, last-minute meal. There will probably be heavy use of the microwave, since that's a quick and easy way to heat things up.

And it won't necessarily be "dinner," either. Tomorrow I'm posting breakfast (for instance). But whatever it is, it will show up on Fridays, and it will be something dead easy. No complicated recipes here. (And like I said, usually things I wouldn't really consider "recipes" at all.)

So come on back tomorrow! :D

Mistakes and Leftovers Casserole!

I accidentally opened a can of stewed tomatoes and didn't want to waste them (my dad's Depression era influence is showing!), so I opened my fridge and found a few leftovers that would work together! Woohoo! Dinner!

1 Tbl. olive oil
1 medium onion, sliced
1 bell pepper (mine was red; they're the ripest), sliced
2 cloves of garlic, minced (or 2 frozen cubes, 1/4 tsp. powder, or 2 tsp. jarred)
1 small zucchini, quartered and cut into 1/2 inch pieces
2 Tbl. water
1 poblano pepper, de-seeded, washed, and sliced horizontally (for smaller pieces) (Plastic gloves are a good idea. If the pepper isn't completely ripe, the juice might burn your hands where it touches. If this happens, use a mix of 1/2 water and 1/2 apple cider vinegar—doesn't have to be exact--and submerge the burned parts. This is my mother's first aid, and I've found that it works better than any commercial product or any medical advice I've ever used, seen, or heard! You may have to do it a few times, but it DOES work! A little aloe gel afterwards keeps it from blistering, if the burn is minor.)
1/2 tsp. allspice
1/4 tsp. curry powder
1 tsp. oregano leaves, crushed when adding
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper

1 14.5 oz. can stewed tomatoes (my "oops" moment!)
Juice of 1 lime
6 eggs (4 would work, too, but it makes less!)
1 Tbl. milk or water
Cheddar cheese, grated

OPT: sliced green onions and/or sour cream for garnish (Sour cream will lessen any heat intensity in the event of rogue seeds or an extra warm poblano pepper!)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a large skillet, sauté onion until slightly cooked. Add pepper and garlic, and cook until pepper is softened. Add the zucchini and water, cover, and steam for a couple of minutes (I was in a bigger hurry than I had time to sauté the zucchini!). Add the pepper and spices, and mix everything together. Let it cook for a minute, so the spices are fragrant. Add the tomatoes, stir, and cook for 3 or 4 minutes.  Add the lime juice, and again, mix everything together. Pour into an oil-sprayed 9x13 baking dish. Set aside.

Crack eggs into a mixing bowl; add liquid. Beat with a whisk or a fork until it's smooth. Gently pour over vegetable mixture. Sprinkle grated cheese over the top, using a lot if you like things cheesy!

Cover and bake it for 30 minutes. The melted cheese will make this creamy, and the small amounts of spices make it interesting without being overwhelming! Garnish with sour cream and green onions, if you'd like. MMMMMM!

Crab Dip Casserole

In our family, we have a fantastic crab dip recipe. I was trying to figure out a way to convert it into a casserole, and came up with this variation. YUM.

The Recipe
2 cups chopped onion
2 cups cheddar cheese
2 cups mayonnaise
4 cups crab (or imitation crab), shredded (equal to one whole 16-oz package of imitation crab, flake style)
1 package frozen cauliflower
1 package frozen beans, green or white (I used the Brittany Blend from Trader Joe's: a mix of green beans, wax beans and baby carrots, and it was FANTASTIC - AND pretty!)
1/4 cup bread crumbs (optional)
2 Tbs Parmesan cheese (optional)

Preheat oven to 350F.
Mix all ingredients except bread crumbs and Parmesan in a large baking dish. Sprinkle with breadcrumbs and Parmesan.
Bake uncovered for 40 minutes or until you can hear it sizzling when you open the oven.
*You might find that it needs salt and pepper to taste. I didn't add it to the recipe, because it's such an individual preference.

Fresh from the oven:


Served up in a bowl:

It takes about 10 minutes to assemble, and this should feed 6-8 people.
DEFINITELY serve salad with this. It's really rich, and you'll need something to cut the richness.

Stewed Prunes (They're good. I SWEAR.)

Ok, I already know what you're thinking: PRUNES? Like GRANDMA ate??

Yes. Seriously. SO GOOD. No lie.

My grandma ate them occasionally for breakfast, mixed into oatmeal, but I like them for dessert.

Yes, really. STOP LAUGHING! ;)

But obviously . . . be careful with these. "Moderation" is the key word here. (Except for me. Curiously, they do not have the "usual" effect on me, but YOU should be careful. Don't say I didn't warn you.)

When you cook prunes this way, they develop a really deep, rich taste, sort of similar to dark chocolate. Do I have your attention now? Plus, they're jam-packed with iron. So here we go:



The Recipe:

Get some prunes. Just toss them into a little pot, like this:


Now add some red wine and some water, in roughly equal parts, to cover the prunes, like this:

If you like your chocolate dark and bitter, don't add any sweetener. If you like sweeter chocolate, add a spoonful of sugar. (I feel a song coming on . . . )

Then put it on the stove and bring it to a boil. When it boils, turn the heat down as LOW AS POSSIBLE, and let them sit there on the heat for, oh, about 45 minutes or so. Go watch some TV or something.

When they're done, some of the liquid will have boiled away, and that's ok. Mine look like this:

Now. The way to serve these is technically over mascarpone cheese. If you don't have that, you can substitute cream cheese or ricotta cheese. Just spoon it into the bowl, and spoon a few prunes and a little juice over the top. But I must confess that one night when I was without any of the above, I just poured some prunes into a bowl and topped them with light sour cream. And they were SO GOOD. The tartness of the sour cream was perfect mixed in with the sweetness of the prunes. I think I actually liked it better than any of the cheeses. YUM. I ate it with a glass of red wine, while watching Law & Order. Like this:

Fantastic.

YES, REALLY. Just try it. ;)

"What I Ate for Dinner"

So Mom and I were talking, and we realized that sometimes the best "recipes" aren't really recipes at all. Sometimes the stuff we make is a hodge-podge of store-bought items, thrown together in a short and/or easy method.

So we decided to include a Label called "What I Ate for Dinner." These are things we didn't really feel deserved the title of "recipe," but they are useful "quickie" sorts of dishes, nonetheless. The kind of thing where you could buy 2 or 3 prepared ingredients at the store, put them together and call it a meal.

So when you see that label, be advised that there may or may not be exact proportions. There may or may not be things you already have on hand. But there will DEFINITELY be something with a few ingredients that you either have, or can pick up at the market on the way home, and have food on the table super-fast. There will be desserts, breakfasts, lunches and dinners, but the label will always be "What I Ate for Dinner."