Dinners Last Week
Suzanne often posts about her meal plan for the week, with helpful links to recipes. I am generally not that organized, but we did have some yummy food last week, and I’m here to tell you about it.
Sunday, Ted made a truly delicious Salade Nicoise (link is to a recipe I posted a few years ago, and the picture looks a lot more like Ted’s), with tomatoes, lettuce, potatoes, fresh tuna, eggs, and green beans from the Farmers’ Market. I think the only things we had to buy at the grocery store were avocado and Sauvignon blanc, as we already had olives at home. I didn’t take a picture before I dug in, so this picture is from a truly mediocre Salade Nicoise I had in Nice, France, in 2022. So disappointing. When we make our Salade Nicoise, we dress each component well, so it is very flavorful. The one I had in Nice came plain, with oil and vinegar on the side. Question to those of you who have spent time in Italy, is this common? Does the dressing generally come on the side? Not a fan. Ted’s was delicious.
Monday, Maya heated up leftovers for dinner. We celebrated Diwali a bit early with Ted’s parents on Saturday, and as his mom is 88 and not really up to cooking all dang day anymore, we got take out for everything except the curried pumpkin. We over ordered and had a ton left. Monday was the actual first day of Diwali, so leftovers were perfect. We had pumpkin, rice, muttar paneer, vegetable tikka masala, aloo gobi, and garlic naan. I know, the stews kind of run together visually.
Tuesday, I made this Salmon and Farro Bowl that a friend posted on Facebook. Ted is low carb most of the time, so I wasn’t sure about farro, but I looked it up and it is full of fiber, so a really good option for folks watching their A1C. The picture on the website has tomatoes, but the recipe does not. Weird. I followed my FB friend Rob’s suggestion and doubled the arugula (though it is hidden here), and made 1.5 times the dressing. And I included a couple of small tomatoes from the Farmers’ Market. This was a hit all around.
Wednesday, I decided to copy Suzanne and make Sweet Potatoes Stuffed with Lentils. I’m not generally a fan of sweet potatoes, but I’ve been challenging myself on that, most recently by copying Nicole’s Sweet Potato and Black Bean Taco recipe, and then using them again the next night in a quinoa bowl. I thought that perhaps mixing the lentils in would take care of the ‘too sweet’ aspect of sweet potatoes that I find off putting. This recipe received mixed reviews. Surprisingly, given my dislike of sweet potatoes, I really liked this dish. Maya said it was ‘OK’, and Ted said it was ‘good’. So I doubt I’ll be making this regularly, but I enjoyed it enough that I had leftovers for lunch the next day.
Thursday, Maya had dinner plans with some friends. For Ted and myself, I made rib eye steak, baked potatoes, green beans, and sautéed mushrooms. I intended to take a picture, but I forgot. Instead, you can have a picture of an ad for Mr. Steak, which was my first W-2 job, where I worked for 2 years in high school, until I was fired. This ad is for the local Mr. Steak, which is now a Japanese restaurant.
The one I worked at from 1982-1984 was in Stockton, unless you ask AI.
Friday the Camry had to go to a neighboring town for new brakes, so we decided to get dinner there after picking up the car. A happy twist to the story is that Maya joined us, which she generally does not. Ted had the chicken, Maya had a cheese board, and I had Caesar salad and clam chowder. The chowder was pretty good, the salad was meh, the company was excellent. Ted said his chicken was just OK, and I think Maya’s cheese board could have used some nuts and fruit, but whatever. I think that restaurant has changed ownership and has gone downhill, actually.
How about you, what was your best meal this week? Do you enjoy cooking? Do you go out to dinner often?
32 Comments
Lisa’s Yarns
I love salad Nicoise! It’s probably one of my favorite salads. I haven’t made it since we had it as a course for the Julia child event that I used to co-host with my aunt. It stopped when I had kids as the size of the event got too big and it was just too many people for a family to host. RIP to that amazing tradition.
I have barely cooked over the last month which has been a blessing. We did make some seared tuna last night that Phil grilled and I made rice and air fried carrots to go with it. But we are still working through an inventory of dropped off meals and some door dash gift cards right and left. It’s been a great gift from family and friends to make life easier for us. I do kind of look forward to cooking again, though. This will be a bit more normal week as we are bringing chili to a pumpkin carving night and then I plan to make tacos another night, and then we will order pizza. So I will make 2 meals.
J
Julia Child’s recipe is the BEST, and is the one that I make. I saw her make it on her cooking show once, on YouTube, and she definitely dressed each ingredient. That’s what I was expecting in Nice. The salad they had was good ingredients, just not very flavorful.
I’m so glad that you have been so well taken care of, but I am sure it will feel good to get back to some sort of normal again.
coco
Love seeing what others eat for dinner. we are quite low maintenance and during the week is very simple meals pepared by the lady who works at home. I usually ask her to make 2-3 vegetable dishes, always have cooked beans in the fridge, mixed grain rice, and I assemble a bowl at dinner and for lunch at the office. the family is also low key, and usually add one protein dish for dinner. over the weekend, i meal prep something for kids lunch and make something fancy.
I think intentionally I don’t want kids to make meal time/food a big deal, center of their day, so they are much more adaptable while traveling.
J
I think your plan of having components prepped ahead of time is really smart and makes meal time much easier!
Suzanne
This is such a great line up! I am most envious of your Diwali meal/s. I am drooling over the mention of aloo gobi. That salmon with farro sounds right up my alley too. Yum.
So glad you enjoyed the sweet potatoes with lentils! We have not tried them yet. No idea what I will make this week. My husband is on call and I kind of lose the will to cook when his hours are so unpredictable.
J
Yeah, that Diwali feast was excellent! I hope when you try the sweet potatoes with lentils that you enjoy them! They seem like they would be pretty adaptable to unpredictable schedules…they reheated well.
AC
You eat very well. The first dish brings up one of my many peculiarities. Although I like eggs a lot, I am put off by seeing the hard boiled kind whole (or half). Mush it up in an egg salad sandwich, and I am okay. I don’t know when this oddity began, but I think it was much later in life.
J
LOL, that’s funny. Sometimes our brains do weird things to us, right?
Nicole MacPherson
Happy Diwali! I know I’m late but happy happy anyway!
That reminds me that I wanted to try those lentil sweet potatoes. We had some amazing lentils in Morocco, and I feel like we just don’t eat them enough around here! I had the sweet potato/ black bean dish last night (I still call it enchiladas in my head even though it is not, but weird family naming conventions die hard).
Unless we are travelling, we almost never go out to eat OR get takeout. I think the last time was when my parents were here for my birthday in April. I do like cooking but sometimes it gets a little boring. Tonight I am making the big family dinner, it will be the first roast of the season. Usually all the meals are veg-based, meat on the side, but Sunday roast is obviously roast-based. I’m also roasting potatoes, and making this amazing broccoli dish, plus KALETTES ARE BACK! That’s my exciting food news of the week. Kalettes! They are here already! Usually it’s November. I’m also making a Caesar salad and homemade strawberry ice cream – which I cannot eat, but after baking two cakes this past week I’m kind of dessert-ed-out – for dessert.
J
I have never seen Kalettes, what are they? Also, I want your delicious broccoli dish recipe. And now I want roast.
nance
Sigh. Again, I am confronted with my distaste of salmon. Rick and I are, quite possibly, the only people IN THE ENTIRE UNIVERSE who hate salmon. We have tried. It is no use.
Aside from that, I would eat everything else in this post with the possible exception of the cheese board. Cholesterol, you know. And I agree that when one orders a cheese board, one expects it to be more than just cheese on a board.
I love sweet potatoes. Do you also dislike butternut squash for the same reason? Pumpkin? Or is it because it’s a potato, and you expect it to be more like a basic white potato–a starchy, rather bland canvas for other flavours?
J
I think the farro bowl could be modified pretty easily with a fish you do like, or even steak or chicken. At least the two of you are in agreement on it!
I love butternut squash. There is just something about sweet potatoes that is too…sweet? I enjoy them more when something is added to make them more savory, like adding chives and black pepper, or the lentils.
Margaret
I haven’t had a best meal this week although John made roasted seasoned cauliflower and I loved that! From what I’ve read, carbs can be offset by high fiber, so they don’t hurt the A1C. I will find out what mine is in a few weeks. I dread it. I loved Salade Nicoise in Nice but I don’t remember much about it–too long ago.
J
Well, for some reason I wanted to eat at the restaurant at the Chagall museum, which was likely my first mistake. But my friend said in Italy, that is how they serve their salads, with oil and vinegar on the side. Who knows.
I love roasted seasoned vegetables.
Birchie
That’s a good week of dinners!
I’ve been so meh about cooking lately. Maybe after I stop working and get back from my trip I can start ramping it up again. The best thing I cooked this week was burritos (chicken for him, tofu for me), and our best meal out was at a fancy pizza place. I’d been there a couple of times and was never that impressed, and Hubs had never gone b/c he’s not a fancy pizza guy, but I went with a friend for lunch last week and they also have a few good pasta dishes and a nice drinks menu, so I knew it was a good candidate for date night.
J
I love good pizza, but boy, disappointing pizza is…disappointing. Glad you enjoyed your fancy pizza dinner!
Melissa
I do like cooking, but not when I feel under pressure time-wise. We have take out every Friday if we are home and we often go out for another meal with friends or family. We also have breakfast out at least once on the weekend with running friends. I’ve bookmarked the sweet potato and lentil dish, we have sweet potato quite often and I like it. Every Monday at our place is family dinner, so the kids are coming over tonight. I’m cooking a slow-roast lamb shoulder and veggies.
J
I hope you enjoy the sweet potato and lentil dish, it’s tasty and simple. Mmm. I love a good lamb roast, enjoy your family!
Tamara
I have not been able to keep up with blog posts these months but I had an idle moment and laughed out loud at the meme. I love your meal posts, your choices always look delicious! The Diwali meals look divine, and I’m of a mind to try that lentil filled sweet potato (alone, I’m the only one around who will eat sweet potatoes) .
I do travel in the region of Italy that is closest to Nice (on the side of Liguria that borders France – it is called the Riviera Ponente but is quite modest) and many of the foods are similar. In my experience salads do not come dressed! I think the idea is that then everyone can dress it as they wish. Also, the tuna is generally packed in olive oil (certainly in home salads) and so not much more of that is needed.
J
I’m so glad you took the time to comment and let me know about the salad in that region of Italy, thank you for stopping by!
ernie
Friday night was not necessarily my best meal, but it was a rare treat, so I’m sharing that one . . . I made a frozen GF pizza and I ate.the.whole.thing. GF pizza isn’t great the next day, and I was all alone in the house – a rare and glorious occasion. BTW I love sweet potatoes. We eat a lot of potatoes and I try to make myself a sweet potatoe whenever we eat regular potatoes, because (I believe) they’re healthier than regular red potatoes. I do have a sweet tooth, so that might explain it.
J
Yay on getting a whole pizza to yourself! I also believe that sweet potatoes are better for you than regular potatoes, which is why I am trying to get over my dislike and just eat them. I love regular potatoes though.
StephLove
North was home last week for fall break so I made some of their favorites: broccoli melts (chopped, seasoned broccoli on toast with provolone melted on it) and breaded tofu sticks with homemade applesauce (think hippie fish sticks). North made black bean quesdillas one night and Noah and I made roasted white beans, cherry tomatoes and halloumi. We ate out three times, which is quite unusual, but we went on a short road trip and we were out and about doing things. It was Chinese one night and pizza twice.
J
It sounds like you had some really good meals! I’ve never considered a broccoli melt…
ernie
OMG- I just went back to read about how you were fired from the steak place. That’s quite a story. I can’t believe how that little joke backfired on you, but I do love that the place closed a few weeks later. I worked at Burger King all through high school and I have some stories from that time. It was an adventure.
J
LOL, I’m glad you went back and read that one! Ridiculous, right?
PocoBrat
Loved all your meals, J (I’d love your pumpkin curry recipe sometime if it’s shareable).
And your firing story is such bizarre and unlucky timing!
J
I just sent you the pumpkin recipe Maya! My MIL is an intuitive cook, whereas I follow a recipe. I have heard what a wonderful cook you are, so likely you will be able to take it and make it your own. <3
San
I love a Nicoise Salad. And I love seeing what other people eat/cook!
I love cooking. We don’t really go out this much, especially lately (it’s so expensive!). Of course it’s nice not to cook sometimes and we definitely will go out for food that I won’t know how to prepare at home, but we also really enjoy cooking together and trying new recipes. Do you experiment a lot or do you stick to tried and true recipes?
J
I think we do a mixture of experimentation and tried and true. Depends on how inspired I am feeling, I think.
Tobia | craftaliciousme
So many great dishes. I think I would eat every single one.
I would never thought of adding lentils to sweet potate. I am intruged.
J
I would have never thought of that either, but I’m glad for the recipe because it’s tasty!