Farmer's Market Lunch and Dinner

Lunch, for one - sauteed things and stuff

Even though my local farmer's market has stupid hours, I managed to get there today despite them. Upon returning home, I cut a turnip (I'd never had turnips - I asked somebody at the market what to do with them and decided to do what I do with any other vegetable instead of the suggestion, the only part of which I can remember involved "grease") and an onion and sauteed them in butter, then added a squash and then a variety of greens, including the ones from the turnip.
I probably sprinkled some salt on at some point, but I can't remember. Lunch was so long ago.

Dinner - roasted, raw, and r... r... runny? 

I decided to roast some veggies for dinner. I cut a sweet potato, two turnips, two small squash(es?), an onion (reserving just a little, maybe 1/6th, for the greens) and tossed them about a bit in a large bowl with olive oil and salt. I put it all into the 450 degree oven for 20 or 25 minutes.

For the mixed greens, I sauteed the reserved onion in butter, added a vegetable bouillon cube and then slowly added the greens. You know, so they'd all fit. I sprinkled them (much too heavily) with lemon pepper and salt (and then accidentally cooked them much too long). I was going for a lot of flavor to try to win points for greens in the house. I think it sort of worked.  As for what exactly these "greens" are, I'm not sure. It's a mix of three. The only one I can sort of remember is called "henpeck." A Google search resulted in nothing.

Finally, I chopped into largish pieces a beautiful, ripe, red tomato and put it into a small dish with a sliced green onion. To these, I added olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and just a little salt.

I thought it was great, the perfect dinner. The rest of the people in my house are just a bunch of complainers. The children people anyway.

Creamy Mushroomy Beef over Rice

I am not proud of this meal. It tasted good and everything, but it just feels more like cheating and less like cooking. Also it is neither pretty nor colorful. But here it is in all of its cheaty, brownness. 

First came the rice, as per my usual - brown with a vegetable bouillon cube.

Then a chopped vidalia onion was sauteed in butter. mmmmmm.

The the sliced beef (top sirloin, maybe?) was added to the onions, once they softened. And a splash of white wine, 'cause the pan got dry and why not?

Here's the shameful, cheaty part. I added a can of cream of mushroom soup. I let that simmer, covered on low heat, until the rice was done.

Tilapia, Red Potatoes and Green Beans

Dinner!

I began by cutting some red potatoes, a vidalia onion, a yellow squash, and slicing half of a lime. Then I smashed some garlic cloves. I tossed about 3/4 of the onion and garlic into olive oil over med-high heat, then added the potatoes and sprinkled heavily (errrr.... poured) Italian seasoning over it all. I sauteed this for a couple of minutes, added a small amount of water, covered and reduced heat.

Then I heated some butter (about an inch and half) over medium heat and added the rest of the onions and garlic. When those softened, I laid tilapia fillets, sprinkled with salt and pepper, on top. When the edges turned white, I flipped the fillets over, sprinkled on a little more salt and pepper, and squoze half a lime over the fillets. Then I placed the lime slices on top, and tossed in the squash. I poured in some white wine before I covered. the pan.

Then there are the green beans, boiled in 1/2 cup of water, with a little salt added after cooking, just as the bag indicates.

I squoze the last bit of the sliced end of the lime over everything at the end.

And now I feel like a nearly full-functioning adult what with the grocery shopping, the kitchen cleaning, the cooking, and another kitchen cleaning! Yay me!

Stolen Pasta

Since my kitchen seems to have vanished, I thought I'd take advantage of my sister's thoughtfulness in sending me a picture of her lunch, complete with a short description. 

Here's a little conversation about it:

• 

  Denise E Cern My lunch is so good I took a pic for you :) I roasted red and chili pepper with garlic then added them to simmering tomatoes with spinach, baby bellas, and oregano.

  24 minutes ago · 
• 

  Lisa Ellison Wilbourne YUM!!! Thank you!

  14 minutes ago · 
• 

  Denise E Cern I think it might be the best arrabiata sauce ever.

  13 minutes ago · 
• 

  Lisa Ellison Wilbourne I would be happy to eat that.

  12 minutes ago · 

Another Chicken Stir-Fry with Lots of Fresh Ginger

Okay FINE! Maybe I DID get a few ideas from a short segment of Rachel Ray's show I happened to catch over the weekend. So what?! It clearly doesn't bother ME! So what's YOUR problem with it?

I started by cutting chicken breasts into bite-sized pieces, then cut a red bell pepper and an onion into shortish sticks. Then I scraped the outside off of a chunk of ginger and sliced it thinly, and I smashed about four cloves of garlic.

I started the brown rice, and in addition to my usual vegetable bouillon cube, I threw in a couple of slices of the ginger and a small bit of the ginger, and a splash of soy sauce.

I heated sesame oil and a little vegetable oil over high heat and tossed in the chicken, stirring often but letting it get toasty brown on the outside.

 I took the chicken out of the pan (the house had filled with smoke by this point), added more vegetable oil and put the onion and red bell pepper in the pan, stirring constantly. After a minute or two, I added the garlic and ginger. Somewhere I along the line, I shook in some red pepper flakes and splashed in a little soy sauce. After I added the chicken back in, I scooped a couple of spoonfuls of orange marmalade into the pan. After stirring that a minute or two, letting it make a thickish sauce, I poured  in a couple handfuls of dry roasted peanuts. I stirred all of that a bit and added the chopped bok choy. Once that was wilty, I plated and ate(d?).

It was good, but I think it needs some sort of... heavier flavor underneath. Maybe I should go see how Rachel Ray actually did it instead of half-remembering things from something I was only partly paying attention to in the first place... she seems to know what she's doing, at least.

Cherries! Also pork, asparagus and rice; or DAAAAAAAMN that's good!

Denise made this pork with cherry chutney when I was visiting her. It was deeeeelicious. She was kind and generous enough to share the recipe with me, which I think I've even managed to mostly follow. So perhaps mine will be at least delicious (with one e).

As they are already typed, here are her words:
3/4 cup cherry preserves
3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
3/4 tsp allspice
1 tbsp vegetable oil
2/3 cup chopped onion
2 cups cherries pitted
1/4 tsp cayenne
a pork tenderloin

Mix preserves, vinegar and allspice, set aside 1/4 cup of this for pork glaze. 

heat oil in large in large skillet over high heat, add onions and saute for one minute, add cherries, cayenne and preserve mixture, boil until thick, about 8 minutes, season with salt.

sprinkle pork with salt and pepper, brush with glaze, so and and so forth.

I put it in the 350 degree oven for 20 minutes per pound, as the USDA suggests. (Look at me! Disseminating information responsibly!)

The asparagus is steamed until bright green with just a bit of salt, and the brown rice boiled with a veg bouillon cube, as per my usual. 

Made FOR Kids, not FROM them

Since 4/5ths of the dining population tonight is comprised of the under 10 demographic, I decided to do something with a high potential for success (instead of my usual aims to please only myself). And it was a success.

I tossed broccoli with olive oil and sprinkled it with salt (a little too much, oops). Then I threw it on a pan and stuck it in the 325 degree oven for 20 minutes.
Also there was the macaroni and cheese. I managed to follow the directions on the box. Yay me!
And the chicken tenderloins: sprinkled heavily with an Italian seasoning; heated quickly on one side, then the other; splashed with white wine (early and often, eh?); reduced heat and covered a few minutes; uncovered and turned the heat back up.

Broccoli thief at work.