fish with nuts and broccoli.. 

.. rice and mushroom...

does this look inviting? 

It is a yummy and easy to prepare dish - and very satisfying..

"vegetables and chicken over a rice"

all you need are some carrots, an orange pepper and a large white onion. i cut it all in junks and sauteed the veggie pieces in a large pan in olive oil. after a few minutes i added a bit of white wine, salt and pepper. (You can also include a spoon of sour cream if you like..) The chicken pieces were grilled in a separate pan with salt and pepper and crushed garlic ( you could use any other meet for this dish, too)..   Boil the rice and when ready, make a bed of rice on a deep plate, put the chicken piece on top and layer the vegetables over it.  Lastly,  grate cheese, Parmesan or any other hardy cheese, over the dish.  bon appetite. 

pasta with vegetables and parmesan

this is a quick fix. 

a dinner on  a dime and no time. 

pasta with vegetables might sound boring but actually it can be very very tasty, depending on the spices you are using. and not only this you can use all your favorite veggies for this dish.

it's healthy, fast and simple. bon appetite!

cut an onion in small pieces, saute it in olive oil and keep adding the veggies you like, for example, carrots, broccoli, peppers, all cut in small chunks. let them simmer in vegetable broth or stock or you might use white wine instead, add salt, pepper and if you like some curry. if you use white wine you can add some heavy cream to smooth the 'broth'. let the veggies simmer on the lowest setting while you cook the pasta.

bring water to a boil in an extra pot and cook the pasta of your choice. see package description for cooking time, it's normally around 10 to 12 minutes so they keep al dente. 

drain the pasta, once cooked, put them in a soup bowl, add the vegetables with broth and add either parsley or chives. 

you can also grain parmesan cheese on top of the dish. very yummy

meat balls with cucumber potato salad

meatballs

potato salad

- details to follow -

pollock filet

roman salad with vinegar and oil.

mushrooms sauteed with red onions,  

finished with a few slices of cheese on top, melting.

Pollock fillet with salt and pepper, roasted in a pan.

serve in a spaghetti bowl.

make a bed of roman salad, leave an opening in the middle, fill with hot mushrooms, layer fish fillet pieces on top sprinkle with  parsley

cod fish on a bed of mushroom rice and a white wine sauce.

dinner for four. on a budget. on a late night. 

we stop at the supermarket. i get out and run inside. fish was the verdict. 

at the fish counter > cod is the fish to take < and we're on the way home.

I serve red wine, some crackers and a salad as appetizers, while my head is spinning in the kitchen. 

the refrigerator reveals mushrooms and zucchinis. i know i have some nuts left and lots of rice.

how shall i prepare the fish though? with a mushroom sauce or with curry? 

I'm a hungry and tired cook at this point. and i feel some performance anxiety

so all i can do is stick to my routine and trust my instincts. i start cutting the onions and mushrooms, the zucchinis and the garlic and bring water to a boil for the rice.

i saute the onions with the mushrooms and mix them under the rice, once it is ready.

i cook the zucchinis and add white wine and cream. i grill the fish, let it fall apart, add salt and pepper and serve it over a bed of mushroom rice, surrounded by a zucchini white wine sauce. lastly, i sprinkle the nuts on top of it. 

it turns out to be a fast, furious and yummy dish.  try it out. bon appetite !

rutabaga

Rutabaga.

There was this large round 'soccer ball-sized' vegetable in the produce section of my local supermarket. i had no idea how to prepare it, but I was tired of buying my usual vegetables and since rutabaga is really not expensive, i just bought it.

Back home I searched the net and it turned out that preparing Rutabaga is really like preparing potatoes. simple. you just peel the vegetable, cut it in small pieces and boil it for about 20 minutes. done. then you can add salt, butter, smash it, add baked potatoes if wanted. add onions.. whatever you are up for. it tastes very good, a bit on the sweet side.

so my dinner was> pork tenderloin with rosemary, white onion sauteed with carrots and smashed rutabaga. my friend Meta might really enjoy this dish! bon appetite!

Salmon was the fish of the day at my supermarket so i decided to buy salmon. but then what? how would i come up with a recipe for salmon, right here and there between the isles of this large store?

luckily my supermarket has a display shelve next to the fish counter, where you can pick little recipe cards. i found one for a salmon dish. it called for green beans and a marinate for the fish. 

the recipes are very simple and basic but they really help to kick start ideas of how to prepare a certain fish or meat.

the dinner of the day turned out to be soja sauce marinated salmon with green beans and rice. all you need to do is to marinate the fish for about 10 minutes in a mixture of light soja sauce - which i prefer over regular soja sauce - coarsed ginger and garlic and a spoon of sesame oil. steam the beans, saute them in butter with white onions and serve the fish over the bed of rice and greens. bon appetite

when it's cold outside - and it is freezing cold here on the east coast - i am more drawn to  sturdy warm dishes such as stews and soups, just everything that warms the body from the inside out. But once in a while I add a mixed green salad to my main course. I love salads, they are my all time favorites, especially during the summer months.. (you will see). So, naturally I do miss them, so there are evenings when i dress up a simple dish with a salad on the side. like this one. green lettuce ( romaine ) cucumber, radish, chives and carrots. olive oil, vinegar, salt and pepper. ready to eat. yummy.  this salad was served with marinated steak and a side of mushrooms with rice. it reminds me of a meal grilled outdoors on a summer evening. - food can inspire hope. in this case, the hope is for warmer weather. bon appetite!

Haddock filet with rice and squash

the fish section in the supermarket had haddock filet on sale. so i bought two filets. dinner for two. i always start with my main ingredient to come up with the supper recipe.

today it was fish. the next step is to imagine what would go with it. rice? potatoes? pasta? i'm not trying to get fancy and think of all other possible carbohydrates that might match with white fish. just rice, potatoes or pasta. this way, decision making in the supermarket becomes so much easier. obviously i chose rice. i mostly choose rice with fish, because i like the combination of the two. 

so now i know it will be  white fish filet and rice. last ingredients to come up with now are the vegetables. i walk over to the fresh produce section of the supermarket and just look around for what i might like. i try to imagine the taste of those vegetables, the consistency of them. and i choose green and yellow squash.

this is my typical three step shopping guide whenever i have no idea what to prepare for dinner. 

cooking >

cut squash into small pieces, add onion and garlic, saute, add a bit of heavy cream. salt and pepper the fish filets. add curry. grill in pan. cook rice. serve fish over rice bed. arrange vegetables around rice bed. sprinkle with chive. bon appetite.