What did you have for dinner today?

[blah]

I’m currently all out of inspiration for what to cook and I imagine I’m not the only one. This week for dinner I’ve had spaghetti with tomato sauce, a sandwich and nothing. 🤦🏼‍♀️
 

I could really use some ideas or recipes or pictures of lovely food! It would really help me plan for the week and write a shopping list. 
 

I’ll start us off. Today I’ve made lentil soup, can easily be vegan. I used about 1/3 red lentils, 1/3 finely chopped carrots, 1/3 not as finely chopped leeks, a big potato in small cubes and some celery. I boiled the lentils until mostly soft, then added the potato and veggies. I boiled all of it in beef stock (use vegetable stock for vegan option) and added a bit of pepper (the spice, not the vegetable), bay leaf, allspice and a tablespoon of vinegar. I didn’t have any wieners this time but they’re really good when warmed up in the soup. This is a pretty traditional German recipe just that typically you would use brown lentils. 

[GhostMouse]

I love this idea! Are we allowed to link to recipe sites?

 

Earlier this week, I made Cookie & Kate's "Roasted Brussels Sprouts and Crispy Baked Tofu with Honey-Sesame Glaze" (also easily made vegan, despite honey being in the name - she suggests substitutes in the recipe).

 

It was really good, but the first time I made it I was having problems with my oven, so I air fried the tofu and then the sprouts (I just put the tofu in a bowl and it stayed warm). This time I did it exactly the way the recipe said and both the sprouts and the tofu came out sort of mushy instead of crispy. I'm not sure what happened but I'll probably always use the air fryer for this going forward.

 

That lentil soup sounds good!

 

I also recently made Mushroom Potato Chowder from Damn Delicious (can I say that here? It's the site name.) I used a veggie stock instead of chicken stock, and I also used an immersion blender at the end to make it more creamy (but still left some whole pieces).

[blah]

I’ve actually got Brussels sprouts in the freezer, no tofu but I do have chicken. I might try that tomorrow!

 

Today I made a simple potato and leek soup because I had leeks leftover from the lentil soup. I’ll definitely not have soup tomorrow. 😂
 

On 2/10/2024 at 4:26 PM, GhostMouse said:

so I air fried the tofu

 

I’ve been thinking about an air fryer but they take up so much space and I have a small kitchen. Would you say it’s worth it?

[GhostMouse]

1 hour ago, blah said:

I’ve been thinking about an air fryer but they take up so much space and I have a small kitchen. Would you say it’s worth it?

 

It's tough when you've got limited space, but I do love mine.

 

It's great for fresh veggies (I've done asparagus, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, and green beans, all with just a little olive oil, salt, and pepper), some frozen veggies (asparagus came out mushy but a blend of broccoli, cauliflower, and carrots worked well), and frozen stuff like fries. I love using it for tofu and I'm sure other proteins would be great in it, too.

 

It also reheats leftovers nicely, the other day I reheated a panini in less time than it would have taken my oven to preheat. I've done leftover restaurant fries in it and I used it to reheat the Brussels sprouts and tofu from that recipe (I stored the glaze separately, microwaved it, and put it on at the end).

[blah]

On 2/11/2024 at 9:24 PM, GhostMouse said:

 

It's tough when you've got limited space, but I do love mine.

 

It's great for fresh veggies (I've done asparagus, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, and green beans, all with just a little olive oil, salt, and pepper), some frozen veggies (asparagus came out mushy but a blend of broccoli, cauliflower, and carrots worked well), and frozen stuff like fries. I love using it for tofu and I'm sure other proteins would be great in it, too.

 

It also reheats leftovers nicely, the other day I reheated a panini in less time than it would have taken my oven to preheat. I've done leftover restaurant fries in it and I used it to reheat the Brussels sprouts and tofu from that recipe (I stored the glaze separately, microwaved it, and put it on at the end).

It is very tempting because it’s such a waste to always heat up the entire oven. My birthday is coming up, maybe I need to drop some hints to my family lol

 

I also went ahead and bought tofu so I could try the recipe in its original form and it was so good, thanks for recommending it! Other than that I had a quiche with leek and bacon (yes, I still had more leftover leeks 😂) and … sandwiches because I was tired and uninspired after work.

 

For the quiche I used a ready made dough for the open pastry casing. I steamed the leeks and crisped up the bacon and put them on the pastry, I mixed together two eggs, cream, salt, pepper, nutmeg and a bit of grated cheddar and poured that over everything. I baked it for about half an hour. You can blind bake the crust but I didn’t and it worked out fine. 

Edited February 15 by blah

[blah]

Yesterday I had a cold hotdog sausage and an apple, I really need to do better. 😕

 

Tonight we’re making homemade cheeseburgers with a side salad - because that’s just easier than trying to pile all the toppings I want on the burger and making it taller than my mouth can open. 

[BloodSpell]

I had chicken breast strips with gochujang wrapped in fresh lettuce.

[blah]

On 3/3/2024 at 1:40 PM, BloodSpell said:

I had chicken breast strips with gochujang wrapped in fresh lettuce.

That sounds quite nice actually. I eat a lot of lettuce because it tastes fresh and crunchy, so I always like lettuce wraps.

 

I had pasta yesterday; with spinach and salmon, and onions and garlic. Today I’ll have stew with green beans, peas, carrots, potatoes and little homemade meatballs. I use mainly frozen veggies because they’re easier to portion. The meatballs are made with pork mince, onion, salt, pepper and smoked paprika. 

[GhostMouse]

I made a few things recently and forgot to share.

 

First was Food & Wine's One-Pot White Wine Pasta with Mushrooms and Leeks. This was sooo good. But I had an issue where it calls for "2 medium leeks, trimmed and thinly sliced (white and light green parts only), about 1 1 /2 cups." I've never cooked with (or eaten) leeks before so I just got the two most average looking leeks at my store. I guess they run large here, because 1 leek, cut up properly (I watched a video and everything!), gave me 3 cups.

So that led me to making a leek and goat cheese quiche. I kind of mashed together a few recipes here but the one I used for filling inspiration had you boil the leeks and all the reviews said it came out bland, so I sauteed my leeks in butter and this also came out great. I also used an herbed goat cheese, so I only added salt, pepper, and nutmeg to the egg mixture and it worked out really well.

Tonight I'm planning to try Spices in my DNA's Green Olive Pasta with Toasted Lemon Breadcrumbs and Herbs. The title is a bit misleading because it actually calls for Castelvetrano olives and I don't think anyone would ever call those simply "green olives."

[Westly]

Oh... boy.  Typically I have tilapia in sugar-free teriyaki sauce, with brussels sprouts on the side (Baked together), but I also tend to have Marie Calendar's Beef Pot Pies, or Spaghetti-O's.

 

My husband's a cook, so he's got quite the repertoire of things that he can make, but the Tilapia/Brussels sprouts tend to be quick, easy, and taste fantastic.  Sometimes, to switch it up, we'll do salmon with a tamarind spread we got from a craft fair.  It's amazing, and quite a flavor punch!

 

I really, really like fast food though.  

[blah]

On 3/7/2024 at 11:35 PM, Westly said:

I really, really like fast food though.  

I think many people do and it can be very convenient to pick up ready-meals but I just don’t like them. Even as a kid I didn’t like frozen pizza or McDonald’s (which was really annoying because lots of my friends asked for McDonald’s for their birthday parties. In Germany, most kids only ever got McDonald’s as a treat, at least the parents I knew were pretty strictly against it. This was late 90s/early 00s 😂). Today there is a company called Frosta that produces the only frozen meals I really enjoy and Miracoli (basically Kraft Mac and Cheese only that it is spaghetti al pomodoro). 
 

On 3/3/2024 at 1:40 PM, BloodSpell said:

 

I had chicken breast strips with gochujang wrapped in fresh lettuce.

 

This inspired me to make mercimek köftesi, vegan Turkish lentil balls that are often wrapped in lettuce and eaten with freshly squeezed lemon and either a yoghurt or a tahini sauce. They’re not typically eaten as a main dish but that doesn’t stop me. 😄 There are plenty of recipes online and everyone makes them a bit differently to suit their taste. 

 

@GhostMouse love that you gave fresh leeks a go. I like them because they’re a bit spicy but not as sharp as onions. They’re also very versatile, curried leeks are another favourite of mine. 

[Twyro]

I had a gyros for dinner (a Greek fast food dish made of shredded chicken meat served on flat bread with toppings of your choice - I went with sour cream and chili sauce), which I shouldn't have eaten because it's outside of my current diet (wanting to reshape my body a little bit, especially the thighs), but I was craving it so badly that I couldn't resist. :') 

 

And if you're looking for food ideas, an easy and tasty recipe is for one of my favourite dishes that I normally make for lunch - pasta with chicken, zucchini and cooking cream. You need:

 

200g of zucchini

150g of chicken fillet

50g of pasta (this is the recipe I follow because I'm in a small calorie deficit, but one portion of any pasta dish usually contains 100g of pasta)

Cooking cream to taste

Half an onion if it's large, one whole onion if it's smaller

 

Dice the onion, chicken and zucchini, season with salt and anything else you like, then sauté on some olive oil until the chicken is just done. Then add the cooking cream. Cook the pasta until al dente, add to the sauce and cook together for a minute or two so that pasta absorbs the flavors. It's easy to make, tasty, creamy and nutritious.  

Edited March 13 by Twyro