Gourmet Food on a Budget
So, on Monday I am going on the Black Bean Diet. This is a diet that has worked for me in the past, and it worked for my father, too.
When my father’s friends heard that he had gone on a bean diet, they thought he was crazy. How could anyone lose weight eating beans? Well, it all depends on what you put IN the beans, and what you serve with the beans.
Chinese Five-Spice Tandoori Chicken with herb rice is an easy-to-make dinner ideally suited for the small NESCO cooker, the grill, or the air fryer.
Curried Chicken roll-ups are easy to make and a great use for leftover rotisserie chicken. We like to have them with a cucumber tomato salad.
I love salmon, and I love avocado, and I love tacos! What could be better for a hot summer day than Poached Salmon Tacos with Avocado Salsa? When I was at a discount store with my friend Amber, I found green cactus tacos. I also had some red cabbage in the refrigerator and I thought that would look nice with the red and green.
Scrambled Burger Quiche is my take on one of my favorite meals. Many years ago, we used to go to a restaurant that had something called Scrambled Burgers. I loved them, being a mixture of ground beef, spinach, onion, and cheese. I thought that combination would make a wonderful quiche.
I remember when the wonderful movie Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe came out in 1991, and I wanted to try fried green tomatoes. It was not until 1993 that I was able to get a hold of green tomatoes to make the dish, and again in 2009.
When I was at the corner store, there was a big box of beef steak sized beautiful green tomatoes. I bought two, and I’m going back for more. Those tomatoes were wonderful!
Spane wearing his train conductor hat. You have to watch this video to the end, it’s so cute!
So, last night, after we had our wonderful Fried Green Tomatoes with Basil Garlic Mayonnaise, it was time to get started on Spane’s hat for the annual chorus performance at his school.
Spane came home with a rather large piece of dark blue construction paper, out of which we were to make a hat that expressed his personality. Spane loves trains – a conductor hat was the obvious choice.
So, I looked for vintage conductor hats for my reference – all the other hats were from costumes for engineers – not conductors. The train conductor hat is similar to an airline pilot hat, but not quite. Once I found one, it looked pretty simple.
Create a deliciously flavorful Chicken Rubens dish with pastrami, Swiss cheese, and Russian dressing over saffron-flavored rice.
This recipe for Boston Baked Beans used to be with the Myriad Deviled Eggs, but I thought these were good enough to have their own spot. I will show two methods, the crock pot method and the Instant Pot method.
This lasagna with ricotta, spinach, and sausage is rich and delicious. It’s time-consuming but a lot of it can be made ahead, so enjoy it with friends, a big salad, and a bottle of red wine.