@abasket that looks A-mazing!
I made thai shrimp satay with a peanut dipping sauce, jasmine rice and a cabbage carrot salad. It was really good.
Here’s the recipe I used (I just swapped peeled and deveined shrimp for the chicken):
I did not use the sauce recipe in that one, but rather this one:
I followed both recipes exactly as stated with the exception of adding a touch more brown sugar to the peanut sauce after tasting.
@DeeCee36 that looks so good - I would make it for dinner tomorrow but we had pad thai tonight!!! Will save the idea for later!
So I’m not proud to say that I’ve gained 15 lbs since April 2020 and I need to get them off to fit into my MOB dress in May. So DH and I doing the South Beach Diet phase 1 (we’ve done this before and it works like a charm). I have found a lot of good recipes on this website,
Kalyn’s Kitchen: https://kalynskitchen.com/. The recipes are indexed by diet type. Some are quite high fat but you can find some good recipes. I made her instant pot Hungarian pot roast and roasted cabbage, and it was delicious. Good comfort food (and South Beach Diet compliant–very low carb). I can’t do super low carb all the time (not interested in keto, I don’t feel good on it) but the South Beach phase 1 gets you losing a lot of weight quickly and it’s motivating (I have lost 6 pounds in a week-probably water but a pound is a pound). Looking forward to a slice of toast in a couple of weeks:)
We made these chicken burgers tonight. They were 
!!! Even my very picky husband for who a burger is only made of beef and cooked on a grill loved them!
We’ve been trying to dial back the carbs here, too. Pasta is my weakness, if I could, I would eat it 5 times a week. I try to limit it to once a week, subbing out zoodles or keto egg noodles on the other occasions.
That said, I made something great the other night that I thought I’d share. I served it as a side dish with a roasted chicken, but it could easily stand on its own for a vegetarian dinner. Even better, I had it for brunch the next day with a jammy egg on top and a heaping of trader joe’s zhoug dip (my newest addiction). It was divine, and worth breaking my pasta only once per week rule.
Moroccan Couscous Stew
Ingredients
I package of Israeli couscous
1/2 onion, diced
2 cloves of minced garlic
1 can of chickpeas, drained
1 can of fire-roasted diced tomatoes
Generous handfuls of fresh baby spinach or kale
Ras el hanout seasoning (you can get at Target)
Vegetable or chicken stock (the amount will vary depending on how much couscous you are using, but the ratio should be 1 cup of couscous to 1 and 1/4 cup of stock)
Salt, to taste
In a dutch oven type pan, sauté onions and garlic with a healthy heaping of the spice mixture a few minutes. Add all other ingredients and mix well. Cover and bake in a 350 oven for 30 minutes.
Portion control satisfies my pasta craving.
I recently discovered Italian pearled farro. It’s a grain with lots of nutrients and is a satisfying replacement for pasta. This receipe is my favorite.
We don’t do a lot of pasta, but I went large and made DH’s favorite tonight–salmon fettucine. I don’t use a recipe for this one, just fettucine, pan-seared salmon, artichoke hearts, and peas tossed in a butter-cream sauce with a cup of shredded parm:
@ChoatieMom We had almost the same meal as you did last night except I used chicken in the fettucine instead of salmon. I served it with a healthy salad and it was a great weeknight dinner after our 5 mile walk.
The family has fallen in love with the clementine cake from the Christmas dessert thread. Made it again tonight since it is so easy and it is still clementine season. It was the dessert after doing a chicken a la king with the Costco delivery rotisserie chicken.
ok, I had never looked at the Christmas dessert thread (not a holiday for my family), but @Singersmom07 's post had me intrigued.
Oh my! I’m actually heading out to get ingredients for it this afternoon. Tuesday is as good of a day as any for cake, right? LOL.
All we are home because of Coronavirus so I am celebrating at home with my cooking last weekend had BBQ Party, I think, good to do something at home 
Thought I’d bump this back up.
We are back to mainly eating at home or takeout.
We just received a new gas grill and a rotisserie attachment. I’ve never used a rotisserie and I’d love some tips.
Also could use some new salad recipes. I’m trying to reduce my carbs so would love them to be vegetable heavy.
Thanks
Not a recipe or anything like that.
This weekend we were invited to a cottage at the last minute, like Friday morning last minute. Decided to go for it and go. At first I thought we could order pizza or go to the grocery store, not worry about the food. 5 of us would be there.
Decided on our way out of town to stop at our local produce/meat market. The meat market has pre made kabobs. Bought chicken and steak kabobs, had a bag of potatoes at home. Bought 2 pounds of bacon and local tomatoes. A loaf of bread.
Spent $66 on all of this. Had one dinner and 2 lunches for the price of an inexpensive dinner for 2. Everyone said it was much better than going out. We did buy a pie for dessert locally.
My point is to think simple. It’s summer, produce is great, simple easy meals.
I haven’t made this yet but thought it looked great.
Easy summer dinners with a salad theme:
Any meat in the grill and throw it on a bed of greens and shop your refrigerator for additional veggies to put on it.
Any sandwich but forget the bread and put the sandwich is down items on a bed of greens. (BLT, chicken salad, club, Reuben)
Or the opposite! No greens just chop up a bunch of vegetables, add a protein or two - chicken and or a cubed cheese. Add a homemade vinegar based dressing.
So happy to see my very favorite thread on CC revived…
We’ve still mostly been cooking and eating at home all along. As it is summer, we’ve definitely been eating lighter and very veg-centric meals as our garden is producing well right now. Here’s few things we’ve made recently that were winners:
Thanks. I like several of those recipes.
Last night I made a salad like this. https://jamiegeller.com/recipes/mango-cucumber-and-sumac-onion-israeli-salad/
It was delicious.
and abundance of goods from our garden has me trying new recipes…here are a few really good ones that I have made in the last couple of weeks:
We made this and just had a simple and light dinner of grilled corn on the cob, salad and this jam spread on baguette. I have a good amount left over and I plan to use it as a topper for meatloaf later this week. Would also be delicious on burgers.
Speaking of salad, here’s the salad I made - it was outstanding: Grilled Peaches with Burrata, Mint, and Balsamic Drizzle
I am have way too much basil and am pretty sick of pesto or caprese salad at this point, truth be told. So I was pretty intrigued to try a new flavor profile…enter Thai food! I made this: Thai Drunken Noodles (Pad Kee Mao)
As a bonus, I was able to use some of the chili peppers my husband insists on planting way too much of each year. The dish was super easy and so good that I’ve actually made it twice in two weeks. The basil + salty and sweet asian flavors is addictive. I’m actually planning to try this recipe this week: 15 Minute Thai Basil Chicken - Host The Toast
We have been making hot Italian sausage kebabs with green and red peppers, red onion, cherry tomatoes, zucchini. Very simple. You brush them with a glaze that I got off the Premio (sausage company) website that involves balsamic vinegar, honey, and garlic. I use Mike’s Hot Honey but if I didn’t have that, I’d just add red pepper flakes to the vinegar honey garlic mixture. Very simple to cook over the grill and very delicious.
I like Dmitri’s Dishes food blog. Her spanakopita is easy and delicious. Today, I made another of my favorite recipes on the website: chicken shawarma. I did cut down the cumin and coriander amount by 1/2. I am not a cumin fan, and although I love coriander, it was a little overpowering. I used her broiling method and it’s super easy. I also just buy Zhouk (garlic sauce) at Trader Joe’s.
