Gourmet Burgers Anyone?

Buns- randomly acquired at the Russian bakery (they taste like kaiser rolls)
Spread-avocado with mayo and mustard
Meat- organic grassfed beef
Toppings: cheese, tomato, lettuce, grilled mushroom, bacon

Pure meaty deliciousness!

Healthy breakfast anyone?

The California summers are bringing in whole baskets of ripe fruit for the picking. I did not pick these strawberries of course (I love you Costco) but they sure are good with some balsamic vinegar and sugar drizzled atop. Some chia seeds and yogurt make this a well rounded breakfast.

More Weekend Treats

A whole day off to cook and home and enjoy the nice weather, perfect day!

Brunch with homefries, applewood bacon, baked eggs

Then dinner of scallops in garlic butter on a bed of mixed greens with pasta.

Love it! all the fancy stuff is from Costco.

Light Summer Dinner

Frozen chicken breast, pesto in a jar, pre sliced mushrooms. cooked on stove top.
Top it over quinoa for a light summer meal.

Delicious with a side of kumato caprese salad. balsamic and garlic olive oil drizzled on top. yummy!

Expanding the Quick Weeknight Repertoire

I usually don't get home until after 7pm every night. I'm always too tired to cook anything extravagant. It has to be easy or it won't be done.

Here's what I've been eating lately:

-tacos! buy the shells from TJ's in a box (lasts a long time, but does get stale after opening the box rather quickly
-taco seasoning from TJ's (so cheap! only 79cents/pk)
-ground turkey
-1/2 onion diced
-1 can diced tomatoes

cook it all together.  top with some corn salsa (also from TJ's) with avocado and beans if desired. voila!

I also started making home made pizza (sauce, some lavash bread as thin crust, and a few random toppings like olives, artichokes, mozerella)

These few items are so easy and so delicious!

I also note that quinoa cooks quickly (in chicken broth for more flavor) and chia seed pudding is tres easy!

coming home to an empty fridge

After a week away for work and visiting my hometown (and eating lots of good food along with it-thanks mom!)
I come home to an empty fridge. Not totally the boy's fault. I told him to not buy too much if he thought he wasn't going to eat it. And he did go to Costco as instructed with a strict list and buy from the list (which he did)
So what did I end up making the first night back?
Lentil soup! This is what you can do with a well stocked pantry.
There was a sad bunch of celery sitting in the veggie crisper. Nothing else green or fresh.

1. So I tossed the last stalks of celery with a half of onion diced to brown on the stove.
2. Add no soak lentils (all of them are non-soak, but that's why they're fast to cook)
3. 2 boxes of kirkland chicken broth
4. 1 can of tomato sauce (diced tomatoes would be better, but I didn't have any)
5. season with salt, pepper, cumin, paprika, tumeric
6. dinner ready in 45 minutes!

I would have added ground turkey in the mix (the boy did restock the meats in the freezer) but it was defrosting. So I cooked some turkey spaghetti sauce for him (I doubt he'll eat the soup)

More food goodies: quiche and chicken noodle soup

I was instructed to gain some weight.
So now I started making mini quiche and chicken noodle soup.
I've also expanded my cooking repertoire with more slow cooker recipes.