Here are a number of things I’ve made lately to put in my belly.

1. Steamed catfish with lemon on baby spinach.

How to:

• Dust off bamboo steamer, add water to pan, start warming
• Rinse baby spinach leaves and place in bottom of steamer (don’t put spinach too close to the edge – you want to give the steam room to circulate)
• Place catfish (or other white fish) on top, cut lemon wedges, squeeze some on the fish
• Put bamboo steamer in the pan of hot water
• Steam for 10 minutes (or less, with less pieces of fish – these were thick cuts, and they took longer than the usual 5-7 minutes)

The image is of the cooked fish – nice and flaky, but definitely still moist. This particular meal is great if you like mild fish without a strong “fishy” flavor, and like a tart lemon taste, because that was pretty well defined. Bob put cajun seasoning on his pieces and was really disappointed there wasn’t more. I think I might make asparagus or artichokes to complement this dish next time.

2. Veggies on Pasta

How to:

• Cook noodles to package directions (these are egg noodles)
• Slice squash, carrots, and cut up broccoli
• Add to pan with some olive oil (if the heat gets too high, adding the veggies will cause little pops of oil to jump up and sear your forearm – try to keep the heat moderate)
• Cook, pushing around with a big spoon or spatula, for a few minutes, until the carrots and squash soften a little bit (but still have a nice bite to them) / alternative: use high heat (with long sleeves) and sear the veggies very quickly, then remove from heat
• Add to the pasta, add parmesan or romano and serve immediately

This is really filling. The squash and carrots came from Canticle Farm, and the carrots in particular were really sweet and had that nice buttery taste (without me adding butter). The flavors were distinct without getting muddled or the veggies getting mushy.

3. Beet, squash, green onion salad

How to:

• Cut up beets, squash, and green onions into bite-sized pieces (peel the beets…for the love of pete, peel the beets)
• Place in bowl
• Take photo in admiration of the nice colors
• Serve

I ate this plain, and the flavor variety was really neat. These are all raw, so it’s really crunchy! Bob used salad dressing with his, and he liked it a lot.

4. Bean/squash pasta

How to:

• Cut up beans (I used these really awesome purple ones from Canticle Farm – that turned a disappointing green when cooked)
• Cut up squash (also from Canticle Farm)
• Toss into pan with olive oil over medium-high heat (protect arms)
• Let pieces sear a little bit, toss, let sear, toss…give it a few minutes
• Cook pasta (again, egg noodles- not shown) according to package directions
• Drain pasta, add to pan
• Mix with veggies, let cook one or two more minutes
• Serve hot with parm or romano cheese

Not shown: Chicken

• Cut up boneless chicken breast into bite-sized pieces
• Add to small pan with olive oil
• Keep heat medium to medium-high
• Cook each side of the meat on medium, then crank up to medium-high and get at least one side of each piece a good crusty brown coat
• Add to Bob’s portion

This one was an easy dish I could make while my kitchen is in pieces, and it turned out really filling. The clean up was easy, and I could leave the pasta alone when tending the veggies / leave the veggies alone when tending the chicken / ignore the chicken and veggies while draining the pasta – it’s really low-maintenance.

We almost always have left-overs, so we find we cook a big thing about every other night, and on the interim nights we supplement with a different element or side dish. For example, the squash/bean pasta dish is probably going to be eaten tonight with a healthy does of marinara sauce and bread for dipping.