Franks and Beans

July 6

Another simple recipe from The Minimalist column from a couple of summers ago, "101 Simple Meals Ready in 10 Minutes or Less."

The "recipe," in full:

"54 Brown small pork (or hot dog) chunks in a skillet. Add white beans, garlic, thyme and olive oil. Or add white beans and ketchup."

I went with the garlic/thyme combination, though I also added a chopped roma tomato. It was surprisingly tasty, in a low-brow kind of way.

Beef Fajitas with Pico de Gallo and Avocado

From the backlog: 5/23

Beef fajitas with Pico de Gallo (loosely following the Simply Recipes recipe here) and avocado slices.

Indoor Picnic!

Tonight's dinner has a backstory.

This morning I walked to the park and ended up taking the very long way home, through the zoo. While taking a break on a bench, watching a young mother trying to get her kids to eat a few bites of their lunch, I got a weird craving for a hot dog. Weird, because that hasn't happened in years. I actually tried to buy an over-priced zoo hot dog, but when the cashier took the temperature of one and said they wouldn't be ready for another ten minutes (because the hot water they were in didn't get the hot dogs hot enough yet?) I took it as a sign that I should make my own.

Fast-forward to dinner: hot dogs on the Foreman grill, roasted potato salad from Whole Foods, simple leftover grilled zucchini, and my favorite summer "salad": tomato slices drizzled with vinegar, sugar, salt, and pepper. And for dessert, juicy strawberries with sweetened sour cream for dipping.

Bisquick-like Hamburger Pie

4/21 Ground Beef, Mushroom, and Broccoli one-dish pie, loosely based on the crust part of the One Dish Chicken and Broccoli Alfredo recipe from the Fleischmann's Yeast website. It seemed loosely like the "Impossible" Bisquick crust dishes I remember from childhood.

Ground Beef Tacos

From the backlog: 3/28

Ahhh, tastes like childhood. Except with avocado slices and better salsa.

Buffalo Burger with Coleslaw

Tonight's dinner featured a slightly over-cooked buffalo burger (with onion, garlic, Worcestershire sauce, and arugula mixed into the meat) topped with goat cheese. The side was a simple coleslaw, based on the non-mayo recipe from Simply Recipes. Basically I just mixed a pre-cut cabbage/carrot mixture with green onions, seasoned rice vinegar, a sprinkle of sugar, salt and pepper, and a spray of olive oil. Super easy.

Green Salad with Steak

From the backlog: Tuesday 2/24

This was the third incarnation of the steak - tossed on top of a lettuce salad with tomatoes, orange sweet pepper, goat cheese crumbles, and celery seed dressing.

Flank Steak, round 1

From the backlog: Saturday 2/21
Tonight's appetizer consisted of freshly-baked no-knead bread, with Spinach-Artichoke Dip (subbing some plain yogurt for most of the mayo, and it worked out fine)...


... followed by the main course of flank steak prepared a la Simply Recipe's Hanger Steak with Shallots, sauteed green beans, and Trader Joe's wild rice pilaf.