Tuesday Night Dinner: Broccoli Cheddar Soup

I didn't know what to make for Tuesday night dinner this week so Rory suggested a broccoli cheddar soup. I love soup, so I immediately went to FoodGawker (I know, I'm so predictable) and found a recipe from Annie's Eats. Perfect! I am really loving her blog. I doubled Annie's Broccoli Cheddar Soup recipe for the Tuesday night crew, and I think it came out pretty terrific. Could possibly have been a tad bit thicker (but that's my fault, as I thought I needed more broth and then didn't account for the additional broth in the roux. But the flavor was excellent. I also forgot to buy carrots, so there are no carrots in my soup. It's fine without carrots. It's definitely a keeper. I also served baked chicken with a Dijon and lime sauce and kale chips.

Tuesday Night Dinner: Roasted Tilapia with Potatoes and Lemons

For Tuesday night dinner last week, I found a really simple but tasty looking recipe in the October issue of Real Simple. I am a huge fan of this magazine. It always has really handy tips, excellent personal interest stories, and delicious but simple recipes. For instance, this roasted tilapia I made for dinner. This was probably one of the easiest meals I've thrown together. It all goes in the oven, and you just need to give it time to bake. I served it with some sauteed green beans and steamed broccoli and squash on the side, but you could just as easily throw together a nice green salad to serve on the side.

Roasted Tilapia with Potatoes and Lemons (from Real Simple)
1 pound red potatoes, halved
1 lemon, thinly sliced
8 sprigs fresh thyme
2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon olive oil
kosher salt and black pepper
1/2 cup pitted kalamata olives
4 6-oz skinless tilapia filets
1/2 teaspoon of paprika

Heat oven to 400 degrees. On a large rimmed baking sheet, toss the potatoes, lemon, thyme, 2 tablespoons of oil, and 1/4 teaspoon each salt and pepper. Arrange in a single layer. Roast, tossing once, until the potatoes begin to soften, about 20 minutes.
Toss the olives with the potato mixture; nestle the fish in it. Drizzle the fish with the remaining oil and season with paprika and 1/4 teaspoon salt and pepper.
Continue to roast until the potatoes are golden brown and crisp and the fish is opaque throughout, 12 to 15 minutes.

ICBC: Cooking Stock

When I saw that chicken/vegetable/beef stock was the secret ingredient some weeks ago, I got very excited, because I have so been looking to make soup. I chose to combine the secret ingredient with a Tuesday night dinner meal, and served some minestrone soup for dinner a couple weeks ago. Minestrone is probably one of my favorite soups. What I particularly like about this soup is that it has a nice variety of stuff in it, and it feels like a good healthy soup. Of course I've never made minestrone, so I went to my favorite site FoodGawker, and browsed through minestrone recipes until I hit upon one that I liked the looks of.

Here's the link to the minestrone soup recipe I based my dinner off of, from Disgustingly Good.

I followed the recipe pretty much exactly, except I think I quadrupled it. It was a good soup, well-liked by all my dinner attendees, and it was really nice and fresh. I think to make it healthier and heartier, I would try a more veggie-filled minestrone next time, perhaps something with kale or spinach too. Either way, a delicious soup recipe for the coming winter (as though Tucson gets that cold).

Tuesday Night Dinner: Roasted Chicken & Then Some

For this week's Tuesday night dinner (pita pizzas was last week, but it took me forever to upload the photo), I had my sister to pick up a store-made roasted chicken and then Whitney and I made a bunch of sides to go with it. Homemade mashed potatoes with russet potatoes, organic 2% milk, a stick of butter and some buttermilk as well as garlic powder and kosher salt, buttermilk biscuits, baked zucchini fritters, sauteed green beans tossed in soy sauce and an unfried green tomato. And that little pile of red sauce on my plate was Sriracha. Yummy!

Tuesday Night Dinner: Make Your Own Pita Pizzas

For Tuesday night dinner this week, we did a make-your-own pita pizza night. It was a lot of fun, not a bad dinner for a big crowd, even if I could only make four pita pizzas at a time. I liked the interactivity of it, the way everyone could make their pizza to their own preferences. Here are some suggestions for hosting your own pita pizza night.

pitas-whole wheat or white
pizza sauce
pesto sauce
chopped broccoli
sliced bell pepppers
sliced onions
caramelized onions
black olives
mozzarella
feta
pepperoni
Italian sausage
sun-dried tomatoes
zucchini

Tuesday Night Dinner: Spicy Roasted Chicken Legs+Veggies

This Tuesday night, I chose a really simple recipe for roasted chicken legs from The Pioneer Woman, and then made a few different veggie side dishes (plus a failed attempt at cauliflower-potato mash that's not pictured).


Spicy Roasted Chicken Legs


Iceberg Salad with Cucumbers, Tomatoes and Crispy Bacon


Steamed Broccoli and Yellow Squash


Grilled Red Bell Pepper, Zucchini, Yellow Squash, and Onions

Tuesday Night Dinner: Broccoli Fettucine Alfredo

I've only made alfredo a couple times, and with each effort, I think it gets increasingly better. This alfredo sauce was pretty good, and made for a satisfying Tuesday night dinner (and leftovers). I found the recipe through FoodGawker, and the recipe itself is on A Cozy Kitchen. I added the broccoli myself. I love broccoli in my fettucine alfredo.

Broccoli Fettucine Alfredo (recipe adapted from A Cozy Kitchen)
1 Tbsp olive oil
2 small garlic cloves, minced
1 Tbsp all purpose flour
1 1/4 cups milk
2 Tbsp cream cheese
1 1/4 cups grated Parmesan cheese, divided
4 cups cooked fettucine
broccoli crown, chopped

Cook fettucine according to directions. Prepare a pot of boiling water for the broccoli and cook a couple minutes until desired tenderness. Set pasta and broccoli aside. Melt butter in saucepan over medium heat. Add garlic and saute one minute. Stir in flour and cook for 30 seconds. The butter and flour thicken together, and then you gradually whisk in the milk until fully blended. Stir constantly and cook 8 minutes or until mixture is thick and bubbly. I would recommend using a whisk here to stir. Add in cream cheese and cook for 2 more minutes. Add 1 cup of the Parmesan. Toss pasta, broccoli and alfredo sauce together and top with extra Parmesan cheese.

Tuesday Night Dinner Enchiladas

My sister requested enchiladas for dinner this week, so I made a pan of black bean and cheese enchiladas and a pan of my chicken and sour cream enchiladas. The black bean and cheese just used regular shredded Mexican cheese, two cans of black bans, and almost a whole large can of enchilada sauce. The sour cream and chicken enchiladas follows my original recipe, but I've modified it a little by seasoning boiled and shredded chicken breasts with cumin, cayenne, paprika, salt and pepper. I also added some sliced white mushrooms this time, which Scott said added a nice earthiness to the flavor. I served the enchiladas with a basic tossed salad and corn.

Tuesday Night Dinner: Baked Pasta

For the Tuesday night dinner before I went to Denver, I made a baked penne in a mushroom and Italian sausage marinara and topped with shredded cheese. There was also salad and garlic bread, as always. The marinara was amazing, and Scott put this dinner in his Top 10 favorite dinners. I took the time to make the marinara the night before, letting it simmer for an hour and a half and then sit in the fridge all day Tuesday. This is probably what made the sauce that much better, giving the flavors the time to truly meld together. I don't really remember what I did exactly and I never measure my marinara anymore. Crushed tomatoes, tomato sauce, Italian seasoning, plenty of minced garlic, salt, pepper, a few pinches of white sugar, maybe a hint of crushed red pepper flakes. I do love a good red sauce.

Tuesday Night Dinner: Beef and Broccoli

I was really stumped this week as to what to make for dinner, so of course, I took my usual route of browsing food blogs for recipes and dinner ideas. When I search for Tuesday night dinner ideas, I tend to look for fast and easy recipes, party recipes, or budget recipes. I made my way to Steamy Kitchen, a beautiful site by a food blogger who actually just released a cookbook recently. She had the most delicious looking picture of beef and Chinese broccoli with noodles that I just couldn't get out of my head, so I knew I had to make that for dinner. I also thought it'd be a good choice because we rarely eat beef at Tuesday night dinners. It was the best decision. I've discovered a recipe that I could probably pretty easily slip into a regular rotation, and it was just so so delicious. At least, that's what I thought, and I think most everyone else agreed.

Broccoli Beef noodle stir fry (adapted from Steamy Kitchen)
1 pound flank steak, thinly sliced (Jaden recommends beef sirloin)
3 tablespoons soy sauce
3 tablespoons oyster sauce
3 tablespoons dry white wine, sake, or Shaoxing wine (I used white wine)
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon tapioca starch or cornstarch (I used corn starch)
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 pound fresh or 10 oz dried noodles
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
3 large garlic cloves, crushed and finely chopped
1.25 cups chicken or vegetable stock
1 pound Chinese broccoli or common broccoli, cut into bite-size chunks or florets (I used Chinese broccoli that I did not bother cutting)
freshly ground black pepper

Whisk together soy sauce, oyster sauce, and wine. Add sugar and whisk until dissolved. Stir in corn starch until smooth. Add sesame oil and beef and marinate for at least 20 minutes.

Prepare noodles. You can use any kind of noodles here, just prepare according to package directions, but don't quite cook them all the way so you can finish cooking them in the saute pan at the end.

Heat vegetable oil in a skillet and stir fry garlic until fragrant. Add the beef and stir fry until tender, just a couple minutes. When you cook the beef, you should cook the slices in a single layer in your pan so it cooks evenly and creates caramelized bits. When the meat is finished, transfer it to a plate and add a little more oil to the pan. Add the broccoli and toss it so it's coated with oil. Pour in a 1/4 cup of the stock, turn the heat to medium low and cover with a lid. Cook until tender, 3 to 5 minutes and transfer to the same plate as the meat.

This is where I strayed from Jaden's recipe just a little. I tossed my noodles in the saute pan, added oyster, soy sauce, and chicken stock to taste, and tossed it around a little to flavor it and finish the cooking process. I chose to serve the noodles separate from the beef and broccoli so people could have an option of noodles or rice.

Tuesday Night Dinner

A Tuesday night dinner collage


Salad of spinach, broccoli slaw mix, shredded carrots, cucumbers and tomatoes.


homemade garlic bread


Spaghetti noodles tossed with garlic, diced tomatoes, and zucchini.


Baked tilapia with lemon and dill


Garlicky Baked Shrimp

Tuesday Night Dinner: Breakfast for Dinner

For dinner earlier this week, we did something a little different and had breakfast for dinner. I made a baked French toast, Southwestern egg casserole and served them with bacon and corn tortillas. I really liked the Southwestern egg casserole and I'll be posting that recipe soon.

Tuesday Night Dinner: Coconut Curry

I made a chicken coconut curry and a tofu curry for this week's Tuesday night dinner. Didn't love the consistency and the spice level in either curry.

Tuesday Night Dinner: Italian Stuffed Bell Peppers

Part of the fun of Tuesday night dinner for me, honestly, is seeing the different meals I come up with. I try not to repeat meals too often, and I'm proud to say I don't think I have. I made a vegetarian version of these bell peppers with white beans stuffed with orzo and a veggie mixture of sauteed zucchini, celery, carrots, mushrooms, and onions and all tossed in a fresh marinara. The meat version is the orzo and veggie filling with Italian sausage. And on top was just a little shredded cheddar cheese. As an appetizer, we had a mozzarella and fresh tomato bruschetta and roasted asparagus.

Tuesday Night Dinner: Vodka Sauce

For dinner this week, I decided to make pasta with vodka sauce, using the recipe Sarah Michelle used for Iron Chef Blogger Challenge Alcohol. Dinner was delicious, and I served it with Trader Joe's turkey meatballs on the side, garlic bread, garlic cheese bread, and a salad with romaine, spinach, cucumbers, artichoke quarters, sundried tomatoes, and sunflower seeds. If you were wondering, this is an easy meal to make for a large party of people.

Tuesday Night Dinner: Seafood Feasting

Because I am the nicest friend ever and because I figured these would be easy meals, I basically made two dinners last night. I made this Real Simple recipe for Garlicky Broiled Salmon and Tomatoes as well as a pasta tossed with shrimp and diced tomatoes. And because one of the girls is allergic to shrimp and two of the girls don't even eat shrimp, I separated out some pasta and tossed them a separate vegetarian pasta with diced tomatoes, a little bit of eggplant, and some asparagus. I also roasted asparagus. The salmon was delicious, and the tomatoes were okay, probably better if you like tomatoes. And the best part of the recipe was that it all happens together in the oven. See upcoming future post for my pasta, which I combined with Iron Chef Blogger Challenge Alcohol.

Tuesday Night Dinner: Pizza Party

In order to accommodate changing schedules and not lose any of our regular Wednesday night dinner party members, we switched dinners to Tuesday nights. This week was our first Tuesday night, and it was quite the event. We made eggplant chips, five pizzas, and sundaes for dessert. In case you were wondering, eggplant chips for 15 is a bad idea because it goes on for quite some time. And pizzas for 15 is only a good idea if they all fit in your oven at once. Otherwise, you eat 30 minutes later than originally intended.