Light meal suggestions?

[cheerypeabrain]

I'm bored with open sandwiches, fed up with scrambled egg on toast...made far too many quiches and run out of nice soup recipes (you know how fussy I am!)

So I need some suggestions or recipes for light meals...any ideas?

[mickthecactus]

Pasta with pesto and add a little diced ham or halved cherry tomatoes.

Big mushrooms dotted with butter, put some crumbled Lancashire cheese on top and a sprinkling of whatever spice you fancy then bake in the oven for 20 minutes.

Instead of a bacon roll try bacon in buttered pitta bread.

[kerouac2]

I am making maki tonight. The sticky rice has already been boiled, but I have to get to work on the other stuff.

[lugg]

Peaches are good here at the moment and they go well in a salad with cheese - I like blue with peaches but you could use any ... and the salad whatever you have in the house but mint leaves add a zing to blue cheese - add whatever dressing you have / enjoy . I like a little honey, olive oil and lemon mixed up . If you want something a little more substantial toast / bake some ciabatta cut into cubes or even add some new potatoes . I usually add asparagus too just cos I love it but tiny broccoli or beans would work I think

[lugg]

PS great thread Cheery === in this hot weather in the Northern hemisphere we need all the help we can get re light meals

[cheerypeabrain]

Thank you. This evening I made Jeff meatballs...mixed <5% fat lean pork mince, cream cheese (low fat), oregano, minced garlic and black pepper...made little meatballs that I baked for 20 minutes whilst I made a tomato sauce with diced onion, minced garlic, pasata, balsamic vinegar and a chicken stock cube. Popped the cooked meatballs in the sauce to simmer whilst i cooked the pasta.

Cooked up some linguini, Jeff had the meatballs and sauce with his...but i just had pasta with a little sauce. Very nice.

[lagatta]

I tend to go for turkey mince if I want lower fat. Have never come across pork mince that lean. I add onions etc so it isn't too dry (and yes, of course onions contain sugar, but I don't use a tonne).

Yes, I'll have to pick up some peaches. I'll ask a neigbour if he wants to share them, as the baskets are too much for one person.

[bixaorellana]

This is something I invented for my dogs, but found that it's very nice for a human as well.

Cut any less-than-fresh bread (or tired tortillas) into small pieces. Put them to fry in a small amount of olive oil in a wide heavy skillet, tossing the pieces around in order to coat them with the oil. Let them cook until they're getting nicely browned. Beat up some eggs with a drop or two of milk in a bowl, seasoning them to your liking, i.e., salt & pepper &/or minced herbs or seasoned salt -- whatever.
Once the bread is ready, push it around so it covers the bottom of the skillet, then pour on the well-beaten eggs. Move the skillet so the egg will flow around over all the bread cubes. Tightly cover the skillet and either turn off the heat or turn it as low as it will go. Take the lid off when the eggs are completely set. With any luck, they will have fluffed up. You can then serve it up or, if you wish, cut the mixture into wedges so you can turn them over & lightly cook the other side. Either way, it will be nicely crisp on the bottom.

This goes well with salad or with plain grilled zucchini.

[lagatta]

Good to know. Like a fusion between Mexican and Spanish tortillas.

[tod2]

Bixa Bixa Bixa! Don't your children eat dog cubes?? Our little lady has a handful of good make cubes mixed with shards of biltong(Jerky) or leftovers including vegetables. And occasionally some meat fat for her coat. I will confess to scrambling her an egg when we have run out of dog food……….

[mickthecactus]

Our little one gets scrambled egg when she’s a bit off her food.

[onlyMark]

It was always bread and gravy with mint sauce when I was a bit ill as a kid. Still love it now.

[mickthecactus]

I like the sound of that.

[bixaorellana]

Aug 11, 2020 16:22:58 GMT tod2 said:

Don't your children eat dog cubes??

Dog cubes = kibble?
Yes, they're given kibble in the morning to eat or not, as they please. In the evening they get canned dog food with kibble on the side. Sometimes, for a change from the canned dog food, they get sardines or scrambled eggs. But if I run out of dog food I have to fix them something out of what's on hand, which is how I came up with the bread cubes and egg.

[lagatta]

These are very helpful, as I have almost no appetite but do have to eat, at least a little. Oddly, I can't find my stick blender (I know that I put it up on a high shelf) and want to make pesto from some of my lovely basil.

[mickthecactus]

I can’t be faffed to make pesto in this heat. A jar from the supermarket will fine and that’s what we’ll have tonight with pasta and some delicious cold roast chicken we bought yesterday.

[kerouac2]

I made some of my imperfect maki the other night. Light meal but a bit labour intensive.

[tod2]

They look pretty good Kerouac! Looks like crabstick in the middle of some with cucumber and carrot. I've tried to make it but my son who is "Sushi" mad, loves California rolls best with prawn and avocado.

[kerouac2]

I think that avocado should be banned from crypto-Japanese preparations. I refuse to eat California rolls if I have any choice.

[bixaorellana]

Amen! Ditto on the inclusion of cream cheese. Both are so wrong in texture and taste for their roles in those rolls.

[tod2]

Really? I have been looking through the menu of several Japanese restaurants and Sushi Outlets and avocado is one of the main ingredients in many of their offerings. And I can't quite fathom Bixas aversion to avocado in sushi because Mexico is the Land of the Avocado. It's in everything….almost! Now I watched a video by my dearest chef John, making Crab Rangoon , with cream cheese and crab meat in deep fried wontons - he said they are sensational. The dip was too. I agree cheese in sushi is not very appealing.

[kerouac2]

In Paris too, all of the Japanese restaurants have California rolls, because people WANT them for some godawful reason. I am not against adapting restaurant offerings to local tastes, but this is an absolute abomination.

Avocados are an excellent fruit, but they have no more business in sushi than bananas do.

If the restaurants just advertised "fusion food" instead of Japanese food, I would not complain.

[cheerypeabrain]

Last night we had a 'ploughman's lunch'.1/3 of a fresh baguette, chunk of cheese, a couple of slabs of ham and pickles with a cold beer...I had a bit of lettuce, radish and cucumber from the greenhouse too. Very satisfactory.

I dont eat raw fish...it does look pretty tho.

[bixaorellana]

Aug 12, 2020 16:11:35 GMT tod2 said:

And I can't quite fathom Bixas aversion to avocado in sushi because Mexico is the Land of the Avocado. It's in everything….almost!

Yes, the land of the avocado, but it's absolutely not true that avocados are included in almost everything.

I've had those crab/cream cheese deep-fried wontons & they are good.

[kerouac2]

Should "deep-fried" be mentioned in a topic titled "Light meal suggestions?" Not that I am criticising "deep fried" because it is one of the best things in the world, except perhaps for one's health.

[tod2]

I agree Kerouac that deep fried meals are very unhealthy probably not only because of the corn oil (mainly) but because of the amount of coating on the food. Just look at fried cod & chips! I've seen more batter than fish. So I'm beginning to think maybe if we used a light batter/coating and a healthy oil - say something like grape seed, or avo oil? Maybe they don't get hot enough like olive oil but I'm also thinking maybe Peanut oil which is used so much in Asian cooking wouldn't be better.
Then again eating something deep fried once a month isn't going to be too devastating like an everyday meal.. Still too harmful?

I got my Sushi book out yesterday and it had a short note on California rolls. Came about because the customers in LA did not want to eat raw fish and seaweed, so he decided to reverse the way a sushi roll is put together. Putting the rice on the outside , the nori inside with ingredients of crab, avocado and cucumber. The creamy, rich, slightly oily avocado has something in common with the taste of fatty tuna. It became so popular it ventured to New York and even made a debut in Tokyo.
When you think about it, eating the rice on the outside with a few black sesame seeds for eye-appeal ain't so bad. You made Maki-zushi known as rolled sushi. There is also Osha-Sushi -pressed sushi and chirashi-zushi known as Scattered Sushi.

[bixaorellana]

Aug 14, 2020 10:07:26 GMT tod2 said:

The creamy, rich, slightly oily avocado has something in common with the taste of fatty tuna.

Not convinced.

[tod2]

Back to Light Meal suggestions! Is a light meal one that has very digestible ingredients or is it just a small portion….like a starter? I'm going with light ingredients like vegetables to start with. So here is a "Light" meal recipe I'm copying from my Marmiton magazine. It's in French and I think there may have to be a few substitute ingredients: - except for Kerouac or bjd …….

CHAMPIGNONS FARCIS AUX E`PINARDS, NOIX ET TOMME DU LIMOSIN. - Mushrooms stuffed with spinach, walnuts and Tomme cheese from Limousin. For 4 people

12 Portobello mushrooms, 4 branches (? bunches, leaves?)spinach, 2 oignons frais -Spring onions, 1 Brin de sarriette, nown as sprig of savory herb, 150g de tomme du Limousin - cheese, 15cl de bouillon de legumes -vegetable stock, 2c.a`soupe d'huile d'olive or 2 tbsp. olive oil, 1 filet d'guile de noir or 1 dash of walnut oil (per mushroom I guess), salt & pepper to taste.

Preheat the oven to 180C
Clean the mushrooms and remove stems - reserve the caps and chop up the stems
Chop the spinach and spring onions finely and saute` with the chopped stems in a pan with the olive oil, salt & pepper.
Cut the cheese into small strips.
Place the mushroom caps in an ovenproof dish and drizzle with the hot veg stock
Fill caps with spinach mixture and sprinkle on the savory herb and nuts.
Arrange the cheese on top and drizzle with walnut oil.
Bake for 20min or so until mushrooms are lovely and browned on top.

I feel like I've just had a French lesson with all the translating done on my iPhone…… The recipe leaves you to adapt it anyway you desire. What else could one put on the plate? Some crusty bread maybe?

[kerouac2]

https://www.tiktok.com/@diegoalary/video/6903554901431946498

[mickthecactus]

Here’s something similar I do with a bit less faff.
Remove stalks and peel skin away.
Dot inside with butter and add half tsp of curry powder.
Top with a crumbly cheese such as Lancashire but excellent with feta or paneer.
Bake in oven for 20 mins at 180c fan.
Eat.