It happens every single day. But if you are anything like me you sort of dread it.
Let's face it dinner time is hard, and often we find ourselves stuck in a rut. The same old food on repeat.
I think for the most part everyone has a dinner time challenge. Do you have a picky eater? What about a food allergy or sensitivity that you need to take into consideration? How about dietary preference or requirement ?
I have all of these "issues" sitting at my table. I have an allergy, my daughter is a vegetarian ( a picky one at that ) and I have a husband who can't digest Gluten. In all honestly some nights I just feel like pouring a big glass of water for each of us and calling it a night.
Not sure that would fly but one day I just may give it a try.
Last night I found my self in the same predicament. What to make for dinner that will make everyone happy, including me. I really enjoy cooking but if we are being 100% honest I don't prefer being a short order cook 3 meals a day.
So I did what we all do and took a peek on the good old Internet. Somedays I use my web searching to find a starting point. Usually that is all I need. I know what I have on hand for a protein and what veggies I have in the fridge, I just need some inspiration.
Well this was just the inspiration I needed and with a few of my own tricks we had a dinner master piece. That was able to be Gluten Free, vegetarian and super yummy.
I was in the mood for something light and fresh so I was thinking of a salad but one that eats like a meal. I came across this Japanese Sesame Dressing
I highly recommend you check out Just One Cookbook Her recipes are lovely and easy to follow.
The flavour of this dressing is incredible. Its creamy and the sesame gives it a lovely nutty flavour. This recipe included things that I keep on hand so it was a win. As a rule I try and keep foods that are nutrient rich in our house. It has been my experience that if I am satisfied at my meal, I will make less trips to the fridge and or pantry in between meals.
For this meal these are the steps I followed
1 Make the dressing ( see recipe below)
2 Prepare some rice noodles ( for a carb component)
To prepare Rice noodles just follow the instructions on the package. Once they were cooked I ran them under cold water to stop the cooking process and put them in a bowl and tossed them with about one tablespoon of the dressing.
3. Prepare shrimp. I keep the frozen bags of shrimp in the freezer. Its easy to just reach in a take out a handful to add to a meal.
You can usually get a bag of shrimp for under $10.
I sautéed the shrimp with a bit of olive oil and added grated ginger ( about 1/2 tsp) & fresh crushed garlic (1/2 tsp) Salt and Pepper.
4 I added some edamame - this is a really nice and easy protein source for vegans and vegetarians. Because they are a whole protein source as such they provide all the essential amino acids our body's need.
I prepared the edamame with a small splash of Sesame oil and a pinch of Salt and Black sesame seeds
5 Grated one carrot
6. Boiled an
egg for each serving
Hope this helps you out on your quest to avoid boring dinners
luv
SFB
Ingredients
Mayonaise
Sesame seeds
Soy Sauce or GF Tamari in may case
Rice vinegar
Sesame oil
Sugar
Japanese Sesame Dressing
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 5minutes
Total time 15 minutes
Serves : 3
Ingredients
3 Tbsp toasted white sesame seeds
2 Tbsp mayonaise
2 Tbsp rice vinegar
1 1/2 Tbsp SoySauce
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp Mirin
1/2 tsp sesame oil ( roasted)
Instructions
Put sesame seeds in a frying pan and toast them on low heat. When 2-3 sesame seeds start popping, remove from the heat.
Grind the toasted sesame seeds with a mortar and pestle until smooth.
Combine all the ingredients in a bowl and whisk everything together.
Drizzle on top of a simple salad