Leftovers

I have been taking photographic evidence of meals for a few days now. Mainly this was an exercise in self-discipline, but I have decided that it may serve to create a sort of photographic food diary. Hence putting them here. These meals are what I will refer to as "leftovers" -- that is, the food we have already eaten some time in the recent past. I wish to add that I don't aim to post recipes, because most of the time I don't use them, either!

I've put myself on a planned small breakfast, a soup, salad and bread lunch, small snacks when I get hungry and a larger and more substantial dinner. This isn't due to any science... In fact, it may run contrary to science. For me, it's a matter of practicality. It's the meal Dan and I share, and it is the meal I have more time to plan and prepare, so why not make it a bit more special?



Here's a typical soup lunch. This week I didn't have time or motivation to bake bread, so I went with a high-fiber whole wheat bread from Trader Joe's. I paired it with a lovely tomato and roasted garlic soup, also from TJ's and a green salad with cucumbers, feta cheese with Mediterranean herbs, varietal tomatoes, purple basil from our garden, roasted bell peppers and a fat-free balsamic vinaigrette.




This lunch also featured the TJ's bread and soup duo, but the salad was changed up a bit. I used a fresh cucumber given to us by a woman from the church we visited on Sunday, purple basil, grape tomatoes, tiny pearls of mozzarella cheese and the balsamic dressing.






It was time for a change of pace. Today's soup was split pea (also from TJ's... did I mention how much I love TJ's?) with a bit of ham, and a green salad with fresh apricot, crumbled stilton cheese with dried apricot and the nonfat balsamic.






Turkey chili with a tiny bit of light sour cream formed the centerpiece of this lunch. I threw in a green salad with spinach, hard-boiled egg, roasted peppers, cucumber, orange tomatoes and balsamic dressing.













Dinner is served! On the menu tonight is a one-pan chicken and rice supper. I basically started with a tiny bit of olive oil, in which I briefly browned a clove of garlic and some red onion. Then I added strips of boneless skinless chicken breast, and sauteed until they were mostly cooked through. I then added pre-cooked brown rice, kalamata olives, halved small tomatoes of various colors, marinated artichoke hearts and a few tablespoons of a dry white wine. After a few minutes, I threw in a handful or two of fresh spinach, marjoram, Italian parsley and purple basil. Once the spinach was wilted, I added a few tablespoons of feta cheese. The chicken dish was pared with a simple fruit salad of blueberries, cherries, apricot and white peach.





Tonight it is salmon baked with red onion, lemon, tomato and garlic chives fresh from the garden. The fish was paired with lightly cooked broccoli and red onion, brown rice and an apricot.








Next up, roasted Cornish game hen stuffed with shallots and rubbed with olive oil, parsley, garlic and basil. Skipping the skin when eating it cuts the fat, but the small bird retains a lot of flavor. The hens were accompanied by deviled eggs made with light mayonnaise, parmesan mashed potato with garlic chives and sauteed fresh squash (also from a garden) with shallots and bell peppers.