After I posted last night I spent a few hours at North County's Food Bank assisting employees that had been laid off due to the state budget impasse. The lack of a state budget is having far reaching impacts that are really hurting people. If you have a minute, pick up the phone and call your local state representative and ask them to get it done!
I'm starting to get used to the gnawing pain in my tummy at certain times of the day. My wife can tell you (as will my staff) that I tend to get cranky when I'm hungry. I got home about 8pm and I was really hungry (probably working around all that food). I made a quick pot of vegetable soup (carrot, onion, celery, potato) and used a couple slices of bread as croutons. That did the trick and I slept well.
Along with coffee this morning, I had a chicken club sandwich (toasted bread with cream cheese, chicken, tomato and basil). It was good and lasted until about 11am. I finished the vegetable soup and a straggler grilled chicken burrito that I was over joyed to find in the fridge tucked behind my stash.
About 4pm today I started day dreaming about dinner. I'm actually glad that I am furloughed a few days this week. Having food on the brain constantly is a big distraction and would definitely interfere with getting work done. We'll see how I do tomorrow and Friday when I go back to work. I suppose I could get used to this, thousands do it every day. My hope is that I will be able to help some of them grow a bit of their own food in the future.
I guess I was day dreaming today because I really like the meal I planned for this evening - baked fish, roasted veggies, salad greens and garlic bread.
Dinner!
Here is how it came together:
I rinsed and patted dry two Swai fillets (Swai is a fresh water catfish that lives in fast moving rivers in Vietnam - it does not have the musty taste often associated with catfish however).
In a roasting pan, I coated the fillets with a thin film of olive oil (I cheated with that - about a teaspoon). Next, I dusted them with lime zest from one of the limes I purchased. For a top coat, I cheated again and went to the pantry for some seasoned bread crumbs (I only have two slices of bread left and I need them for tomorrow).
For the roasted veggies, I diced my three remaining potatoes, half a white onion, and sliced three carrots. I threw in three cloves of garlic, tore up some rosemary leaves, added fresh thyme and tossed the whole thing in a bit more olive oil just to keep it from sticking to the clay roaster, then added a pinch of salt and ground pepper.
Into the oven with the veggies for one hour at 400 degrees.
When the veggies have about 20 minutes left, put the fish in along side and prepare your garlic bread as follows:
2 slices of wheat bread, 2 pats of butter -each cut into 5 pieces, thyme, minced garlic, minced parsley...and I cheated again - a few shavings of pecorino romano cheese (it was in the fridge and needed to be used).
When the timer says you have 2 minutes, turn on the top broiler in the oven - it will brown the bread crumbs and give the veggies a bit more color. Remove when the timer goes off and put in the bread.
Plate your fish, veggies and salad greens (arugula, green onion, tomatoes) while the bread cooks.
Put it all together and enjoy! (I had veggies left over for tomorrow's lunch)
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| Baked fish with roasted root vegetables, arugula salad and garlic bread |
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