I have a list of standard dinners I make on weeknights. Most of the time I like cooking dishes that require very little thinking. The meal above appears about once a week - rice made in a rice cooker (with an egg and some soy sauce stirred in once it's cooked), some steamed or stir fried green vegetables (broccoli, zucchini, bok choi and asparagus are on high rotation) and some marinated sliced tofu rolled in some seasoned flour and then pan fried. It's a rather delicious combination and something I can happily make even after 5 minutes of staring grumpily at the fridge with the door open and no motivation to do anything.
Here's a list of other dishes that come under my category of 'standard dinners'.
Barley salad - accompanied with some roasted mushrooms
Beetroot & lentil salad Noodle salad
Noodle stirfry with tin of mock duck and assorted vegetables
Sweet potato dumplings and sweet potato noodles
Crunchy roast potatoes with some panfried fish* and steamed green vegetables
Potato and dill salad
Thai green curry with tofu, zucchini and eggplant
Brown rice salad with tahini sauce, toasted almonds and some steamed greens
Black bean soup with capsicum and corn
Lentil bolognaise
Oven-full of mixed roasted vegetables and some homemade satay sauce
Laksa
Green vegetable & barley soup
(* rare. I think I've bought fish once in the last 6 months - and it was that basa fillet frozen crap that costs about 10 dollars a kilo).
We're not vegetarian but we barely ever buy meat - maybe once a month. It's not good value for money and it makes a mess.
It's funny how your 'standard dinners' change over time. Six years ago I always made this chicken and egg on rice dish (Japanese style), mushroom pizza, broth with soba noodles, and pasta with tomato, tuna, zucchini and carrot sauce. For some reason I'd never dream of making any of theses things now.
Have you got any 'standard dinners' you'd like to share with me? I'd love to hear about them!
