On Our Table: December Part Two
The second half of December was a whirlwind when it came to dinner. We made pizzas with too much cheese, meatballs I’m missing to this day, and a pasta dish I’ll never turn down. Yes, it was another set of comfort food, but you know, 2020 was a doozy. And while I don’t anticipate too many major changes in our meals for 2021, I can definitely acknowledge when it’s time to add in a bit more…lettuce. But that’s another topic for another day (or another blog post).
This review features the glorious dinners we made during the end of 2020 which culminated in a divine picnic-in-the-car for New Year’s Eve. That’s right: we did not cook on New Year’s Eve and I am still sharing what we ate. Whoah. Is that even allowed? Yes. Yes it is allowed because I make the rules around here and I couldn’t not share our feast to say “see ya” to 2020. No apologies for potentially causing you to drool.
All of our dinners include recipe links, when available, or the cookbook used to prepare the meal. Please leave a comment if you have a specific question about one of the plates. I hope you’re hungry!
Sheet pan chicken meatballs with tomatoes and chickpeas
We added Brussels sprouts to this excellent meal for a pop of green (and an extra veggie). This sheet pan dinner comes together quickly and is one of my forever-favorite meatball-focused dishes. The harissa in the meatballs is the best kick of heat and flavor. Don’t forget the crumbled feta on top!
mushroom and pepper pizza
One of our greatest dinner discoveries during 2020 was making the NY-style pizza dough from No Gluten No Problem Pizza. Making pizza dough from scratch is a real game-changer. The flavor, texture, and quality are fantastic.
This particular pie was topped with mushrooms, green pepper, diced tomatoes, plenty of mozzarella, and a few (tiny) pieces of pepperoni. Yum!
shrimp fried rice
One of the benefits of working remotely from home is being able to make dinner earlier in the evening. And for fried rice, which requires cold, cooked rice, the timing works out perfectly. We made the rice in the afternoon and let it chill in the fridge until we were ready to cook. It was cold and perfect for frying.
This rice included peppers, onions. scallions, and the best shrimp (Naked Seafood) from North Coast Seafoods. Order it during the week, before 2pm, for next day delivery to your door!
crispy chicken and arugula salad
What is the most delicious way to enhance a salad? Add crispy chicken! For most of our salad nights, we’re making Panko-crusted chicken fingers and putting them on top of a basic bowl of greens.
Here we have an arugula salad with peppers and a light honey-mustard dressing. It was enhanced, and made much more delicious, by adding our favorite crispy chicken. Aleia’s gluten free Panko is the very best, if you ask me.
chicken meatballs and spaghetti
While we usually turn to beef or pork (or a mix) for this classic dish, we opted to try ground chicken this time around (use what you have!) and I must admit I was thrilled with the result. Spaghetti and meatballs is a wonderful meal and this version, with chicken meatballs, felt a bit lighter.
Sauce tip: use a jar of Rao’s Marinara and add your own kick (onion, red pepper flakes, extra garlic). Also, our choice for spaghetti is Jovial Foods gluten free brown rice pasta. It’s perfect!
queso fundido with beef
This is not a healthy meal. But OMG it’s ridiculously delicious and you must make it. It’s a giant skillet filled with spicy beef (or chorizo) which has cooked with peppers and onions and then it’s topped with several handfuls of cheese. Then it’s baked to bubbly perfection; we topped ours with diced tomatoes for a nice flavor contrast.
Fun fact: the meal is naturally gluten free. Serve the piping hot goodness with tortilla chips of your choice (not shown) and devour. Admittedly, we ate almost the entire skillet. It could have served six…or more.
cauliflower and sausage PEnne
If you don’t know what to make for dinner, then might I suggest this dish? The traditional pasta-veggie-meat trio is never a bad idea and this particular version may just be my personal favorite.
For this meal we used Jovial Foods gluten free penne, roasted cauliflower, and hot Italian sausage (use a brand of your choice). Garnish with fresh rosemary for a pop of color.
The result is one of the most flavorful bowls of pasta, without any red sauce in sight, that I’ve ever had. Just make sure to shower your bowl with Parmesan before eating - it’s the right thing to do. ;)
basil pesto and shrimp pizza
For our second homemade pizza in a very short amount of time, we made this decadent pie covered in basil pesto, mozzarella, shallots, and shrimp. Admittedly, we did buy pre-made basil pesto, but come summer, we will be making it ourselves from scratch. If you’re not in the mood for shrimp, this pizza would also be awesome with sliced chicken or - gasp - no meat at all. Pesto and cheese is still a delicious, dynamic duo.
The shrimp is from North Coast Seafoods and the crust recipe, once again, is from No Gluten No Problem Pizza. Seriously, it’s time to get this book.
beef and broccoli
Suddenly decided we should eat less cheese for the remainder of the year (who am I?) which meant more stir-fries and less pizza. Balance! This dinner was delicious and I’d strongly recommend making it with sliced flank steak which is a way better cut of meat than you’d expect.
Flank steak can be tough when overcooked, so don’t do that! We bought a large piece, marinated the sliced steak briefly, and were very careful to not overcook in the wok. It was scrumptious with the broccoli and sauce; way, way better than a takeout version. And we easily adjusted the recipe, via Woks of Life, to be gluten free. Yum!
shrimp scampi burgers and baked potato
There are times in life when you need to eat a baked potato. This fairly unexciting dinner was made way more wonderful by making delicious baked potatoes to go with the great shrimp scampi burgers (from North Coast Seafoods).
Turns out baked potatoes are even more satisfying when basted with butter and sprinkled with salt and pepper before baking. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised? Get the recipe below for this scrumptious starch.
chicken and pepper stir-fry with rice noodles
This dinner came to be from ingredients we had in the fridge and my fairly-frequent stir-fry cravings. This bowl of rice noodles (brand is Lotus Foods) included ground chicken, spinach, red pepper, onion, mushrooms, and peanuts. Somewhat random, but it worked!
Thanks are due to the sauce, which is from the recipe linked below, that turned this dinner from good to grand. We added Sambal Oelek and rice wine vinegar to the sauce for a boost of spice and extra flavor. Worth it!
beef meatballs with ginger and fish sauce, wok-charred asparagus
We have made these meatballs before, using the requested pork, but opted to try them again with beef (that’s what we had) and I think I loved them even more. The flavor of the beef is delicious with plenty of ginger and fish sauce!
We served the meatballs with wok-charred asparagus and Jasmine rice. A really great, but very weeknight-friendly, dinner. Meatball recipe is linked - I strongly recommend it!
fried clams and french fries
Honestly, we had plans to cook dinner on New Year’s Eve. We had big plans! But then we decided to stick to our NYE “tradition” and go out for lunch. Of course, going out these days is not exactly normal, so we opted for a picnic in the car at one of our favorites: Woodman’s of Essex. A paradise for gluten free fried seafood.
We indulged with french fries, fried clams, and fried calamari. Yes, it was a lot of food. Yes, we ordered too much, but ate it all. And that is why we did not make dinner. No regrets though - every bite was divine. Fried clam fan for life.
Woodman’s is currently closed for annual maintenance, but be sure to check out their menu below. I can’t wait to return soon for another delicious (gluten free) meal.
Happy new year!
Enjoy!
Mollie and Seth
@glutenfreemollied