Some Dinner Ideas

This week's specials at my favorite natural food stores aren't as inspiring as the ones they offered last week, but I'm getting some ideas together. I'm in the mood for more fish, but just had salmon (it's still on sale at Whole Foods), so maybe it's time for tilapia. An article in Bon Appetit awhile ago said that tilapia is a rare, eco-friendly farmed fish. At Whole Foods today, I saw some nice tilapia that I think was $9.99/lb. If you're in the neighborhood of King Soopers, they have it this week for $5.99/lb. I like it quickly sauteed, and finished with a drizzle of balsamic vinegar when it's done. Sides would be some nice veggie (maybe asparagus, $1.49/lb at Sprouts), and either herbed rice or the Tandoori naan that's nearly half price at Whole Foods right now. It heats beautifully in a grill pan, creating nice char marks.

With stew beef $3.99/lb at Sunflower, it's time for chipotle beef stew from Gourmet magazine. The stew beef eliminates the time cutting up the roast that's listed. Along with salad, you could do the tortilla accompaniment the recipe suggests, or naan hot from the grill pan that's mentioned above. The Pearl Street Whole Foods is still offering a selection of beautiful whole wheat breads at just $2.50 each, even though they told me the sale would end better than a week ago, so I might grab another while I can.

With boneless, skinless chicken breasts on sale at both Sprouts ($1.97/lb) and Sunflower ($2.99/lb), I'm also thinking about chicken paprikash over noodles. There are a zillion recipes for this; I like one that was originally published in Cooking Light. Light sour cream or nonfat plain yogurt substitutes nicely for the 1/4 cup of whipping cream, and caraway seeds are usually sold in the bulk herbs section (at least I've done so at Whole Foods), so you can just buy the teaspoon you need. Update on 1/31 - neither the Pearl Street nor the Superior Whole Foods store has caraway seeds in bulk right now. I put in a suggestion at both stores. Am not going to spend 6 bucks for a bottle, just to use one teaspoon. Think I'll substitute fennel seed, which isn't terribly far off.

More thinking yet to be done...