Horrors! A Meatless Tuesday

Right up front - I admit it, I am a carnivore. My bride, the Belle of Ballast Point, not so much. But, there I was yesterday trying to decide on what to prepare for dinner. It was late in the afternoon and the humongo bone-in rib eye I had set out earlier in the day was no where near thawed.

Holy crap! Now what, thought I.

I checked the pantry. I peered into the fridge. I wandered through the garden. My goal was to find enough stuff to toss together in a relative hurry so that I could keep my bride from starving after a hard day at work.

The pantry produced some pasta, a jar of kalamata olives, a box of raisins, and several varieties of nuts. The fridge revealed a big bunch of Swiss chard and an orange. The garden is just busting loose with herbs.

Well, alrighty then; let's go to the Google and see if we can find a few suggestions on what to do with our cornucopia of meatless stuff.

The Cooking Channel came to my rescue. I prepared both of the dishes pictured here, and both got a "two thumbs up" from the Belle.

I prepared both recipes almost exactly (wink, wink) as they are pictured. I did go with the optional orange zest, and I think that really enhanced the Nutty Pasta. I didn't have golden raisins so I just used the run-of-the-mill kind.

On their own or together, these two dishes are not only tasty, but they are also - the horror - good for you, too. A couple of bottles of beer was a dandy liquid accompaniment to these healthful recipes.

(Click on the recipes to enlarge)