Leek and Apple, why not?

This turned out to be a very good combination and the whole meal didn't cost us a lot.
Slices vegetables were sautéed, not too soft. Start with carrots, add leek and the apple slices just for a few minutes.
Can be served just with butter as a vegetarian dish. Since hubby is fond of sauces I made a quick ginger sauce.
Done in the time it takes to boil the potatoes.

leek, carrot and apple - a colourful combination

Ingredients:

5 slices of ham
1 carrot, sliced
1 leek, washed and sliced
1 sweet apple, sliced
3 potatoes
salt
pepper
ginger (for the sauce)
butter

Peanutbutter Ham Sandwich and Meatballs

Yesterday one fellow blogger (Our Awesome Travels) wrote about a different way of dressing a sandwich:

Quote on:

Tired of a boring sandwich try this. It sounds weird but the flavors are awesome! Sandwich builds like this, peanut butter, jam, ham or bologna, mustard, cheese slice, tomato, lettuce and mayo a touch of salt and pepper too. There ya go now you know I am weird right? 
Try it !

Quote off.

I like peanut butter and combinations of sweet and meat. From Norway I was used to that people eat cheese sandwich with strawberry jam.
So, I tried there special sandwich  today.

Not a bad thing at all! Learned something new here.

Our dinner was Swedish Meatballs and J.P. did the work.

Meatballs with stewed cabbage and boiled potatoes

Ingredients:
2 pound lean ground beef
1 egg
wheat flour
1/2 onion. minced
1 stalk of celery, minced
mustard
ketchup
salt
pepper
1 cup red wine (optional, red grape juice)

Mix all ingredients and form small balls. Cook in a pan on the grill until firm.
Then roast them directly until browned. Fill some red wine into the stock and cook some minutes. This will make a great sauce.

Experiment with plum-yoghurt sauce

As I mentioned before, I never developed the discipline of planning meals ahead and go shopping accordingly. It is rather a spontaneous affair of mix-and-match. The results range widely from plain to exotic dinners for us two.
Sometimes even with combinations I never had thought of before.
It all depends on the mood.
Luckily, hubby rarely complains.

The good thing is: we never ended up with a '10-easy-dinner-repeat-it-program'.
That doesn't mean that I use a recipe only once. No, there are repetitions but, they are so far apart that we rarely have to say: 'Ugh - again!'

Yesterday, after settling in at our spot in the desert, J.P. went for grocery shopping. Now I got the fridge loaded with all kind of stuff and, it is my everyday task to cook something nice for dinner.

So - I opened the fridge and took a good look.
This time hubby bought ground beef and chicken drumsticks. Both cannot stay in the fridge for long, right?
It is a good idea to process both today.

The beef went into a meat-loaf which can be cooled and stored a day or two. I did that many times before.

And there were these chicken drumsticks. What to do with them? Plain, breaded or?
My eyes roamed the trailer and stopped at the fruit basket.

There - fresh plums. Chicken and fresh plums. Shouldn't that be a possibility?
Side dishes: Rice and mixed salad.

chicken drumstick on rice with plum sauce...

...and a mixed salad

Ingredients:
chicken drumsticks, grilled
bacon, used on drumsticks
1 cup rice, 3 cups broth
Sauce:
1 fresh plum, pitted, sautéed
5 dried plums, pitted, sautéed
1 cup orange juice
1 tblsp plain yoghurt
salt, pepper, cinnamon
1 tsp cornstarch
Salad:
basil, parsley
lettuce
celery
corn kernel, 1 small can, drained
carrot
1/4 apple, sliced
oil
vinegar

Mushroom Cheese Casserole

We had a great day in the "Palm Canyon". These are my favourite photos of the day.

From high above there is such a gorgeous vista over the La Posa Plains. I could sit there for ever and just enjoy the grand lookout.

 Lots of cacti cover the desert floor below the canyon.

Just before dinner there were big clouds, laced with red gold, billowing in the sky, coloured by the rays of the setting sun.

Hubby fell in love with a macaroni casserole recently and he asked if I could make one today. I had a recipe in my note book, but couldn't remember where I had it from and, of course I didn't have all the ingredients.
But, we managed and it tasted very well.

Mushroom and cheese macaroni    Serve 4

Ingredients:
     
220 g macaroni,
170 g frozen peas, (I used a small can of corn kernel)
2 tblsp sunflower oil,
cheddar cheese,
whole-wheat bread, (I used breading crumbs)
1 red pepper, chopped, (was used up yesterday, tool a tomato instead)
220 g mushrooms, quartered, (used a small can of mushrooms)
1/4 cup flour,
2 1/3 cups milk,
1 tblsp Dijon mustard,
50g blue cheese, chopped, (a piece of camembert had to do the trick)
pepper,
30 g cheddar cheese, grated,
2/3 cup fresh whole-wheat breadcrumbs

Preheat oven to 425 F (220C), cook pasta for 10- 12 minutes
and add peas for the final 2 minutes. Drain all well.
Cook red pepper in pan 1-2 min, add mushrooms for 2-3 min,
Stir in flour, then gradually milk and bring to boil.
Add mustard and blue cheese until cheese has melted.
Add pasta and peas and mix thoroughly. Pour all in
ovenproof dish. Mix Cheddar with breadcrumbs and
sprinkle over pasta. Bake for 10-15 min.