Cutie Beef

Jackson, my youngest son, is totally enthralled by the Cutie orange commercials.  He insisted that I buy them for him at the grocery store because they are made for kids and he is a kid and so he needed them.  Since he was asking for a healthy snack, I totally gave in and bought some.  (Plus, they are on a crazy good sale right now at HEB and I had a coupon!)  Of course, as soon as we got home, he took one bite of one section and decided that cuties were not for him.  The baby and I have been tearing them up though, so yummy!

I started up on E-Mealz again (and Grocery Gaming).  Links for both sites are listed on the blog here, but combined they make my life so easy.  Grocery Game is a great way to match coupons and store sales to save a TON of money on food.  E-Mealz recently came out with a new Natural/Organic plan that features easy-to-make recipes without using a lot of processed or canned/boxed products.  So, I'm using E-Mealz to help plan meals for the family while using Grocery Game to stock our house with healthy food super cheap.  It's a good plan.  :)  Tonight's meal, Cutie Beef, is an adaptation of an E-Mealz recipe with items that I had on hand already through my stockpile by doing the Grocery Game.

Long story short...  this was a super yummy meal that we all enjoyed!  It marinated overnight and was quick to prepare.  The kiddos ate it deconstructed, as we like to say here, and we enjoyed it with the beef over rice with the pan sauce.  You really have to try this meal, yum-yum!

Ingredients:
(for the marinade)
1 cutie orange, zested and juiced 
 4 green onions, sliced
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1" of fresh ginger, grated using a microplane
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 Tablespoons sesame oil
2 teaspoons of sugar
red pepper flakes to taste
3 thin-cut, lean beef steaks (a little more than 1 lb of beef)
(for the pan sauce)
2 Tablespoons of orange marmalade

Preparation Instructions:

1. In a small bowl, combine the ingredients for the marinade, Cutie orange zest and juice, green onions, garlic, ginger, soy sauce, sesame oil, sugar, and red pepper flakes.  Whisk together.  Place thin steaks in a baking dish.  Pour the marinade over the beef, cover dish, and place in refridgerator overnight.
2. Place a cast iron skillet on medium-high heat.  Add one Tablespoon of butter to the pan.  (Reserve the marinade.)  Cook steaks until medium rare, just about 4-5 minutes on each side.  Remove beef to a cutting board and allow it to rest for 10-15 minutes.  Tent with aluminum foil.
3. Add the reserved marinade to the pan, scraping up the pan drippings.  Allow it to come to a boil and thicken slightly.  Add two Tablespoons of orange marmalade and allow the sauce to come together.  
4. We served our Cutie beef with cooked white rice and steamed broccoli, cauliflower, and carrots. 

Weekend Waffles

After much nagging from Dusty over our Christmas vacation (love you honey!), I'm once-again writing for my blog.  :)  There hasn't been a lot of cooking in our house during the last part of 2011.  Just a month after my shoulder surgery in September, Dusty and I found out that we had a baby on board.  Drosche #3 is due in June 2012 and since then I've struggled with morning (noon & night) sickness.  We've eaten a lot of boxed, already prepared, and fast food.  But it slowly starting to get better and I'm looking forward to cooking again and resurrecting the blog.  :)

So, onto a new and exciting post...  I love big breakfasts! During the week, I have a list of quick and healthy breakfasts for me and the kiddos posted on the side of the fridge, things like yogurt, cheese sticks, toast and peanut butter.  Lots of things that we can just grab and go.  But on the weekends, I like to do breakfast up right.  This morning, we had the cousins over for a sleepover and so with three extra mouths to feed, I knew my go-to waffle recipe would be awesome.  We're trying to cut out a lot of the processed, boxed/canned foods and so a few weeks ago, I found this waffle recipe.  It's super easy and if you double it, you'll have plenty of leftovers to freeze.  And the best part is that you can pop them in your toaster or microwave just like an eggo during the week.  So this is written as my doubled recipe which will make a TON of waffles, but you can always half it if you don't want all of the leftovers.  And fear not, I know there's a lot of powdered sugar on those waffles in the picture, they are sweet enough, I just like my waffles almost like desert.  :)

Ingredients:
4 cups flour
2 teaspoons salt
2 tablespoons and 2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 cup white sugar
4 eggs
3 cups buttermilk (regular milk can be substituted but I love the tang this provides)
2/3 cup butter, melted
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Preparation Instructions:

1. In a large bowl, mix together the dry ingredients: flour, salt, baking powder and sugar.  Set aside. 
2. In a separate bowl, beat the eggs. Stir in the buttermilk, butter and vanilla. Pour the wet ingredients into the flour mixture; beat until blended.
3. Preheat your waffle iron.
4. Ladle the batter into a preheated waffle iron. Cook the waffles until golden and crisp. Serve immediately. 
5. If you are going to freeze the leftover waffles, allow them to cool completely.  Then stack between layers of wax paper in a gallon-sized Ziploc bag.  

Adapted from a recipe posted on All Recipes:  http://allrecipes.com/recipe/classic-waffles/detail.aspx 

Greek "Spanakopita" Spaghetti and Meatballs

My boys LOVE, LOVE, LOVE pasta.  They really don't care how it comes as long as it involves pasta.  However, they have a strong aversion to anything green.  So when I stumbled upon this recipe for a Greek-style pasta dish and I just had to try it, even if it had a lot of green.  I think what drew me in was the Feta cheese.  You see I've discovered this new love affair with Feta.  I'm not quite sure what kicked it off but we've been putting Feta deliciousness on just about everything coming out of our kitchen for the past week.  Creamy, salty, tangy, yumminess!!!

So tonight, I nervously prepped all of the ingredients for this new dish.  I rarely make homemade meatballs and I had never made a creamy pasta dish on my own before.  I have to say if you get all of the prep work done ahead of time, this recipe is a breeze!  From start to finish it was about a 45 minute dish, which probably could have been faster if I wasn't so nervous.  :)

I promise you that this recipe will not disappoint!  And if you have picky kiddos, you might be surprised by how much spinach they will willingly eat when it is surrounded by pasta.  Enjoy - and let me know what you think!

Ingredients:
For the meatballs:
1 lb of ground lean ground beef
1 Tbs of lemon juice
2 cloves of garlic - grated
1/2 Tbs of fresh mint minced
1/2 tsp of dried oregano
1/2 tsp of red chili flakes
1/4 cup of bread crumbs
2 Tbs of milk
salt and pepper to taste  

For the Pasta Sauce:
1/2 medium onion chopped
3-4 cloves of garlic - grated
1 cup of milk (whole)
1 cup of chicken broth 
1 Tbs of fresh mint minced
1 tsp of dried oregano
1 tsp red chili flakes (or to taste) 4oz of crumbled Feta
4oz of onion and chive cream cheese 
1lb of frozen spinach (thawed and squeezed) 

Preparation Instructions:

1. Cook 1 lb of pasta according to instructions.  Cook just shy of done since pasta will cook more in the sauce.  Reserve 1 cup of pasta water in case it is needed for the sauce. 
2. Mix ingredients for meatballs - beef, lemon juice, garlic, mint, oregano, red chili flakes, bread crumbs, milk, salt, & pepper.  Shape into meatballs and cook in a large skillet with 1 Tbs of vegetable oil.  When meatballs are browned, removed from skillet to a plate.  
3. With the remaining oil and drippings from cooking the meatballs, saute onion.  When onions are softened, add garlic and cook for another minute.  
4. Next, create the sauce for the pasta dish by adding the milk, chicken broth, mint, oregano, chili flakes, Feta, and cream cheese to the onion & garlic mixture in the skillet.  Cook, over medium heat, until the Feta and cream cheese have melted into the sauce.  Add the meatballs and any drippings from the plate where they were reserved.  And finally, add the spinach and then taste for seasoning.  Adjust the salt and pepper if needed.
5. Finally, add the cooked pasta to the sauce.  If needed, thin the sauce with the reserved pasta water. 
 

Adapted from Curry and Comfort post found here:  

http://curryandcomfort.blogspot.com/2011/09/greek-spanakopita-spaghetti-and.html

Pear & Blue Cheese salad

Well, the school year got off to a fantastic start.  However, on the fourth day of school, I dislocated my shoulder.  Yes, you read that right, on just the FOURTH DAY OF SCHOOL!!!  In the process of dislocating it, I tore the ligaments from the bone of the front of my shoulder, some from the back of my shoulder, fractured the back side of my socket, and lengthened the ligaments in the joint.  I've since had surgery to correct it and will start physical therapy next month.  It's been an incredibly frustrating process and I'm dealing with doing things with just one arm.  But I've been blessed by tremendous support from my family and my work family.  :)  So my cooking for now is extremely limited but we are still eating home-cooked, wholesome meals.  It may not be fancy, but I have missed blogging and I am committed to getting back to it.

Over the summer, Dusty and I ate at some "fancy" restaurants.  You know, the kind of places where they don't have kiddie menus or crayons or color sheets.  On one of our trips. we went to RDG Bar Annie with my mom, my brother and my sister.  One of the dishes in the four course meal we enjoyed was a pear, endive, and blue cheese salad.  I did not like blue cheese at all before this salad but I stepped out of my comfort zone and I was truly surprised.  I loved the creamy texture and tang of the blue cheese.  That combined with the sweet crunchy pear and delicious salad greens, and I was in heaven.  Salads at my house up until this past week have been pretty boring.  Salad greens, grated cheddar cheese, bagged croutons, and bottled salad dressing.  With this salad, I'm kicking up the bar a bit.  :)  And I invite you to take a step out of your comfort zone and try a new salad this week!

Ingredients:  (enough for 2 nice sized side-salads)
5 cups of mixed spring greens
2 Tbls. italian dressing
1/2 pear, peeled, cored, and diced
2 Tbls. chopped walnuts
2 Tbls. blue cheese

Preparation instructions:

1. Toss mixed greens with Italian dressing in a bowl.  Divide between two plates
2. Peel pear.  Cut in half (reserve remaining half for another salad).  Dice pear into small pieces.  Sprinkle pear pieces on top of mixed greens.
3. Sprinkle walnuts and blue cheese on top of pears and mixed greens.  
4. Abandon blue cheese fears and dig in!!! 

Tortilla Soup

To start, I have to say that I typically only eat soup during the winter.  But out of nowhere, I had a hankering for tortilla soup.  I checked my freezer and pantry and I was pleasantly surprised to find that I had most of the items needed already on hand.  So last weekend, I whipped up a yummy batch.  With some crushed up tortilla chips, shredded cheese, and a dollop of guacamole, it was a delicious summer treat and not heavy winter food at all.  So now, I'm not sure why I had regulated soups to a winter-only menu item.  I was surprised by the fact that I had a hearty dinner on the table in 30-45 minutes.  And I really only dirtied one big pot.  I'm thinking I should start searching for some more soup recipes.  :)

This soup had the right amount of kick and lots of delicious vegetables.  If you'd prefer a meatless meal, I would suggest adding another can of black beans or some frozen corn.  And rather than add tortillas at the last stage of the cooking process, we opted to top the soup with crushed tortilla chips.  Have fun experimenting with different toppings, between pico de gallo, guacamole, shredded cheese, sour cream, and more, you just can't go wrong!   

Ingredients

• 1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
• 1 cup Diced Onion
• ¼ cups Diced Green Bell Pepper
• ¼ cups Red Bell Pepper
• 3 cloves Garlic, Minced
• 1/2 teaspoon Cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon Chili Powder
• ½ teaspoons Salt
• 2 cups of shredded chicken
• 1 can (10 Oz. Can) Rotel Tomatoes And Green Chilies
• 32 ounces, fluid Low Sodium Chicken Stock
• 3 Tablespoons Tomato Paste
• 4 cups Hot Water
• 2 cans (15 Oz. Can) Black Beans, Drained
• 3 Tablespoons Cornmeal
• 5 whole Corn Tortillas, Cut Into Uniform Strips Around 2 To 3 Inches

Preparation Instructions

Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a pot over medium high heat. Add onions, red pepper, green pepper, and minced garlic. Stir and begin cooking, then add the spices (cumin, salt, chili powder). Stir to combine, then add shredded chicken and stir.
Pour in Rotel, chicken stock, tomato paste, water, and black beans. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer. Simmer for 45 minutes, uncovered.
Mix cornmeal with a small amount of water. Pour into the soup, then simmer for an additional 30 minutes. Check seasonings, adding more if needed—add more chili powder if it needs more spice, and be sure not to undersalt. Turn off heat and allow to sit for 15 to 20 minutes before serving. Five minutes before serving, gently stir in tortilla strips.


adapted from Pioneer Woman's recipe
 

MIA - San Antonio trip

I know, I know, I've been MIA.  This is the crazy time of year at work.  The time of year when you could work all day and still need a couple of extra hours.  Truth be told, our dinners have come from jars, or boxes from the freezer.  Not at all blog worthy.  At our house, we call it junk food night and I just can't say enough about taquitos and poppers from the freezer. 

Dusty also whisked me away to San Antonio for the weekend.  You see, my 30th birthday is coming up in a week.  I'm actually really excited about it, not nervous at all.  But Dusty loves to spoil me and I love to be spoiled, so it kind of works out.  We had a great weekend in San Antonio and ate the most delicious dinner at Biga on the Banks.  You simply must try it and it is a post all to itself.  The delicious items above (plants, giant zucchini, baby red onions, and yellow grape tomatoes) came from a farmer's market near Pearl Brewery.  It was amazing to see all of the different produce and be able to purchase directly from the people that poured their heart and soul into it.  Dusty and I have been researching farmer's markets here in the Houston area and have found this one and this one.  We are making plans to take the family to one really soon.  More posts to come soon about my amazing dinner at Biga on the Banks and some more dinner ideas for the busy working mom. 

Elote - Mexican style grilled corn

Hi - my name is Amy - and I'm addicted to grilled corn.  It really is a problem, well, maybe it's not.  I like grilled corn and it's sort-of a vegetable.

Ok, I digress.  On to the recipe!!!  Ears of corn have been a on sale at the grocery store and we've been grilling at least once a week.  The perfect side dish has been grilled corn.  But I was reading on another blog (check out Bon Appetempt here) about her recipe for elote - corn, mayo, cheese, spicy delishishness.  Now I have to admit, using mayo for anything other than sandwiches kind of grosses me out.  But I'm growing and I'm stepping out of my mayo-belongs-only-on-a-sandwich box.  The grilled corn was fantastically sweet.  Add to that the creamy mayo topping and cheesy-spicy mix - wowie!  It's grilled corn magic.  Give it a try the next time you and your family grill up a meal and let me know what you think.

Elote:

Ingredients:

4 ears of corn (silk & husk removed)
3 Tablespoons lite mayo
2 teaspoons lemon juice
2 Tablespoons grated parmesan cheese
1/4 teaspoon ground chipotle chili powder (can substitute regular chili powder)
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1/8 teaspoon salt

Instructions:

1. Preheat grill to medium-high.
2. In one bowl, mix mayo and lemon juice.  Set aside.
3. In another bowl, mix parmesan cheese, chipotle chili powder, cumin, and salt.  Set aside.
4. Grill corn, until bright yellow and/or slightly charred on all sides.  (I like mine with just a few black spots, Dusty likes his mostly black.  Your choice.)
5. Remove corn from grill.  Using a silicone brush "paint" the corn with the mayo mixture.  Sprinkle cheese/spice mixture immediately afterward onto the corn.