Sorry to go a week without posting already! That won't get me many readers, huh? I wish I had a good excuse, but I simply let time get away from me with a busy week at work (in case you don't know me personally, I am a HS English and Speech teacher) and was VERY busy being lazy the past 2 days ;-) I did go to a Traveling Vineyard wine tasting at my friend Nicole's house on Saturday night, and Megan and I went in on some wine (we each got this Sauvignon Blanc, this Pinot Grigio, a set of these acrylic pourers, and, what I am most excited about, 2 of this dessert wine at our consultant Michael's recommendation)- looking forward to it's arrival. If it is as good as what we tasted, I think I might host a party and invite some school friends! I think the English department girls would enjoy it.
Speaking of the English department, the breakfast casseroles I made for our faculty breakfast turned out pretty good; however, I am going to wait to post those recipes. I want to tweak both of them a little and see if I can make them better. The egg and sausage casserole turned out great, but I want to try it with some lower fat ingredients and see how it tastes. If the lower fat recipe is good, I can see making it on a Sunday night and eating a slice each morning- I need savory things in the morning! Don't worry, after I do I will post BOTH recipes. The French Toast casserole had great flavor, but was pretty runny, so I want to try it again- I'm not sure if I need to reduce the liquid or if I just need to let it cook a bit longer. I was in a time crunch when I made it and think I took it out too soon. So, I want to play with that a little more before I have you all try it!
On to today's recipe- Blue Cheese Cube Steak! Now, I had heard that cube steak is a tough cut (hence why it is inexpensive), but I didn't pay much attention to that. I wish I would have. Joe really liked this recipe, so I am going to make it again (also, we have 4 more cube steaks in the deep freeze), but I am going to tenderize them next time by beating them with a meat hammer.

I think this could be very stress relieving ;-)

Okay, after tenderizing, here's what you need to do. I used 4 cube steaks, defrosted from our deep freeze, 2 cans of Italian-herbed stewed tomatoes, a little red wine vinegar (just a splash), and blue cheese crumbles (you could also try this with feta crumbles- there are some great "flavored" feta blends out there that I think would be good for this recipe- I just already had blue cheese). It's really a pretty simple recipe- just put some cheese in the center of the steak and roll it up. Secure with toothpicks- I broke one in half and put a half on each end.

 

Please ignore how brown these look- I let them sit in the fridge for a few days. Yours will look pinkish-red like ground beef.

Put the rolled steaks on a saute pan (I have a wok type pan that I love for these sorts of liquid-y recipes) and pour the tomatoes and vinegar over them. Put a top on it and let it simmer until done- about 15 minutes- don't rush it, as it slow cooking in the stewed tomatoes will also tenderize the meat.

 

I would also like to try this recipe in a crock-pot- what do you think?

We had this with steamed asparagus and sun-dried tomato and herb risotto... great complements to the beef!

The finished product... YUM!

Going to Pilates again tomorrow night- loved last week's class and it really kicks my butt- so Joe will have the leftovers of this for dinner. When I get home tomorrow evening though, I am going to make mini-meatballs to put in the fridge for Wednesday night's dinner- meatball soup! I've never made soup before- well, never made soup not from a can, that is!- so I am pumped to try it. We'll see how it goes! Have a great 4-day week... at least I hope you get a 4-day week like I do! In celebration of today's holiday, I will end with some great words from Dr. King: "I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear."