Dude, I am a bad blogger- you really do have to make it a habit. To be fair though, I really haven't been cooking much lately; however, I do have a few recipes to catch you up on in the next few weeks). Joe and I had a great Valentine's Day weekend, complete with a couple of excellent meals- on the homecooking side, it was all him. He made me blueberry pancakes and maple sausage links- yummo!
We went out to eat on Saturday night at Urban Element in downtown Indy- what a treat! We will definitely go there again. They had a special V-day menu choice, so we got a bottle of champagne, a shrimp and crab bake appetizer (it was like a dip that we spread on some wonderful sourdough garlic toast), salads (fresh field greens with blue cheese dressing!), surf and turf (a small but excellently seasoned and- medium rare- cooked filet, a lobster tail with butter, steamed zucchini, and redskin mashed potatoes), AND 2 chocolate covered strawberries for under $75 total- amazing! We can't wait to go back and try some other menu item- they have a blue cheese pasta that sounds amazing and I have a $25 gift certificate from Restaurants.com (that I got for $2!) to use there (they wouldn't accept it for the V-day special, which is fine). It's a very cute, artsy place with great service- the owner stopped and chatted with us- and they often feature local musicians and artwork- there was a folk singer there while we were eating and some grat art, but everything we liked had "sold" signs on it!
On Sunday, we went to Scotty's Brewhouse downtown to take advantage of their "Martinis and Manis" promo- buy a martini (I got the Carmel Appletini below) and spend $25, get a gift card for a manicure at DL Lowry (a very nice salon in Nora).
I had been wanting to go there for awhile, so this seemed like a good time. We HAD to get the dill chips and they were everything I thought they'd be and more; however, we preferred them with ketchup rather than ranch. We have a ketchup addiction. Joe then had a burger with cheese, ketchup, mustard, tomato, and... peanut butter! IT WAS AMAZING! I am going to get it next time I go, I liked my taste so much. Not to say my dinner wasn't good, because it was- I got the Mo' Fo' buffalo chicken wrap and mac and cheese with blue cheese- yummers! It was a great meal and we had an excellent server, Anna, who insisted on bringing me club soda when I got Mo' Fo' sauce on my white jacket.
Being teachers, we had President's Day off today- we've been pretty lazy (even though I should be grading speeches- eeek!)- but we did venture out into the snow to the bookstore and Target. I got a few things to make dinner tonight... see if you can guess what my next entry will be about making.
Monday, January 18, 2010
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."
Was going to make a delicious new recipe for cube steak tonight (had some in the freezer), but Joe and I had a few errands to run this evening and ended up getting Heine's World Famous Roast Beef sandwiches and fries for dinner- so bad for you, but oh so yummy. So, hoping to make cube steak on Thursday... stay tuned for the results and recipe!
Tomorrow night I am going to a Pilates with Barre class at Vibe Fitness (anyone want to join me? Your first class there is free!) and Wednesday I am going to audition for "I Take this Man" at Oaklandon Civic Theatre... the acting bug is biting at my heels once again; therefore, Joe is on his own for dinner for a couple of nights. He'll probably have some terrible meals, like macaroni and cheese with smokey links- ugh!
Tonight, I did prep 2 breakfast casseroles for our English department faculty meeting in the morning... will throw them in the oven when I wake up and they'll still be warm by the time I get to school at 6:50am. One is a very simple egg, sausage, and cheese mix, but the other is a new recipe for me. We have a few vegetarians in my department and I wanted to make something a little different for them (and anyone else with a sweet tooth!), so I prepped a french toast casserole with a pecan topping! I hope it turns out all right. I will take pictures and post the recipe tomorrow if it does!
Hope everyone had a good Monday... check back for some yummy ideas throughout the week!
You know you want the Heine..('s Roast Beef, that is!)
I was starting to get a little jealous of all my friends who have blogs... baby blogs, wedding blogs, photography blogs. I'm not ready for any of those. But, after making the following recipe this evening, I realized I do have being a gluttonous pig... yaya! But seriously, I thought it would be fun to share some of the delish recipes I've been making lately, in hopes that it will inspire some of my friends to try them and see what they think, as well as share some of their favorites with me.
One thing you should know off the bat is that I am not a very exact cook (probably why I am not a very good baker!), but I find when I am not too obsessed with measurement and specific ingredients, my food turns out better- so just go with the flow, make a guess, substitute something! More often than not it will work out just fine and you've made a recipe all your own!
So... without further ado, here is what Joe and I had for dinner tonight:
Spanish Style Pork Tenderloin
1lb pork tenderloin *see note below
Olive oil (about 2 tsp.)
Red wine vinegar (about 1 tsp)- so not necessary; I just happened to have a little sitting next to the olive oil!
1/4 tsp. paprika** see note below
1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper**
1/2 tsp. ground coriander
1/4 tsp. ground cumin
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. salt (I just do a few twists of my sea salt grinder)
1/8 tsp. onion powder (I did a pinch)
1/8 tsp. ground pepper (A twist or 2 of a ground pepper grinder will do!)
Preheat oven to 450 degrees with oven rack in the middle. Coat a shallow pan or casserole dish in foil and spray with non-stick spray (makes for easy clean-up!).
Mix spices in a small bowl. Coat tenderloin in olive oil and vinegar (I think vinegar is a tenderizer?) and then rub spices all over.
Put in oven until it reaches an internal temp of 150-155 degrees (about 25 minutes). Let sit for 5 minutes before carving (helps to retain juices, even though it is so hard to be patient!). Carve on a diagonal.
I served this with some creamy orzo- (that had diced carrots in it... sneaked those in on Joe!) and cooked peas (one of our favorite sides and the inspiration for the name of this blog).
*If I have a coupon, I get the Hormel brand from Super Target, or I pick one up at Aldi- they are HALF the price of the Hormel ones and you can't tell the difference. Aldi is my favorite little secret, but remember your own bags and a quarter for the shopping cart. And don't be afraid to try the off brands- they are good! Pork tenderloins are great to throw in the freezer and defrost over night.
** You can use 3/4 tsp. of smoked paprika (just a little harder to find) and no cayenne or 1/4 tsp cayenne and 1/2 paprika for less of a kick; however, IMHO just paprika won't do the trick- I think you'll miss out on some flavor!
