Chipotle Sloppy Joes

Some days I think God created toddler attitudes so that he could point and laugh.  Monday was a perfect example in my house.  We decided to make Sloppy Joes Monday night, using a recipe I'd found in a Cooking Light magazine.  I wasn't sure if they would be spicy, but after tasting them I just noticed a mild smokey flavor - no spice at all.  Meaning, Cooper would be fine.  He eats Sloppy Joes at school on a regular basis, and we were serving sweet potato fries & green peas as well.

I sat his plate on his tray, handed him the fork and said "try it."  And he gives me this smug look, shakes his head and said "no."  NO?  Again, "try it, baby."  And again, smug look, head shake, "no."  Monday, I wanted to scream.  Today, I'm thinking this was entertainment for the evening.  It is hard to explain how frustrated I was without seeing the look, but holy cow that look was just...smug.  That's the best word to describe it.  And the "no" was very short and woman-you-are-not-getting-me-to-eat-that.  In the end, he ate ketchup and some peas.  I'm still not sure who won this battle.

I think this may have been the first time we made Sloppy Joes from scratch.  I will definately hang on to this recipe and use it again.  I just won't count on Cooper having any.  I also think I'll add the bell pepper earlier to sautee it a little more, since I'm not a huge fan of it.  Oh, and I've aquired a serious addiction to caramelized onions.  Thin sliced, sauteed, almost burnt.  Coming from someone who previously hated onions in any form, this is big.

Chipotle Sloppy Joes adapted from Cooking Light

• 1/2 yellow onion, sliced thin
• 2 chipotle peppers plus 1 t sauce from 1 7oz can of chipotle peppers in adobo sauce
• 1 lb ground beef
• 1/2 bell pepper, diced
• 2 T tomato paste
• salt & pepper
• 1/2 t ground cumin
• 1 8oz can tomato sauce

Heat 1 t olive oil in a small sautee pan.  Add onions and cook until golden brown, set aside.  Chop the chipotle peppers and set aside.

Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat and coat with cooking spray or olive oil.  Brown the ground beef, and add in the bell pepper, sauteing for an additional two minutes.  Stir in the chipotle peppers, adobo sauce, tomato paste and remaining ingredients.  Cook for another three to four minutes, serving about 1/2 cup on a toasted bun topped with the sauteed onions.

Beef Fajitas & Grilled Corn Salsa

The three of us are huge fans of corn on the cob.  I get giddy when I start seeing it in the grocery store - especially at the super low price we get around here.  A few weeks ago, though, Bridget brought some "real" corn - fresh and juicy.  As much as I love the corn on the cob from the grocery store, this was night & day different.  I decided to grill the corn and make some salsa to go with fajitas.  Frankly, I could eat fajitas on a weekly basis.  Now that we're in the dead middle of summer, I feel like this recipe will come around again and again at our house.

Beef Fajitas adapted from Southern Living

• 2 sirloin steaks, removed from the bone & fat trimmed, sliced into thin strips
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• zest of one lime
• 2 1/2 T lime juice
• 2 T Worchesterchire sauce
• 1 1/2 t ground cumin
• salt & pepper
• 1/2 t dried oregano
• 2 garlic cloves, chopped
• 1 14oz can beef broth
• 1 handful of cilantro, rough chopped
• 1 jalapeno, seeded and rough chopped
• onion, sliced
• bell pepper, sliced

In a large zip-lock bag, mix the olive oil and next 10 ingredients (through the jalapeno).  Add the steak and marinate for 4 hours, or overnight, in the refrigerator.  Turn the bag occasionally.

Grill the fajitas, onions & bell peppers over a medium-high heat.  Serve with corn or flour tortillas, grilled corn salsa & sour cream.

Grilled Corn Salsa

• 5-6 ears of corn, shucked
• 3-4 large tomatoes, seeded & diced
• 1/2 yellow onion, diced
• 1-2 jalapenos, seeded & diced
• 1 handful of cilantro, chopped
• juice of 1 lime
• 2 t olive oil
• salt & pepper

Grill the corn over medium-high heat for 15 minutes, or until done.  Cut the corn from the cob.  Mix in remaining ingredients & season to taste.

Lazy Lasagna

I have a love/hate relationship with Rachael Ray and her recipes.  Most of them look pretty good and so easy (hello, 30 Minutes!) but I usually end up an hour and a half later, without a completed dinner, and a hungry baby helping me curse her name.  They aren't every really 30 Minute Meals.

This one, though, came close.  I'd say 45 minutes...and it might have taken less time had I turned the broiler on high and not low!  It was another magazine tear out and turned out to be a keeper.  I usually shy away from anything that calls for a bechamel sauce because I have a hard time getting it thick enough.  Or really, I'm not sure how think it should be...so I think I end up overcooking it.  This time I used skim milk and I'm pretty sure that was a bad idea.  The sauce was very thin and I ended up only using half of it, but the end result was still a winner!

I'm pretty sure this will be our new go-to lasagna recipe.

Lazy Lasagna adapted from Rachael Ray

• 1 lb whole wheat lasagna noodles, broken into pieces
• 1 lb ground beef
• 1/2 onion, diced small
• 1-2 yellow squash, diced into small pieces
• 3-4 Roma tomatoes, diced
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 sprig rosemary, chopped fine
• ground cloves, to taste
• 1/4 cup tomato paste
• 2 cups beef stock (note: you can sub in 1 cup white wine...but I didn't want to give mine up)
• 3 T unsalted butter
• 2 rounded T flour
• 2 cups milk (I suggest using whole since my sauce never really thickened the way it should)
• nutmeg, to taste
• shredded mozzarella & parmesan cheese

In a large pot, bring salted water to a boil and cook the pasta to al dente.  Drain and set aside.  In a large Dutch Oven, heat 1-2 T of olive oil.  Brown the ground beef & add the onion, veggies, rosemary, garlic, cloves & salt and pepper.  Cook until tender, about 7 to 10 minutes.  Stir in the tomato paste and continue to cook for another minute.  Add in the broth and simmer for 2 to 3 minutes longer. 

In a small sauce pan, melt the butter over medium-high heat.  Whisk in the flour and then milk, stirring constantly until the mixture thickens and coats the back of a spoon.  Remove from the heat and season with nutmeg, salt & pepper.

Stir the cooked pasta with the beef mixture and pour into a greased 9*13 dish.  Pour the bechamel sauce over the top and sprinkle with the cheeses.  Broil in the oven until the cheeses have melted and browned.

Edamame Salad

I've mentioned a few times about buying a cow.  Here's the (short) story.  A few months ago I started talking to Cindy about her garden, farmer's markets and buying meat in bulk.  I did a little research (aka Ask Mom) and got a price quote from the meat market my family used to own.  It really just made sense, although we were not quite sure how much meat we'd end up with.  We included Rachel & her family in on a portion, so I placed the order.  The day after Lindsey's wedding, we headed to the meat market thinking we were going to get about 300lbs of beef.

Instead, we loaded up 461lbs.  To say I had a panic attack would be putting it mildly.  Thankfully, my super awesome friend Rachel & her parents took a slightly larger portion and we now all have freezers full of beef.

The largest portion of the beef came ground, but we did manage to get a good stack of tenderized round steak.  I'm saving a few packages for Chicken Fried Steak, but I needed to look for something just a little healthier.  Rachel actually came across this recipe, so I added it to the menu for the week.  We both liked it, although Jason admitted that it is a lot of edamame.

Edamame Salad adapted from Cooking Light

• 3 cups shelled edamame
• 2 T low-sodium soy sauce
• 1 T grated peeled ginger
• 1 T light mayonnaise
• 1 T Dijon mustard
• 2 t white wine vinegar
• 1 t dark sesame oil
• 1 pint grape tomatoes, halved
• 1 cucumber, peeled and chopped
• 1/4 cup chopped green onion
• 1 T olive oil
• about 8-10oz tenderized round steak, cut into 1" pieces
• salt & pepper

Steam the edamame according to the package.  Rinse with cold water, set aside.

In a large bowl, combine the soy sauce with the next 5 ingredients, and whisk until combined.  Add the edamame, tomatoes, cucumber & onion, tossing to coat.

In a medium skillet, heat the olive oil over high heat.  Season the steak with salt & pepper and add to the pan.  Cook until crisps, about 5-7 minutes.

Just to note, Wednesday kicked off hurricane season.  Yeah.  I've got 150lbs of beef in my freezer.  Usually hurricane season wouldn't be more than a blip on my radar, but if something comes our way this year, I'm loading up my beef and heading to Camp Nana.  To grille. And eat.

Beef Stroganoff

A few weeks ago we did an inventory of the freezer to get a handle on what was in there.  A small stack of tenderized round steaks led me to start thinking outside of the "chicken fried steak" box.  Because, guess what, that's not on my diet.  A quick dig through the fridge and online, and I landed on a Weight Watchers recipe for Beef Stroganoff.  Now that I have quite a few more packages of tenderized round steak in the freezer, this will be a good stand by.  Especially since Cooper was a fan and the points value isn't bad for dinner.

Beef Stroganoff adapted from Weight Watchers

• 1 cup canned beef broth, low sodium
• 2 T flour
• 1 t dijon mustard
• salt & pepper
• 2 t olive oil
• 1 small onion, sliced thin
• 1/4 cup water
• 2 T light sour cream
• 2 T fresh parsley, chopped
• 3/4 pound tenderized round steak, sliced into 1/4" strips
• 8 oz whole wheat egg noodles

Cook egg noodles according to package.  Drain and set aside.

Whisk together the beef broth, flour and mustard in a large skillet over medium-high heat until blended smooth.  Continue stirring until the mixture begins to boil and thickens, about 2 minutes.  Pour into a small bowl, set aside.

Wipe the skillet clean and heat the olive oil.  Season the steak with salt and pepper and cook over medium-high heat.  Remove from the skillet and add the onion, stirring until translucent - about 5 minutes. Reduce heat to medium-low and return the meat to the skillet.  Whisk the broth mixture again and add back to the meat & onion mixture.  Cook until warmed through and remove from heat.  Stir in the sour cream, parsley & noodles.

Note: we're not fans of mushrooms, so I left those out.  If you add them, saute them with the onions.  I'm not sure if it will change the points value.

WeightWatchers PointsPlus: 4 servings, 10 pointsplus

Date Night In: Filet Oscar

I've been reading the Foodie Bride recipes for a while.  I've made a few recipes, realized some aren't for me (hello...I don't eat shrimp) and then I come across those that just scare me.  The ingredients are scary, the directions are scary.  I feel like taking it on would have me way in over my head.  But there is still a part of me that wants to try.  The Filet Oscar is one of those recipes.

I love ordering filet oscar when we go out to eat.  I'm generally a meat & potatoes gal, but I also have a strange love of crab meat.  The sauce is yummy, the crab meat just adds a little something extra, and the crunch of the asparagus rounds it all out.  I've been eyeing this recipe for ages.  But every time I think I might try it, I change my mind.  It just looks like a lot of work for something that could very easily flop considering it involves all sorts of things I've never done before.

Earlier this month, we decided to have our date night in for May.  We're also in the process of cleaning out the freezer since we decided to buy part of a cow, so steaks were the first thing that came to mind.  I've whipped up a good horseradish sauce to go with filet before, but for some reason I kept thinking about the crab meat.  Maybe because Deadliest Catch is back on?

Either way, I went for it.  The end result: totally worth it.  The lesson learned: I'll pay more attention to those posts talking about using all of the dishes in the kitchen and spending more time cleaning up than eating.  Totally true.

Filet Oscar adapted from Confections of a Foodie Bride

• 2 Alaskan King Crab legs
• 1/2 lb asparagus tips, blanched
• 2 beef filet steaks
• 2-3 T white wine vinegar
• 2-3 T dry white wine
• 2 T onion, finely chopped
• 1/2 T fresh tarragon
• 2 egg yolks
• 1/2 stick butter, cut into 4 pieces
• splash of lemon juice

To steam the crab legs, wrap in a loose foil pouch with a small amount of water.  Place in a 375 degree oven for 10-12 minutes.  Use forks (or small power tools) to remove the crab meat.  Add the crab meat to the asparagus tips, set aside.

Season and grill the steaks to desired temperature.  Jason prefers medium rare, I'm more of a medium person.  Remove from the grill, cover with foil and set aside.

In a small saucepan, bring the vinegar, wine, onion and tarragon to a boil.  Reduce the liquid to about 1-2 tablespoons and press through a fine mesh sieve set over a medium bowl.  Toss the solid pieces and whisk the egg yolks into the vinegar mixture.  Set over a double boiler and heat until the yolks begin to thicken, whisking constantly.  Add in the butter, one piece at a time melting completely before adding in the next piece.  Remove from the heat and add in a splash of lemon juice, salt & pepper.  Gently stir in the crab meat & asparagus. 

Top each steak with about 1/3 to 1/2 cup sauce.  It also helps to add in a nice large glass of Zinfandel.  Brought back personally from the winery.

On top of spaghetti...

all covered with cheeeeeese!

I can't wait until Cooper giggles at the words for that song.

Sunday, Jason requested spaghetti & meatballs for his birthday dinner.  I realized that I've only made spaghetti & meatballs once before.  We've been together 10 years.  It was a take on this Williams-Sonoma recipe that turned out really good, but was also a huge pain in the butt to make.  This time I decided I'd kind of make it up.  And not stuff it with cheese, because really - that was the hardest (most time-consuming) part.

I did a little asking around, specifically about the cooking process since I wanted to go as low-fat as possible, and was pointed to Alton Brown's recipe.

Spaghetti & Meatballs adapted from Alton Brown

• 1 lb lean ground beef
• 1/2 pound sweet Italian turkey sausage links
• 1/2 onion, chopped fine
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 1/2 t dried basil
• 1 1/2 t dried parsley
• salt & pepper to taste
• 1 egg
• 3/4 cup dried breadcrumbs, divided

Preheat the oven to 400.  In a large bowl, mix all of the ingredients except 1/2 cup of breadcrumbs.  Roll into 2" sized meatballs and roll in the remaining breadcrumbs.  Place a rack on top of a cookie sheet (or you can use a broiler pan).  Place the meatballs on top of the rack and into the oven.  Bake 20-25 minutes, or until done.

I ended up with right at 30 meatballs.  For that amount, I calculated them at 2 WW points each.  A serving for me was about 4 of them.

We served the meatballs with whole wheat spaghetti and Jason's version of marinara sauce.