Roses, Romance and Beef

The Engineer got me roses for Valentine's Day.

What?  It's only Feb. 3?  You're kidding me.


Actually he wanted to get the half-price roses on Tuesdays from Tillie's Flowers before they cancelled the deal for the month.  Oh, I know he's sweet.  Yes, this is the only valentine I will get.  No, I didn't ever imagine I could have a husband this romantic.  No, he didn't get the reaction he was expecting.  Yes, he's an engineer. Yes, I'd love to know how you feel about this.


The point is, since he is such a sweetheart, I knew I had to repay him.  So I decided to make him a beef dinner.


Personally, I don't love to eat beef just because it can be high in fat and cholesterol.  However, I love it when I am able to find lean beef because beef tastes pretty good.  Especially nice, rare steak.  It also feels nice to support Kansas ranchers by purchasing beef from Kansas.


I found a nice Kansas recipe on Vernalisa's Party Page .  Now, I don't know who Vernalisa is, and I'm not actually sure where the party is, but I did like the one recipe I tried:


Kansas Stir Fry
(modified)


1 1/4 lb. boneless beef top sirloin steak, 1-inch thick
8 oz. uncooked linguini
2 to 3 T. olive oil, divided
2 large cloves garlic, crushed
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
8 oz. portobello mushroom caps, cut in half, then crosswise into 1/4-inch slices
1 medium red, yellow or green bell pepper, cut into 1/8-inch thick strips
2 T. basil leaves, thinly sliced
1/3 c. romano cheese, grated 


Top sirloin is supposed to usually be a fairly lean cut of steak.  Begin by cutting off all of the fat.  Cut your steak in half lengthwise and then cut the steak into 1/8-inch thick strips. This will mean that you are basically cutting your steak almost as thin as you can.

You will also want to cut up your vegetables.  I did not want to purchase the uber-expensive portobello mushroom caps, so I just got regular mushrooms.  Slice them very thin, as well, so they will cook through.

Then you want to slice your pepper very thin.  I like to use at least two colors of pepper, because it's prettier, and that's what is really important here.

In a very large skillet, heat your olive oil until very hot.  Sear steak pieces 1-2 minutes until brown.  You are going to want to make sure you do not leave your steak pieces in the skillet on one side for too long or they will look like this:

You want it to look more like this:

Remove the beef from the pan, and replace it with 1-2 tsp. oil.  Add your veggies, and cook them for about 3 minutes, or until your mushrooms are darker brown and yummy-looking.

Add your beef.

Plate, and top with cheese.  I used fresh parmesan instead of romano.  It's not so full of calories.

Of course, Wayne promptly removed the mushrooms.  But I liked the total package, myself.

What may be even more exciting than 1/2-price roses or beef stirfry is the fact we're having a Super Bowl party this weekend.  How am I going to manage to keep that healthy?  Oh, you just wait and see...

Healthy(er) Italian Food

I spent my afternoon off today making dinner for the priests and sister at our church.  Last time I made this particular meal, I don't remember it taking quite as long as it did today.  It consumed my entire afternoon, but I enjoyed every minute of it since I love cooking.

As one of my dear friends pointed out, it probably is daring to make food for company healthy.  It inevitably tastes better if it's filled with fatty butter and cheeses. My problem is, I was feeding a portion of the meal to my family, and I want to keep them healthy.  Therefore, the goal I have is to make healthy(er), yummy food.

Here is the recipe I used today.  It's not exactly healthy, but it's better than it could've been.  And it tasted better than Lean Cuisine, that's for sure.

Stuffed Shells

1 lb. lean ground beef (I like 90-10)
1 lb. Italian-style turkey sausage
1 tsp. + Italian blend of spices
1 tsp. garlic powder
salt to taste
1 large (12 oz) package jumbo shell pasta
1 16. oz container low-fat cottage cheese
1 large package part-skim mozzarella
1 24 oz. can spaghetti sauce (I like Hunt's garlic and herb)
parmesan

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Brown both meats in a large skillet.  Drain well.  Add spices, garlic powder and salt to taste.  In skillet, add entire carton of cottage cheese and about 3 1/2 cups cheese.  (You can add more or less depending on your health and taste preferences.)

Meanwhile, boil shells according to package directions.  Rinse with cold water, so shells are not apt to fall apart.

Stuff each shell with enough filling to fill shell completely but so each shell is not overflowing, and place them in a 9x13 baking dish.  Cover shells with pasta sauce and a light sprinkling of parmesan cheese.  Bake in oven for 30-40 minutes or until heated through.

Voîla!

I served it with Italian green salad, bread and chocolate buttermilk cupcakes with light (of course) cream cheese frosting.  It made a nice meal that didn't break my daily calorie budget.

Spicy Dinnertime Conversations

I really enjoy cooking and baking, and my husband enjoys eating, so you would think we frequently would experience dinnertime harmony.  You would be correct only if you liken harmony to going to the dentist's office while listening to nails on a chalkboard. (The first problem is my 2-year-old likes dinnertime as much as most kids like naptime, but that's another blog.)

"Those look ... interesting... " my husband muttered tonight as I served dinner.

I was placing crunchy, baked tortilla strips on the table.  Not exactly a controversial food.  They taste like crunchy salt, and who doesn't like crunchy, salty stuff?

This kind of comment is a regular occurrence at our house. And when I say "regular occurrence," I mean this happens every single day.

If you ask my husband if he is a picky eater, he might say yes.  If you ask him if he complains about my cooking, he will adamantly deny it.  He is in whining denial.

The problem my husband and I have is that I have this obsession with really yummy yet very healthy food.  It's like a double obsession, because I am not only very interested in my food tasting good, but I am super fascinated with what our bodies do with what we eat.

My husband, on the other hand, likes to eat large amounts of cow, fried carbohydrates and soda pop.  And that's about it.

I truly am not trying to speak ill of my sweet man.  I speak the truth, and honestly, it's surely the truth about most men (and heck, women, too).  It's not as if he only eats those things; it's just that those are what he wishes he only ate.

That fact combined with the fact that my husband truly is a picky eater (he does not like mushrooms, broccoli, most other vegetables, beans, chocolate, casseroles, mayonnaise, or many other items) creates a situation where he basically never jumps to joy when I bring dinner to the table.  Unless we are having cow.

Now, I like to think I am a decent cook.  Other people compliment me on my cooking. 

I have tastebuds, and the stuff I make tastes good to me.  It's also generally low in fat and calories, so that makes me doubly happy.  

But my husband's subtle, unintentional criticism has definitely given me a complex.  I dream about cooking for people who treat me like I am the Rachael Ray of Wichita.   

Unfortunately, my husband has never heard of Rachael and will never stroke my cooking ego like I'd it.  I most likely am going to have to live vicariously through Bethenny Frankel, my healthy cooking idol.  

If you don't know who she is, puh-lease look her up because she is a domestic goddess, and she's really pretty, and I want to be just like her when I grow up. 

But back to the tortilla strips.  I was serving them with chicken tortilla soup.  

Here's my recipe:

1/3 cup chopped onions

2 stalks celery

one clove garlic

2 tsp. extra virgin olive oil

one can corn

one large jar tomato sauce

1/2 cup dry white cooking wine

one can Rotel

2.5 tsp. cumin

1 tsp. cayenne pepper

3 chicken breasts, cooked and shredded

4 large tortillas

one bag mixed Mexican shredded cheese

Sautee veggies in skillet with olive oil and garlic clove.  Place contents of skillet into large soup pot with all ingredients through chicken.  Simmer for 10-15 minutes.  Meanwhile, cut tortillas into strips, spray with olive oil-based cooking spray on both sides, salt and place in 400 degree oven for about 10 minutes, until edges are brown and strips are crunchy.  Serve soup with strips, cheese and sour cream if you wish.  

Yum!