Grilled Thai Beef Salad

It was one of those rare weekends.  My two oldest children were out of the house and I didn't have to make something for them.  I could make a dinner I wanted to eat.  Oh the joy, oh the freedom!  I have been slowly adding to my cookbook collection and I received a new cookbook for my birthday, The Food You Crave. It has some wonderful recipes in it and I wanted to try this Grilled Thai Beef Salad.  But I knew that most of my family, my, um, children, wouldn't eat it.  So this night would be a perfect night to try it.  My youngest devoured the beef.  So, we have a meat eater on our hands.  This kid doesn't eat anything.  We try and try to get him to eat, people.  He doesn't.  So, when he started eating this, we cheered him on like it was a sporting event.

Grilled Thai Beef Salad
from the Food You Crave, Ellie Krieger

1 lb London broil or flank steak. (I just bought a couple steaks on sale)
3 TBSP fresh lime juice
3 TBSP low sodium soy sauce
3 TBSP canola oil
2 TBSP firmly packed brown sugar
1 clove garlic minced
1 1/2 tsp minced fresh ginger
1 1/4 tsp. red curry paste or chili garlic sauce
cooking spray
1/2 head red leaf lettuce torn
3 shallots, thinly sliced
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
1 cup fresh basil, sliced into ribbons

Rinse and pat dry the meat. Place in a plastic seal-able bag or a small glass dish.  In a bowl combine 1 tbsp lime juice, soy sauce, oil, brown sugar, garlic, ginger, and red curry past or chili sauce.  Mix. Pour half over meat add remaining lime juice. Seal and chill for at least 4 hours or overnight, turning occasionally.  Reserve the rest of the marinade for dressing. Coat a grate or grill pan with cooking spray and grill steak to desired doneness. Let rest 5 minutes and thinly slice. Combine lettuce, shallots cilantro  basil and beef in a salad bowl add reserved dressing and toss to coat.

Black Bean and Spinach Enchilada's

I pinned this recipe a while ago while in search of some new vegetarian meals.But made a few alterations.  My family was getting tired of the same meals, and frankly so was I.  I needed a meal that incorporated more green vegetables.  Although my kids like eating green vegetables, they are hard to put in every day meals sometimes.  This recipe was actually fairly simple to make, and with early preparation the day before, with just a few steps they were in the oven nice hot and bubbly within 30 minutes.  My kind of meal on a busy night.

I tend to make a big crock pot of beans early in the week depending on my meal plans for the week, and this week happens to feature a lot of black bean recipes, so into the pot they went on my day off of my lovely job. I also chopped all the vegetables while I waited for the sauce to cook.  In light of the fact that I didn't like how the sauce in the original recipe was turning out, i called my mother in law and used her recipe for enchilada sauce.

Black Bean and Spinach Enchilada's  
8 servings
to make the sauce:
in a medium sized bowl combine
4 TBSP. canola oil
4 TBSP  all purpose flour
1 TBSP Chili powder
1 tsp. cumin
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp. onion powder
1/2 tsp pepper
whisk together until smooth.
Add about 3 cups of vegetable or beef broth to this whisking until smooth.  Then add to your sauce pan, heating on medium high heat.  Whisk occasion to smooth out any bubbles.  Let it come to a gentle simmer.  Keep whisking until sauce has thickened slightly.  Keep warm

Meanwhile, for the enchilada's
1 clam shell of earth bound farm spinach, or about um, 2 cups?
2 cups black beans
1 cup corn
1/2 white onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves finely minced
4 to 6 green onions, chopped
1 bunch of cilantro
2 cups finely shredded cheese of your choice
8 soft tortilla shells

In a large skillet, heat up a small amount of oil over medium heat.  Add chopped onion and minced garlic and cook until onion is translucent. Add the spinach and wilt slightly.  Add the beans and corn to warm them up.  Add the green onions and half the cilantro. Stir and cook until spinach is cooked down.  Turn heat off.  Preheat oven to 400.  Prepare your baking dish.  Spread some of the sauce on the bottom of the baking dish.  I used a plate, and then placed my tortilla on that to fill up.  Place the filling on top, pour a little of the sauce on top, sprinkle with some of the cheese and tightly roll up the tortilla, and place in the baking dish.  Repeat.  When the pan is full, pour the rest of the sauce over the enchilada's and sprinkle with cheese. Bake for about 25 minutes.  Pull out of the oven and let rest for 5 minutes.  Sprinkle with remaining cilantro and serve.

Apple Muffins

I have been reluctant to buy cook books over the years.  Not for any reason, really.  Lack of funds maybe.  Lack of space most likely.  I am now the proud owner of four brand new cook books.  One being "The Food You Crave"  I like this cook book.  One of the recipes I have recently tried is the Apple Pecan Muffins.  I have a problem with breakfast.  I usually don't eat it.  But the rest of my family.  Well, they do.  So what to feed them?  Oh, wait, you mean, I have to feed my children in the morning?  It's required I suppose.  And cold cereal has it's place, but we run out all the time.  ALL THE TIME. So muffins solves this problem in that they can be baked the night before and I love to bake, and they come in 12-24 portable sizes, great!

Apple Muffins

3/4 cup plus 2 TBSP firmly packed brown sugar
1/4 cup chopped pecans
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup whole grain pastry flour or whole wheat flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 cup canola oil
2 large eggs
1 cup natural unsweetened applesauce
1 tsp. vanilla
3/4 cup low fat buttermilk
1 golden delicious apple, cored, peeled and diced

Preheat oven to 400.  I used muffin liners in my cupcake tin, but you don't have to, just spray those babies with cooking spray.  In a medium sized bowl, combine flours and baking soda.  In a small bowl combine pecans (I used finely chopped almond slices because I did not have pecans) 2 tbsp of brown sugar and the cinnamon and stir to combine.  In a large bowl, combine the rest of the brown sugar with the canola oil.  Then add the eggs, applesauce and vanilla.  Alternate the flour and buttermilk until just combined.  Gently stir in the diced apples.  Pour in the prepared muffin tins, sprinkle the cinnamon/pecan mixture on top of each muffin and bake, for 20 minutes. Notes on this recipe: my children did not love this muffin. Also I am assuming that muffin tins are larger than cupcake tins? I didn't mind these muffins, but I had to freeze most of them.

this sad blog

I promise recipes are coming.

They are.

I lost my camera.

That is my current excuse.

So, my goal is to post a new recipe once a week.

Pinkie Promise.