Produce Pete's Advice

Produce Pete came to our school about a month ago to give a little assembly about fruits and vegetables. For those of you who don't know, Produce Pete had a veggie stand in Bergenfield for the longest time and appears on NBC.  His grandchildren go to our school so we were lucky enough to learn some tips for picking the best veggies and fruits.  One thing he said before he wrapped up his show was that he encouraged us to try something new.  I decided we would try a new veggie that night.  I had made broccolini once before and it didn't turn out too well so I decided to try it again.  I mixed it with olive oil, garlic, onion powder, and chili flakes and roasted it for about 10 minutes at 400 degrees.  While I liked the flavor the stems were a little too crunchy for me. I think next time I would try a longer time at a lower temperature.

White Wine and Beef...Who Knew

I decided to splurge and actually buy one of the magazines I look at while on the checkout line at the supermarket.  I ended up with a $12 issue of The Best of Cooking Light.  I went through and marked all of the recipes that I figured we would try and to my surprise, Rob went through and added a ton more.  He also continued to cross out parts of the recipe that he didn't want me to include, like the mustard and beans, stating that he was SURE it would taste good without them.  The first one I tried was a white wine marinade for steak.  Intrigued, I started on this super easy marinade.

White Wine Marinade:
3 tbsp white wine
1 tbsp Dijon mustard
1 tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper

Marinade the steak for 10 minutes (I did it for about 15)  They also suggested using chuck but I had a NY strip in the fridge.

Next, cook the steak in a pan sprayed with cooking spray.  Remove steak and add one sliced shallot to the pan to soften.

Add the reserved marinade and 1/4 cup of beef broth.  Bring to a boil and reduce the liquid by 1/2.  (If I was cooking for more than 2 I would definitely double or triple the marinade and beef broth so I had enough sauce)

Slice steak and serve with sauce and shallots on top.

This was SO good (and only about 230 calories).  I was so surprised that the white wine paired well with the beef.  This one definitely gets added to the frequent pile.

This One Needs Some Work

While searching for some healthy dinner options I came across Martha Stewart's Lighter Sesame Chicken.  I decided to give it a try.  The sauce seemed way too simple to be tasty but it was.  I changed it up a bit though.  Instead of 3 tablespoons of honey I used 1-honey, 1-agave nectar, and 1-plum duck sauce.  The two tablespoons of sesame seeds was a little to much for just one piece of chicken (we usually share one).  Rob's rating: "It's okay.  You went a little crazy with the sesame seeds though."  The chicken was crispier than I thought it was going to be, but I have an issue with sauteing chicken with batter on it.  No matter what I do, I always get splashed with numerous amounts of oil while trying to flip the chicken.  Yes I have one of those splatter screens but I still get burnt.  I'm going to have to work on that.  I may make this one again and definitely recommend it if you want a lighter chinese dish to try, but I think I will keep tweaking it.

You can see the mountain of sesame seeds in this one.  =)

Strawberry Shortcake Shortcut

I decided to make Rob a strawberry shortcake for his birthday but I didn't want to use angel food cake or your typical box mix.  I figured that boxed cake mix is a little too spongy for strawberry shortcake.  Instead, I decided to add whipped egg whites to the boxed cake mix and see what happened.  I whipped up 4 egg whites and folded them into a mix of French Vanilla cake mix.  While baking, the cake got really puffy and I got excited, thinking about how light and fluffy it would be when cooled.  However, as soon as I took it out of the oven it began to fall.  It turned out really good though.  The consistency was different from your typical boxed mix, not as spongy and more on the fluffy side.  I will definitely use this trick again.

I iced the cake with home made whipped cream and added a layer of sliced strawberries macerated in sugar in the middle.  Then I topped it with some strawberries just so it looked pretty.

Gluten Free Birthday Feast

 My entire family has birthdays that land in April/May which makes it a crazy month for birthday presents.  This year since my spring break fell right in between all of them I decided to make a birthday dinner for my mom and dad.  My sister has them on this new meal plan  (which is working very well even though I let me dad buy baked goods at Costco...sorry Jen) so I made homemade gluten free pasta with two different kinds of sauce.  The actually tried two different gluten free pasta recipes and we picked the best one.  I had to substitute the quinoa flour for tapioca flour because I couldn't find it.  This was my first attempt at homemade pasta and it was pretty easy.  I definitely have to use that pasta maker more.

gluten free pasta dough

Another use for my drying rack.  =)

rolling out the dough

The lamb ragu was very easy and the best tasting sauce.  The second sauce I made up taking the ingredients from my crostata from the last post.  I sauteed swiss chard, leeks, red pepper flakes, and garlic.  Then threw in some ricotta and some of the pasta water.   My sister liked it which means it had to be good, but she said it would have been even better with some pancetta and I agree..  She is even pickier than Rob.

 For as long as I remember my mom has talked about Baked Alaska.  She has never tried it so I decided to make it for her instead of the gluten free strawberry shortcake I was going to try and create myself.  I found a gluten free recipe for the cake.  It was a little on the dry side but still tasty.

I filled mine with a mix of chocolate
and vanilla, vanilla and strawberry
and butter pecan.

I then whipped up some meringue and covered the cake and ice cream.

Then I popped them into a 500 degree oven for three minutes.  We watched them carefully so that they wouldn't burn.  Next time I am hoping to use one of those mini blow torches.  =)

Overall it was a very successful birthday feast that just happened to be gluten free!

Amazing!

I had seen this recipe while I was at the gym.  (Yes I watch the Food Network at the gym.)  I like Anne Burrell's food and this recipe intrigued me.  I had never had swiss chard but though I would try it.  The only problem was I needed a reason to make it. (Rob definitely wouldn't eat it.)  Last Friday I had some friends over and decided to let them be my guinea pigs. The dough came together super easy.  I do wish I had purchased a full size food processor instead of my little baby one though.  I made the dough by hand the day before and rolled it out that day.  Next time I will definitely flour my board more because it did stick, but I was able to get it back together fairly easily.  I started to get a little nervous when I put it in the oven because all the liquid in the filling started smoking up my oven.  It dried out quickly though and started puffing up into a beautiful looking pizza-like creation.  And boy was it tasty!  I will definitely be making this one again.




Note - I didn't use regular ricotta, I went to Fairway and got the fresh, dry ricotta so that the filling wouldn't be too wet.

Wanted: Crock-pot with a Timer

Tacos.  This is now my go to recipe for days when we are both working late.  But I have never been the biggest fan of the normal, ground beef, taco seasoning ones.  Don't get me wrong.  They are good, but I really have to be in the mood for them.  I started making shredded chicken tacos in the crock-pot.  It is probably the easiest recipe I have ever made.  There are only 3 ingredients.

1 jar salsa (sometimes I get creative and use different types of salsa; black bean and corn, peach, etc.  I always have to hide the beans from Rob though.)
juice of 1 lime
boneless chicken breasts or thighs  (I have used a thick chuck steak and then shredded that.  Also delicious)

The problem is that our crock-pot doesn't have a timer.  When we registered for one for our wedding I never thought I would actually use it.  My mom never did so I didn't really see the need for it, but because Rob was obsessed with our wedding registry and making sure that we had everything that the "experts" said you needed, we ended up with a simple low/high one.  Since we get home late on taco days our meat is always overcooked.  This time I tried braising the chuck steak in the dutch oven (it was a weekend and we were home).  I think I had the wrong cut of meat and/or didn't cook it long enough because it was a little chewy. It tasted good though.

I serve these with flour tortillas (corn if my sister is over - no gluten), roasted corn (frozen corn added to a hot, dry pan and toasted until it is brownish in color), cheese, tomatoes, sour cream, and guacamole (my favorite).

These got a "good" on Rob's scale even though the meat could have been better.  I definitely need to head to the store to find a good crock-pot with a timer.  Any suggestions?