Steakin' Care of Business

In the last four weeks, my hubs and I have been in the same house for approximately 48 hours.

Boo!

And we have a similar June schedule. We've got this week together, but then, I'm gone next week. The following week he's gone. 

Then, then is glorious vacation!

Can. Not. Wait.

But it means that I haven't done a lot of cooking. When it's just me, I tend to eat a lot of stuff that he doesn't like. Pretty much any egg-based meal, or salmon, or anything with the word "balsalmic" in it.

I was actually due to do my monthly cooking last Monday, but it occurred to me that since neither of us will be home, there is no point in making an entire months worth of meals, so I just made a choice few.

1. Our favorite Melba toast chicken

(after cooking, throw it in the toaster for a few minutes to crisp up)

2. Dairy-free beef stroganoff

(made even better by using ground beef and serving over mashed potatoes)

3. Steak with mushroom balsamic sauce

(forever re-dubbed as "Steakin' Care of Business")

I know I said that the hubs doesn't usually like stuff with balsalmic vinegar, but he surprised me by loving this. I knew I would like it, but then again I'm not picky.

Seriously, I know I make a lot of steak with mushroom sauce-type meals, but this was fantastic. I could have just had the sauce over mashed potatoes.

Recipe (adapted from Eat Well, Lose Weight)

four 6-ounce sirloin steaks

1 teaspoon herbes de Provence

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons olive oil

6 ounces mushrooms (about 2.5 cups)

1/3 cup chopped onion

2 cloves garlic

3/4 cup beef broth

1.5 teaspoons cornstarch

2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

Directions

1. Preheat boiler.
2. Trim fat from steaks and season each side with 1/2 teaspoon herbes de Provence, pepper, and salt.
3. Place steaks on broiler rack and put in oven approximately 3 to 4 inches from heat. Cook to desired doneness (11-13 minutes for medium-rare or 14-16 minutes for medium). Turn once.
4. While steaks cook, in large nonstick skillet, heat oil over medium heat. Add mushrooms, onions, and garlic and cook for about 5 minutes or until tender. 
5. Remove from heat and add 1/4 cup beef broth and 1/2 teaspoon herbes de Provence. 
6. Return to heat and cook uncovered for about 2 minutes, or until most of the liquid has evaporated.
7. In a small bowl, stir together the remaining beef broth and cornstarch. Add to skillet and cook until thick and bubbly. Cook for an additional 2 minutes then add balsamic vinegar.
8. Serve sauce over steaks.

Enjoy!

Honey-Soy Crunch Pork Chops

I've been slacking on the blog a bit. With the Art Star Craft Bazaar next weekend, I've spent most of the week in basement slaving away over tiny scraps of paper. But I'm here now, and the boy is gone for the week, so in theory, I should have plenty of time to catch up. 

Then again, without the husband around, I may not be cooking the gourmet meals that we're used to. Actually, I'm probably going to use this week to finish up the freezer meals that's he's not interested in. 

I came to that conclusion after the following scene:

Boy: "What'd you take out of the freezer for tomorrow?"

Me: "Fresh tomato soup, it's like cream of tomato without the cream."

Boy: "No. There is no way in hell."

Me: "What?"

Boy: "No. I'm NOT having tomato soup for dinner."

Me: "OK, then you pick something out."

So I will be making that tomorrow(ish)

And instead, he took out something called Double-Crunch Honey Garlic Pork Chops. 

This is another one of those little Pinterest gems that I've been dying to try. It looked so good. I've never made pork chops and actually can't even tell you when I would have had them. Again, it's just not something either of us grew up eating. 

So why not start out with a chop that's covered in a sticky, sweet, slightly spicy sauce?

So, I loved these. I loved the combination of honey, garlic, and soy, but the boy wasn't so much a fan.

Told you we should have had tomato soup.

Either way, this may be for a more "refined pallet" or at least someone who likes the combination of soy and honey.  

I'll try again though, maybe revise the sauce a bit, but pork chops aren't completely off the list for us yet.

I didn't make any adjustments to this recipes so I figured so I would just send you to the original by Rock Recipes.

For the freezer version, I seasoned and dredged the chops and froze. Then I combined the ingredients for the sauce and froze that separately. When ready to cook, I defrosted completely, and...actually, I did make one change. Instead of frying in 1/2-inch of oil, I sauteed in a couple tablespoons.

Enjoy with someone with a more adventurous pallet, but keep some soup on the back burner. :)

Easy Roast Beef

One thing I've learned since I've started this cooking adventure is that just because something is time consuming doesn't mean its difficult. 

Take this awesome roast beef and potatoes recipe. Actually, there really isn't much of a recipe for this, just some instructions. It's that easy. But it does take time. I mean not, like, all day, but don't do what I did and start this when you're ready for dinner because you're going to be waiting at least 1.5 hrs. 

It's worth it though. 

This was so good. The meat was tender and so flavorful. 

I rubbed the roast with rosemary, salt, pepper, and a little garlic. Put it in the oven, and went back to slaving away in the UglyKitty Studio. That's it - Rub. Roast. Rest. The recipe for the awesomely-grilled potato side dish will be posted shortly.

Ingredients

3-pound roast beef

3 tablespoons rosemary

3-4 cloves of garlic, minced

salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Combine rosemary, minced, garlic, salt, and pepper.
3. Rub the roast with the spice mixture.
4. Put in roasting pan and roast for about an hour (or until meat thermometer reaches 160 degrees for well done).
5. Remove from oven, cover with foil, and allow to rest for 20 minutes.

For gravy - add a little water to the pan, stir it up, pour into a small sauce pan, throw in a handful of flour, and simmer until thickened. Serve over sliced roast.

Cilantro Lime Crock Pot Chicken

And now for a meal my husband actually liked! God help me if my kids are as picky as him. OK, in all fairness, he's not that bad. He tries everything I've made and does it without complaining. But I can tell when he doesn't like something. The putting down of the the fork and picking up some crackers from the pantry is usually a good sign that this isn't one of my best efforts.

But not this time! He went in for seconds - and that's always a good sign.

This was seriously deliciously awesomely satisfying. 

The lime made it seem kinda...is "exotic" the right word? And the salsa give it a great spicy kick. 

Combine the fact that this meal is delicious with the fact that it's just 5 ingredients in a crock pot, and I'm completely smitten.

Mmmm...over brown rice. Maybe more corn next time.

Ingredients (adapted from Pip and Ebby)

4-6 chicken breasts

one 24-ounce jar of medium salsa (I just used the Safeway brand)

juice from one lime

1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped

1 package taco seasoning

Directions

1. Put chicken in crock pot
2. Put rest of ingredients in crock pot
3. Set on low, go to work, come home (or more officially, cook for 6-8 hrs)
4. Enjoy!

Chicken with Mushroom Wine Sauce

So I'm back from my mini-vacation/business trip. Did you miss me?

Well, I missed you. It was really awesome. I got to spend a few days with my family in California. 

We crafted. We shopped. We blogged. We fed squirrels. 

We got swarmed by seagulls. 

We laughed. 

Well, I laughed. 

At my aunt. 

Instead of helping her fend of birds.

This is why I've been written out of most wills.

It was awesome!

In hindsight, I really should have taken the vacation after the business trip. I was so bitter that I had to leave the fun for a week of driving around looking at radio towers. OK, it wasn't that bad. I actually really enjoy traveling for work, but knowing that my parents were at my aunt's house spending the next two weeks crafting, wine tasting, shopping, laughing, made me really unpleasant for most of the week. Every time I had to wake up at 6 am and get in the truck for four hours of off-road driving, I just kept thinking that I could be waking up at 10 to pick out fabric and make something adorable. Oh well, I'll just have to take more vacations next year. :)

Now that I'm home and had some time to settle back in, it's dinner time! Ok, who am I kidding. Dinner was expected as soon as I got home. Luckily, it was already in the freezer.

I think I said it previously, but my new philosophy is to basically substitute wine anytime a recipe calls for a sauce that I would normally use cheese for. Macaroni and wine anyone?

This was like a garlicy version of chicken marsala. Quite delish. 

I might have overdid it on the garlic and wine, but that's because a) I think I'm too good to measure ingredients and b) I forgot that I already added the garlic and added a second dose. Still pretty good - and great in a wrap for lunch the next day!

Ingredients (adapted from Skinny Taste)

eight chicken tenderloins

4 teaspoons olive oil

1/4 cup flour, plus a small handful for the sauce.

4 cloves garlic (or if you screw up like me, about 7 cloves)

one 12-ounce package sliced mushrooms

1/4 cup white wine

1/3 cup chicken broth

salt and pepper

1/4 cup fresh parsley

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 250 degrees.
2. Dredge chicken in flour, salt, and pepper.
3. Heat 2 teaspoons of olive oil in pan. Once hot, add chicken, and cook until no longer pink inside (about 6 minutes). Turning as necessary. 
4. When the chicken is done, transfer to an oven-safe dish, and put in oven to keep warm.
5. Add remaining olive oil in the same pan and cook mushrooms until tender. Add wine, chicken broth, and parsley and cook until reduced by half. I also threw in a small handful of flour to thicken up the sauce.
6. Remove chicken from oven and serve over brown rice and topped with the sauce.

Enjoy!

Beef and Bean Ragout

I don't know what's been up with me this week. I'm just zoned out. I've wanted nothing more than to sit on the couch, play on pinterest, and refresh the browser until I have seen every kitty on the internet.

I think it's because I have a few days of vacation coming up... and my current project at work feels like herding cats... and no matter how many times I reload Google maps, they haven't built any hotels in northeastern central Montana and unless they do by September, I'll be working 22-hour days that week.

Two more day.

Just two more days. 

At least I didn't have to cook much this week. Between the pasta and the beef and bean ragout in this post, the two of us ate great all week.

All I had to do for this was combine ingredients in the crock pot and go to another long day of kitty wrangling.

And even the ingredients were virtually no prep. Can of this...bag of that...dash of spices, and ta-da! Dinner! 

Ingredients (adapted from Better Homes and Gardens Ultimate Slow Cooker magazine)

1 pound stew mean, cut into 1-inch cubes

one 16-ounce can kidney beans, rinsed and drained

one 15-ounce can tomato sauce with onions and garlic

one 14.5 ounce can italian-style stewed tomatoes

1/2 of a 28-ounce package frozen diced hash brown potatoes with onions and peppers (about 4 cups)

salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. Add all ingredients to a crock pot.
2. Cover and cook on low heat for 8-10 hours (or one extended work day) or high-heat setting for 4-5 hours.

You could also combine the ingredients in a 1-gallon freezer bag, and freeze until ready to prepare. You don't even need to defrost - just put frozen mixture right in the crock pot. Man, I love my crock pot.

We served this over brown rice and I added corn to my portion. I really liked the corn, but I wouldn't add it to the crock pot. I cooked it as a side dish then decided I was too lazy to get another dish, so I just put it on top. 

Enjoy!

Creamy Tomato Spinach Pasta

Saturday was date night. 

We saw a movie where I only snapped at one person who insisted on texting during all the most harrowing scenes. 

I'll call that a victory!

Then we spent way too much on a wonderful dinner:

~ a gimlet ~

~ caesar salad (tried anchovies for the first time) ~

~ sourdough bread ~

~ onion ring tower appetizer (with three dipping sauces) ~

~ Layer Cake merlot ~

~ lobster macaroni and cheese ~

~ grilled asparagus ~

~ a full pound of medium-rare kansas city strip ~

and

~ chocolate velvet cake ~

and that was just what I ordered.

No, I'm not kidding.

Luckily I had the sense to bring a lot of that home for breakfast and lunch on Sunday.

No, I'm not kidding - I definitely had cake for breakfast.

Everything was wonderful; however, by Sunday night, we felt it was best to eat something a little less "meaty."  

I had a batch of Easy Tomato Basil Cream sauce in the freezer and figured this would be the perfect time to use it. It's a vegan recipe that uses cashews to make the sauce creamy. I don't know why that works, but it does, and I don't question it.

I also had some mushroom and spinach pasta "sauce" in the freezer too, but I had my doubts about it. It really wasn't a sauce. It was more of spinach and mushrooms in olive oil.

So I did the only logical thing - combine the two. We now had a delicious vegan, creamy pasta sauce that was also full of vegetables. Totally hidden too - I'm thinking that may help people trying to get their kids to eat more veggies.

I've started making smoothies in the morning and I always add a huge handful of spinach. It gets completely blended it and you can't taste it at all. So I have a new theory that you can pretty much blend spinach into anything and you won't even notice.

I also veggie pasta. Have you used this stuff? There is a carrot variety too. It's really delicious. 

(not entirely - I also used wheat penne and wheat macaroni).

Ingredients (adapted from Oh She Glows)

1 large tomato, chopped

1/2 cup raw cashews

1/2 cup water

1 tablespoon tomato paste

2 tablespoons olive oil

4 cloves garlic, minced

salt and pepper to taste

4 tablespoons white wine

1 cup fresh basil, chopped

2 cups fresh spinach

8 ounces mushrooms

1 large onion, chopped

3 cups dry pasta

Directions

1. Cook pasta according to package directions. 
2. Add tomatoes, cashews, water, and tomato paste to blender and blend until smooth.
3. Heat olive oil in medium skillet over low heat. Add garlic, onions, and mushrooms. Saute for a few minutes. Add spinach and saute until wilted.
4. Add spinach, garlic, onion, mushroom mix to blender and blend again. This step is optional if you want the veggies to stay chunky. I wanted a smooth sauce with the veggies "hidden."
5. Pour sauce to skillet and heat over medium heat, stir, and allow to simmer. Add salt and pepper and let cook for 4-5 minutes. Add wine to thing out, stirring occasionally.
6. Serve over pasta and enjoy a creamy sauce without dairy!

Chicken Puttanesca 2.0

Maybe I'm cheating a little by putting up a re-do so quickly, but I really don't have anything else to post. I've been so unmotivated to cook this week, that I got caught up on my posts and now have nothing to show for it.

This week we basically ate the last few recipes I've posted and leftovers (and more leftovers). There are only two of us and most of these recipes make a lot! I mean we got 6 servings out of the shepherd's pie (which we ate so quickly, I ended up with really crappy photos), two full meals (and a lunch) out of the quick skillet steak and onions, and the original chicken puttanesca made at least 10 servings. 

If you read the original chicken puttanesca recipe, you'll remember that it was good, but not fantastic. I thought it was a little dry. But, like I said, this made a lot so we ate a few servings then put the rest in the freezer for next time, but not before I added mushrooms and more sauce.

Now we have a winner!

The first time I made this it was more like flavored chicken over orzo, but we much preferred a meal that was more like spaghetti with chicken, more saucy. So good!

I really recommend this version of  the recipe. It's really easy, really cheap, it's not quick, but takes little effort, and you'll have enough to feed a family for a week.

New and Improved Ingredients

(adapted from Better Homes and Gardens Ultimate Slow Cooker magazine)

2.5 pounds chicken breasts

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper (upped from 1/8 teaspoons, but we like pepper)

two 26-ounce jar of pasta sauce with olives (I couldn't find sauce that specifically had olives so I just used regular spaghetti sauce)

1 tablespoons drained capers

1 teaspoon lemon zest

8 ounces crimini mushrooms, sliced

3 cups orzo, cooked according to package directions

Directions (ready-to-eat version)

1. Place chicken in crock pot. Sprinkled with salt and pepper. 
2. Mix sauce, capers, and lemon peel in a large bowl and pour over chicken in slow cooker.
3. Cover and cook on low-heat for 6-7 hours or high-heat for 3-3.5 hours. 
4. Serve chicken and sauce over hot-cooked orzo.

Directions (freezer version)

1. Combine all ingredients (except pasta) in a 1-gallon freezer bag. Freeze until ready to eat.
2. When ready to cook, allow to defrost completely.
3. Empty bag into crock pot and cover and cook on low-heat for 6-7 hours or high-heat for 3-3.5 hours. 
4. Serve chicken and sauce over hot-cooked orzo.

Quick Skillet Steak and Onions

So on Thursday my trainer asked me if I was doing anything fun this weekend. 

I hung my head in shame and said,

"Beer, bourbon, BBQ festival."

Then I forgot all about my trainer (aside from the fact that I couldn't climb stairs or do anything that involved my legs - you know like getting out of cars or sitting down to pee), sampled bourbon, drank beer, and downed pulled pork like a boss.

It was awesome.

And then I came home and had to face reality. 

Beer-less, bourbon-less, BBQ-less reality. 

Reality where I have to make Sunday dinner.

At least this was delicious and super quick and pretty healthy too. About a 100 calories a serving - well the meat and onions, not including the rice and carrots, but really how much can that add?

This was so good. How could you go wrong with mushrooms and sauteed onions? I think every recipe I try on here starts with sauteing mushrooms and onions.

The next day I served this as fajita filling and it was outstanding. :)

Ingredients (adapted from Skinnytaste.com)

1/2 pound beef round, cut into thin strips

1 large onion, sliced into rings

1/2 tsp olive oil

8 ounces mushrooms, sliced

cooking spray

garlic powder to taste

salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. Slice steak into thin strips, season with garlic powder, salt, and pepper.
2. Heat large skillet and spray with cooking spray. Just remember to take the pan away from the stove when you spray it - that spray is flammable.
3. Cook meat for 2 minutes or so, turning/stirring to cook on all dies.
4. Remove meat from pan and add onions. Cook on high heat for 3-4 minutes, until browned.
5. Add mushrooms and saute for another few minutes. 
6. Add meat back to pan, just to heat up a little.
7. Serve over brown rice or however you'd like.

To prepare ahead of time as a freezer meal, cut meat and season. Put in 1-gallon ziplock bag. Chop onions and mushrooms and freeze in separate bags. When ready to cook, defrost completely and cook as directed above.

Shepherd's Pie

This was so good. 

So good, that hubs and I finished two dish-fuls before I even took a photo.

Leaving me with this gem of a photo:

Doesn't that look fabulous!

I realize that I probably could have styled this a little better, but let's face it, this really illustrates how we couldn't even put the forks down long enough to take a photo.

Two days later this is all that's left.

It tasted like super tasty meatloaf with potatoes and vegetables. Plus we had a little ketchup on the side for dippin' and this really felt like it could have come out of a good 'ole home cookin' cookbook. The smoked paprika on top was just for extra credit.

Ingredients (adapted from Favorite Brand Name Classic Recipe Collection)

1 pound of lean ground beef

1 large onion (chopped)

1 teaspoon seasoned salt

one 10-ounce package frozen mixed vegetables (cooked and drained)

1 package brown gravy mix

1 cup water

1 egg, beaten

3 cups mashed potatoes

smoked paprika

Directions

1. In a large skillet, cook ground beef and onion over medium-high heat until beef is browned. Drain fat. 
2. Add seasoned salt and mixed vegetables, mix well.
3. Prepare brown gravy mix with one cup water, according to directions. Add some gravy to beaten egg; gradually add egg-gravy mixture to gravy, stirring constantly.
4. Combine gravy with meat.
5. Place meat in 2-quart casserole dish, arrange potatoes in mounds over the meat. Sprinkle top with paprika.
6. Bake, uncovered on 400 degrees for 30 minutes or until heated.

Chicken Marsala

"I love cooking with wine and sometimes I even put it in the food." 

I'm sort of embarrassed to say that the concept of cooking with wine (and by "cooking" I mean adding it to the food) was completely foreign to me. 

What? You just put wine into the pan? And you, like, cook the meat in it? But then what goes in the red solo cup that I just happen to carry around in my purse.

Then it occurred to me that all the recipes were telling to add wine because it might actually improve my flavorless cooking. But then you have an open bottle of wine laying around...

"And you finished off the whole bottle?"

"I had to, it's vodka wine. It goes bad once it's opened."

(bonus points if you know the reference)

Turns out that wine makes everything more delicious. Who knew? Oh, that's right, everyone who's ever written a cookbook. I do really like the idea though that if you can't use milk, just use Pinot Grigio. 

You're supposed to dredge the chicken in flour before cooking it up, but I made this as a freezer meal, so some of the flour soaked into the chicken so I dredged them a second time. This added a really nice coating and flavor.

I also added a little flour to the sauce to thicken it up.

Overall this was fabulous (and as with all my chicken recipes, go great on salad the next day). 

Ingredients (adapted from Savory Sweet Life)

2 skinless, boneless, chicken breasts

1/2 cup all purpose flour

2 tablespoons olive oil

8 ounces container of mushroom, sliced and cleaned

2 tablespoons margarine

1/2 cup sweet Marsala wine

1/4 cup chicken stock

1/4 cup dry white wine

2 tablespoons flour

Directions

1. Cut each chicken breast horizontally so you have two thin pieces. Wrap each one in plastic and pound with a meat tenderizer until they are about 1/4-inch thick. Season with salt and pepper to taste on both sides. Place some flour on a plate and and dredge each piece of chicken in it.
2. If you're making this as a freezer meal, I wrapped the dredged chicken in Press n' Seal and placed them in freezer bags at this point. I also chopped mushrooms and measured out liquid ingredients (aside from olive oil) and froze them separate bags.
3. To cook, remove from freezer and defrost completely before cooking. Again, I dredged the chicken again at this point.
4. Heat the oil over medium-high heat saute each piece of chicken for 3-4 minutes on each side until they are golden brown. Remove chicken and place them on your serving platter covering them with foil. 
5. Reduce the heat to medium and add mushrooms. You may need to add a little more oil. Saute mushrooms for 4-5 minutes making sure to season them with salt and pepper lightly. Add marsala wine, white wine, and chicken stock allowing the liquid to reduce slightly. I also added a handful of flour to thicken the sauce. 
6. Serve chicken with spoonfuls of mushrooms and sauce.

One more photo for good luck

Rosemary Garlic Roast Beef

When I started being "in charge" of dinner, things like "roast beef" sounded so 1950s. Like something Lucile Ball would forget about in the oven, causing the house to fill with smoke, and comedy to ensue as she tries to fan the flames and save dinner just in time for Ricky's new boss to arrive.

Wahhh!

I guess what I'm trying to say is that I had this impression that roast beef was some sort of process that took all day. That somehow I wouldn't be able to make it unless I also possessed a pink polka dot dress, a lace apron, and a henna-dyed hairdo.

But I thought I'd give it a try when I saw a one-page recipe in Everyday Cooking.

Usually Martha Stewart has a way of making me feel grossly inadequate. I mean I can't even fold a goddam fitted sheet, no matter how many times she tells me to match up the corners. But in this case, I decided to throw caution to the wind and make this when the pressure was really on.

No my husband's boss wasn't coming over to discuss the big merger - there was far more pressure on me.

My parents were coming over for dinner.

Everything went perfectly (not that I was actually worried). My parents are so sweet, I'm not sure they would even tell me if it came out terribly. But that's where my husband never fails. If he doesn't like it. he'll let me know - which is a good thing.

He loved it, had a second helping, and ate it again the next night.

I'll have no trouble adding this to my regular rotation. All you do is sear it, rub it, roast it, rest it. (I wish I could think of a word that means sear, but starts with "r"). Oh well, still simple enough. 

Ingredients (adapted from Everyday Cooking Magazine)

2 tablespoons olive oil

1/2 cup finely chopped fresh rosemary leaves

6 cloves garlic, minced

1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest

1 top round beef roast trimmed and tied (about 3 pounds)

2 pounds small potatoes

1 bag baby carrots

salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. In a small bowl, combine 1 tablespoon olive oil, rosemary, garlic, and lemon zest; season with salt and pepper.
3. In a large skillet, heat 1 tablespoon olive oil over medium high heat. Pat beef dry and add to skillet. Increase heat to high and cook, turning several times until the beef is seared on all sides. About 10 minutes.
4. Transfer roast to roasting pan. Brush or spoon rosemary mixture over roast and place in oven. Roast 20 minutes. Remove from oven and place potatoes and carrots around pan and toss in juices. 
5. Roast until potatoes and carrots are tender and beef is medium rare (120 to 125 degrees on a meat thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the roast). About 30-35 minutes.
6. Transfer roast to a cutting board, and tent loosely with foil. Let rest 10 minutes. (We like our carrots and potatoes cooked more so while the meat rested, I added a little water to the pan to stir up the meat juices and put the vegetables back in the oven while the roast rested. 
7. Slice thinly and serve with potatoes and carrots.

Lime-Marinated Flank Steak

I don't have much of an intro to this one. I'm a little behind on my posts and Kill Bill is on TV and keeps pulling my focus away from what I came here to do.

Which was what again?

Oh yeah, recipes, no dairy, lime-marinated flank steak, and so on.

I'd have to give this on an "OK". Maybe it's because I just had this as meat and veggies, but I bet it would be really good as fajita filling or on a roll like a steak sandwich. For me it was just missing something...probably a tortilla or a hoagie roll.

My husband had it on a roll and really like it that way, so I'm just going to go ahead and suggest you prepare this as fajita filling.

But I did really enjoy the lime kick. It's not really a flavor combination that I've tried before and it really worked well. And really you can never go wrong with sauteed red peppers and onions.

Ingredients (from Eat Well, Lose Weight)

1 pound beef flank steak

1/4 cup water

1/4 cup lime juice (about 2 limes)

6 cloves garlic

2 tablespoons fresh oregano

1/4 teaspoon chili powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon black pepper

Directions

1. Trim steak and score both sides in a diamond pattern. Place steak in 1-gallon ziplock bag.
2. For marinade, in a small bowl, combine water, lime juice, garlic, cilantro, oregano, and chili powder. Pour marinade into bag with steak and allow to marinate for 1 to 2 hours. Or, if you're making a freezer version of this. Just put that bag in the freezer for when you're ready to cook.
3. Drain steak, reserving marinade. 
4. Grill 17-20 minutes until desired doneness. Coating with marinade while grilling and turning once.
5. To serve, thinly slice beef across grain.

I also served this with sauteed onions and red peppers. To make, heat olive oil over medium-high heat add one sliced onion and one sliced red pepper. Cook about 6 minutes until tender. Stirring often.

Puttanesca Chicken

Another day, another hard-to-pronounce, impossible to spell (yet delicious) meal. Maybe the harder to say, the better the meal? Hmm...Unless they figure out a new way to pronounce "Reeses Peanut Butter Egg," I'm going to say it's just a theory.

This might be one of my husbands new favorites. He loves tomato saucey meals and this was was just about guaranteed to please. It has just a little bit of capers for a kick and turns out I love orzo.

This is another great freezer/crock pot meal. Just put all the ingredients in a bag; put the bag in the freezer; and when you're ready to cook, defrost, and put it in the crock pot.

I will say it could have used a little more sauce. The chicken had great flavor, but I wanted it to be a little more of a sauce and pasta meal than flavored chicken and pasta meal. Does that make sense?

This made so much too, probably about ten 1-cup servings. We ended up eating it for a few days before putting the rest in the freezer for next time. When I put it back in the freezer, I added mushrooms and another jar of sauce to next time.

Ingredients (adapted from Better Homes and Gardens Ultimate Slow Cooker magazine)

2.5 pounds chicken breasts

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon black pepper

one 26-ounce jar of pasta sauce with olives (I couldn't find sauce that specifically had olives so I just used regular spaghetti sauce)

1 tablespoons drained capers

1 teaspoon lemon zest

3 cups orzo, cooked according to package directions

Directions (ready-to-eat version)

1. Place chicken in crock pot. Sprinkled with salt and pepper. 
2. Mix sauce, capers, and lemon peel in a large bowl and pour over chicken in slow cooker.
3. Cover and cook on low-heat for 6-7 hours or high-heat for 3-3.5 hours. 
4. Serve chicken and sauce over hot-cooked orzo.

Directions (freezer version)

1. Combine all ingredients (except pasta) in a 1-gallon freezer bag. Freeze until ready to eat.
2. When ready to cook, allow to defrost completely.
3. Empty bag into crock pot and cover and cook on low-heat for 6-7 hours or high-heat for 3-3.5 hours. 
4. Serve chicken and sauce over hot-cooked orzo.