Pan-Seared T-Bone Steak with Creamy Portobello Mushroom Sauce

No need for a grill to make a delicious steak, especially when it's topped with a delicious mushroom sauce.  I served this with a variation on Roasted Romaine Hearts.  Instead of just using olive oil, salt, and pepper, I also added a little crumbled bleu cheese in between the leaves before broiling and drizzled it with balsamic vinegar afterwards.  Yum!

Just to warn you, this makes a lot of sauce, so you may want to halve the recipe if you are only planning on serving two people.  I don't mind the leftovers myself as I'm sure I'll find some other use for this awesome sauce (maybe an excuse to make more steak?).  

What you need:

2 T-Bone steaks (not sure how much they weighed, but they looked pretty average, other than being on the thin side)
1-2 tablespoons butter
1 small-medium onion, finely diced
1 head of garlic, peeled and finely diced
2 medium-large portobello mushrooms, diced
Salt and pepper
1/2-3/4 cup red wine (I used a Merlot)
1 cup beef broth
1 cup milk or cream (I used 1 % milk)
3-4 tablespoons light cream cheese
2 teaspoons cornstarch
2 teaspoons dried parsley
Olive oil

Take the steaks out of the frig about half of an hour before you'll be cooking them (I took mine out at the same time I started the sauce).  Melt the butter in a pot over medium-low heat.  Add the onions, garlic, and a pinch of salt.  Stir and let cook for a few minutes until they start to become translucent.  Add the mushrooms and cook for a few more minutes.  Add some pepper and the red wine.  Simmer for 10 minutes.  Add the milk and beef broth.  Turn heat to low and continue to simmer as you cook the steaks.

Heat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.  Pat steaks dry with a paper towel and season with salt and pepper.  Heat a large saucepan over high heat and add a teaspoon or so of olive oil.  When oil begins to pop, place steaks in the pan and sear for 2 minutes on each side (My pan was actually only big enough to do one at a time, so I did them one at a time).  Place steaks on a baking sheet and then put in the oven.  Cook for 4-10 minutes, depending on thickness and how well done you want them to be (my steaks were thin- about 1/2 inch thick.  Since I like mine rare, I skipped out on the oven finishing, but put Rob's in for 4 minutes while mine was still searing).  Take out of the oven and let rest 10 minutes before serving.

While the steaks rest, finish the mushroom sauce:  Add the cream cheese and stir to mix.  Mix the cornstarch with a tablespoon of water and stir until there are no clumps.  Add this to the sauce and let cook for a minute, or until nicely thickened. Add the parsley.  Done!

Serve with the sauce spooned over the steak.  Enjoy!

Simple Chicken and Vegetable Stew (CrockPot Recipe)

This is SO quick and easy to make.  Well, quick if you don't count the 4-5 hours it takes in the CrockPot.  But, it's only 10 minutes of prep to start and maybe another 5 minutes near the end.  And it's tasty- reminds me of chicken and dumplings, minus any actual dumplings (though you could add some in if you wanted).  I usually brown the meat I am using when I do things in my CrockPot (to add flavor), but today I didn't feel like it.  In fact, I didn't even feel like taking the chicken out to thaw early enough.  So I put it in completely frozen and obviously un-browned.  And, yep, it's still delicious in the end, and WAY less work.  You could even put everything in the pot the night before and refrigerate it until morning and let it cook while you are at work, or running errands, or whatever.

What you need:

11/2-2 pounds chicken tenderloins, frozen or thawed (just cook a little less if yours are thawed)
1 medium onion, chopped into rough chunks
2 stalks of celery, chopped
8 ounces cremini or button mushrooms, either sliced in half or quartered
1 medium yellow summer squash, cut into 1 inch slices and quartered
1 (13 ounce) can of 98% fat free cream of mushroom soup
2 teaspoons worcestershire sauce
1 cup cherry tomatoes, cut in half
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1 tablespoon garlic powder
2 teaspoons black pepper
2 teaspoons dried parsley
2 teaspoons dried oregano


Place chicken in the crockpot first.  Top with the onion and celery, then the mushrooms, and finally the squash.  Pour the cream of mushroom soup, the worcestershire sauce, and a 1/2 cup of water over the top.  Cover and cook on high for 4 hours or on low for 8 hours.  Remove cover and add the cherry tomatoes.  Scoop out a couple tablespoons of the broth and place in a small dish.  Stir the cornstarch into this and keep stirring (or whisking) until smooth.  Add back into the crockpot.  Add the garlic powder, pepper, parsley, and oregano.  Keep cooking on high for 20 minutes uncovered to let it thicken a bit.  And done!

Try serving it by itself, with croutons, or over rice. Enjoy!

Carrot-Sweet Potato Hummus

I made this using some of the leftovers from yesterday's Carrot-Sweet Potato Puree.  Tastes mostly like the regular hummus I make, with a little extra flavor.  Though that might be due to the slightly disgusting amounts of raw garlic I put in it... it's hard to taste too much of.  Anyway, it's delicious.  I also added a little tapenade-like topping for extra pizzazz, but you can skip it if you don't feel like it.  It's pretty intense, what with the extra raw garlic and red pepper flakes.  But I think it's delicious.

What you need:

1 cup Carrot-Sweet Potato Puree (or just roast enough sweet potatoes or carrots to make a cup and add those in with a little extra liquid)

1 (15 ounce) can chickpeas, rinsed and drained

1 head of garlic, peeled and roughly chopped (or just a few cloves- the raw garlic flavor it pretty intense, so if you don't support a pretty passionate love affair with garlic, reduce it)

1-2 tablespoons lemon juice

3-4 tablespoons tahini

1-2 teaspoons chili oil

pinch of salt

1 tablespoon fat-free italian dressing (or just add olive oil... I'm just trying to cut back a bit on the calories and this works well for me)

Simply put everything into the blender or food processor and puree.  In the blender, you'll definitely have to stir it around a few times to get everything to blend.  If it still isn't working, add a little more italian dressing or olive oil.  Refrigerate for at least an hour to let it firm up and allow the flavors to meld a bit.  Top with my tapenade-y stuff (recipe below) or just leave it plain.  Enjoy!

Oh, and try making some Veggie Chips to dip with.  Awesome.  Or stick with baby carrots, cucumber slices, or the chips of your choice.

"TAPENADE" TOPPING:

Chop the following finely and mix together along with 1-2 teaspoons of olive oil and a pinch of salt:

2-3 tablespoon pecans, toasted

4-6 cloves of garlic

scant 1/4 cup dried tomatoes

2 tablespoons green olives

up to 1 tablespoon red pepper flakes

Carrot-Sweet Potato Puree

A nice side dish for fall. I served it last night with my Pork Chop Slop.  

I'm thinking about making leftovers into hummus for a little variation (blending it up with chickpeas, tahini, and more garlic).  I also think it would be good as an oven bake with a bread crumb/ nut topping, or thinned down with chicken broth into a soup.  But it's pretty darn tasty in it's own right as well, so don't feel like you need to change a thing.

What you need:

1 large sweet potato

2 medium/large carrots

1 medium onion

Olive oil spray

Salt and pepper

1/2-1 cup water

2 cups Silk Coconut Milk (not the regular canned stuff.  If you want to use that, I'd recommend just using 1/2-1 cup of it and adding water to make up the difference.  Or just regular milk, maybe 1%)

1-2 teaspoons garlic powder

2-3 teaspoons curry powder

2-3 teaspoons Ketjap Manis or soy sauce

Heat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.  Cut sweet potato and carrots into 1-1 1/2 inch cubes.  Spray a baking sheet with olive oil.  Spread sweet potato and carrot chunks across it.  Peel onion and cut in half.  Place both halves on the baking sheet.  Spray with olive oil again and sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Roast for 40-50 minutes, flipping once, until cooked and slightly browned.  Dump the vegetables into a large pot and pour 1/2 cup of water over them.  Turn heat on stove to medium-high and bring the water to boil.  Boil for a few minutes and then add the coconut milk, garlic powder, curry powder, and Ketjap Manis.  Bring to a boil again and reduce heat a little.  Cover and simmer until the sweet potatoes and carrots are quite tender.  Use an immersion blender to puree (at this point, add a little more water if needed to help with the blending). Add any extra seasoning if needed (I needed to add a bit more salt to mine).  Enjoy!

Pork Chop Slop (Pork Chops Smothered in Vegetable-y Sauce)

Okay, I guess that isn't the most appetizing name, but the rhyming amused me and it's a very appropriate title.  As evidenced by the picture.  And while it won't win any food beauty awards, this stuff IS pretty tasty. I served it with a carrot-sweet potato puree and homemade croutons leftover from the other day.  You could also try it over rice.  This makes four generous servings (one pork chop and a ton of vegetable-y sauciness).

I went with really simple seasonings today, but when I try this again, I think I'll add some herbs- maybe oregano, sage, basil.  The simplicity was kind of nice though- good comfort food.

What you need:

4 pork chops, trimmed of fat around the outside edge
Olive oil spray
Salt and pepper
1 medium onion, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
1/2 leek, sliced thinly
1/2 medium zucchini, sliced into 1/4 inch thick pieces and then quartered
1 large portobello mushroom, sliced into small pieces
1/2 large red bell pepper, chopped
1 (13 ounce) can of 98% fat-free cream of mushroom soup
2 cups water
1 teaspoon worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1/2 dry red wine
1/4 cup fat-free cream cheese
Red pepper flakes (optional)

Spray a large pot with olive oil and heat over high heat.  Season pork chops with salt and pepper and sear, about 3-4 minutes on each side, until browned.  Place browned pork chops on a plate.  I did this in batches of two.  Add the onion and celery to the pan along with a little bit of water.  Use a spatula to scrape up any browned bits on the bottom of the pan.  Cook for a couple of minutes and then add the leek, zucchini, mushroom, and bell pepper.  Stir everything around and cook for a few more minutes, or until everything begins to soften and gets a little browned.  Add the cream of mushroom soup, the water, worcestershire sauce, and garlic powder.  Add the pork chops back in and spoon the veggies and sauce over them.  Cover, reduce heat to medium-low, and let simmer for 20-30 minutes, mixing everything around once or twice.  Uncover, add the red wine and cream cheese and mix well.  If it is really soupy, let it simmer a bit more until the sauce has a gravy-like thickness.  Taste test and add more salt, pepper, garlic powder if needed (I went with a bunch of black pepper).

To serve, scoop out a pork chop and spoon a bunch of the sauce over it.  Sprinkle with red pepper flakes for a little spice if you want.  Enjoy!

Taco Casserole or Dip

This a great weeknight dinner- it's pretty quick and could also be made ahead of time and then baked when you need it.  It would also make good party food or could be used as a hearty appetizer.

What you need:

1 pound lean ground beef (or if you are like me and on an island where you can't get lean ground beef, see my tips on de-fatting below)

1 medium onion, chopped into small pieces

2 stalks of celery

1 red bell pepper

4-5 pickled serrano or jalapeno peppers

1/2 medium zucchini

1 packet taco seasoning (I used a hot and spicy kind)

2-3 teaspoons soy sauce

2-3 fresh tomatoes

1 tablespoon garlic powder (or less if you're not a garlic person)

1 cup of your favorite salsa

3/4 cup taco sauce

1 can refried beans (I used a can of low fat refried black beans this time around)

1 cup shredded cheese (a mixture of cheddar and monterey jack is good)
Tortilla chips, for dipping

Salsa, guacamole, sour cream

Brown the ground beef in a large pot over medium heat.  Once it is cooked through, add the onion, celery, bell pepper, serrano peppers, zucchini, taco seasoning, and soy sauce.  Cook, stirring frequently, for 3-4 minutes.  Add the tomatoes, garlic, salsa, and taco sauce.  Continue to cook, stirring occasionally  until all vegetables are cooked and the sauce is thick, between 5-10 minutes.   While this is cooking, spread the black beans in a 9x9 inch pan.  Pour beef and vegetable mixture over the beans.  Sprinkle with the cheese.  Bake at 375 degrees Fahrenheit for 20-25 minutes, or until bubbly and LIGHTLY browned on top.

Serve with tortilla chips and your favorite taco additions, such as salsa, guacamole, and sour cream.  Or skip the chips and just use a fork.  It works well too.

GETTING RID OF THE GREASE:

If using fatty ground beef (the stuff we have here is 20 % fat), try this:  Line a largish bowl with a thick layer of paper towels- I use 8 or 9, folded on top of one another.  After the beef has cooked, dump it into this bowl and wrap the edges of the paper towels up around it.  Place a few more paper towels on top.  Now squeeze the fat out!  The beef is going to be pretty hot, so you could try wearing gloves or using a spatula to help you (though I generally just go for it and I haven't suffered any major burns yet).  Once the first set of paper towels is soaked through, repeat with another, and that should do it.  It's actually pretty satisfying to see how much fat you get out and kinda makes me want to keep buying fatty beef even when I someday don't have to.  

Homemade Croutons for Soup or Salad

I made these to go with this pumpkin-butternut squash soup.   They would also be perfect for a tomato or french onion soup.  Or just on salad.  Feel free to mix up the seasonings depending on what you are using them for.  I kept it simple here for this soup, but would definitely add different herbs and spices for different soups.  

What you need:

5 cups of cubed bread- each piece should be about a 3/4 inch cube (I used three largish sandwich rolls)
2-3 tablespoons butter, melted (if you want them to be richer, add a bit more butter)
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
garlic powder, salt, pepper (I used 1-2 teaspoons of EACH)

Heat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.  Place bread cubes in a large bowl.  Mix the butter, olive oil, red wine vinegar and seasonings in a bowl.  Drizzle over the bread and toss to coat evenly.  Spread onto a large baking sheet.  Bake for about 5 minutes, mix them around with a spatula, and return to oven.  Do this again a couple more times, or until there is no more moisture left and they are golden brown.  Enjoy!