Roasted London Broil

I was flipping through the sales flyer of my local grocery store and putting my menu and grocery list together for the week when I came across this recipe for Tender Roasted London Broil.  London Broil was on sale that week and I'm always looking for different ideas so I decided to give it a try. 

I don't make London Broil that often and when I do, it is usually during the summer months.  I throw it on the grill and let it cook then slice it thin, serve it up with some veggies and call it a night.  I have never used this cut of meat as a roast before and I was a little afraid of it coming out too dry.  Apparently my worry was for nothing.

My husband told me it was the best London Broil he has ever eaten.  It was tender and moist and yummy. 

Enjoy!

Ingredients:
2 lb beef top round London Broil
3 garlic cloves, crushed
2 tsp. dried oregano
ground black pepper to taste
28 oz. can stewed tomatoes
1/2 cup water

Directions:
1.  Preheat the oven to 325 degrees
2.  Place the roast in a roasting pan.  Spread garlic, oregano and pepper over roast and pour stewed tomatoes over.  Add water to pan.

3.  Cover pan and roast for 3 hours, until fork tender.  Let stand for about 10 minutes before carving and serving.

I whipped up some mashed potatoes and threw together a simple salad and served up a well balanced meal.

Saucy Mama Stovetop Stew

Hi, everyone!  As you may have noticed, all of the ladies here at From Blah to Ta-Daa are doing a Saucy Mama theme week with our recipe posts.  Saucy Mama sent us a sampler of her products so that we could create a recipe to enter her contest!  Each of us also gets to give away that same sampler on our individual blogs, so make sure you come visit to enter!

I'd been trying narrow down which recipe to post for the Saucy Mama contest (I've made 3 so far!), when we got a tiny glimpse at Fall weather last weekend.  That 10 degree temperature drop (and 20% humidity drop) was all it took for me to settle on making stew.  But I didn't feel like lugging out my crock pot and making a big, planned-out ordeal of a meal.  I wanted a simple stew, and I wanted it done within the hour.  So, I made it in a heavy saute pan, right there on my stovetop.

Some tips for making a quick stew:  Use only tender cuts of meat.  Cook the potatoes in a separate saucepot while you make the stew and add them in at the end.  Chop your veggies and meat into smaller pieces than usual so that they cook faster.  Use a sauce - like the Saucy Mama marinade - with lots of flavor.

We both loved this stew, and Bo didn't hesitate before going back for seconds.  I rate it a 4 Spoons, he gives it a 5 Spoons (but we've always known that he's a meat and potatoes kinda guy).  I also made a roast chicken with a Saucy Mama marinade that was honest to goodness amazing.  I didn't have time to photograph it for you, so I'll try to make it again and get it posted in the next few weeks.

Enjoy!




Saucy Mama Stovetop Stew

2 c. potatoes, cut into 1" pieces

1 Tbsp. olive oil
1 Tbsp. unsalted butter
1 lb. beef tenderloin tips (or tenderloin cut into 1" pieces)
1/2 c. flour

1 Tbsp. unsalted butter
1 c. carrot, diced
2 Tbsp. minced shallot
8 oz. mushrooms
1/2 c. red wine

1/2 c. low-sodium beef broth
1 c. water
1/2 c. Saucy Mama Cracked Pepper Marinade

Fill medium sauce pan with water and bring to a boil over high heat. Add pinch of salt and potato pieces to the pan and cook over a low boil for 8-10 minutes, just until fork-tender. Drain and set aside.

Meanwhile, heat oil and butter in a heavy saute pan over medium-high heat. While the pan is heating, toss tenderloin tips in the flour to lightly coat. Add meat to heated pan and saute until browned, about 5 minutes. Remove to a plate and set aside.

Reduce heat to medium and add the additional tablespoon of butter to the pan with the carrot, shallot, and mushrooms, and saute until softened. Deglaze the pan with wine, scraping up any bits on the bottom of the pan, and reduce until nearly evaporated. Add in the meat and cooked potatoes, and then stir in the broth, water, and Saucy Mama Cracked Pepper Marinade. Simmer over medium heat until thickened, about 5 minutes.

Ingredient Lineup:

After browning the tenderloin, saute the veggies until tender.

Add in the liquid ingredients and Saucy Mama Cracked Pepper

Marinade, and simmer until thickened.

I love Autumn!!

Be sure to come visit me at ~~ my personal blog ~~ to

enter my giveaway and win this whole set!

Tomato Sauce with Onion and Butter

I keep bumping into this recipe on the food blogs I read.  I've seen it posted on Epicurious, Steamy Kitchen, Smitten Kitchen, and Food.com.  If you google "marcella hazan tomato sauce butter onion" you'll find a gazillion returns, because so many people have been raving about it.

Is it worth all the hype?  Yes, indeed, it is.  This sauce is amazing in its simplicity.  No one can deny the appeal of a from-scratch recipe that uses only 3 ingredients (4, if you count salt) and almost no effort to make. 

The first thing you taste * is tomatoes.  Then, you taste the butter.  Oh, the butter.  This sauce is buttery and tomatoey and just plain delicious.  It's not fancy, nor do I want it to be.  It's just a simple, really good, really easy sauce.  5 spoons in our house.

Enjoy!


* Unless you're like me and you shoveled a spoon of it into your mouth, while it was still steaming and burbling. Then you'll just have burnt-mouth and not really taste much of anything at all.




Marcella Hazan’s Tomato Sauce with Onion and Butter
recipe adaption courtesy of Smitten Kitchen
original found in Marcella Hazan’s Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking

28oz whole peeled tomatoes from a can (San Marzano, if you can find them)
5 Tbsp. unsalted butter
1 medium-sized yellow onion, peeled and halved
Salt to taste

Put the tomatoes, onion and butter in a heavy saucepan (it fit just right in a 3-quart) over medium heat. Bring the sauce to a simmer, then lower the heat to keep the sauce at a slow, steady simmer for about 45 minutes, or until droplets of fat float free of the tomatoes. Stir occasionally, crushing the tomatoes against the side of the pot with a wooden spoon. Remove from heat, discard the onion, and add salt to taste (you might find, as I did, that your tomatoes came salted and that you didn’t need to add more) and keep warm while you prepare your pasta.

Ingredient Lineup:

This looks way too easy.

Mmmmm...Yum Nation.

Miso Chicken

One of my coworkers is a total foodie, so I often find myself gabbing with him about food and cooking.  Yesterday, he mentioned this recipe to me, and I instantly wanted to try it out.  I've been needing a good Asian-style way to cook chicken, and this totally fit the bill.  It's super quick to whip up, and only takes about 15 minutes to cook, start to finish.

The one potentially intimidating ingredient is miso paste.  I'd never even seen miso paste, let alone buy it.  There were 6 different kinds at my local Whole Foods...want to know how I chose this one?  It had a recipe for Miso Soup on the container, so I figured it was a good choice :)  Ha!

Bo and I loved this recipe.  You'll notice that we used chicken thighs and cooked them on the grill.  Don't do what we did.  Follow the recipe, and use chicken breasts cooked in a skillet.  The grill overpowered the mild miso flavor; it will stand out more if cooked in a skillet.  We rate this recipe a 4 Spoons as we cooked it, but we think it'd be an easy 5 spoons if it were cooked as directed in the original recipe.

Thanks for the recipe, Ray Ray!

Enjoy!

Miso Chicken
adapted from Epicurious

4 skinless chicken breasts

1 tsp. canola oil

Marinade:

2 Tbsp. miso paste

1 Tbsp. sesame oil

1 tsp. red chili garlic paste *

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 tsp. ginger, chopped (I used crystallized)

2 Tbsp. sake **

Flatten the chicken breasts with a mallet to about 1/2" thick, and place into a shallow dish.  In a separate bowl, mix all marinade ingredients.  Coat the chicken breasts with the sauce and cover to marinate overnight or all day.

Heat canola oil in a skillet over medium-high heat.  Add chicken and cook until no longer pink, about 3-4 minutes per side.

* Note 1:  The original recipe uses red pepper flakes, but as you've noticed by now, we love using chili paste anywhere that calls for heat.

** Note 2:  The original recipe calls for water, but why not use this as an opportunity to add some flavor?  If you're opposed to sake, you might try chicken broth or soy sauce.

Ingredient Lineup:

What Miso Paste looks like:

The chicken in our marinade:

Dinner!

p.s.  Happy Birthday to Brandy (aka Royal Family)!!!

 

Gusteu's Ratatouille

I'm sure many of you have seen the Disney-Pixar movie Ratatouille. Well, my children have always wondered what exactly ratatouille is. When we purchased our DVD of the film, it came with a children's cookbook called What's Cooking? So I pulled it out. Remember in the film when Remy discovered Gusteu's recipe for ratatouille and nobody thought he should make it? However, he did and the food critic LOVED it. Goes to show that sometimes simple, old fashioned food is just what the cook ordered.

When I decided to make this I knew two things. The first, it was going to be a huge hit with my husband. The second, even though my kids wanted to know what it was a I was sure they'd wrinkle up their noses at a vegetable stew on their plate in front of them. So I must admit that when I was purchasing the veggies to make this I picked chicken for the kids at the same time. Normally I wouldn't admit that!

My husband rated it a 5. He actually said the words "This is the best meal of my life." I wasn't sure if he truely meant it or if he was just grateful that I cooked! Ha! Then while I was doing the dishes I heard him tell my oldest son that "it was better than grandma's". Hmmm, I'll take that!

My oldest son did try it and said it was okay. Let's face it, a plate full of veggies vs. a 9 year old isn't going to rate high. My other 2 wouldn't even try it!

I thought it was very tasty and rate it a 4.5.

vist me at Life in the BAT Cave

Ingredients:
1 large eggplant, cubed
1/4 to 1/3 cup olive oil (I used 1/4 cup)
1 red or green pepper, chopped (I used red just because I like them better)
2 to 4 crushed garlic cloves (I used 3)
4 small zucchini, chopped
4 tomatoes, chopped
salt and pepper to taste
1/3 cup chopped fresh basil
Parmesan cheese

Directions:
Salt the eggplant, drain in a colander for 1 hour and pat dry. (I ended up only letting it drain for approx. 25 min. and it was fine). Heat half of the oil in a large saucepan and briefly saute the eggplant until brown, then add the onion and pepper. Next, add the garlic, zucchini, and tomatoes. Cook until a soft stew has formed, about 15-30 minutes (I let it cook about 35 min.)

Add the salt, pepper, and basil. Sprinkle with the cheese and serve over rice.

Lemon Chicken with Mushrooms

Apparently, I'm on a lemon kick these days.  I'm blaming the hot weather.  Lemons just sound so refreshing when it's blazing hot outside.  Cross your fingers I don't post some version of a lemonade recipe next week.  Or lemon popsicles.  Wait.... Lemon in popsicles could be amazing!!  Ok, so you've been warned.

Bo and I thought that this recipe was good and rate it a 4 Spoons.  But that might have been more than a little tainted by our love for mushrooms. Without the mushrooms, it woulda been a 2 Spoon rating - nothing special.  Because, really - you can't go wrong with a butter-shallot-mushroom combo, am I right?

Enjoy!

p.s.  Thanks to Brandy, we now have a nifty little green Print Friendly button down at the bottom of all our posts.  If you click it, it pops up a window that lets you print the recipe (with or without photos and our writeups) or save as a pdf.  Super, duper cool!


Lemon Chicken with Mushrooms
adapted from allrecipes.com
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 Tbsp. olive oil
juice of one lemon
zest of 1/2 lemon (approx 1/8 tsp.)
1/2 tsp. seasoning salt with sage in it (like McCormick's French Herb Roasting Rub)
2 Tbsp. butter
1 1/2 c. sliced, fresh mushrooms
1 small shallot, minced
salt and pepper to taste

Add olive oil, lemon juice, zest, and seasoning to a quart-sized ziploc bag, and seal it and shake to mix ingredients.  Add chicken breasts to bag and allow to marinate 15 minutes, or while you're preparing your dinner sides (or doing dishes, or laundry, or a zillion other things).

Heat a large skillet over medium heat, and add the chicken breasts.  Allow to brown on each side and cook until done.  (Note: For thicker chicken breasts, after browning each side, add a splash of chicken broth and cover skillet with a lid to steam the insides until done.) 

Remove chicken breasts to a separate dish and cover with a lid until ready to serve.  Add butter to same skillet, and after it's melted, cook shallot until translucent.  Add mushrooms and saute until done.  (I'm pretty sure that heaven is paved with mushrooms and butter, yummmm.)  Add salt and pepper to taste. 

Plate chicken breasts and spoon mushrooms over top.  Done!

Tortellini Stir Fry

Would you like to know what makes this recipe Ta-Daa?  It is easy!  I seek out easy recipes.  If there are 8 million steps or a bunch of ingredients I wouldn't know where to find in the grocery store then I pass over it.  This one had my name written all over it.

Hubs and my oldest child rated it a 5 and kept going back for more
I rated it a 4
The other 2...well, it was food that was touching each other AND had sauce on it.  How dare I? 

 from Life in the BAT Cave.  Pop on over for a visit!

Ingredients:
1 (9oz) package of tortellini
1 Tbs. vegetable oil
1 (16 oz) package of frozen stir-fry vegetables
1/3 cup stir fry sauce (I used a sesame-garlic sauce)
2 Tbs. water
1/8 tsp. crushed red pepper (optional)
2 Tbs. chopped unsalted cashews or peanuts (I did not use)

Directions:
Prepare tortellini according to package directions.

Heat oil in large skillet over medium-high heat.  Add vegetables and cook 7-8 minutes until crisp tender.

Stir in cooked tortellini, stir-fry sauce, water and red pepper; cook 1-2 minutes or until mixture is heated through.

Sprinkle with nuts just before serving. 

Serves 4 (unless you have kids like 2 of mine!)

Grilled Shrimp Tacos

It's been four long months since my last baja style food.  Oh, what I'd give for a few fish tacos from Rubio's right now...I saw this recipe in last month's Cuisine At Home magazine and instantly got a hankering for baja tacos.  Mmmmm...

I have to say - either I'm a shrimp taco snob or this recipe was less than stellar.  It just didn't have the oompf in it to satisfy my cravings.  It was good, but not Southern California Good.  We rated this a 3 Spoons, so I'll definitely keep looking for a baja style recipe that works for us. 

Grilled Shrimp Tacos

adapted from Cuisine At Home, issue no. 81

Tacos:

1/2 c. lime juice

1 Tbsp. olive oil

2 tsp. chili powder (I used Cajun Seasoning)

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 lb. large shrimp, peeled and deveined

8 flour tortillas, 6" size

Chipotle Sauce:

1/2 c. mayo or sour cream

2 minced chipotle chiles in adobo sauce

1 1/2 tsp. honey

1 tsp. lime juice

salt to taste

Red Slaw:

4 c. shredded red cabbage

1/2 c. sliced scallions

1/2 c. cilantro

1 Tbsp. olive oil

1 Tbsp. white vinegar

salt to taste

Whisk together lime juice, oil, garlic, and chili powder in a medium bowl.  Add shrimp, stir to coat, and chill until ready to skewer.  Preheat grill to medium-high.

Whisk together mayonnaise, chipotles, honey, and lime juice for the sauce.  Season with salt and chill until ready to serve.

Combine cabbage, scallions, cilantro, oil, and vinegar for the slaw.  Season with salt and chill until ready to serve, up to one hour.

Thread shrimp onto metal or soaked bamboo skewers and grill for 1-2 minutes per side.  Remove from skewers and serve on warmed tortillas with cabbage slaw and chipotle sauce.

Brown Sugar Pork Chops and Southwest Quinoa Salad

Happy Memorial Day, everyone! 

I thought it might be festive to try out some new picnic-style recipes as we head into a long, holiday weekend.  I chose this pork recipe because I am determined to finally be able to cook pork without something going haywire.  (I'm known to throw my silicone potholders when pork fails me.)  The salad recipe is another yummy way to serve our quinoa, and is based on a "Texas Cavier" salad recipe given to me by one of my best friends. 

We rate the Pork Chops a 4 Spoons, because it was good, but not outstanding or special.  On the other hand, we loved the Quinoa Salad and rated it a Big 5 Spoons!

Enjoy!

Grilled Brown Sugar Pork Chops
adapted from AllRecipes
1/4 c. brown sugar
1/4 c. bourbon
2 Tbsp. vegetable oil
2 Tbsp. soy sauce
1/4 tsp. ground ginger
salt and pepper, to taste
1 tsp. cornstarch
1/4 c. water
4 boneless pork chops

Preheat an outdoor grill for high heat.

In a small saucepan, combine brown sugar, bourbon, oil, soy sauce, ginger, salt , and pepper. Bring to boil. Combine water and cornstarch in small bowl, and whisk into brown sugar mixture. Stir until thick.   Allow to cool a few minutes, and pour sauce over the chops to marinate.

Brush grate lightly with oil before placing pork chops on the grill. Cook over hot coals for 10 to 12 minutes, turning once, halfway through.  

 

Southwest Quinoa Salad
3/4 c. quinoa
1 Tbsp. butter
1 c. low-sodium chicken broth
1 (15oz) can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 (15oz) can blackeyed peas, rinsed and drained
1 (15oz) can corn, drained
1/2 can black olives, sliced
1 large tomato, diced
1 avocado, diced
1/4 c. cilantro, chopped
1/2 red onion, medium-sized and diced finely
2 Tbsp. lime juice
2 Tbsp. olive oil
2 Tbsp. red wine vinegar
salt, pepper, and garlic salt to taste
 
Rinse the quinoa thoroughly under cold water, and drain. Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat, add the quinoa, stirring until the water has evaporated and the quinoa is lightly toasted, about 3 minutes. Pour in the chicken broth, bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer until the quinoa has absorbed all the broth, about 10-15 minutes. Cool quinoa in refrigerator at least 10 minutes.
 
Combine beans, blackeyed peas, corn, olives, tomato, avocado, cilantro, and onion in a large bowl.  Stir in cooled quinoa.  Whisk lime juice, oil, vinegar, and seasonings and pour over all.  Stir to combine.  Refrigerate an hour or more before serving.

Steak Bites

These past two weeks have been nonstop and exhausting for me, so when I was planning something to make for you, I immediately started daydreaming about comfort food.  Comfortttt Foooooddd, yummmm! 

Pioneer Woman's recipe is pretty genius in its simplicity.  How can you go wrong with steak cooked in butter and salt and pepper?  From the time you start heating up the pan til the time you pour the Steak Bites onto a plate to serve is less than 10 minutes.  That's a whoppingly quick recipe!

I served the Steak Bites with sauteed veggies, my mom's macaroni salad, and Teresa's sweet potato biscuits (topped with melted butter and cinnamon sugar).  Bo rated the Steak Bites a definite 5 Spoons, and was really happy when I said that I'd be making them again :)

Enjoy!

Pioneer Woman's Steak Bites

recipe here, serves 2

1 lb Sirloin Steak OR Pre-cut Beef Tips

Kosher Salt To Taste
Fresh Ground Black Pepper To Taste
2 Tbsp Butter

Trim off any excess fat. Next, cut strips less than 1-inch wide. Rotate the meat and cut into small bite-sized pieces. If you see any more large chunks of fat, gristle or long silvery membrane, cut them off.

Sprinkle generously with kosher salt and freshly ground pepper. Toss the meat around a bit to thoroughly coat with the seasonings.

Next, turn on your ventilation fan overhead. Heat the skillet over medium high to high heat. As the pan heats, add about 2 tablespoons butter to the skillet. Allow the butter to melt, then brown, before you add the meat.

Place the meat in the pan in a single layer. It should sizzle loudly when it hits the pan – if it doesn’t, the pan isn’t hot enough. Don’t stir or disrupt the meat for 30-45 seconds. You want it to sizzle and brown on one side. Scoop as many steak bites as you can with your spatula and flip them over. Repeat until all the meat is turned. Cook for an additional 30 to 45 seconds—just long enough to sear the outside of the meat but NOT cook the inside.

Remove the meat to a clean plate. Add a little more butter to the pan and repeat the cooking process with the next batch just as before. Lastly, when all the meat is nicely browned and removed to the plate, pour all that browned/blackened butter all over the meat. And enjoy!

Ingredient lineup:

When the butter first melts, it's clear.

Then, as it cooks, it browns.

Flip them over to brown the other side, but don't let them get too brown.

They'll continue cooking once you remove them from the pan.

We'll definitely be having Steak Bites for dinner again!