Betty Crocker's Tangy Steak Salad

This recipe convinced me that I was definitely not born to be a butcher. There's something about cutting up raw red meat that is decidedly unappealing. Putting that aside, this is easy recipe to make, it's relatively low-carb and can be done in about twenty minutes. I pulled this recipe off Betty Crocker's website.

Ingredients:
1     tablespoon olive or vegetable oil
1     pound beef boneless top sirloin steak, thinly sliced
3     tablespoons Dijon mustard
1     tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
4     cups bite-size pieces lettuce (iceberg or Romaine)
2     medium celery stalks, sliced (1 cup)
4     green onions, sliced
1     small red bell pepper, sliced

Preparations:

1. Heat oil in 10-inch skillet over high heat.
2. Cook beef in oil about 2 minutes, stirring constantly, until brown; drain. Stir in mustard and parsley; keep warm,
3. Toss lettuce, celery, green onions and bell pepper. Divide among 4 dinner plates. Top with beef mixture.
   
   Makes 4 Servings.

Stuffed Green Peppers

In the last couple of months I have learned far more about low carb cooking than I ever wanted to. :) Soon that will change though as I return to full time active mommy duty. So look for kid friendly recipes in the very near future.

Ingredients:

4 green peppers
1 lb of ground turkey (or hamburger)
1 cup of Monterrey Jack cheese
1 - 8 oz can of tomato sauce
1 tbsp of All Seasoning

Preparation:

1. Cut the tops off the green peppers and scoop out the insides. Boil them for 4 minutes. Set aside.
2. Cook the ground turkey until it's browned. Add seasoning.
3. Shred one cup of Monterrey Jack cheese.
4. Add tomato sauce to browned turkey and add half a can of water. Let simmer until meat is saturated.
5. Fill green peppers with browned turkey mixture and top with cheese.
   

Bake at 400 degrees for ten minutes.

Servings: 4

Barbecue Chicken (Low Carb)

I heard someone once say that in order to live well - you first have to eat well. While I'm a huge fan of cookies (just call me the Cookie Monster :) you can't always sit around eating cookies. Yesterday marks not just the start of a new week but also a new start for me. I'm putting my Oreos away and meeting up with a personal trainer. Hopefully my new path and athletic endeavors will provide many healthy recipes on this blog.
Ingredients:

1 packet of Mesquite marinade
1/4 cup of vegetable oil
1/4 cup of water
2 tablespoons of olive oil
1lb of skinless chicken breasts

Take one packet of Mesquite marinade and mix 1/4 cup of oil and 1/4 cup of water. Marinade the chicken for two hours.

Cook chicken in olive oil over medium heat for approximately 20 minutes. This makes a fabulous barbecue chicken without the barbecue!

Mexican-style Omelet (Low Carb)

It's always kind of a bummer to cook dinner on Saturday nights because I usually spend the day cleaning, grocery shopping and working around the house. So by the time I got around to cooking last night it was nine p.m. Being tired but still obligated to cook for Ken, I opened the fridge and pulled out the best ingredients I could find to make an omelet. Ken loved the result so much that I'm posting the original recipe right here.

3 eggs (whisked)
1/4 cup heavy whipping cream
1/4 of a Avocado
1/4 of an onion (chopped)
4 pieces of bacon cooked and then chopped
1/4 cup cheddar cheese
Sour cream

Whisk the eggs and cream together. Pour into hot skillet. Add avocado, onion and bacon. Cook until half way done and then add cheddar cheese. Cooking time varies according to how well you like your omelet cooked. This one turned out just a wee bit crispy.

Low Carb Meatloaf

If you're a big fan of low carb meals, here's a meatloaf recipe for you. (Note: There's no picture because meatloaf just didn't photograph well.)

I took this recipe from All recipes.

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/All-Protein-Meatloaf/Detail.aspx

Recipe:

1 1/2 pounds ground beef
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 (4 ounce) can tomato sauce
1/3 cup crushed fried pork skins
2 eggs
2 1/2 tablespoons chili powder
1 tablespoon garlic salt
1 tablespoon garlic pepper seasoning

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).

In a large bowl, mix together the ground beef, Worcestershire sauce. tomato sauce, crushed pork skins, and eggs. Season with chili powder, garlic salt, and garlic pepper. Mix until well blended. Form into a loaf, and place into a greased loaf pan.

Bake, uncovered for 35 to 40 minutes in the preheated oven. Let stand for at least 5 minutes before slicing and serving.

Spicy Steak Salad

My mission - To explore strange new leftovers, to seek out new foods and new ideas, to boldly go where no wife has gone before... Okay, I admit it I saw the new Star Trek and it rocked.

Putting aside my inner Geek and pocket protector, I've got a new original low carb recipe. This recipe is sort of all in one meal which solves two of my problems - what to do with leftovers and how to make a fast dinner 'cause I don't feel like cookin'.


Ingredients:

Leftover flank steak (previously marinated)
3 stalks of chopped celery
1 1/2 sliced avocados
One package of chopped lettuce
Oil and vinegar salad dressing
Shredded Parmesan cheese

Here's what I did:

I took my leftover flank steak and chopped it into small pieces. Chopped up the other veggies and dumped into a bowl. Added lettuce and mixed well. Now if you're not on a low carb diet, you can throw in plenty of other vegetables. Once that's mixed I added the salad dressing and mixed again. Topped with shredded Parmesan and you have an easy dinner in under 15 minutes.

This is a great recipe for summer when it's too hot to turn on the stove or oven.

Low Carb Crock Pot Chicken

Happy Thursday! Here's a great recipe for Sunday dinners. It's both low calorie and low carb.

Take 4lbs of chicken quarters
Add one can of chicken broth
1/2 a bottle of salad marinade

For the salad marinade you can use Italian or you can be daring and use your favorite type of marinade dressing. Cook on high in your crock pot for 4 to 5 hours.

Salmon in two steps

Do your kids like to eat fish? I've always wondered if every other kid grew up eating fish nearly twice a week. Of course, most kids aren't raised by a Scandinavian grandmother five blocks from a fish market. As a result of the forced fish feeding, I stayed away from it for about ten years. But now that I'm married and Ken likes it, I find myself cooking it regularly. Here's my very easy recipe for making Salmon.

Take one salmon fillet -









and squeeze half of a lemon over the whole thing. Top with seafood spices. I prefer this spice over lemon and herb because it enhances the flavor of the salmon. For a large fillet, bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes. You can broil it for less time but the salmon won't be as moist.

London Broil (Flank Steak)

The theme for this week is easy entrees. Here's a recipe from my grandmother's kitchen. It's an easy recipe so you can teach this one to your kids with no trouble.

Ingredients:
One packet of Steak Marinade
Flank Steak


Instructions:

Mix marinade (as instructions dictate)
in a plastic Ziplock bag
Marinade flank steak for two hours (in the fridge)
Broil flank steak on both sides (approximately 15 minutes on each side)

How long you cook the flank steak is really up to you. Ken likes his medium rare so I only cooked it about 25 minutes altogether.

I need to clean my oven. It keeps setting off the smoke detector...

Easy Chicken

Part of me really wants to start taking bets on how long Senor Whiny Pants will stay on his Atkins diet...but that would a little evil and unsupportive.

While I'm fighting off the urge to give in to my inner Dr. Evil, here's the easiest low carb chicken recipe I've ever seen. (Check out Allrecipes for more recipes like this one.)

INGREDIENTS

4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
4 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons chicken bouillon granules


DIRECTIONS

Melt butter and stir in bouillon granules. When it's melted together, add chicken and brown, turning often. Cook for about 20 minutes, or until chicken is cooked through and juices run clear.

This recipe was fast and the chicken tasted so yummy! Maybe low-carb isn't so bad...

Turkey Burgers with a Kick

In keeping with our low carb theme of the week, I created my own Turkey Burger recipe.

1lb ground turkey
1 cup chopped onion
2 chopped green onions
1 package taco seasoning
3 slices avocado
1 slice Monterrey Jack cheese
2 slices of lettuce

Mix and grill! Top with cheese and avocado. Serve on a slice of crisp lettuce. It's a low carb way to get your burger cravings satisfied. :)

Catfish a la Chris

I always wondered what would happen if you showed up the grocery store right before closing time. Turns out there's no secret party or Kevin Smith-esque type people wandering around. Instead there's a fundamental lack of whatever you're looking for and the clerks are putting the rest of the good stuff away. (But hey you can wear your sweats cause no one else is there!)

I had planned to cook salmon for Senor Whiny Pants but alas there was none insight. He started eating an Atkins diet this week so baked salmon would have been an easy dinner. Instead, he had to settle for "Catfish a la Chris". (The funny part here is that I've never actually cooked catfish before :) Note: There are tons of recipes out there for breaded catfish but they aren't necessarily Atkin's friendly.

Here's what I did:

3 tablespoons of olive oil
2 tablespoons of lemon and herb seasoning
3 squirts of Lime juice (optional)
Two shakes of salt and pepper

Cook catfish for approximately 15 minutes on a high temperature. I used my electric fry pan because I have a cover that fits and it helps me keep the smoke detectors from going off....