Eyes of My Heart

What's for dinner?

Here's the last couple of nights in review:

Pepper Steak, Roasted Red Potatoes and garlic, green beans and onions...easy and delicious! I crushed peppercorns with mortar and pestle and embedded them in some top sirloin, seared on each side and then baked in a 400 oven for about 12 minutes. The potatoes were drizzled in olive oil (as were the unpeeled garlic cloves) and roasted in same oven for an hour. The green beans were boiled for a  few minutes and then tossed with some sauteed onions and olive oil. The steak sauce, by the way, went untouched.

We had company for dinner and I was so embarassed that I was taking a picture of my food for my blog that I did it hastily and as you can see, poorly. But the taste was very bloggable! The chicken was simple. I grilled it in my George Foreman grill (love love love my GF) and topped with some sauteed  cherry tomatoes, garlic and fresh basil. I served it with brown rice (sauteed with garlic and onion before steaming). I roasted broccoli, zucchini, red bell pepper and more garlic in a  400 oven for about half an hour. I put the rice and veggies in a pan and covered them with cheese sauce (4 tablespoons of butter and a tablespoon of olive oil mixed with a half cup of flour over medium heat, then 2 cups of hot milk blended over the heat until smooth and then 1/2 cup of grated parmesan blended in). I baked that for 15 minutes. YUMMY! (And Hubby ate ALL of his vegetables!)

Orzo, corn and red bell pepper salad

I made this salad for a fourth of July party and forgot to take a picture of it before we left. I knew I wanted to blog about it because a) it is so delicious b) it's  so colorful (the picture just doesn't cut it. nope.) and c) it takes so much work! Actually, C) is only true if like me, you don't own a grill and try to grill five ears of corn together on a greased George Foreman grill - a comedy act, to be sure. It really is worth the steps of roasting the bells and grilling the onions and corn. Here's what the leftovers looked like when I came home (I doubled the recipe.)along with the recipe from Cooking Light magazine. I threw in a bunch of feta cheese as well. Enjoy!

Orzo, corn and red bell pepper salad

Ingredients       

2 red bell peppers

1 cup uncooked orzo (rice-shaped pasta)

3 tablespoons extravirgin olive oil, divided    

3 ears shucked corn 

1 medium red onion, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch-thick slices

Cooking spray   

1/4 cup thinly sliced green onions

1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley    

3 tablespoons white wine vinegar    

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper    

1 jalapeño pepper, minced    

1 garlic clove, minced

           

Preparation

Preheat broiler.

Cut bell peppers in half lengthwise; discard seeds and membranes. Place pepper halves, skin sides up, on a foil-lined baking sheet; flatten with hand. Broil 15 minutes or until blackened. Place in a zip-top plastic bag; seal. Let stand 15 minutes. Peel and chop.

Prepare grill to medium-high heat.

Cook orzo according to package directions, omitting salt and fat. Drain. Place orzo in a large bowl; drizzle with 1 tablespoon oil. Cool slightly.

Place corn and red onion on grill rack coated with cooking spray; grill 5 minutes or until lightly browned, turning occasionally. Cut kernels from ears of corn; chop red onion. Add bell pepper, corn, red onion, 2 tablespoons oil, green onions, and remaining ingredients to orzo. Toss gently to combine.

Yield

8 servings (serving size: about 2/3 cup)

Nutritional Information

CALORIES 180(30% from fat); FAT 5.9g (sat 0.9g,mono 3.9g,poly 0.7g); PROTEIN 5g; CHOLESTEROL 0.0mg; CALCIUM 15mg; SODIUM 302mg; FIBER 2.8g; IRON 1.3mg; CARBOHYDRATE 28.6g

Just loafin around....

I made a deeeelicious meatloaf last night and just had to share. It's from the Whole Foods Market website - a great source for recipes, by the way. I will share their recipe with you but I didn't follow it exactly. I hadn't any carrots in the house. Well, none worth using. My hubby hates carrots. I know. Weird. (Sorry, honey) I used two and a half pounds of beef. I also used smashed garlic croutons instead of cracker crumbs. AND, I have discovered the joy of chopped onions from the freezer section. Yay!! I found them on sale for only 50 cents a bag so I don't feel too guilty for indulging in the convenience.

Enjoy. I can't wait to make a cold meatloaf sandwich!

Traditional Meat Loaf

• 2 lb lean ground beef
• 1/2 cup rice cracker crumbs
• 1 small onion, cut in half (optional for 1/2 the onion)
• 1 cup grated carrots
• 1 egg
• 1 can (15 oz) tomato sauce, divided
• 2 to 3 tsp gluten-free mustard (yellow or Dijon)
• 1 TB gluten-free Worcestershire sauce
• 1 to 11/2 tsp sea salt
• freshly ground black pepper
• 2 tsp natural brown sugar

Ingredient options: use bread crumbs instead of rice cracker crumbs if you do not require a gluten-free version.

Preheat oven to 400°F.

Dice half of the onion and if desired, thinly slice the other half to go over the top of the loaf.

Spray or oil a 9-inch loaf pan.

   

In large bowl, combine ground beef, bread or cracker crumbs, diced onion, grated carrots, egg, 1/4 cup of tomato sauce, mustard, Worcestershire, salt and pepper to taste.

Transfer to prepared loaf pan. If desired, lay sliced onions over the top of the meatloaf. Combine remaining tomato sauce with brown sugar. Pour over the top of onions or directly over the meatloaf. Bake for 11/4 to 11/2 hours or until done.

Nutrition Info

Per serving (279g-wt.): 270 calories (60 from fat), 7g total fat, 2.5g saturated fat, 36g protein, 17g total carbohydrate (2g dietary fiber, 7g sugar), 115mg cholesterol, 980mg sodium

Mashed potatoes and carrots

I have reached a saturation point with processed foods. All of them. I am ravenous for God's perfect foods. They are an amazing gift and maybe it's my suspected (ohpleasewhenwillIknowforsureitsmakingmecarzynottoknow) pregnancy, but truly, I can't get enough fruits and veggies right now. Or protein. Or cooking. I made smoothies and bran muffins for breakfast and then noshed on fresh cherries and apricots. I made a fresh basil pesto for our grilled chicken for lunch and I alone ate 2/3 of a large bag of edamame to go with it. I drank a quart of strawberry lemonade this afternoon after woozily (and a bit queasily!) making my way throughout the grocery store (I am so EXHAUSTED - if I'm not pregnant, there's something wrong). And for dinner I baked some Copper River Salmon and served it with a lettuce salad with apricots (and goddess dressing) and these mashed potatoes and carrots. I don't know about you, (Shucks,  I don't even know who you are, except you - Hi Mom and you - Hi Nana. And - oh, honey, is that you? I didn't even know you read my blog - er, we'll talk later). Anyway, I don't know about most of you, but I LOVe mashed potatoes. I love them skin-on, loads of butter, heavy cream, garlic and horseradish - intense and oh, so bad for you. Well, usually. But, today I made them with no milk or cream and a mere tablespoon of butter for the lot. Instead I used the cooking liquid! And they were soooooo very good. I loved the sweetness of the carrots with the subtle bite of the garlic. It's nice not to feel heavy afterwards, too. And it looks pretty, too. My husband, who hates carrots said these were the best mashed pots he's ever had. Here's the recipe:

Mashed potatoes and carrots

3 medium potatoes, scrubbed peeled and cut into two inch chunks
3 medium carrots, ditto above
2 cloves of garlic, peeled
1 tablespoon of butter
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper

Put the veggies in the pot and cover with water plus just 1/2 inch. Bring to a boil. Cover and reduce heat to low and cook until soft. Drain, reserving the cooking liquid. If there is more than 1/2 cup of liquid, boil it down some more). Put veggies, 1/2 cup of liquid, butter, salt and pepper in food process and puree for just a bit, until combined. There should be some small bits of carrot still visible. Serve. Enjoy!

Yummy turkey chili

I love to cook. I'm relatively new at it, having grown up on such fare as Spaghetti-os, fast food and frozen dinners. That was always fine by me - I looooved Spaghetti-os! But when I got married, I was determined to please my man in the kitchen and I put great effort into challenging myself with new recipes and pouring myself into gourmet cookbooks. I've discovered a tremendous sensual pleasure in the sights, smells, and tastes of food as well as the tactile joys of preparation. Now that I am a new mother, however, I've had to compromise and make use of two invaluable appliances: the crockpot and the breadmaker. It' s about ease, at least for awhile. My mom and I started exchanging recipes via snailmail a while ago and now that she is finally online, this is for her. Hi, Mom.

(By the way, if you are a real foodie you need to visit Kate.)

The cupboard is getting bare again and I need to use my ground turkey so that makes it chili night. The nice thing about chili is that it is so fixable if I don't get the spice balance right the first time.  My husband LOVES this recipe - could be the beer and the chocolate. I pulled this off the internet so long ago that I can't find it to give credit where it's due but I never really stuck with that recipe verbatim anyway. As I recall, it called for liquid smoke and habanero peppers and I just never got around to buying any. I've never used liquid smoke - is it good?

First, I saute' a chopped onion and a few garlic cloves in some olive oil. A bell pepper would be nice but I don't have any today. Then I brown the meat and throw it all in a crock pot together with about a tablespoon of chili powder, some red pepper flakes, 1/2 Tbsp each of paprika and cumin, a teaspoon of oregano, salt and pepper, some beer, some hot cocoa mix, a litle worcestershire, a can of tomatoes, small can of green chiles, small can tomato sauce and a can of white beans (that's all I have - kidney is preferable, I'm sure).  I threw some whole wheat bread in the breadmaker and voila! Oh - and just before serving I squeeze in some Sriracha sauce and garnish with cheese. Yum.

A chocolate chip cookie without rival...

       

	My husband bought me the Neiman Marcus cookbook when we first got married. It has wonderful recipes, not the least of which is this recipe for the BEST chocolate chip cookies I have ever tasted. I love my tried and true Fanny Farmer recipe for quantity but when I want to impress and delight foks, this is it. And by the way, the espresso powder is crucial. NEIMAN MARCUS CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened 1 cup light brown sugar 3 tablespoons granulated sugar 1 large egg 2 teaspoons vanilla extract 1-3/4 cups all purpose flour 1/2 teaspoon baking powder 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 teaspoon salt 1-1/2 teaspoons instant espresso coffee powder 1-1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips Directions 1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Cream the butter with the sugars using an electric mixer on medium speed until fluffy (approximately 30 seconds)     2. Beat in the egg and the vanilla extract for another 30 seconds.     3. In a mixing bowl, sift together the dry ingredients and beat into the butter mixture at low speed for about 15 seconds. Stir in the espresso coffee powder and chocolate chips.     4. Using a 1 ounce scoop or a 2 tablespoon measure, drop cookie dough onto a greased cookie sheet about 3 inches apart. Gently press down on the dough with the back of a spoon to spread out into a 2 inch circle. Bake for about 20 minutes or until nicely browned around the edges. Bake a little longer for a crispier cookie.     Yield:   2 dozen cookies