Balsamic Stuffed Flank Steak

We completely forgot about our Sam's Club membership... and as I was cleaning out our home office a few months ago, low and behold my Sam's Club card!  Now, you may ask, how do you forget you have a membership to Sam's Club?  Because my mom and dad have me on their membership at no extra-cost and they added me a lifetime ago when I started out as a freshmen in college.  I never found it convenient to shop at Sam's then because my mini fridge/microwave dorm combination was certainly not large enough to hold the incredibly large sizes of food.  Except for the pizza rolls I used to indulge in at the time.  Maaayyybe that explains the "freshmen 25" yes, 25.  Some folks get the freshmen 10, I gained about 25 lbs in 3 months.  Not good, not good at all.  I digress.

So, we've started purchasing some meats and produce at Sam's Club and balancing out with Whole Foods for a smarter more wallet friendly approach to eating healthy.  Last week they some stellar deals on flank steaks and bell peppers and I wasn't in the mood for fajitas.  This stuffed flank steak does not take much effort and is great for company!

Servings: 4

Ingredients:

• 1 lb Flank Steak
• 1 Tbsp minced garlic
• 1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 1/4 c. rough chopped sundried tomatoes
• 1/2 chopped orange or yellow bell pepper
• 1/2 chopped small red onion
• 1/2 c. chopped baby spinach
• 1 tsp Italian Seasoning
• 4 basil leaves finely chopped or 1/2 tsp dried basil
• Twine

Directions:

1) Preheat oven to 375F

2) Butterfly fillet the flank steak so it looks like an "open book".  

3) Mix all of the ingredients, except the flank steak & twine in a bowl

4) Place the mix onto the flank steak

5) Roll your flank steak into a log and bundle it up with the twine.  Nothing intricate, just tightly double knot the strings along the length of the log roll.

6) Place the steak in the oven for 40 minutes.  

7) After 40 minutes, switch the oven over to broil to give a the steak roll a crispy crust on the outside while keeping the inside tender and juicy.  Broil for 5 minutes.  Pull out the steak and let it sit for a few minutes before slicing and serving. 

Italian Sirloin Burgers

Ingredients: 1 lb sirloin, 1/4 medium onion chopped, 1 Tbsp minced garlic, 1/4 cup chopped sundried tomatoes, 1 egg, 1/2 c up chopped spinach, 4 basil leaves chopped, 1/2 cup dairy free/regular shredded cheese, 1 tsp italian seasoning.

Instructions: Mix it all up, roll into balls, press into patties, and grill to preferred doneness.

Dark Chocolate Martini

Dark Chocolate Martini

After taking the MPRE, a slice of chocolate cake is what my taste buds were craving.  But alas, short on time for baking as it's summer time and boating season AND there's that whole gluten issue.  Needless to say, I can't just stop at the local bakery anymore for chocolate heaven.  Dark chocolate martini to the rescue!

Ingredients

• Chocolate & Caramel Syrup (optional)
• 1.5 oz Godiva Dark Chocolate Liquer
• 1 oz Kahlua
• 1.5 oz Smirnoff Vanilla
• Shaker full of ICE

Instructions

1. Drizzle syrup around glass.  Best method - hold bottle and spin glass around.  Or, lazy method - pour syrups into a dollop at the bottom of the glass.
2. Pour all liquor ingredients into shaker & shake, shake, shake, senora!  Shake it all the time!
3. Pour martini into glass and enjoy.

Cinnamon & Dark Chocolate Chunk Peanut Butter Cookies (Low carb)

I am a HUGE peanut butter addict.  By addict, I mean not only do I have a Sam's Club size jar at home, I keep a jar of peanut butter at my desk in a drawer and eat it with a spoon.  Mm Mm.  Now, typically peanut butter cookies around around 200 to 300 calories.  The calories and carbs in these little guys have been dramatically reduced by using Truvia instead of sugar, EggBeaters instead of a whole egg, and dark chocolate instead of milk chocolate.  I believe these are safe to eat in later stages of Atkins or other low-carb diets, but really, I just enjoy peanut butter and it would not be healthy for me to eat 3 normal cookies in one sitting.

Servings: 24 cookies

Nutrition Per Cookie: 110 cal, 9 g fat, 7 g carbs, 1 g fiber, and 4 g protein.

Ingredients

• 1.5 cups creamy Peanut Butter
• 5 Tbsp Egg Beaters
• 1/3 Cup Truvia Sugar Blend
• 1 tsp Cinnamon
• 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
• 3 Tbsp Dark Chocolate Chunks

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350F and place wax paper on 2 cookie sheets sheets (much easier clean up and 2  sheets for 24 cookies means they all go in the oven at once, not 2 separate batches)
2. In a mixer, pour all ingredients & blend.  Scrape edges down and blend again until all ingredients are blended.
3. Roll out into Tbsp sized balls and press flat with a fork
4. Bake in oven for 14 minutes
5. Remove cookie sheets from oven and let cookies cool and harden.  (they will be very soft immediately upon removing from oven)
6. Grab a glass of milk, coffee, Bailey's.... beverage of your choice and enjoy a little bit of peanut butter heaven!

Cornbread Enchilada Chili

Well, today certainly has been a day full of posting on the blog.  I must be procrastinating… AND we ate in all weekend, so more recipes to share.  But seriously, anyone have any advice on making Constitutional Law a bit more interesting.  After taking Crim Law and Torts last semester, I’m having a hard time focusing on Con Law.  Without a real “serious” ok.. maybe serious isn’t the right word… how about bodily injury, I’m really struggling to get into the cases.  There’s nothing to really pull me into the plaintiff or defendants’ issues and I have a hard time visualizing the case.  I think that’s part of the reason I did so well last year, both classes were very graphic and I’m a visual learning (engineer by trade, remember).  So, you’ll see me creating flow charts, tables, graphs, and pictures to remember cases and holdings.

Anywho, on to the food part here.  This was really just a mixing that turned out well.  We knew what we kind of wanted (Mexican in the slow cooker… with corn bread).  And a few years back I did an amazing cornbread, but forgot to save the recipe! And it wasn’t in my photographic memory bank either, JK.. about the photographic memory, not about remembering the recipe.  I could only wish for that kind of a memory.  So, we just bought ingredients in the Mexican aisle that we though sounded good and mixed it up for this tasty concoction.  Seriously, not too shabby what so ever!

Ingredients:

• 1 lb Ground Turkey (or beef)
• 1 tsp Garlic, Minced
• 1/2 tsp Montreal Steak Seasoning (or any other seasoning for the meat, taco seasoning could work too… but I’m addicted to Montreal Steak Seasoning)
• 1/2 – 1 Can Black Beans, rinsed & drained
• 1/2 – 1 Can Fire Roasted Tomatoes with Green Chilies, Diced
• 1 Small Can Green Chilies
• 1/2 – 1 Can Sweet Yellow Corn
• 1/2 – Red Bell Pepper, Chopped
• 1/2 – Medium Sweet Onion, Chopped
• 1 Can Red Enchilada Sauce
• 1 Jiffy Cornbread Package
• 1 Egg
• 1/3 Cup Milk

• NOTE: The ingredients above are for a 4.5 qt crockpot, for a 7 qt – just use the full cans of all of the veggies and all of the pepper and onion.

Directions:

• Step 1: Over medium-high heat, cook the ground turkey with the garlic and seasoning until well done and fully ground up.
• Step 2: In a small (4.5 qt) crock pot, add in all of the canned items and the chopped pepper and onion.
• Step 3: Mix in the cooked turkey into the slow cooker
• Step 4: Add the enchilada sauce and mix everything in slow cooker thoroughly
• Step 5: Follow the cornbread package instructions using the egg and milk and create the bread mix.
• Step 6: Pour the cornbread on top of the crockpot mix and mix it in gently, so that it goes down about 1/3 – 1/2 way down into the meat mixture but still the majority of it is laying on top.
• Step 7: Cook on high for 2 hours until the chili has been boiling for a while then set to low for at least another 2 hours.   At this point it should be fully ready to serve.

Cauliflower & Cheese Soup

Another one of those Friday night, non slow cooker meals that isn’t overly filling.  And a batch lasts for a few days with only 2 people under one roof.  With kids, it could last a couple of days.  We’ve gotten about 8 servings out of it.  BUT we did make this part of a filling dinner with an English Pot Roast and veggies as the main course, this was just a starter.  But for the rest of the weekend, this has been my post workout lunch.  And if I added up my calories right, it’s only about 150 calories per serving.  Yes, now that I know I can achieve academic success, time to up the ante.  This term taking 10 credits instead of 7-8 (so that’s 3 good classes: Property, Constitutional Law, and International Commercial Arbitration).  AND still working.. AND this time around, putting gym time at least 3-4 days of the week back into my schedule.  Before law school, I went at least a couple times during the week.  Even when I used to travel for work, I’d spend all week at the hotel gym or at a local gym by the hotel.   So, I think to get back into a healthy lifestyle, we just can’t eat healthy foods, have to work out a bit too.

So a fun tidbit about cauliflower – I STILL hate eating it cold and I used to hate it 100% as a kid.  I’ve come to like it cooked, either mashed like mashed potatoes, steamed with cheese, and in soup!  So if you have kids that hate it as much I did (and still do somewhat), this recipe could be a winner.

Ingredients:

• 1 tsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 1/2 Small Sweet Onion, Diced
• 1 tsp Garlic, Minced
• 1 Cauliflower Head, Chopped
• 4 Cups Water
• 4 tsp Chicken Bouillon Powder
• 1 – 1.5 Cups Shredded Cheese (I used a mix of Sharp Cheddar and Swiss… most recipes usually call for yellow or white cheddar)
• 1/2 tsp Cayenne Pepper

Directions:

• Step 1 – Over medium heat, warm a large sauce pan or larger pot and heat the olive oil.
• Step 2 – Add in onion and garlic
• Step 3 – After a few minutes, add in the cauliflower.  Cook for about 10 minutes until cauliflower is nice and tender.
• Step 4 – Add in the water and chicken powder.  Bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer and cook for about 15-20 minutes total.
• Step 5 – Either using an immersion blender or pouring the soup into a regular blender, puree the soup.
• Step 6 – Add the soup back into the pot and bring to a boil then reduce heat again
• Step 7 – Add in the shredded cheese into the soup and thoroughly mix in and let the cheese melt and blend into the soup.

• Step 8 – Lastly, time for the spice!  Add in the cayenne pepper.  1/2 tsp is family friendly… we used more like 1 tsp maybe more for a better kick!  And you can add in other spices too.
• Step 9 – Ready to Serve!!

Slow Cooker Tater Tot Breakfast Casserole

So, I’m posting this one about a month after I made it.  Classes started back up 2 weeks ago, work started 2.5 weeks ago, and Christmas break flew by much too quickly.   But this had great reviews at work AND my parents were all about it too.  So definitely thought this was worth posting.  But the awesome news I do have to share is that last semester I finally got my academic mojo back.   It felt great to finally score some darn good grades in a couple of classes and it proves that you can work and go to class AND do well!  And me married, have a few pets, be involved with the community, and do well at work still!  Just saying, I was starting to loose faith, but really I just had to focus a little better.  And taking a week off of work before finals to just focus on studying, that helped a lot too!

Ingredients:

• (1) 32 oz Bag Frozen Tater Tots
• 6 slices of Bacon
• 1 lb Ground Beef or Turkey (I used turkey)
• Cooking Spray
• 1/2 large Green Bell Pepper, Chopped
• 1/2 large Red Bell Pepper, Chopped
• 1 Medium Onion, Chopped
• 12 Large Eggs
• 1 Cup Whipping Cream
• 1 tsp Salt
• 1 tsp Pepper

Directions:

• Step 1 – Fry up the bacon in a cooking pan until nice & crunchy.  Drain the grease off & blot the grease off the bacon with paper towel.
• Step 2 – Cook the ground beef/turkey in a pan on the stove over medium-high heat.  Once it’s browned the whole way through, it’s ready as well.
• Step 3 – Once the bacon is cooled down, crumble it into smaller pieces.
• Step 4 – Spray the bottom of the crock pot, so that the  tater tots don’t stick.
• Step 5 – Layer the tater tots at the bottom of the crock pot.

• Step 6 – Layer the bacon crumbles and ground beef/turkey over the tater tots

• Step 7 – Over the meet, layer the vegetables (peppers and onions).  Then follow up with the shredded cheese.
• Step 8 – In a large bowl, mix the 12 eggs with 1 cup cream, salt, and pepper until thoroughly mixed and all the yolks are broken.

• Step 9 – Lastly, pour the eggs mixture over the layers. It will look like the eggs all sunk to the bottom.  I doubted that it would be enough… surprise!  They fluff right up to the top!
• Step 10 – Turn the slow cooker on low for 8 hours.  PERFECT for cooking overnight and having a warm breakfast ready to go in the morning.
• Sadly, I didn’t get a “finished” picture at the end of this… since we ate all this up at work.  So hopefully, next time I make this at home I will remember!