Asian Beef Lettuce Wraps

Not sure how it came to be Wednesday already.  Where does the time go?  We have so many things going on right now it is no wonder I don't remember the days.  We are in the midst of a bathroom renovation. The demo is complete and now it is time to put everything back together. We started car shopping.  I forgot how much I HATE car shopping.  And then there is the real work stuff with trips in and out of Cleveland every other week. 

With everything going on I am all about quick and easy these days. Oh yes, recipes must also not use the oven.  Connecticut is still hot and humid.  These Asian Beef Lettuce wraps were a way to use up some ground beef without making burgers.  The result was an easy recipe with amazing flavor.  It was a great new week day meal to switch things up a bit. Filling but not too heavy in your stomach. We made it for dinner but you could easily have smaller portions for party appetizers.  

Asian Beef Lettuce Wraps

by Emily Morris

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes

Keywords: saute entree appetizer ground beef Chinese

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Ingredients (serves 4)

• 16 leaves Boston Bibb lettuce
• 1 lb lean ground beef
• 1 tablespoon cooking oil
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 2 fresh garlic cloves, minced
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1⁄4 cup Hoisin sauce
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
• 1 bunch green onion, chopped
• 2 teaspoons sesame oil

Instructions

Rinse whole lettuce leaves and pat dry, being careful not tear them. Set aside.

In a medium skillet over high heat, brown the ground beef in 1 tablespoon of oil, stirring often. Drain, and set aside to cool.

Cook the onion in the same pan, stirring frequently. Add the garlic, soy sauce, Hoisin sauce, ginger, vinegar, and chili pepper sauce to the onions, and stir. Stir in chopped green onions, and sesame oil, and continue cooking until the onions just begin to wilt, about 2 minutes.

To plate, arrange lettuce leaves on plate and pile meat mixture in the center. Serve with rice if desired. Wrap the lettuce around the meat like a burrito.

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Cheeseburger Kebabs #secretrecipeclub

This month for the Secret Recipe Club I had Sarah from Things I Make (for Dinner).  I know Sarah from another blogging group, ‪#‎thebookclubcookbookCC, which we just wrapped up.

Sarah lives in Canada and posts about what she makes for dinner as well as some other scrumptious recipes. She posts what she and her husband actually eat.  Same as me and Mr. J.  This is our little part of the world to share our fun in the kitchen.  Not only do we enjoy cooking together but it is much healthier and cheaper than going out every day.

When I was browsing around thinking about what to make I was pretty much sold on the peach cobbler.  Peaches are just coming into season and I cannot get enough.  I kept looking though and ultimately found this recipe for cheeseburger kebabs.  I had all of the ingredients because I was planning a cheeseburger dinner night.  Sarah's recipe looks like so much fun I had to try it. The cobbler recipe will be used soon.  So might the peanut butter cup pie.

The cheeseburger kebabs were a fun new take on an old favorite.  Also, I learned that grilled pickles are really, really good.

Cheeseburger Kebabs

by Emily Morris

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes

Keywords: grill entree

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Ingredients (serves 4)

• 1 lb ground beef
• 1/2 Spanish Onion, quartered and divided into 3 pieces per quarter
• 8 slices of pickle
• 2 slices of cheese, quartered
• 8 cherry tomatoes
• 4 wooden skewers

Instructions

Soak wooden skewers for at least 30 minutes before using.

Divide ground beef into 8 equal pieces, and form into small patties. Season well with salt and pepper.

Thread patties, pickles, onions and tomatoes on skewers.

Preheat grill to medium high. Grill well on all sides until patties are cooked through and vegetables are blistered. During the last 2 minutes of cooking, top the patties with cheese and close the grill to allow the cheese to melt slightly.

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An InLinkz Link-up

Spicy Thai Red Curry Beef #cookinglight

As I got older, married and became a mom and home owner my magazine choices shifted. No longer do I spend my time flipping through Glamour, Cosmopolitan (I really only saw this at the gym for free). Women's Health and Self.  Now I am all about This Old House, HGTV, Parent's and Cooking Light. 

Cooking Light is by far my favorite right now. I still only read magazines at the gym but with Cooking Light reading becomes a page flagging event.  Each recipe that looks good gets a little page flag and then I head to the store with my weekly meal plan getting any ingredients we don't have on hand. 

Its a good week when I have about 2-3 new recipes interwoven with the handy standby favorites. It is not unusual for me to come out with 10 plus recipes I want to try but the June issue of Cooking Light was particularly full of good looking, delicious sounding recipes.

I had a hankering for curry and when I saw their Spicy Thai Red Curry Beef recipe I knew this would be the first recipe to try.  We had all of the ingredients on hand with the exception of the peppers. I was extra excited to be able to use our fresh basil from the garden.  This recipe came together so quick. We prepped the onions and peppers ahead of time during the weekend. Come Monday night Mr. J went to work on the sauce and beef while I played with the baby.  The meal was even easier by using some leftover Chinese takeout rice.  

We also seem to have leftover Chinese takeout rice since we always order fried rice or lo mien noodles with our food.  The rice is always kept for another meal which uses rice.  

The dish was good but not too spicy. In fact making this recipe again would come with a bit of extra spice for us but we tend to like things spicy, including Miss O. 

Spicy Thai Red Curry Beef

by Emily Morris

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes

Keywords: stir-fry entree curry

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Ingredients (serves 4)

• 1 (13.5-ounce) can light coconut milk
• 4 teaspoons red curry paste
• 2 teaspoons dark brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons fish sauce
• 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
• 1 1/2 cups sliced red bell pepper
• 1 cup sliced onion
• 12 ounces beef tenderloin, thinly sliced
• 1 cup torn fresh basil leaves
• 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 2 cups hot cooked brown basmati rice
• 4 lime wedges

Instructions

Spoon coconut cream (thick layer at top of can) into a large skillet; stir in curry paste. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat.

Add remaining coconut milk, sugar, fish sauce, and red pepper; bring to a boil. Cook for 2 minutes, stirring constantly.

Add bell pepper and onion; reduce heat to medium, and simmer 4 minutes.

Add beef; cook 3 minutes or until done, stirring occasionally.

Remove pan from heat; stir in basil, lime juice, and salt. Serve beef mixture with rice and lime wedges.

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Steak with Chimichurri Sauce

This weekend was so good. Nothing special but it was full of much needed time with the family doing normal and relaxing activities together. Walking and cooking were highlights.  We spent some time planting gardens.  Surprisingly there were some herb plants from last year that survived. The parsley plant was booming with growth.  We left a majority but some of the offsprouts were removed for more room.  All of this parsley left of thinking of how we could use it in our 

We routinely use parsley in many of our potato recipes but this was a lot of parsley.  Cups and cups of parsley. Mr. J immediately wanted to make chimichurri sauce. We don't ever make this at home (probably due to the amount of parsley needed) but he likes to order it when we are out at restaurants. His favorite dishes at some of our brunch favorites are with chimichurri sauce. 

So on Sunday we set out on an epic culinary experience.  As I was meal prepping for the week Mr. J tackled this steak marinade dish and chimichurri sauce. It kind of felt like we were in the kitchen all day long. Not a bad thing in our book.  We laughed, Miss O pointed and talked, we drank wine.  For real though, the prep was done early in the day and come dinner time there was very little effort. 

The meal came together so easily in the end.  A good thing because I was already in the go, go, go mode to get all of the little things done for the week that somehow slip through the cracks on Saturday and Sunday during the day. Mr. J manned the grill. I tended the broccoli and potatoes in the kitchen.  In about 20 minutes we came back together and had a wonderful meal.  

Steak with Chimichurri Sauce

by Emily Morris

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes

Keywords: grill entree sauce summer

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Ingredients (serves 3-4)

For the steak:

• 2 skirt steaks (about 2 pounds total)
• 6 cloves garlic, finely minced or grated
• 1 tablespoon kosher salt
• 2 tablespoons fresh oregano
• 1/2 cup red wine vinegar
• 2/3 cup olive oil

For the Chimichurri Sauce:

• 2 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley
• 1/4 cup fresh oregano leaves
• 3 green onions
• 3 garlic cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
• 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• kosher salt

Instructions

Place the meat in a resealable plastic bag and add the garlic, salt, oregano, vinegar, and olive oil. Seal the bag and mix well. Marinate in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours or up to 8 hours.

To make the chimichurri sauce:

Finely mince the parsley, oregano, green onions, and garlic. Combine them in a medium bowl with the red pepper flakes, olive oil, vinegar, and lemon juice. Mix thoroughly and season with salt. This can made up to a day ahead of time.

Preheat the grill to high. Pull the steaks from the marinade and place them on the grill. 

Grill the steaks for 3 minutes on each side for medium rare. Transfer the steaks to a cutting board and let them rest for 10 minutes.

Slice the steak across the grain. Serve with a generous amount of chimichurri sauce.

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Slow Cooker Philly Cheesesteaks

Slow cooker cooking is not just for the wintertime. And with our limited cooking abilities during the kitchen renovation I am fully embracing the slow cooker in the summer. 

We made these Philly Cheese steak sandwiches last week. The prep, cooking and clean up was a breeze. It was one of those throw it all in and leave it recipes.  It was stress free and if I had more of these meals I wouldn't mind not having functioning kitchen for a couple more weeks. Just joking.  No one would ever say that or if they did they would be considered crazy in my book.  Regardless, I can see this recipe in our life even after we have a full kitchen access. 

We each had one heaping sandwich and had enough for another as leftovers. We liked to add the extra juice and let it soak into the rolls. Yum, yum. Probably not the most nutritious meal but it sure was good.

Slow Cooker Philly Cheesesteaks

by Emily Morris

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 4-7 hours

Keywords: slow-cooker sandwich steak

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Ingredients (serves 4)

• 1.5 lbs round steak, thinly sliced
• ½ tsp pepper
• ½ tsp garlic powder
• 1 onion, sliced
• 1 bell pepper, sliced
• 32 oz low-sodium beef broth
• 4 French rolls
• 12 slices of Provolone

Instructions

Rub the steak slices with pepper and garlic powder. Place in the slow cooker.

Add onion, bell pepper and beef broth. Stir to mix.

Cook on low for 5-7 hours or until meat is tender.

When the meat is done, toast open rolls for several minutes until slightly crusty.

Lay a piece of cheese on both sides of the roll.

Use tongs to remove meat, onions and bell pepper from slow cooker and pile on top of rolls.

Return to the oven to melt cheese. This will only take a few moments. Serve immediately.

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Irish Beef Stew

There is nothing like going into a liquor store when you are about to have a baby any day. People will look at you funny. Even if you are with your husband. Even if you don't carry a thing.  

Along with our fudgy Irish Cream Brownies we made Irish Beef Stew for dinner as our tribute to all things Irish in honor of St. Patrick's Day.  

Mr. J wanted to be authentic so out we went to get some Guinness. Now I am not drinking but even if I did I would never ever want a full bottle of Guinness. Our goal was simple, find one bottle of Guinness for the stew and no more. I don't know about where you live but around Connecticut many of the liquor stores sell single bottle of beer. You can buy one or mix and match your own four or six pack. The key is finding the beer you want. Well luck was on our side because the first stop had one bottle of Guinness Original Stout waiting for us. 

A dinner like this takes some time and effort. Lots of chopping and time to simmer.  In the end though it is completely worth the wait.  The stew was full of rich taste and was enough to feed an army. We had some bread for dipping as well. Although I will never understand the infatuation with drinking Guinness, I will say those Irish know a thing or two about their beef stew.

Irish Beef Stew

by Emily Morris

Prep Time: 25 minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour and 45 minutes

Keywords: soup/stew St. Patrick's Day

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Ingredients (serves 6-8)

• 1 1/4 pounds well-marbled chuck beef stew meat, cut into 1 1/2-inch chunks
• 3 teaspoons of salt (more to taste)
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 6 large garlic cloves, minced
• 4 cups beef stock or broth
• 1 cup of Guinness extra stout
• 1 cup of hearty red wine
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 tablespoon dried thyme
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 pounds russet potatoes, peeled, cut into 1/2-inch pieces (about 5 cups)
• 1 large onion, chopped (1 1/2 to 2 cups)
• 2 cups 1/2-inch pieces peeled carrots (3 to 4 carrots)
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

Instructions

Sprinkle about a teaspoon of salt over the beef pieces. Heat the olive oil in a large (6 to 8 quart), thick-bottomed pot over medium-high heat. Pat dry the beef with paper towels and working in batches, add the beef and cook, without stirring, until nicely browned on one side, then use tongs to turn the pieces over and brown on another side.

Add garlic to the pot with the beef and sauté 30 seconds or until fragrant. Add the beef stock, water, Guinness, red wine, tomato paste, sugar, thyme, Worcestershire sauce, and bay leaves. Stir to combine. Bring mixture to a simmer and then reduce heat to the lowest setting, then cover and cook at a bare simmer for 1 hour, stirring occasionally.

While the pot of meat and stock is simmering, melt the butter in another pot over medium heat. Add the onions and carrots. Sauté the onions and carrots until the onions are golden, about 15 minutes. Set aside until the beef stew in step 2 has simmered for one hour.

Add the onions, carrots, and the potatoes to the beef stew. Add black pepper and salt to taste. Simmer uncovered until vegetables and beef are very tender, about 40 minutes. 

Before serving discard the bay leaves and tilt pan and spoon off any excess fat. Sprinkle with parsley and serve.

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Carne Asada Pizza

Right now I am all about Italian and Mexican cuisine. Mainly, pizza and meatballs or Chipotle. I could pretty much eat only those things for a month and be happy. Because Chipotle is not too convenient to my house on a regular basis I have been finding ways to recreate something similar at home.  Hello guacamole!

Remember when I mentioned on the beef barbacoa post about using the leftovers as a pizza time.  Well this is not that pizza. But it did give me the inspiration to use that beef on pizza. This recipe is extremely similar in flavors but a bit more involved. It probably wouldn't be the best option on a busy weeknight. 

This pizza is full of Mexican flavors and heat.  Packed full of peppers, corn and onions and made even more hearty with flank steak.  I think it might be the steak topping but for me this is a man's man pizza. I am not a man though and I thought it was pretty dang good as well. So good in fact I wanted to make it again the next time it was pizza night. 

So here is the recipe that combined both the Italian and Mexican I cannot get enough of lately.  In my mind this was the perfect meal. 

Carne Asada Pizza

by Emily Morris

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Keywords: bake pizza

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Ingredients (1 pizza)

• 12 ounces refrigerated fresh pizza dough
• 2 small poblano peppers
• 8 ounces flank steak, trimmed
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon chipotle chile powder
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• Cooking spray
• 1 small red onion, cut into 1/2-inch-thick rings
• 1/2 cup lower-sodium marinara sauce
• 1 tablespoon adobo sauce from 1 can chipotle chiles in adobo sauce
• 1 tablespoon cornmeal
• 1 ounce part-skim mozzarella cheese, shredded (about 1/4 cup)
• 1 ounce cheddar cheese, shredded (about 1/4 cup)
• 1 ounce queso fresco, crumbled (about 1/4 cup)
• 1 cup chopped seeded tomato
• 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
• 2 tablespoons minced red onion
• 1/2 cup roasted corn
• Cilantro sprigs (optional)

Instructions

Remove dough from refrigerator and bring to room temperature, about 30 minutes.

Preheat broiler to high.

Arrange poblanos on a foil-lined baking sheet. Broil 8 minutes or until charred on all sides, turning occasionally. Wrap peppers in foil; close tightly. Let stand 15 minutes. Peel and seed peppers; discard skin, membrane, and seeds. Cut into 1/4-inch-thick strips.

Sprinkle steak with cumin, chipotle powder, and salt. Heat a grill pan over high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add steak to pan; cook 4 minutes on each side or until well marked. Let stand 10 minutes. Thinly slice steak across the grain.

Add onion rings to pan; grill 4 minutes on each side or until well marked. Place in a bowl; cover with plastic wrap. Combine marinara and adobo sauce.

Turn oven down to 425 degrees F. Sprinkle cornmeal on pizza stone/ pan.  Roll dough to fit pizza pan.

Spread sauce mixture over dough. Arrange poblanos, corn and onion slices over pizza; top with steak. Sprinkle with queso fresco. Return stone to oven; bake pizza 9 minutes or until crust is done.

Top with cilantro sprigs, if desired. Serve immediately.

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Slow Cooker Beef Barbacoa

Beef barbacoa is Mexican BBQ at its finest. The slow cooked beef in a spicy Adobo sauce can be used for tacos, burritos, nachos and as a pizza topping.

Today's recipe is super simple to put together and is super versatile in terms of what meals it can be used in to make dinner.  This week has been really hectic and stressful. Our house decided to have some major catastrophes over the holiday weekend. Thus everyday this week has been trying to figure things out and get repairs done. We are making progress but have a major hurtle still with our well water. Fingers crossed that this isn't going to cost us major $$$$. 

So back to the super easy recipe. First off it is a slow cooker recipe and well that should tell you a lot.  In the most basic steps you put the meat in the slow cooker, mix the sauce ingredients in a blend for about a minute, pour the sauce over the beef, turn on the slow cooker and wait for dinner to be done.  That's all.

I had to get the chilies in adobo sauce as an extra ingredient but everything else we had already in the pantry. 

The best part about this recipe is that it could be used for about a million different dishes. OK so maybe that is a bit of a exaggeration but it can certainly be used for a lot.  We had nachos the first night.  Pizza the next night.  And I used some for a burrito bowl for lunch. 

This recipe is a keeper for us for those busy weeks as well as those not so busy weeks just because it is that good.  Enjoy!

Slow Cooker Beef Barbacoa

by Emily Morris

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 6-8 hours

Keywords: slow-cooker entree Mexican

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Ingredients (serves 8)

• 1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
• 1/2 yellow onion
• 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
• 4 garlic cloves
• 4 teaspoons ground cumin
• 2 teaspoons oregano
• 1 teaspoon ground allspice
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 3-4 chipotle chilies in adobo sauce
• 3/4 cup beef stock
• 3-4 lb. beef chuck roast

Instructions

Trim any excess fat off the roast and place it in a slow cooker with the beef stock.

In a blender, combine vinegar, onion, lime juice, garlic, cumin, oregano, black pepper, salt, cloves, allspice and desired number of chilies and puree until smooth. Pour the sauce over the meat.

Cook on low heat for 8-10 hours or high heat for 6 hours.

Shred the meat in the juices and serve warm.

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Skirt Steak: The Master Recipe {Pass the Cook Book Club}

With the warmer temperatures we have shifted our eating habits at dinner. No longer do we want to turn the oven on for 60 minutes to have a baked pasta casserole. A quick cooking steak is just the thing to feed our hungry while not roasting our bodies. 

Alton Brown is the ultimate foodie.  He knows everything. I swear. No exaggerations. We used to watch Good Eats all the time.  It was almost too much for me with all the scientific lingo. I just want cake. I don't care so much about what ingredients makes what happen when baking. I know I should, but I don't. Mr. J however soaks it all in...and then likes to let me know three years later word for word Mr. Brown's wisdom.

With only two of us we had steak with green beans and corn for night number one.  We came back the second night with steak nachos. 

Please say I am not the only one completely obsessed with nachos. Every day I swear. Never. Gets. Old.

Writing this makes me want to make them all over again. 

I made this recipe as part of Pass the Cook Book.  In case you forgot the premise of the Pass the Cook Book Club each month a cookbook is chosen with three recipes. You pick the recipe that looks best for you and make it for the posting day. 

Skirt Steak: The Master Recipe

by Emily Morris

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes

Keywords: grill entree

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Ingredients (serves 6)

• 1 skirt steak
• 1 tbs vegetable oil
• Kosher salt
• Freshly ground black pepper

Hardware:

• Spray bottle for oil
• Cast iron skillet
• Resting rack
• Aluminum foil or large bowl

Instructions

Remove the steak from the refrigerator, pat dry and place on rack for at least 15 minutes.

Coat the surface of the meat with a thin film of oil. This will hold the salt to the meat, provide no-stick insurance, and serve as a heat conductor for all those nooks and crannies that don’t actually come in contact with the pan. The trick is to make this layer skimpy. Too much oil and the salt will wash away. Oil also likes to splatter and even burn when faced with high heat, so I say use as little as possible. A drug store spray bottle works well. Keep it set to spray, rather than stream at all times.

Season the steak on both sides liberally with kosher salt and pepper. What the heck does ‘season liberally’ mean? Truth is, most folks under season their food before cooking, which usually drives them to over salt at the table. In the case of skirt steak, I go with at least ¼ teaspoon per side.

Grind pepper onto each side (I go with half as much pepper as salt), and then use your hand to really rub the seasoning into the meat. Rubbing is the only way to make sure you have good salt-to-meat contact.

Once the massage is over, go wash your hands and allow the meat to sit for at least 5 minutes. This allows some juices to come to the meat’s surface – and those juices are what will give the steak a nice crust when seared.

Heat the pan. Place your largest cast iron skillet on the cook top over high heat. Allow 4 minutes for the pan to reach cooking heat.

Turn on your stove’s exhaust system. If you don’t have an exhaust system, open a window. Hold the steak so that the bottom of the edge hangs downright at the closet edge of the skillet and lay the steak down into the pan. This isn’t so much to prevent splat, tearing as to make sure that you get the whole thing in the pan without sliding it around. This is important because moving the meat around in those first few moments can cut down the crust production.

Leave the meat absolutely alone for 4 minutes, then flip it over and cook for another 3 minutes – uninterrupted, please. This will result in a perfectly medium rare steak.

Remove the steak from the skillet and let it rest on a resting rack for a minute, covered loosely with aluminum foil or with a large bowl. Do not skip this step.

Now, skirt steak is not a very tender piece of meat. It’s lean an fibrous and flat out tough unless you slice it correctly – meaning thing. By slicing thin across the grain, you present the prospective chewer with short muscle fibers rather than long ones, which creates a far more tender mouth feel. The problem with thin, however, is that a skirt steak is not very thick to begin with, so if you cut straight through it you end up with something that looks like meat fettuccine, which may taste good, but looks a little…weird. Thus the bias cut – across the grain. Slice the steak on an angle and you get all the short muscle fibers and great looking slices. The leftovers are delicious cold, by the way.

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If you want to become a part of the cookbook club read this post and click for the Facebook group.