Steak Salad with Roasted Redskins & Sauteed Mushrooms

My husband's 4.0 tennis team competed this past weekend in the Midwest Championships down in Indianapolis. Sadly, they were edged out of moving on to National's by the team from Michigan -- but it was really close with many third set tie breakers over the course of three days of matches. This is the third year straight that his team has won the Wisconsin title and I know they really wanted to move on, but it just wasn't in the cards. Next year, boys!

We welcomed him home from Indy with another one of my favorite summer meals, the Blackened Steak Salad. Usually I make this more than once per summer, but for some reason last night was the first time this year....and it is gooo-oooooood! I was contemplating using chicken breasts to save on cost and calories, but tenderloin steaks were on special so I decided to go for it.

The original recipe (on Epicurious.com) calls for dunking the steaks in melted butter, then dusting them in the blackening seasonings, and searing them on a blisteringly hot skillet. Last night I skipped the butter step and just pressed the seasonings on the steaks, and tossed them on a hot grill. This worked well and we of course didn't even miss the butter step, although I wouldn't exactly call them "blackened" -- more like, just "spicy".

Alongside we had my favorite Roasted Potatoes with Garlic (yes, they're from Ina -- did you really have to ask?). I was kind of in a time crunch and didn't have the full hour to roast them, so I cut them into quarters, stuck them in a 9x11 Pyrex with a little water, covered them tightly and microwaved them on hi for about 6 minutes. Then I drained them off really well, and proceeded with the recipe. This worked like a charm and shaved off a good 20 minutes of roasting time.

Another favorite and natural accompaniment are these awesome Sauteed Button Mushrooms. These are incredible with any steak, but are especially good with this salad.

We're off to enjoy a hot, steamy day at the pool. I can't believe summer is dwindling down this quickly. My son starts school next Wednesday, eeeeek!!

Happy Birthday, Ad'....and a blog award!

It's my youngest's 8th birthday today, and boy have we had fun!

The birthday girl and her favorite "friend who's a boy"!

We started the day with pancakes in our pj's at my friend Ann's house. Her son is my daughter's best "friend who's a boy" (NOT to be confused with a "boyfriend"!). It was a gorgeous summer day filled with fun and pals, AND this:

"Towering Sand Castle Cake"

I always say I'd never fit in with the Daring Bakers, and ain't it the truth. I was up to my elbows in icing and cursing a blue streak over this cake, but I have to say, I was quite pleased with how it turned out! Thank goodness her birthday only comes once a year, and lucky for me, my other two love Dairy Queen cakes! One of these fancy schmancy deals every 12 months is about enough for me. The recipe came from an issue of Family Fun Magazine. Click underneath the picture for the link!

Birthday Girl requested barbecued ribs and cheesy potatoes for her special dinner. I make this rib recipe all the time (including in the middle of winter when my son also requests the same dinner). It calls for "good quality barbecue sauce", but I'm partial to plain ol' Open Pit, so that's what I always use.

The cheesy potato recipe dates back to the mid-70's, when my mother-in-law didn't turn up to a potluck without a big batch of them. Read the recipe......it's a total throwback! It's not gourmet in the slightest but everyone loves them. I think I've given this recipe to about a dozen people in the past five years!

Chili-Rubbed Ribs

Cheesy Potatoes

Super Cheesy Potatoes
Serves: 6-8
Source: My Mother-in-Law, who probably got it out of a magazine sometime in the late '70's!

1 large bag of frozen diced hashbrown potatoes
1 medium white onion, diced
4 T. flour
1/2 stick butter, diced
1 jar (don't gag.....) Cheez Whiz (I know, I know!)
2 c. milk

Preheat oven to 375. Coat a 9x13 pan with cooking spray. Put half of the potatoes in the pan. Top with half of the diced onion, 2 T. flour, half of the diced butter, and half of the Cheez Whiz (just plop it on, don't worry about spreading it around). Repeat the layers. Pour the milk around the potatoes. Cover tightly with foil and bake for one hour. Remove the foil, stir the potatoes until well combined, and continue to bake for an additional half hour, or until potatoes are thickened, browned, and bubbly. Serve them to small children and watch them disappear!!
I'm stuffed. Ribs, cheesy potatoes, and sand castle cake.....ugh! I'm done. But before I go, I need to thank my cyberfriend Lisa from Jersey Girl Cooks for the fun YumYum Blog Award! Thank you Lisa! I'm going to pass it on tomorrow, but now I have to get my Birthday Girl and her siblings in to the bathtub and off to bed. ;-)

Grilled Chicken Kebabs with Red Onion & Mint

We're getting back to normal here in the good old 'hood, and it felt great to make a real dinner last night! This is the only picture I got; sorry it's not the best representation of how good the meal actually tasted!

Summertime sometimes equals slacking in the dinner department at our house, and this family needed 'real' food -- not the pool food (popcorn chicken, mini pizzas, and cheeseburgers) we've been munching on since mid-June!

On last night's menu was a fantastic grilled chicken recipe that I love to do in the summer. It has some Greek flavors going on - mint, oregano, and garlic - and it's great paired with a big Greek salad. We also had one of my favorite redskin potato dishes, and although the picture is not that good, these are a standby for me in the summer and people always ask for the recipe! Toasted flatbread finished off the plate.

We shared this meal and a couple of bottles of wine with friends on the patio. We told stories about our friend Brad, and although there were a few tears, it does feel like things are starting to get back to normal in our wonderful neighborhood.

Grilled Chicken Kebabs with Red Onion & Mint

Serves: 4

Source: http://www.epicurious.com

1 1/2 lbs. boneless, skinless chicken breast halves, cut into 1 inch pieces (I used thighs and they were excellent)

2 T. extra-virgin olive oil

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 t. dried mint

1 t. dried oregano

1 t. salt

1 t. ground black pepper

1 bunch fresh mint

1 red onion, cut into 1-inch pieces

Mix chicken, olive oil, garlic, mint, oregano, salt and pepper in a medium bowl. Let marinate 30 minutes (** I let mine go for about two hours).

Prepare barbecue (medium-high heat). Pull off the large mint leaves from stems. Alternate chicken, onion, and mint leaves on skewers; sprinkle with salt and pepper. Grill until chicken is just cooked through, turning occasionally, about 9 minutes. Serve alongside a big Greek Salad, Redskin Potatoes with Brown Butter, and Grilled Flatbreads.

Redskin Potatoes with Parsley & Browned Butter

Serves: 4-6

Source: I honestly have no idea but you MUST make these!

1 1/2 lbs. small redskin potatoes

1 very large pinch of chopped Italian parsley

1/2 stick butter

Salt and pepper to taste

Place the potatoes in a large skillet and add enough water to cover. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer until potatoes can be pierced with a knife, about 20 minutes. Drain potatoes and return to the same pan. Sprinkle with parsley, and drop the butter onto the potatoes. Cover the pan and reduce the heat to medium-low. Cook the potatoes for an additional 25 minutes, tossing occasionally, and watching to be sure the butter browns and doesn't burn. Transfer to a serving bowl and garnish with additional parsley if desired.

Red Curry Chicken Kebabs and Jamaican Rice with "Peas"

Happy Memorial Day, all!

What a fun family weekend, filled with great friends, food, and lots of laughs. I have to say (and I never say this), I am tired of eating! Seriously! We had three nights in a row of cooking out (and cocktailing) with friends ... brats, burgers, hotdogs, tenderloin -- all delicious! Even though today is Memorial Day, I just couldn't stomach another food served in anything resembling a bun!

Yes, I am tired of stuffing my face, but we still had to have dinner tonight. So, I took a culinary departure from the usual all American cookout -- and since I was bemoaning the fact that my jeans were (uhm, ARE) feeling tight, I decided to make an exotic but lighter grilled menu for this evening.

The main course was delicious curry marinated chicken kebabs, and they turned out great! I used a new jar of red curry paste, and it wasn't spicy at all. My kids gobbled it up; my youngest especially liked the sweet yogurt sauce that was on the side.

For a side we had Jamaican Rice and Peas -- did you know that 'peas' in Jamaica actually means beans? (This is not knowledge that I just had in my head, I actually learned this from the June issue of Food & Wine!) This dish was supposed to have a seeded Scotch bonnet chile in it, but I left that out, thinking it would be entirely too spicy for my kids. It was good, but I would definitely use the chile next time; I thought it could use a little kick.

There are so many great looking recipes in June's Food & Wine -- I'm going to do my best to demo a bunch of them! Here are the recipes from today!

Red Curry Chicken Kebabs with Minty Yogurt Sauce

8-10 Servings

Source: Food & Wine Magazine, June '08

2 T. Thai red curry paste

1/2 c. vegetable oil

Kosher Salt

2 1/2 lbs. boneless, skinless chicken breast halves, cut in 1" cubes

3/4 c. plain, low-fat yogurt

1/4 c. low-fat mayonnaise

1 T. honey

1 T. fresh lime juice

1 T. finely chopped mint

In a large bowl, mix the curry paste with the oil and 2 t. of salt. Add the chicken cubes and toss to coat. Let stand at room temperature for up to 2 hours, or cover and refrigerate overnight (this is what I did).

Light a grill. In a medium bowl, whisk the yogurt with the mayonnaise, honey, lime juice, and mint and season with salt. Thread the chicken onto skewers, leaving 1/4 inch between the cubes. Grill over moderately high heat, turning frequently, until lightly charred and cooked through, about 8 minutes. Serve the kebabs with the minty yogurt sauce on the side.

Jamaican Rice & Peas

Serves 6

2 T. canola oil

1 small onion, finely chopped

1 1/2 T. minced ginger

2 c. jasmine rice

1 15 oz. can kidney beans, drained and rinsed

1/2 Scotch bonnet or habanero chile, seeded

1 14 oz. can unsweetened coconut milk

1 1/2 c. water (I used chicken broth)

Salt and freshly ground pepper

4 scallions, thinly sliced

In a large saucepan, heat the oil. Add the onion and ginger and cook over moderate heat, stirring, until softened, about 5 minutes. Add the rice and cook, stirring, until coated with the oil. Stir in the kidney beans and Scotch bonnet, then stir in the coconut milk and water. Season with salt and pepper and bring to a boil. Cover and cook over low heat until the rice is tender and the liquid is absorbed, 18 minutes.

Remove the rice from the theat and let stand, covered, for 5 minutes. Fluff with a fork. Stir in the scallions and season with salt and pepper. Discard the Scotch bonnet and serve.

Mmmmm....Sesame Beef & the World's Most Delicious COOKIES!

I've found it. The perfect kid dinner -- straightforward and simple, yet nutritious, easy to prepare, and pretty on the plate (all priorities for me, of course!).

We started with a dish I've made before, the Sesame Beef and Scallion Kebabs. Something interesting: the original recipe calls for 'boneless shell steak'. Hhhhm....never heard of it before. Took that idea to my favorite butcher and he'd never heard of it either. He asked around the meat counter and one other butcher (a transplant from New York) said, "Oh yeah! A boneless shell steak is the same thing as a boneless New York Strip!"

Well, while my butcher friend was asking around, I had my eye on the boneless sirloin steaks in front of me that were 7.99/lb. I thought that sounded pretty darned reasonable! When butcher guy came back with the New York Strip idea, those suckers were 12.99/lb., and I had to draw the line. I knew I was going to marinade the meat for at least three hours, so I figured, 'how bad can it be?!'

Glad I went with my instinct and sided with my pocketbook. The boneless sirloin was outstanding; I even over cooked it a little bit past my favorite medium-rare stage, and the skewers still came out great. Three hours in the marinade bought me a little forgiveness I guess. Here's the link: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/12725

Next I made a favorite of mine - Orzo and Rice Pilaf with Vegetables. I know you guys are thinking, 'another rice dish?! Does this girl make other sides?!' I promise, this will be the last rice dish I blog on for another little while. Just want to share this one because I've made this many, many times and it never fails. It goes well with nearly anything on the grill, it's simple and yummy, but upscale enough to serve to guests (and believe me, I have!).

Another side: simple roasted asparagus. Not complicated, not groundbreaking, you've all done it before so I'm not going to attempt to wax poetic on my basic roasted asparagus. But, my kids ate it up and it looked gorgeous on the plate!

Lastly, the cookies. Oh lordy, the cookies! You all know by now that I am no baker. These cookies are probably the least daring thing a baker could possibly attempt! I'm not even that big of sweets fan, but I just loved these; so did my kids, and seven or eight neighbor kids as well! I'm only going to give you the link, because I followed the recipe to the letter, with the exception of adding 1 1/2 cups of M&Ms instead of 12 oz of chocolate chips.

All of the recipes can be found on Epicurious. They are titled as follows: Sesame Been and Scallion Skewers, Orzo and Rice Pilaf with Vegetables, and Chocolate Chip Cookies. Have a look!

Indian Night....

Friday afternoon I had worked on this post for a long time, only to find that somehow or another, it didn't get saved and landed somewhere in computer heaven. So, I've cooled off and gotten over my blogger rage, and I'm ready to make another attempt at telling you about the delicious dinner we had this past Thursday.

I'm a big fan of curries and all things Indian, and this meal did not disappoint. For a main course we had Tandoori-Spiced Chicken Thighs. The marinade is TO DIE FOR! And really, it's pretty healthy too - the only fat in the whole dish is from the plain yogurt and the chicken itself. The recipe calls for marinating the chicken for a good eight hours, but I only had three. Honestly, the recipe did not suffer from missing those five extra hours -- the flavor was amazing! I think it would be fun to play around with this next time; maybe skewer chunks of chicken along with peppers, onions, etc. for a great summertime grill menu.

Alongside the chicken we had a delicious Indian-inspired Curried Rice Pilaf with Peanuts & Cilantro. I've never made a pilaf-style dish in my rice cooker before, but that worked like a charm! Of course I did the saute steps on my cooktop, but then slid the whole she-bang in the cooker and 25 minutes later, I had a perfect pilaf. I'll be using this method again, it's foolproof! I only tinkered with the recipe slightly, by using roasted peanuts instead of the cashews that were called for. Here's the link: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/238405

Our veggie course was a gorgeous yet simple saute of carrots, zucchini, yellow squash, red onion, broccoli, and asparagus - no recipe, just a few simple steps. First I parcook the harder veggies in the microwave for three minutes or so. Then I heat up my biggest saute pan and add equal parts butter and olive oil. When the foaming subsides, I throw in the squash, zucchini, and red onion and let those work for a few, then add the parcooked veggies and give them a good toss. Season up with some sea salt, ground pepper, and a pinch of garlic powder and voila...a perfect and pretty saute!

Dessert cooled things off with Key Lime Parfaits, which were embarrassingly simple, but so pretty that I would serve them to company! Since I didn't futz with the recipe at all, I'll just give you the link to it. Here it is: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/102201

This dinner went over well with the whole Dam'Fam (well, with the exception of my oldest, and we all know by now that he doesn't like anything!). I kept everything pretty mild for the kiddos, but of course the marinade and the pilaf's seasonings could be easily adjusted depending on your tolerance for heat and spice. I'll definitely kick those up next time!

TANDOORI-STYLE CHICKEN THIGHS

Serves: 6

Source: The Gourmet Cookbook, p.

1 small onion, quartered

2 cloved garlic, smashed

1 (2") piece of ginger, peeled and grated

1/2 c. plain yogurt

1 T. fresh lemon juice

2 t. salt

1/2 t. tumeric

1/2 t. cumin

1/2 t. freshly ground pepper

1/4 t. cayenne

1/4 t. nutmeg

1/4 t. cinnamon

1/4 t. ground coriander

8 skinless, boneless chicken thighs (3 1/2 lbs. total), rinsed and patted dry

Garnishes: lime wedges and cilantro leaves

Combine all of the marinade ingredients in a blender. Pour over the chicken; cover and refrigerate for eight hours. Preheat broiler. Broil chicken 5-6 inches from heat source for 4 minutes per side. Place on serving platter; garnish with lime wedges and cilantro sprigs.