5:01 Dinner Club

Quick, simple and versatile seared meat!

Serves 4 in less than 30 minutes

• 4 Boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• Oil (olive, canola…)
• Salt & Pepper to taste

1. Pound out the chicken breasts so that they are even in thickness (they will cook faster)
2. Rub chicken with oil and then season generously with salt & pepper
3. Heat a griddle or large non stick pan over high heat
4. Once griddle is hot, add chicken and sear on both sides cooking until chicken is no longer pink-about 6-8 minutes on each side
5. Allow chicken to rest for 5 minutes before eating

 NOW!!!  You can go in all sorts of directions.  Look around your kitchen/pantry while the chicken is cooking/resting and decide how to bring it all together.  

Here are a few suggestions (most of the recipes on in the blog):

• Slice chicken and put it on a salad-Caesar, Greek, strawberry balsamic…
• Dice chicken and make tarragon chicken salad/sandwiches
• Chop chicken and have BBQ chicken (or just coat in warm BBQ sauce)
• Slice chicken and serves with pasta (cream sauce, marinara sauce, or just olive oil, garlic, salt/pepper, and parmesan cheese)
• Pull chicken, toss in BBQ sauce for BBQ chicken pizzas
• Dice chicken and throw together a chicken pot pie
• Chop chicken and then toss with fresh grated ginger, honey, soy sauce, chopped green onions & rice for an easy “asian chicken & rice bowl”

Simple, Versitile & Inexpensive!

Serves 4 People in about 1 hour (20 min prep-40(ish) minutes cooking)

• 2 lbs Ground beef
• 2 Eggs
• ½ C Seasoned breadcrumbs
• ½ Sweet onion, chopped fine
• 3 Large cloves garlic, minced
• ½ C Chopped rosemary & basil (or Oregano)
• ½ Tsp Salt
• ¼ Tsp Pepper
• ¼ C Ketchup (forgive me, I am southern, you can’t have meatloaf without ketchup!)

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees
2. In a large bowl, gently mix 1^st 8 ingredients and form into a symmetrical loaf shape
3. Place loaf on a greased broiler pan (this way grease will drip off of the meat loaf)
4. Place loaf in the oven and bake until loaf has an internal temp of 150 (medium-ish) degrees (about 40 min)
5. Pull meatloaf from oven and allow to rest for 5  minutes before slicing

Cottage Pie

 In my quest to come up with different things to do with ground beef (save $!), I learned something new! Sheppard’s pie is not actually made with beef. It is made with lamb . “Cottage Pie” is made with beef so we are kickin’ it old English style with a very easy, very comforting Cottage Pie recipe-which makes sense right? You can just see yourself in some cozy cottage by a fire with this dinner-and of course- a big glass of red wine!  We’ve been living in super freezing temps in Atlanta over the past couple of days so we’ve earned this luxury!  And a topping that is just the definition of comfort food-mashed potatoes done right! So enjoy this one and get cozy tonight!
Serves 4 in about 30 minutes for about $2.50/person 

• 1 ½ Lbs. Potatoes (about 3 large potatoes), cubed into ½” cubes & boiled in salted waiter until tender & drained
• 2 Tbs. Margarine
• ¼ C Sour cream
  ¼ C Milk
• Salt & pepper
• 2 Tbs. Canola oil (Olive oil will work as well)
• 1 Medium Onion, Chopped
• 1 C Carrots, chopped into ½’ chunks
• 1 ½ Lb. Lean ground beef
• 2 Tbs. fresh or 2 Tsp. dried herbs like thyme, rosemary, parsley, oregano…
• 3 Tbs. Flour        
• 2 C Beef broth
• ½ Can tomato paste
• 1 Can Peas, drained
• ¼ C Green onions chopped (optional)
• ¼ C Cheddar cheese, shredded

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees
2. Add margarine and next 2 ingredients to potatoes and salt & pepper to taste
3. Using an electric mixer, hand masher, potato ricer or fork mash potatoes until fluffy & smooth
4. Heat oil over medium high heat in a large sauté pan
5. Add onion, carrot & herbs to mixture and sauté 5 minutes
6. Add ground beef to onion mixture and cook until done, reduce heat
7. Add flour to mixture and stir well
8. Now add beef broth and tomato paste to mixture, turn heat back up and continue to stir until thickened
9. Add peas and season with salt & pepper to taste
10. Spread beef mixture into a greased 2 quart casserole dish
11. Spread potatoes on top, and sprinkle with cheddar cheese and green onions
12. Bake for 15 minutes

A hearty one dish meal that will make any night special!

The molasses makes this great Autumn grilling!

Serves 4 in about 20 minutes (once marinated)

• ¼ C Molasses
• 2 Tbs Cider vinegar
• 2 Tsp Dijon mustard
• Salt & Pepper to taste
• 4 (6-7oz) Pork chops (or 1.5 lbs pork tenderloin)

1.  In a medium bowl, whisk together 1^st 4 ingredients
2. Place pork into molasses mixture and allow marinate for at least 30 minutes (as long as overnight…)
3. Preheat grill to 400 degrees
4. Cook chops about 6 minutes each side (this will vary based upon thickness…)
5. Pork tenderloin will take longer to cook-maybe 10-12 minutes, flip, 10-12 minutes more
6. Remove meat from grill and allow to rest for 5 minutes before serving

Everything you need for dinner (protein, carb, veggie) in one little edible container!

Serves 4 in about 40 minutes

•  2 Tbs. Olive oil
• 1 Medium onion, chopped
• 1 ½ lbs Ground beef (or turkey breast)
• 1 Can tomato paste
• 1 Tsp. Curry powder
• ½ C Fresh basil, chopped
• 1 C + 2 Tbs. Parmesan cheese, grated
• 2 Tbs. All purpose flour
• 1 ½ C. Beef broth (or vegetable broth if using turkey)
• Salt & pepper to taste
• 1 ½ C Instant white rice, cooked according to package directions
• 4 Large bell peppers, tops cut off and seeds and veins removed

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees
2. Place peppers in a baking dish, sprinkle with a little kosher salt and bake while filling is prepared
3. In a large sauté pan, heat olive oil over medium-high heat
4. Sauté onion for about 5 minutes and then add beef and brown, reduce heat
5. Add tomato paste, curry, and basil-mix well
6. Add flour and stir until the beef mixture in evenly coated with flour
7. Add beef stock to mixture, turn up heat, and stir until mixture has thickened
8. Add Parmesan cheese and rice-mix well
9. Taste mixture and  then season with salt & pepper to taste
10. Remove pepper shells from oven & spoon beef mixture into the peppers to fill peppers
11. Sprinkle remaining cheese over peppers & bake peppers for 20 minutes

Skirt steak & a mango????

Serves 4 in about 20 minutes

•  1.5 lbs Skirt Steak
• 1 Tbs Olive oil
• Salt & Pepper to taste
• 1 Mango:  peeled, seeded & cut into thin strips
• ½ C Cilantro
• 2 Limes, juiced
• 1 Tbs Honey
• 2 Tbs Olive oil
• 2 Tsp Fresh ginger, minced
• ¼ Tsp Red chili pepper flakes
• Salt to taste

1.  Heat grill or grill pan over high heat.
2. Brush steak with olive oil and then season with salt & pepper to taste.
3. Grill steak over high heat for about 3 minutes on each side.
4. Pull steak from grill and allow to “rest” for a few minutes before slicing. 
5. ****Important!!!-slice steak against the grain into thin strips.  This helps to insure tender meat…
6. Set meat aside.
7. In a small bowl, whisk together next 6 ingredients, set aside. 
8. In a large bowl, mix steak, mango, cilantro and lime dressing and serve immediately or, better yet, let it sit overnight and serve cold-great for a picnic or tailgating…  (After tasting my invention, I came to the conclusion that you could leave the mango out-it didn’t hurt anything but I am not sure that it helped that much…)

 

Amazing-Easy-Healthy Dinner!

Preheat oven to 375 degrees
Dip tenderloins in eggs & then coat tenderloin in breadcrumbs
Heat butter & olive oil in large deep sauté pan
Sauté pork tenderloin until golden brown on all sides, then place in oven safe dish and place dish in oven
Roast for about 15 minutes-until internal temperature is 155 degrees
Remove pork from oven and let rest for 5 minutes before slicing

Steak Frites

We tried “steak frites” a couple of times in France and we are perplexed.  The sauces (pretty heavy) both times were tasty but the meat itself was the chewiest meat I have ever been served.  You kind of wonder if they put marvelous rich sauces over less desirable cuts of meat in hopes of keeping you from realizing how long you’ve been chewing. Or-maybe some people just like chewing-a lot.

Anyway, I like the idea of it so much (meat & potatoes-yum!) that I decided to offer up my own-less chewy-version.  And I realized something, If you use a good cut of meat, you don’t need much sauce so I’ll include a suggestion on how to quickly throw a sauce together with the pan drippings, but if you don’t want to mess with it, I think you’ll like it anyway (and you’ll have good steaks in about 10 minutes)!

 In my steak frites, I used a New York strip Steak-not as tender (or expensive) as a filet but a great searing steak and I roasted off Yukon Gold potatoes (you could use red potatoes) at a high temp to get a golden brown-fried effect without the mess or fat.

Steak Frites 

Serves 4

Takes about 35 minutes to prepare

Costs $8/person

Roasted Herb Potatoes

3 Lbs Yukon gold potatoes (6-7 potatoes), washed, and cut into 1 “cubes

2 Tbs Olive oil

2 Tbs Fresh rosemary, chopped fine (or thyme, oregano, parsley…)

Salt & Pepper to taste

¼ Cup grated parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 450 degrees

Toss potatoes in next 3 ingredients

Spread potatoes evenly on a jellyroll pan (a baking sheet with sides)

Sprinkle with parmesan and roast until edges are golden brown (about 25 minutes) and potatoes are fork tender

Steaks

4 7-8oz Strip steaks

3 Tbs Olive oil

Salt & Pepper to taste

2 C Red wine (that you would drink)

3 Tbs Fresh thyme (or 2 Tsp dried)

1 Tsp Sugar

Preheat oven to 300 degrees

Coat steaks in 1 Tbs olive oil and then season generously with salt  & pepper

Heat remaining 2 Tbs olive oil in large sauté pan over med-high to high heat

Add steaks to hot pan and do not move! (to ensure you get a good sear)

A good sear-

After about 3 minutes, flip steaks and do not move!

After another 3-4 minutes, remove steaks from stove, place them in an oven safe dish and place them in the oven to stay warm

Stand back-and pour the wine into the still hot sauté pan and whisk constantly until all of the brown bits on the bottom of the pan come up

Add 2 Tbs thyme to pan

Simmer wine on medium heat until reduced to about ¼ “ cup, taste, season with salt & pepper, and add sugar

Continue to whisk until sugar has dissolved

Remove steaks from oven, let rest at room temperature for 3-5 minutes

Slice steaks or serve whole with wine sauce and additional fresh thyme

This is my answer to “Iron Chef America”!  (for those of you who are not Food Network Junkies-Iron Chef America is a show in which 1 Food Network chef competes with 1 nationally known chef  in a battle to see who can develop the best dishes using a secret ingredient in every dish that they prepare-like a certain type of fish, coffee, basil….)  I opened my fridge today to be confronted by my secret ingredient:  the lime.   I had a Cinqo De Mayo party-over 2 weeks ago now- and bought a bag of limes to use and decorate with- and today it hit me that I was about to let a lot of citrus go to waste.  What should I do with all of those limes?  In other words:  Quandary Lime…

What Do I Do With All Of These Leftover Limes...

 So I decided to have my own little competition of sorts except I am not competing with another person.  I am in a race to use these limes before they go to waste.   For dinner tonight, it is my goal to use limes in every dish.  And to “5:01” the use of limes, I had to come up with several easy and quick recipes and I’ve got tell you that I am quite pleased with myself.

Behold the menu:

Fresh Guacamole

Serves 4

1 Lime, juiced

4 Avocados, seeded, peeled & chopped

½ C Sweet onion, chopped fine

1 Clove garlic, minced

½ C Fresh cilantro, chopped fine

1 Roma tomato, chopped fine

1 Jalapeno, seeded & chopped fine 

Salt

Mix all ingredients in a medium bowl and serve immediately with chips!

Citrus Marinated Skirt Steak (from my friend Amy)

Serves 4

Takes about 40 minutes (30 to marinate & 10 to cook) to prepare

Costs about $4/person

2 Lbs of skirt steak strips

Juice of 6 limes

Kosher salt to taste

Place steak in lime juice and marinate (in fridge) for 30 minutes-8 hours

Preheat grill or grill pan over high heat, 400+ degrees

Spread steak out on a platter and sprinkle with kosher salt

Grill steak 3 minutes each side for medium to medium well doneness-remove from grill and let rest for 5-10 minutes

Notes:  The longer the steak can hang out in the lime juice- the better, tried this with flank steak-did not like it nearly as much, be careful not to overcook the meat-it’s best medium (pink in the middle…)

Grilled Asparagus & Red Pepper With Garlic –Lime Vinaigrette

1 Lime, juiced

1 Tsp Honey

1 Clove garlic, crushed

1 Tbs Fresh Cilantro, chopped

2 Tsp Soy sauce

1.5 Lbs Asparagus, washed & trimmed

1 Red, yellow or orange pepper, sliced & seeded

2 Tbs Olive oil, divided

Salt & Pepper to taste

Place first 5 ingredients into a small bowl and whisk until combined

Slowly pour in 1 tbs olive oil and set vinaigrette aside

Put asparagus & pepper in a gallon size plastic zip bag.  Add next 2 ingredients and yoss to coat evenly. 

Place vegetables on hot grill (400 degrees) and cook, turning frequently, 15-20 minutes

Place Asparagus on a platter

Peel skins off of pepper and then cut into thin strips and spread pepper over asparagus

Drizzle with vinaigrette

Light, Easy & Quick Key Lime Pie (from Southern Living)

Serves 8

Takes about 20 minutes to prepare

Costs about 1$/person

1- 14 oz Can fat free sweetened condensed milk

¾ C Egg substitute

½ C Fresh lime juice

 Lime zest of 1 lime, grated

1 Reduced fat ready- made graham cracker crust

1- 8 oz. Container whipped topping, thawed

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Process first 4 ingredients in a food processor or blender until smooth & pour mixture into crust

Bake 12 minutes, cool completely

Top with whipped topping and refrigerate

Food the whole family for about $6!

Serves 4

Takes 30 minutes to prepare

Costs about $1.50/person

1 lb of ground beef

1 egg

1 Tbs of “Dales” marinade

1/2  C Sweet onion, chopped fine

½  C Seasoned breadcrumbs (may add a little more if mixture is really wet)

2 10 3/4 oz. Cans cream of mushroom soup

1 1/2 Cans Milk (fill empty mushroom soup can with milk…)

1/3 C Sour cream

3 Tbs chopped fresh parsley (or 2 Tbs dried)

2 C Instant rice cooked according to package directions

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees
2. Gently mix ingredients 1-5 and then form 1-2” meatballs and place meatballs about 1/2 ” apart of a large jelly roll pan
3. Roast meatballs for about 15 minutes
4. While meatballs are roasting/browning:  In a large, deep sided saute pan, mix soup, milk, 2 tbs parsley & sour cream and bring “gravy” to simmer
5.  Remove meatballs from oven and add to the “gravy” continue to simmer for 15 more minutes
6. Serve with steamed rice and garnish with fresh parsley