Ja cię kocham…

I went to the grocery store today so sweaty (I work outside at a camp), so tired (I work outside at a camp), and so not in the mood to do much when I got home.  Did I mention that I work outside at a camp?

I could barely put one leg in front of the other let alone think about dinner.  In my zombie-like trance (which is my fault since I am turning into an insomniac), I managed to muster up the energy to walk alllll the way to the back of the store to the recipe kiosk thingy.  I clicked on “healthy on a budget” and “steak”, and here you go.   Something I should have thought of before!   I cannot begin to tell you how simple it was to throw together and cook.  Just an FYI – I served the salad on the side rather than under the steak.

It’s funny because after the long walk to the back of the store, I realized that there was a recipe kiosk thingy right as I walked in.   How did I miss that one?

Steak with Pineapple Salsa

Source: Giant Recipe Solutions
Serves: 4

Ingredients:

2 cups peeled, cored and chopped fresh pineapple
1 cup fresh orange slices, chopped OR 1 can mandarin orange sections, drained
1/2 cup red or green pepper, chopped
1/3 cup green picante sauce or green taco sauce (in the Ethnic or Goya section)
12 oz boneless sirloin steak
1/2 tsp. mexican seasoning or chili powder
1 Tbs. olive oil
6 cups torn mixed salad greens

Directions:

For the salsa, in a medium bowl gently stir together pineapple, oranges, bell pepper, and picante sauce.  Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Trim fat from steak and slice it thinly across the grain.

Sprinkle steak pieces with seasoning, toss evenly to coat.

In a large skillet, cook and stir half of the seasoned steak in hot oil over medium-high heat for 2-3 minutes or to desired “doneness”.   Remove from skillet.

Repeat with the remaining steak.

Arrange salad greens on plate, top with steak and pineapple salsa.

Sometimes I wonder where I come up with these off the wall ideas for my food.  There have been plenty of occasions when I think something sounds fantastic to find out it was not a bright idea.  Fortunately for me (and my husband) this one turned out GREAT!

It all started with this jar of roasted red peppers that was hidden in the way, way back of my cabinet that I totally forgot about.  Don’t you love when you find something that you forgot that you had?  At this point, I was already thawing some steaks for dinner, but I really wanted roasted red peppers.  Hmmmmm…. it was time to start thinking.

Then Ina Garten showed up.  If you aren’t familiar with her yet, you need to get acquainted with her.  Ina is a friend that you need in the kitchen.  Her Food Network show Barefoot Contessa has been the inspiration of so many meal ideas that I was not surprised that she helped me out again.

I was going through my file of recipes (one of many) and found her Roasted Eggplant Spread.  Well my wheels just started turning!  Ina’s recipe calls for red bell peppers, which I simply substituted for roasted red peppers.  Done.  Let’s put it on the steak and see what happens.

Well, it didn’t stop there.  Even though Ina’s spread has a lot of flavor, I didn’t want the steak to be bland.  That’s when curry crept into the picture.  It meshed with the whole eggplant-roasted red pepper-Mediterranean thing I had going on in the spread.  I say, why not?  Let’s give it a go….

It turned out beautifully!  Plus, I have left over spread for my pita chips.  Sweet deal.  If you love Mediterranean food, give this one a try.   Trust me, it’s good!

PS – If you have a Trader Joe’s near you, and you don’t have time to make the spread from scratch, check out their red pepper spread!

Curried Steak with Roasted Red Pepper and Eggplant Spread

Adapted from Barefoot Contessa Family Style

Serves 4

For the Spread:

Ingredients:

1/2 medium eggplant
2-3 roasted red peppers
1 red onion, peeled
2 garlic cloves, minced
2-3 tablespoons good olive oil
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon tomato paste
fresh parsley for garnish

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Cut the eggplant, bell pepper, and onion into 1-inch cubes. Toss them in a large bowl with the garlic, olive oil, salt, and pepper. Spread them on a baking sheet. Roast for 45 minutes, until the vegetables are lightly browned and soft, tossing once during cooking.

Cool slightly.

Place the vegetables in a food processor fitted with a steel blade, add the tomato paste, and pulse 3 or 4 times to blend. Taste for salt and pepper.

For the steak:

Ingredients:

4 petite sirloin steaks, fat trimmed
2 Tbs. olive oil
4 Tbs. curry powder
2 tsp. onion powder
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
Preheat grill pan to medium-high.  Add olive oil to pan.

Sprinkle curry powder, onion powder, salt and pepper to both sides of each steak.   Place on grill pan and cook for 3-4 minutes on each side for medium.   Please keep in mind that my steaks were about an inch thick. Adjust cook time to suit your steak preferences (cook longer for well cooked steaks and less for rare…).

Place steaks on serving platter, covered in foil.  Let sit for 5-10 minutes.  Top each steak with spread and garnish with fresh parsley.  Enjoy!

I’m not going to lie.  I completely made this recipe up.  Now I’m sure that somewhere out in cyberspace there is a recipe similar to this, but for me, this was totally original.  The only inspiration that I had was my craving for Mexican food and steak.

I knew that I didn’t want nachos.  As delicious as they are, I have no control over how many I eat.  My family is known for ordering nachos as our main meal when we go out to eat.  Forget nachos as an appetizer to nibble, I want the whole plate!  Because of this obnoxious need I have to eat all of the nachos, I steered clear from them for this meal.  I wanted the flavor without the tortilla chips.

What I really liked about this recipe is how versatile it is.  It’s great on steak, chicken, and fish, and then make great wraps the next day for lunch.  When I made this recipe, I also snuck a piece of chicken in the mix, and I think that it turned out better than the steak.  The chicken was soooo moist from marinating in the fresh lime juice.  It was super tender and juicy even after microwaving it the next day at work for my wrap.  Fan-flipping-tastic!

I had every intention of making my own salsa for this recipe, but I didn’t want to spend $6 or$7 on tomatoes when I was already buying avocados at $1.50 each.  Instead I bought a much cheaper, fresh pico de gallo.  Just in case you don’t know what pico de gallo is, it’s a Mexican condiment very similar to salsa.  The only difference is that pico de gallo isn’t nearly as watery as salsa.  It’s pretty much just coarsely chopped tomatoes, onions, and jalapenos.  It’s very fresh and very good.

Lime Chili Steaks with Pico de Gallo and Homemade Guacamole

Serves 4

Ingredients:

4 steaks or chicken breasts with all fat removed
3-4 limes
3 avocados  (Make sure that when you squeeze them, the flesh gives just a little.  That’s how you know they are ripe.)
1/4 of a red onion, coarsely chopped
1-2 jalapeno, seeds removed and thinly sliced
a handful of cilantro
salt and pepper
4 Tbs. chile powder (I used a blend of ancho, chipotle, and Mexican chile powder)
1 Tbs. olive oil**  (Only if you are using an indoor grill or skillet.)
1 container pico de gallo
1 small container sour cream
handful of scallions, chopped, for garnish

Directions:

If you are using an outdoor grill, preheat it to medium-high.  If you are cooking it indoors, skip this step.  You will preheat your grill pan later.

Roll all of the limes on your cutting board, placing an ample amount of pressure on them while you roll them.  This helps them to get ‘juicier’.   Juice all but one lime into a medium-sized bowl.  Place meat in with the lime juice.  Let marinate for at least 10 minutes.

While meat is marinating, juice your final lime into another medium-sized bowl.   Peel the avocados and cut the flesh into large chunks, placing them into the second bowl of lime juice.  For instructions on how to cut an avocado, click here.  Add onion, jalapeno, cilantro to lime/avocado mixture.  Toss gently.  Salt and pepper to taste.  Set aside.

If you are using an indoor grill pan or large skillet, preheat it with 1 Tbs. olive oil to medium-high for steak and medium for chicken.

On a large plate, rub steaks/chicken with chile powder.

Regardless of which grill you are using (indoor or outdoor)…

Steak:  Cook for 2 minutes on each side or until at desired cooking temperature.
Chicken:  Cook for 3 minutes on each side or until no longer pink.

Let meat sit for 10 minutes, covered with aluminum foil.

Then place on serving plate.  Top with pico de gallo, guacamole (avocado mixture), and sour cream.  Garnish with scallions.