AWITLOL - Day 6

Ah, Pinterest.
How crafty you make me think I am.
And how much time you help me to waste when I could be teaching myself to be crafty.

But let's talk about Pinterest as a source for recipes! Really, just type in whatever you're looking to make, however you're trying to cook (gluten-free, dairy-free, butter-laden), or in my case, "Weight Watchers." You'll likely come up with dozens to hundreds of pins from other pinners who have found these tasty posts on blogs, websites, or other pinners boards.

See here, if you're not familiar...

This could very quickly turn into a list of all the things on Pinterest that I want to try but haven't had time yet. So instead, just let me tell you that as much as I love browsing on Pinterest, its so useful to me as a meal planning tool. Whenever I come across a recipe I'd like to try (wait for tomorrow's post for a list of favorite blogs and sites), I "pin" it to my board "Food I Want To Eat." (I also have a "Weight Watchers" board, but these two are overlapping more and more.) Then, on Saturday or Sunday, I browse through the pins and pick out three or four that I'd like to try that week. I try to plan for at least one meal in each of these categories: pasta, vegetarian, seafood, poultry, beef/pork. Variety is the spice of life. Or maybe its pepper.

Today, my meals and two Pinterest recipes!

Tuesday
Breakfast

• Get Balance Fiber Cereal from Aldi (1 cup)
• Skim Milk (1/4 cup)

Lunch

• Grapes (1 cup)
• Pizza (1 slice)
• Pumpkin Muffin

Dinner

• Cottage Pie (1 serving)

Snacks

• Fall Fruit Compote (1/2 cup) with 1 teaspoon brown sugar
• Cheeze-It Crackers (1/2 serving) *this falls under the category of "so not worth the points." Two points for 14 little crackers? I think not.*
• String cheese

Cottage Pie

Borrowed from SparkPeople

My take on the recipe - it was just okay. The egg yolk wasn't enough to keep the potatoes together and there really wasn't any gravy/sauce to speak of. Maybe I'd add some Worcestershire sauce next time...

Ingredients

2 russet potatoes, peeled and diced

1 egg yolk

12 ounces lean beef (I used 90/10)

1 cup onions, diced

salt & pepper

1 teaspoon chili powder

1 teaspoon garlic powder

2 cups carrots, shredded

1 cup green beans, chopped

1/2 cup frozen corn

2 Tablespoons tomato paste

1 cup low-sodium chicken stock

Directions

Preheat oven to 375.

Place the potatoes in a medium saucepan, then cover with cold water. Cover the pot with a lid, bring to a boil and then reduce to a simmer. Cook for 10-12 minutes, until the potatoes are soft.

While potatoes are simmering, prepare the filling. Place a large saute pan over moderate heat, add the beef and onions, and cook until the beef is no longer pink. Add the carrots, beans, spices, and tomato paste, stir to combine, and simmer for 2-3 minutes. Add the stock and corn, then stir to combine. Place the meat and vegetables into a casserole dish and set aside.

Drain the potatoes and mash well, using a potato masher or ricer. Add the egg yolk. Spread on top of the meat mixture. Bake 10 minutes, until the potatoes are browned. 

Serves 4 (7 points)

Fall Fruit Compote

Pretty close to a Weight Watchers recipe
This we loved! Its really tasty with a little brown sugar (like I had), it would make a bowl of oatmeal fabulous, and I bet it would be really good with a scoop of vanilla ice cream (which I did not have). Adjust the recipe to accommodate the size of the fruit you have.

Ingredients
2 medium apples, cut into 1/2" dice
4 small pears, cut into 1/2" dice
1/3 cup orange juice
1/2 dried cranberries (these added lots of points but not a lot of flavor)
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 cup water
1 teaspoon orange zest
1 orange, peeled and cut into 1/2" dice

Directions
Combine all ingredients, except orange zest and orange, into a sauce pan. Cook over medium-high to high heat until most of the liquid is gone, about 20 minutes.  Add orange zest and orange sections. Cook until heated through, stirring occasionally, about 2 to 3 minutes.

Makes 6 - 1/2 cup servings (3 points)

Mid-East Feast

I honestly can't remember when I started falling for mid-east cuisine, but I've fallen hard. Its still a treat for me too, since Steve isn't a huge fan of Middle Eastern and Greek foods. Is this a guy thing? I've heard of many other guys who, as one put it, "have never found (him)self craving something with chickpeas." But hummus, tahini, falafel, dolmades, spanikopita, I'll take it all.

This is a pretty good introduction to this part of the world's food - nothing too drastic but still a few new flavor combos (Apricots in a meatball? Say what?!?) None of these ingredients are too difficult to find either - the ground coriander could be tough, but you can always take coriander seeds and grind them in a peppermill if you like. 

One thing I would change is to use my handy-dandy food chopper to chop the red onion - they didn't hold together very well with all the chunks of onion and apricot floating around in there. Smaller pieces would fix that, I believe.

And don't miss out on the dressing - its a refreshing bit that will totally transform the meal!


Meatballs with Couscous and Feta
Adapted from Real Simple, October 2010

Ingredients
Salad
1/2 English cucumber, halved and thinly sliced
1/2 red onion, thinly sliced
1/4 cup vinegar (white is just fine, but rice vinegar is pretty tasty)

Meatballs
1 pound ground lamb, beef, or a mixture of the two
1/4 cup dried apricots, finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
1 small red onion, finely chopped
salt and pepper
1/3 cup breadcrumbs

1 box couscous such as this
4 ounces Feta, crumbled

Dressing
3 tablespoons olive oil
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice


Directions
1. (Can be done ahead of time) Combine the cucumbers, sliced onion, and vinegar in a medium bowl. Toss well, season with salt and pepper, and set aside (refrigerate if making this ahead of time).

2. Heat oven to 350. In a medium bowl, combine the lamb, apricots, coriander, chopped onion, ½ teaspoon salt, and ¼ teaspoon pepper. Form into 1 ½-inch balls (about 20) and place on a baking sheet lined with foil. Bake until cooked through, 18-22 minutes.

3. Meanwhile, prepare the couscous according to the box's directions.

4. In a small bowl, mix together the oil, lemon juice, and ¼ teaspoon each salt and pepper. Set aside.

5. Serve the couscous with the meatballs and cucumber salad - sprinkle feta over the top. Drizzle with the dressing.
 
Serves 4

Its Just Plain Tasty

Tomorrow begins my favorite season, hands-down - Fall. Fall and I get along famously. Apples, cider, pumpkin bread, stew, squash, leaves, and weather that's still warm enough to grill, but its okay if you're drinking hot chocolate at the same time that you're flipping burgers. But if you are in the mood for something a little more "stick-to-your-ribs" this is a good one. We got a wok for a wedding present and while the wok is great, another fantastic part of present for me was a batch of new recipes to go with it.

And I'll just say that there isn't a lot I would change about it! You can play with it a little bit to fit whatever you have in the house (green bell pepper, chicken stock, pasta, you get the idea). This is exactly how I made it with the exception of partially freezin the beef. I was so proud of myself for remembering to take the meat out of the freezer to thaw that I didn't have the heart to break it to myself that I hadn't followed the recipe correctly. So I just cut it raw and everyone lived happily ever after!

If you want a little more heat, or if your paprika is a little old and lacking in zip, a few drops of hot sauce are a welcome addition. (But still put the paprika in because it makes the sauce pretty.)


Hungarian Goulash
From Aunt Arlene Dyk

Ingredients
1 1/4 pound round steak
1/4 cup margarine
2 large onions, chopped
1 red bell pepper,chopped
1-7oz can diced tomatoes, undrained
3/4 cup beef broth
3 Tbsp. paprika
1 tsp. salt
3/4 cup sour cream
3 Tbsp. flour
Cooked egg noodles

Directions
Partially freeze beef, then slice across the grain into bite-sized strips. In a wok or large sauté pan, melt butter, and half of the beef, and cook until brown. Remove and repeat with the other half of the beef.

Sauté onions and peppers until tender; return beef back into pan. Stir in tomatoes, broth, paprika, and salt.

Cover and simmer 15 minutes until beef is tender.

In a bowl, blend together sour cream and flour. Add 1 cup of sauce from the pan to sour cream mixture. Blend sour cream mixture to the pan; cook and stir until thick and bubbly. Serve over noodles.

Serves 4

Men in the Kitchen

Today, Steve and I teamed up for dinner, and the recipe came out of a Men's Health magazine. We actually ate this maybe two years ago, but if you're like me, your recipe file/box/cupboard is a smash-up of different clippings/notes/cards.  While I was cleaning it out last week, I ran across this recipe and it looked pretty good, and pretty healthy too! Plus (and this is no coincidence), the kind of steak I needed was on sale:).

The only beef (haha!) I had with the dish is that in the picture, the onions look quite a bit more red than mine turned out. I wonder if they used red wine vinegar instead of balsamic? Or a mix? The balsamic was nice, though I know the flavor isn't for everyone. Next time, what would I do differently? I would change up the vinegars a bit, and maybe combine some Yukon Gold potatoes with the beans for a little lighter texture! Time will tell.

Grilled Italian Steak with Smashed Beans
From "Men's Health," January/February 2008

Ingredients
12 oz. Skirt, Flank, or Flatiron Steak (we used Flatiron)
2 Tbsp olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1-15oz can cannellini beans
Juice of 1/2 lemon
1 large onion, halved and sliced
2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
Salt and pepper

Directions
Salt and pepper both sides of the steak(s). Let rest for a few minutes before grilling.

In a skillet over medium heat, cook the onion in 1 Tbsp olive oil for 10 minutes, until it's soft and slightly brown. Add the vinegar and cook for another 5 minutes.

Heat another skillet/pan with the rest of the olive oil over medium heat. Add the garlic, beans and about 1/2 of the liquid from the can of beans (discard the rest). Cook for 5 minutes. Use a potato masher, fork or back of a spoon to roughly mash the beans. Add lemon juice and salt and pepper to taste.

Heat a grill/grill pan/cast iron skillet over high heat. Grill steaks for 3-4 minutes per side for medium rare (again, for a flatiron steak; may be longer for a thicker cut).  Slice and serve with beans, top with onions.

Serves 2