Steak Tacos

I love the steak tacos from Chipotle. I usually just order the crispy tacos with steak, three different kinds of salsa, and lettuce. Nothing else. They used to serve four, but now only serve three for the same price. I still eat it once in a while. I wasn't attempting to make the same taco from Chipotle, but I had some beef sirloin in hand, so I made some tacos and fresh salsa for the other night. I love salsa! It's even better when it's super hot and spicy. Yum.

Steak Tacos
Recipe courtesy of Ellie Krieger of Food Network

Thai Grilled Beef Salad

This was on my list of healthier dishes last week. It tasted pretty good. Even though it was beef, it tasted quite lean and still very tender. I have been making pretty good steak recently! I ate my salad with rice, but I wish I had some rice vermicilli noodles to mix with it. It would've filled me up more.

Recipe courtesy of Ellie Krieger of Food Network

1 pound top-round London broil or flank steak, about 1 to 1 1/2-inches thick
3 tablespoons lime juice, divided
3 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
3 tablespoons canola oil
2 tablespoon brown sugar
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 1/2 teaspoons minced ginger
1 1/4 teaspoons red curry paste or chili-garlic sauce
1/2 head red-leaf lettuce, torn (about 6 cups)
3 shallots, thinly sliced (about 1/2 cup), divided, for garnish
1/2 cup cilantro leaves, rinsed and dried
1 cup basil leaves, sliced into ribbons
Directions
Rinse and pat the meat dry. Place in a sealable plastic bag or small glass dish. In a medium bowl combine 1 tablespoon of the lime juice, soy sauce, canola oil, brown sugar, garlic, ginger and red curry paste. Pour half the mixture into the bag with the meat. Add the remaining 2 tablespoons lime juice to the bag. Seal tightly, and marinate meat in refrigerator at least 4 hours or overnight, turning occasionally. Reserve the rest of the mixture refrigerated, to dress the salad.

Spray grill or grill pan with cooking spray and preheat. Grill steak until medium-rare, about 5 minutes per side, depending on desired doneness. Let rest until room temperature then slice thinly against the grain.

Combine lettuce, sliced shallot, cilantro, basil and beef in a salad bowl, reserving a few shallots for garnish. Add the reserved dressing and toss to coat. Divide salad among 4 plates and garnish with reserved sliced shallots.

Chicken Parmigiana

Just had this seconds ago and it was soooo good. Yum. I didn't know I could make Italian like this! :P I could taste everything...the olives, basil, parmesan, everything. It was DELICIOUS. I think I liked it better than the lasagna I made, only because this tasted like authentic Italian and just about everything was fresh except for the tomatoes. Anyway, I have been making so many unhealthy meals that last week and this week I've been making more healthy foods to eat. Today's dinner was the exception. Gotta pig out at least once a week right? Well, maybe more than once. Yum. Still can't get those flavors outta my taste.

I didn't take any step by step photos because I made this really late like at 8:30pm. My baby kept crying and wanted me to hold him until his dad came home, so this time dinner wasn't ready until 10:00 for us. I even put him in the kitchen to watch me, but he still cried. He usually loves the kitchen. Natural born chef, maybe? Or maybe just an eater? Ok, I'm very tired now...gotta go...

Note: I didn't follow the recipe exactly. I pounded my chicken breasts with a mallet to flatten it so it would cook faster. I also did not put the sauce over the chicken into the oven because I wanted my chicken to still be crispy. I pan fried the chicken until golden brown and crispy on the outside then put it in the oven for 10 minutues depending on how thick the chicken breasts are. I put the sauce around the chicken at the last 5 minutes along with the mozarella cheese until cheese melted and then served with the pasta.

Recipe courtesy of Tyler Florence of Food Network (thank you Tyler!)

IngredientsChicken Parmigiana
Recipe courtesy Tyler Florence
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus 3 tablespoons
1 medium onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 bay leaves
1/2 cup kalamata olives, pitted
1/2 bunch fresh basil leaves
2 (28-ounce) cans whole peeled tomatoes, drained and hand-crushed
Pinch sugar
Pinch red pepper flakes
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 skinless, boneless, chicken breasts (about 1 1/2 pounds)
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 tablespoon water
1 cup dried plain bread crumbs
1 cup freshly grated Parmesan, plus extra for sprinkling
1/2 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley leaves
2 teaspoons garlic powder
1 (8-ounce) ball fresh mozzarella, thinly sliced
1 pound spaghetti pasta, cooked al dente
Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Method:Coat a saute pan with olive oil and place over medium heat. When the oil gets hazy, add the onions, garlic, and bay leaves; cook and stir for 5 minutes until fragrant and soft. Add the olives and some hand-torn basil, reserve the rest of the basil for finishing the chicken. Carefully add the tomatoes (nothing splashes like tomatoes), cook and stir until the liquid is cooked down and the sauce is thick, about 15 minutes; season with sugar, red pepper flakes, salt and pepper. Lower the heat, cover, and keep warm.

Get the ingredients together for the chicken so you have a little assembly line. Put the flour in a shallow platter and season with a fair amount of salt and pepper; mix with a fork to distribute evenly. In a wide bowl, combine the eggs and water, beat until frothy. Put the bread crumbs on a plate, add the 1 cup parmesan, chopped parsley, and garlic powder Season with salt and pepper and stir with a fork until thoroughly combined.

Heat 3 tablespoons of olive oil over medium-high flame in a large oven-proof skillet. Lightly dredge both sides of the chicken cutlets in the seasoned flour, and then dip them in the egg wash to coat completely, letting the excess drip off, then dredge in the bread crumbs. When the oil is nice and hot, add the cutlets and fry for 4 minutes on each side until golden and crusty, turning once.

Ladle the tomato-olive sauce over the chicken and arrange the mozzarella on top. Sprinkle with Parmesan, and remaining basil. Bake for 15 minutes or until the cheese is bubbly. Serve hot with spaghetti

My 1st Made-From-Scratch Cake

I am not a baker. After several times of trying to bake cookies and this cake from scratch I think I just wasn't meant for baking. It just never turns out, BUT I haven't really given up yet. I'm still convinced that it's not me and just the recipes that I've tried. Well, I hope so. It has to be because even the box cake I bake turns out. lol And the cobbler I made was good if I just added less blueberries. I don't know what I did wrong in this recipe. This cake may look good, but it was quite tasteless. Not moist at all and not sweet. The frosting was good even though it wasn't that sweet. I had to add more powdered sugar and it didn't make enough to cover the whole cake. After this, I was just craving for some Duncan Hines Devil's Food Cake with the frosting I just made. One of these days, I will post a successful baking recipe from scratch. I am determined to do so. Maybe I'll try Ree's chocolate sheet cake since her other recipes have not failed me.

Anyway here's the recipe. I originally found this in the GH magazine while I was in the bookstore and snapped the recipe with my iPhone camera. That's what I've been doing when I find something interesting. I take a picture of the page or article instead of buying the magazine. Hey, saves me money.

Indonesian Ginger Chicken Wings

Wings are my favorite part of the chicken. They're white meat, but very juicy and have a lot of taste. Besides, I just like meat with bones period (except fish). I made these the other night and brought leftovers to work. People came in and told me it smelled like "pizza" or "bourbon chicken." I can understand bourbon chicken because they're both similar, but pizza?

Recipe adapted from Food Network

Ingredents:
1 cup honey
3/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup minced garlic (8 to 12 cloves)
1/2 cup peeled and grated fresh ginger root
3 lbs of chicken wings

Method:
1. Cook the honey, soy sauce, garlic, and ginger root in a small saucepan over low heat until the honey is melted. Put chicken in a large bowl, add marinade, cover tightly with saran wrap, and marinade overnight in the refrigerator.

2. When ready to cook, set the oven to 500 degrees on broil. Cook wings for about 30 minutes or until skin is slightly charred. Turn wings over and cook the other side until slightly charred.