Hi Everyone!  Today we will be having Ginger Steak Salad.  It really delicious!  I absolutely love it and it’s a lot easier to make than you would think!  I hope you enjoy it.

Breakfast: Make Ahead Muffins

Lunch: Ginger Steak Salad

Snack: Graham Crackers and Fruit

Dinner: Chicken Crunch

Dessert: Oreo Cheesecake Squares

Ginger Steak Salad

Ingredients

MARINADE INGREDIENTS:

• 2 Tablespoons Soy Sauce
• 1 Tablespoon Sherry
• 2 cloves Garlic, Minced
• 2 teaspoons Brown Sugar
• 1 whole Rib-eye, Strip, Or Sirloin Steak
• 2 Tablespoons Olive Oil

FOR SALAD DRESSING:

• 2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
• 2 Tablespoons Soy Sauce
• 2 Tablespoons White Sugar
• 1 Tablespoon Lime Juice
• 2 cloves Garlic, Finely Diced
• 1 Tablespoon Fresh Ginger, Minced
• ½ whole Jalapeno, Seeded And Diced

SALAD INGREDIENTS:

• 2 whole Green Onions
• 8 ounces Salad Greens

Preparation

1. Combine steak marinade ingredients in a Ziploc bag.
2. Mix and place steak into bag.
3. Marinate for 30 minutes to 2 hours.
4. Combine salad dressing ingredients and slice green onion.
5. When steak is finished marinating, add 2 tablespoons olive oil to a hot skillet.
6. Cook steak about 1 1/2 minutes per side, or until medium rare.
7. Remove from skillet and keep on a plate, allowing to cool slightly.
8. Toss salad greens in 3/4 of the salad dressing.
9. Place steak on cutting board and slice thinly, then pour juices from the plate over the top.

10.  Mound tossed salad on a platter, then place sliced steak on top of salad.

11.  Pour remaining salad dressing over the top.

12.  Sprinkle green onions over the salad

I hope you all had a lovely holiday weekend.  Now that we are back to business here is a lovely menu for Tuesday.  I hope you like it!

Breakfast: Parmesan and Cheddar Cheese Grits

Lunch: Shrimp and Crab Salad

Snack: Grapes and Cheese

Dinner: Fried Round Steak

Dessert: Banana Fritters

I‘m a down south girl (many like to say Miami isn’t down South, but my parents raised me in a down South/ Caribbean home) so I love grits.  It’s like a little piece of home every time!  I love Shrimp and Crab salad.  It’s nice and cold and I can also have it on a sandwich if I wanted to.  Bread really brings out the flavor and gives it an extra texture.

Ingredients

• 2 pounds cooked medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
• 2 packages (8 ounces each) imitation crabmeat
• 4 celery ribs, finely chopped
• 1 medium onion, finely chopped
• 1/2 cup sliced ripe olives
• 1/2 cup reduced-fat mayonnaise
• 2 tablespoons prepared horseradish
• 1 teaspoon seasoned salt
• Leaf lettuce

Preparation

1. In a large bowl, combine the first five ingredients.
2. In a small bowl, combine the mayonnaise, horseradish and seasoned salt
3. Mix well.
4. Add to the shrimp mixture and stir well.
5. Cover and refrigerate.
6. Serve on a lettuce-lined plate

Shrimp and Crab Salad

October ’10 – Week 1 – Friday Dinner/Entree

I have become something of a genius at whipping up mock fast food to sate my husband’s sudden crises for drive-thru fare. These sandwiches are no exception, but instead of a heap of fries, we’re serving them up with BIG SALADS- but don’t let the name fool you.

“Big salads” are something my mother makes and they’re just what the name suggests. She fills a plate with whatever greens we happen to have on hand, and then anything else we happen to have on hand goes right on top. It’s pretty easy to invent interesting, sometimes cafe-quality salads with things you find in your fridge and pantry- from nuts, dried cranberries and shredded cheese to olives, beans, cold cuts and a little onion or tomato. Kids will have a blast designing and adding things to their plates, even making faces with vegetables. Whip up a vinaigrette from anything you happen to have around, the ingredients for my favorite are listed below.

Ingredients:

2 Packages (or 1 lb) Deli Sliced Roast Beef
Freshly Cracked Black Pepper
8-12 Slices Cheddar Cheese
4-6 Kaiser Rolls
1/3 C Favorite Steak Sauce

Directions:

Heat a medium nonstick skillet to med-high heat. Put slices of roast beef on the skillet and fry until they curl up and become ruffly and darkened. Push them aside as they finish cooking, and crack fresh black pepper over them. Once finished, you should have a heap of hot, tender beef. Toss with steak sauce and heap on a roll while still hot. Melt 1-2 slices of cheese over the steak before topping with the rest of the bun.

Ingredients for my Favorite Salad Dressing:

1/3 C Rice Wine or Red Wine Vinegar
1/2 C Olive Oil
2-3 T Honey
1 t Chipotle Powder*
Salt to taste

Whisk together and douse salad generously in deliciousness.
*If you don’t like spicy, opt to use brown mustard instead.

October ’10 – Week 1 – Sunday Lunch

September ’10 – Week 4 – Friday Snack

I will eat just about anything if you serve it in a lettuce cup. It’s fun and accessible, fresh, crunchy, and better for you than just slapping the filling du jour on a roll made of refined white flour! This crab salad recipe is a blend of a few of my favorites, and it eliminates the heavy mayonnaise, but it’s so good!

Ingredients:

1 lb Lump Crabmeat (use Imitation if you’re so inclined!)
1/2 C Olive Oil
1/2 C Vinegar (I like Rice Wine.)
Fresh Lemon Juice, to taste
1 T Fresh Parsley, chopped
Several Gherkin Pickles, diced
1/3 C Red Onion, diced finely
2 Cloves of Garlic, finely minced
Salt & Pepper to taste
Iceburg or Boston Lettuce leaves

Directions:

Mix all ingredients except for the lettuce together in a bowl and refrigerate for no less than two hours, but as much as overnight, allowing flavors to develop. Serve scoops of salad on lettuce leaves. Fold up to eat, just like a taco!

September ’10 – Week 4 – Thursday Dinner/Dessert

Dulce de Naranja, literally sweetness of oranges, has roots all over the Latin community, but this particular recipe is Cuban. This dessert is what happens when you make a silk purse from a sow’s ear. This is a great way to use up orange rinds from oranges that have been juiced that day! Taking peeled orange halves after the insides have been eaten and the membranes removed, boil them in sugar water until candied and eat on toast, crackers, or with a delicious salty cheese. You could even dice them and use them in holiday baking in place of other candied fruits. If you like the dry sweetness and delicately bitter tang of marmalade, you’ll love these. Because they take up to 4 hours to make, I have adapted this recipe for the slow cooker.

Ingredients:

10-12 Fresh oranges, peeled of JUST the orange part, leaving white pith behind, halved, with pulp and juice removed
A few peels, reserved
4 C Sugar

Directions:

Place oranges and sugar, along with a few of the peels, in the slow cooker and fill with enough water to cover orange halves. Allow to cook for 4-6 hours on high or 6-8 hours on low, or until oranges are yellowy-orange and translucent.

Slice and serve any way you like, save aside cooking syrup for use in cooking, drizzle over ice cream or sweeten tea with it.

Note that this can be done with any citrus fruit!

September ’10 – Week 2 – Wednesday Dinner/Salad

There is nothing I don’t love about beets. Their subtle sweetness, their festive colors, how beautiful they make a dish look. I’m pretty okay with using canned beets to save time. I grew up eating them and I still am. This salad punches up the interest a little by bringing some additional ingredients to the party. Your kids will probably just be happy to eat it because it’s magenta!

Ingredients:

1 can Sliced Beets
1 can Clementine Orange Segments
1 small Red Onion, sliced very thinly
1/2 C Feta Cheese
Olive Oil
Salt & Pepper to taste

Directions:

Drain liquid from beets and clementines. Toss in a bowl with onion slices and feta. Drizzle with oil and season with salt and pepper. Serve immediately, or chill and serve cold.

September ’10 – Week 2 – Tuesday Lunch

Pesto. Just say the word, and I’m there. This traditional sauce is from the Genoa region of Italy and the name comes from the Italian word meaning ‘to crush.’ Five simple crushed-up ingredients are all you need to transform simple pasta into something miraculous. For this recipe, we’re using orecchiette, which means ‘little ears‘ for their small curled-up shape. If you can’t find orecchiette, shells are a fine substitute.

Ingredients:

2 C packed Fresh Basil leaves
1/2 C Parmesan-Reggiano or Romano cheese
1/3 C Pine Nuts
1/2 C Olive Oil
3 Garlic Cloves
Salt

Directions:

Combine first five ingredients in food processor or blender. Blend into a fine puree. Salt to taste.

Cook pasta according to package directions. Toss with fresh pesto while still hot. Serve immediately, or refrigerate. Pesto pasta makes a delicious cold lunch!

September ’10 – Week 2 – Tuesday Dinner/Salad

Caprese salad is one of the perfect foods, to me. Fresh, simple, straightforward ingredients, each one given their time to shine. Now, I personally do not typically like tomato, so I’ll often replace the slices of tomato in this dish with roasted red peppers- I request it that way even when I order it out! Either way is great. This recipe requires no cooking, and is so quick and delicious you’ll wonder where it was all your life.

Ingredients:

Meaty red tomatoes, sliced to 1/2″ thickness (or pieces of roasted red peppers.)
Fresh mozzarella, sliced into 1/2″ rounds
Fresh basil leaves, rolled up and sliced into thin ribbons (this is called a chiffonade.)
Good olive oil, balsamic vinegar, sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper.

Directions:

Assemble tomatoes and mozzarella on a plate. Top with basil, drizzle with olive oil and vinegar, season lightly with salt and pepper. Serve and enjoy!

September ’10 – Week 2 – Monday Dinner/Side

There’s nothing like a recipe from your childhood. I grew up eating these carrots at my grandmother’s house. The shimmery tomato-based sauce they’re cooked in lends them the look of copper pennies, and the sweetness of the sauce is really kid-friendly. It won’t be hard to get them to eat their veggies once you introduce this dish to the table.

Ingredients:

2 lbs Carrots
1 Onion, chopped
1 Green Pepper, chopped
1 can Tomato Soup
1/2 C Sugar
1/2 C Vinegar
1/3 C Oil
1 t Mustard
1 t Worcestershire sauce

Directions:

Cut carrots into coins and cook in a saucepan until tender. Add remainder of ingredients while carrots are still hot, allowing flavors to develop. Transfer into a bowl and refrigerate, marinating overnight. I prefer mine served warm, but in the summer, served cold as a picnic side is just as good!