Steak Tips and Roasted Vegetables
We're still working on the roasted vegetables and tonight, I mixed in a green tomato and some Hatch Valley Salsa into them to give them a bit of a bit of a Southwestern spin. Reasonably awesome, if I do say so, m'self.
The steak tips were grilled with some homemade chili sauce.
Simplicity.
The End of Week Fifty-One
I think retirement has suited me well. Both of us, actually. Neither of us had the drive or ambition to claw our way up the corporate ladder or fight the roadblocks placed in our way. Early in my hotel career, at Department Head level, I was told I wouldn't go any further because I wasn't married. Gee - I wonder what they meant? By 1989, I was done with hotels. 2001 was goodbye to nutrition and dietetics, and 2018 was goodbye to putting little pieces of food on little paper plates or asking if someone found everything they were looking for. It's now been a full year since I retired and my once Type-A personality has quickly moved through the alphabet.
I get a laugh out of folks who say they would be too bored not working. Boredom has never been a word in my vocabulary. Of course, I never lived to go to work. I went to work to live.
And now, that I don't have to, living has gotten so much better - especially after fifty-one weeks with a personal trainer and losing fifty pounds! Fifty-one weeks. I guess it's like childbirth - you forget the pain when you see the result.
And we can see - and feel - the results. One more week with our trainer, and then a month off. We need a bit of a hiatus.
We also need to see how we'll maintain the weight loss. We're not looking to lose more - just not gain any back - and that will take some discipline. Not something I usually have a lot of...
With all the fresh produce of Summer, we should be okay. Keep it light and keep it healthy. A bit like tonight's dinner - grilled tri-tip and braised cauliflower.
I did a dry rub of chipotle powder, garlic, salt, amd pepper, and when it was mostly done, I poured some BBQ sauce on top and let it brown.
The braised cauliflower started with chopped mushrooms, green onions, garlic, and green beans in a skillet. I then added a can of whole peeled tomatoes - our fresh tomatoes aren't ready, yet - along with a can of water. Then some berbere, cumin, salt, and pepper. Finally, I added the cauliflower, covered the skillet, and let it simmer for 30 minutes.
Easy-Peasy.
One more week and we do our final weigh-in - the official weigh-in - and compare it all to Day One.
I'm pretty proud of what we've accomplished.
Stuffed Zucchini
I am generally not a huge fan of really large zucchini, but there were no small ones at the produce market, today. I grabbed one, thinking I would stuff it for dinner when we got home.
A few weeks ago I had picked up a family pack of ground beef - six pounds worth. I repackaged it and froze it - and it's now taking up valuable real estate in the freezer. Time to use it!
My first thought was zucchini/Mediterranean, but I thought something more south of the border might be fun.
I mixed onions, a can of diced green peppers, Mexican oregano, a pinch of cumin, a hot pepper from the yard, garlic powder, and salt and pepper into the ground beef. Then I added a splash of tequila - just because.
I mixed everything up, hollowed out the zucchini, and stuffed it in - adding chunks of cotija queso as I went along.
It went into a 375°F oven - uncovered - for 35 minutes.
Fun flavors. It could have used some salsa on top, but I didn't think of it until we were eating. The story of my life...
Even so, it worked. Quick, easy, and something different.
Stuffed Tomatoes
I pulled some ground beef out of the freezer with no clear idea of what I was going to make. That's not unusual for me... I tend to wing it more than I do follow any sort of recipe.
While we were getting lunch together, today, I noticed a big ol' beefsteak tomato on the counter. I had one of those aha moments and said we were having stuffed tomatoes for dinner. With the concept formed, it was now a matter of figuring out what I was going to stuff it with...
Ground beef was the obvious first choice, and then I opened the 'fridge. We had green onions, a zucchini, and olive tapenade in there, and our first hot pepper from the garden was on the counter next to the tomato. I grabbed the last of the monterey jack cheese, too.
I preheated the oven to 375°F and went to work.
I sliced the tomato in half and cut out a good portion of the center. That was mixed in with the ground beef, minced green onion, minced hot pepper, and the tapenade. A bit of salt, pepper, and garlic powder went in, as well.
I put a hefty slice of cheese into the tomato and then filled each with half of the beef mixture and topped each with another slice of cheese.
I sliced the zucchini into thic coins and placed them around the peppers, and baked everything off for about 30 minutes.
It was one of those things that just worked. The burger was juicy, slightly spicy, and full of lots of flavor. The tomato was fork-tender but still had substance, and the cheese made everything just creamy-good!
Not bad, at all...
Spicy!
A few days ago I made a hot pepper sauce from a bunch of dried peppers I've been collecting - anaheim. guajillo, chiles de árbol, ancho - and bottled it up. It's fiery-hot but with lots of flavor.
I used it as a BBQ sauce last night, and tonight it was mixed into ground beef with bell peppers and onions. I made patties and stuffed them with monterey jack cheese, and onto the grill, they went.
As man does not live by burger alone, I grabbed some vegetables out of the vegetable bin and went to work.
I started with half of a small bulb of fennel, several radishes, a couple of white mushrooms, and a zucchini. I love how fennel goes from licorice to sweet when cooked and radishes go from peppery to the same. Mushrooms and zucchini just absorb flavor.
With a fairly spicy burger, I wanted the veggies to compliment it, but wasn't sure what to do. I opened the cupboard for inspiration and found a bottle of Trader Joe's Jalapeño Sauce I had picked up last week as an impulse buy. I don't often buy sauces like this, but... every now and again, they're not bad to have around.
Tonight was one of those times. I cooked off the veggies and added a hefty splash of jalapeño sauce at the last minute to pull everything together. It worked well!
It tied the veggies together while allowing each to retain their own unique flavor., and it was just spicy enough to be interesting without being overpowering.
The burgers were fun, as well. Lots of spice but they were mellowed by the monterey jack cheese. The veggies picked up the flavors of the burger while being stand-alone great without them.
All-in-all, a very successful meal!
I can see the sauce being stirred into an avocado for a 10-second guacamole... or even as a dipping sauce for quesadillas.
I'll figure out something. Waste not, want not...
The End of Week Forty-Eight
We have about a dozen more sessions before we call this to an end. Part of me can't wait. Okay, almost all of me can't wait. Yet, there's a little niggling feeling that it's going to be sad to see it end.
Masochist, party of one, your rack is ready...
We have been doing this three times a week for 48 weeks - and we have seen results. Fifty pounds gone and we both feel better than we have in years. We have exceeded all expectations. I'm totally amazed. We would never have done it without a Trainer three times a week - and it is time to get our lives back, a bit.
Four more weeks.
When we're done, we will have a couple dozen sessions available to use when we want. We're still going to be going to the gym regularly, but I'm thinking maybe we'll use a few sessions to ramp things up a bit over the holidays or jump-start the new year. I know I ain't using them in August. I'll be on Trainer Hiatus.
I bought some dates earlier in the week and we never used them, so, tonight, I decided to do something different with them. Pulling out the pit and stuffing them with cheese is pretty standard, but I took it a step further and wrapped them in seasoned ground beef and grilled them!
I seasoned the beef with a shot of whiskey, a bit of smoked paprika, garlic powder, cayenne pepper, salt, and pepper. Adding a bit of liquid to ground meat, be it beef, pork, chicken, lamb, sausage, or whatever, makes for a much more flavorful dish. You can use wine, water, beer, hard liquor, broth... whatever you have. It really makes mixing in spices and such so much easier.
Onto the grill they went, and in no time at all, dinner was served!
Purple potatoes, boiled and then browned, and fresh peas finished the plate.
The meatballs were rather good, if I do say so, m'self! Slightly smoky, and slightly spicy from the meat, and sweet and savory from the dates and cheese. It really was a fun combination of flavors.
On Monday, we're 49ers...
This one's in the bag...
The End of Week Forty-Five
The end is drawing near and our Trainer is ramping it up. Today, he had us doing every kind of exercise in rapid succession - a literal non-stop 15 minutes of physical movement that had the sweat pouring off me. 15 minutes. A quarter of an hour. It doesn't seem that long until you're doing it. Think of it in terms of how long that minute is when you're waiting for the microwave - and then multiply it out. He took pity on these old men because just about the time I was planning my funeral, it was off to the weights. Bicep curls with free weights is so much easier than high/low planks off a flippin' ball! I'd love to know where he comes up with these things - I think he channels the Marquis de Sade.
After last week's spin fiasco, I decided I needed to go back in and try it on my own. It was a bit more doable when I was pacing myself, but it's never going to be my preferred way to exercise. I'll keep giving it a go, but you will never - ever - see me in a spin class! The eardrum-shattering music and screaming would keep me out even if I was good at it. I am not motivated by noise - and I already have tinnitus. No, thank you.
I really don't get the screaming as motivation concept but I do have a newfound respect for the people in there. That is some difficult stuff.
On to dinner...
It was the perfect day, weather-wise, so grilling a steak seemed to be the perfect dinner choice.
The steak, itself, was pretty basic - a NY strip liberally doused with Penzey's Mitchell Street Steak Seasoning and an extra boost of Berbere.
It sat atop a hash of sorts of brussels sprouts, sweet potatoes, onions, and bacon.
First thing I did was peel and cut up a sweet potato and boil it until tender. I drained it and det it aside.
Next, I chopped the bacon and fried it off in a large skillet until it was crispy. I took it out and added thinly-sliced onion and thinly-sliced brussels sprouts to the pan, along with some salt and pepper.
When it all started wilting, I added the sweet potatoes and broke them up a bit, mixing everything together.
The pan was getting a bit dry, so I added a hefty splash of Gentleman Jack and a drizzle of maple syrup and cooked it all until nicely browned. The bacon was stirred back in and dinner was ready.
Onto the plate it went with the steak sliced on top.
What was nice about this is brussels sprouts are my most favorite vegetable - really - but they're on Victor's list of least-favorite. Victor absolutely loved them and cleaned his plate!
Another week down and we're maintaining the weight and maintaining a good attitude. That's a good thing. I seriously am not going through this, again!
Clean Out The 'Fridge Burgers
It's sunny and warm, outside... perfect weather for throwing burgers on the grill. And the perfect excuse to use up some of the produce in the 'fridge.
Our weekly produce run is reasonably organised - for us. We have our list of staples we always get, and then we roam around and grab things that look good. It's pretty much the way we grocery shop, period. We don't write out menus for the week - I have no idea on Sunday what I'm going to want to eat on Thursday - and, as long as there are the basics in the house, I can pretty much cook what I want.
The downside, of course, is running out of something or overbuying. The upside is we get to be creative.
Like tonight...
There was spinach and arugula in the 'fridge that needed using. We have a goodly amount of salad greens, so these two were destined to be cooked. And a boatload of mini sweet peppers. There are probably 2 dozen in a bag and we can only eat them so fast. Store-bought tomatoes are almost starting to taste almost acceptable, so there's several of them on the counter ripening at any given moment.
The perfect accompaniments for a burger!
I first sautéed the arugula and spinach in a pat of butter and a drizzle of olive oil. salt, pepper, and a drizzle of balsamic vinegar finished it off.
That was the first thing on the plate.
Next was a grilled burger - nothing special. Salt and pepper.
On top of the burger went sautéed mini peppers mixed with fried hot peppers. Again, just a pinch of salt and pepper. Spicy sweet.
Along the side was a tomato salad. Chopped tomatoes, basil, olive oil, and a drizzle of strawberry balsamic vinegar. And a pinch of S&P.
Crumbled cotija cheese finished it off.
It was really satisfying. Lots of different tastes and textures - with just the right amount of heat from the peppers.
I can't wait to do something like this with our own tomatoes and peppers!
C'mon, summer!
Carolina BBQ Salads
The warm weather of the past few days spoiled me. I am not pleased that it hasn't even reached 60°F, today. I am totally ready for 78°F and no humidity. Sadly, it ain't happening, today. [It's actually not going to happen a lot here in the mid-Atlantic states - but I can dream...]
What is happening, though, is salads for dinner. I took a lovely piece of tri-tip roast out of the freezer, doused it with Carolina Gold BBQ Sauce, and set it to cook on the grill.
The salads, themselves, were just a mishmash of things in the 'fridge - roasted beets, tomatoes, hard-cooked eggs, watermelon radishes, lettuce, green onions, fried hot peppers, French brie... - but the salad dressing was something decidedly different.
I took some of the Buttermilk Ranch Dressing I made the other day and added some of the Carolina Gold BBQ Sauce to it. It's a spin on a couple of recipes we did at work years ago - Carolina BBQ Chicken Salad, and Carolina Crunch.
Mixing the BBQ Sauce with the Buttermilk Ranch really took it all to a higher level - mustardy, smoky, spicy, creamy... The perfect BBQ dressing.
Just about any BBQ sauce can be turned into a salad dressing by mixing it into mayonnaise, sour cream, yogurt... even oil and vinegar. It's nice, because you can make as much as you need and not have a ton left over to become a science experiment on the 'fridge door.
Just for fun, I also made croutons from a couple slices of the bread I made the other day. Cubed, toasted, and then drizzles with a bit of olive oil and dusted with garlic powder and grated Parmigiano Reggiano.
The 10-Day forecast is looking promising... maybe some meals out back by the end of next week...
I'm ready.
Cheeseburgers in Paradise
I have been craving a cheeseburger ever since the weather started turning warm. They've always been one of my favorite foods - and a few of my cheeseburger creations are legendary. More than a couple of them would make Dagwood Bumstead proud.
But... Cheeseburgers and fries are not a part of the daily food regime, anymore, so a cheeseburger needs a bit of a justification. My justification was it's Tuesday. To make it even more justifiable, I decided on making homemade buns!
Our friend, Susan, had given us some of her sourdough starter and some fresh Lebanese yeast, so I made a sourdough bun loosely based on a Martha Stewart Crusty Roll recipe.
The roll was the perfect foil for a greasy burger - it stayed intact where a typical bun would have fallen apart.
I buy 80/20 ground beef - it's less expensive and isn't dry, flavorless, and rubbery like the lean stuff being touted as healthier. And don't even get me started on ground turkey... I made the rolls with a 60/40 blend of sprouted whole wheat and bread flour - and at 3 ounces a piece - fit right into our dietary regime.
I added slices of brie, tomato, and fried hot peppers. No other condiments - it didn't need any.
A few mini potatoes boiled and then flattened and fried finished off the plate.
I never picked up a knife or fork. Things started getting messy with the first bite and I went with it. Greasy fingers held onto the bun and greasy fingers picked up the little potatoes.
It was total perfection.
More Salads
It's 80°F right now... that's around 27°C for the rest of the world... It's been really nice all day long.
After our gym workout, we did our produce run to Gentile's, I took a truckload of yard garbage to the dump, and Victor went off to an eye doctor appointment.
In between all of that, we roasted beets, fried peppers, hard-boiled eggs, and made a couple of salads. Multi-tasking.
Our secret to our lunch salads is having stuff readily available. We can have a salad on a plate in mere minutes. It just takes a bit of advance planning - something from those years of restaurants and hotels that is finally paying off.
First thing is hard-cooked eggs. These are breakfast and salad items, so we always have a lot of them.
It took me years and years, but I finally figured out how to cook them so they will peel. I steam them for 20 minutes. I do not boil them in water. It's working.
And roasted beets... Both red and golden - they look just spectacular - and taste even better. Victor always hated beets. He's the one who picked them out at the produce store and roasted them. Never say never.
And then a couple of salads...
I soaked a pound of cannellini beans last night and made a really simple salad - carrots, celery, radishes, leeks, a bit of garlic... lots of crunchy things to go with the soft beans.
Oregano, olive oil, and balsamic vinegar. Simple, and really yummy.
Next is a rice and grain salad. Red rice, farro, and barley, with more leeks, watermelon radishes, artichoke hearts, broccoli, and zucchini, with a dressing of tomatillo salsa and south of the wall-type spices.
Besides a great dinner, tonight, these will get us through about 3 or 4 days - and then we'll start on another batch.
Tonight's dinner included all of the above and avocado, tomato, lots of greens, a NY steak, and Spicy French Dressing.
The perfect end to an industrious day.
The End of Week Thirty-Seven
We are ounces away from a fifty-pound weight loss! Un-Flippin'-Believable! Never in my wildest dreams did I see myself 50 pounds lighter. Okay - not entirely true. Only in my wildest dreams did I see it. I never really thought it would - or could - be a reality.
And it's within reach!
It has not been easy - yet, it's getting easier - even as the workouts get more difficult. It's all still learning.
More than anything, I need to really work on my breathing. We were walking back and forth across the gym doing lunges while simultaneously lifting dumbbells straight out - think of a kneeling bird stretching its wings and lowering them over-and-over - and I just could not catch my breath. It was pure torture. Our trainer kept telling me to breathe and I kept thinking I'm going to die and my suits are all to big for me. I suppose I could be buried in a tshirt and jeans - I don't even have shorts that fit, right now...
One does need to plan these things...
And... one needs to commit. None of this would have happened if we hadn't committed to doing it - and actually doing the long-term work instead of trying for a quick fix. It is a lifestyle change, and as much as I miss those nightly ooey-gooey desserts, I'm loving fresh fruit - and really can't wait for stone-fruits to come into season!
It is a trade-off - and one that we're happily making.
It's time for a celebratory steak!
Once upon a time, I'd be grilling two of these huge ol' things. Today, it's one - split between us. Still more than enough food - and I often marvel at how much we have cut back while still eating a lot.
The concept for the steak came from the NY Times. It's a grilled strip steak stuffed with a medium-hot chunky pepper sauce. I didn't have the peppers in the recipe, but I did have a couple of bell peppers and some of our smokin' hot roasted peppers from our garden.
Pepper-Stuffed Steak
- 2 bell peppers, roasted, peeled, and chopped
- 2 roasted hot peppers, chopped (more or less, to taste)
- 1 tbsp neutral oil
- 1 tbsp flour
- 1/2 cup beef stock
- 1 clove garlic, peeled and minced
- 1 pinch oregano
- 2 (10-ounce) top sirloin or New York strip steaks, 1 1/2 to 2 inches thick, with excess fat cut away
- garlic powder, salt, and pepper, for steak
In small saucepan, add oil and flour to make a roux. Add the beef stock, garlic, and oregano and cook until thickened. Stir in the chopped peppers. Set aside to cool.
Cut a pocket in the steak making sure not to cut through. Rub with a bit of oil, salt, pepper, and garlic powder.
Spoon about half of pepper mixture into steaks and secure with toothpick. Reserve remaining for topping.
Grill to desired doneness.
Heat reserved pepper sauce and spoon over steaks.
The potatoes were a concoction I got from the BBC food section. It's a fun site - and anyone can access! I peruse a lot of the BBC/British food sites and am getting quite adept at metric conversions and British terminology. Like delving into La Cucina Italiana - in Italian - it's a great way to connect with different cultures. And if you think our politics are screwed up, try following Brexit in the British papers!
Mary's recipe calls for parmesan. I used a great Piave. It was perfection! I also made like a third of this recipe but still used a lot of cheese.
Mary Berry's Fennel and Potato Gratin
Ingredients
- 50g/1¾oz butter, plus extra for greasing
- 3 large bulbs fennel
- 3 onions
- 600g/1lb 6oz large potatoes, peeled
- 2 garlic cloves, crushed
- 50g/1¾oz parmesan cheese, grated (or vegetarian equivalent)
Method
Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/ (180 fan). Butter the serving dish.
Trim the tops from the fennel and cut each bulb in half through the root, then cut each half lengthways into three wedges. Cut the onions into six wedges too in a similar way.
Cut the potatoes into wedges the same size as the fennel wedges.
Boil the fennel and onions in a large pan of salted water for about five minutes, then add the potatoes and boil for a further five minutes, or until the potatoes and fennel are just tender. Drain well.
Put the 50g/1¾oz butter and the garlic in the same large pan set over a low heat until just melted. Return the potatoes and fennel to the butter, toss until coated then tip into the ovenproof dish. Sprinkle with the parmesan. Bake for 30-40 minutes, or until piping hot.
On to week thirty-eight!