Happy New Year!

It's 2015 and something I love about starting each year anew is a chance to set goals, make changes, resolve to be better. I've been overly absent from this blog for over a year now and I want to be better about posting, even if nobody is reading anymore!

So... my resolutions? I have 15 for 2015. Because, to be honest, I've spent the last couple of years without any real resolution and as a result, very little change. So my 15 for '15: first on the list, blog more. Check. I've already posted one more post than I did in all of 2014! Second: Cook the recipes on my Pinterest food board. Not ALL of them, as there are hundreds and I pin weekly, but they are on there for a reason and I'm going to give many of them a try. My goal is one per week. The end of 2014 brought dinners that were rushed, boring, easy, and unhealthy. That will change. In fact, it already has. We rang in the new year with a delicious dinner cooked at home and Z, my son and I sat at the table and devoured it together. I whipped it all together in 40 minutes, maybe even less from start to serving. 

NYE Dinner: Chimichuri Steak and Brussels Sprouts with Garlic Aioli

 Chimichuri Steak and Brussels Sprouts

Ingredients:
1 2-2.5lb skirt steak* 
1 tbsp olive oil (I didn't use a whole tbsp, maybe 1 tsp on each side of the steak)

Steak Rub
1-2 tablespoons chili powder-(to your own taste, I used 1 tbsp, because my powder smelled particularly strong and I didn't want it to overpower the steak. I like it simple.) 1 tablespoon brown sugar (or dark brown sugar) 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin 1 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano 1 teaspoon ground coriander 1 teaspoon garlic powder 1 teaspoon sea salt 1 teaspoon fresh cracked pepper


Chimichuri Sauce 
1/2 cup Italian parsley leaves 1/4 cup cilantro leaves
1 teaspoon red chili flakes (you can add a second if you want it a little hot, I kept it mild for my son) 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar 1 garlic clove, minced 
1/2 teaspoon coarse sea salt 1/2 teaspoon coarse ground black pepper

Brussels Sprouts
~20 Brussels sprouts, cut in half lengthwise
Less than 1/4 tsp sea salt or kosher salt
Olive oil drizzle 

Garlic Aioli for dipping
5 tablespoons mayonnaise
1/4 teaspoon garlic, minced fine
1 teaspoon lemon juice (I didn't measure but I'm pretty sure I added more than 1 tsp and it was still a little 'mayo-y' to me)
1 tablespoon flat leaf parsley, chopped fine   

Preparation:
Use half of the olive oil and rub onto both sides of room-temperature skirt steak. Rub half of the dry rub on one side and repeat on the other. If cooking in oven, take 2 skewers and skewer each side to add height to the steak that will be put in the oven. Place steak on cookie sheet. If grilling, first lightly oil grill grates and cook to liking. For oven: broil steak on low for about 20 minutes for a medium-rare steak, depending on size of steak and oven (I have a small oven, so my meat cooks faster).

While steak is cooking, cut sprouts in half. Place on cookie sheet and sprinkle with salt. Drizzle with olive oil and use your hands to mix oil and salt evenly on the sprouts. Place in oven at 375 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until outer leaves are a light brown.

When you have the sprouts and the steak in the oven, prepare your sauces by combining all ingredients in separate bowls and whisking them well. 

Once steak is cooked to your liking and you are ready to serve it, cut against the grain in long slices.  Garnish with Chimichuri sauce and serve with Brussels sprouts.

* You can probably also try this with London Broil, for a leaner cut of meat

I will be commenting on each Pinterest recipe that I try, so follow my board to read my comments. 
 
Wine pairing: 2011 Geneseo Cabernet Sauvignon, Paso Robles, CA

Cheers!
Ana

 
 

Watermelon and Feta Salad with Mint Leaves

Earlier this summer I had a bunch of mint leaves lying around and a dinner party where I was asked to bring a salad (I offered to bring something to contribute).  Anyway, a quick internet search for 'mint leaf salad' resulting in my preparation of a delicious watermelon and feta salad.  I impressed myself with this one, and it has been a summer staple in my picnic basket ever since.  

I first tasted watermelon and feta together on a salad offered on a chef's tasting menu when I was lucky enough to have famed chef Susur Lee prepare an eight-course tasting meal for my friends and me while he was in town testing new items to add to his summer menu at the now closed Zentan Restaurant.  I was convinced that this was a food pairing that while questionable to some, was simply meant to be.  

mom's little helper!

Ingredients:
5 lb. seedless watermelon 
1 Vidalia or other sweet onion
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
salt and pepper to taste (when on the run I omit this)
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons chopped fresh mint
4 oz. feta cheese
6 whole mint sprigs
Balsamic vinegar

Preparation:

Cube watermelon into one inch pieces.  Slice the onion into rings, and cut the rings into halves.  

In small bowl, mix oil and red wine vinegar.  Whisk until salt nearly dissolves and add a splash of Balsamic vinegar.  Add chopped mint.

In large bowl, combine watermelon, onion, and feta.  Pour the dressing over the melon mixture toss gently until everything is coated and evenly mixed.  Garnish with mint sprigs and enjoy!

Note: If you are taking this to a party or a picnic, be mindful that the dressing should be added when the salad is ready to serve.  I take the leaves right off of the sprig and add them to the salad. 

Wine pairing: this tastes great with a chilled pinot noir rose.  I've enjoyed this with the Tatty Bogler New Zealand Rose, ~$15

Recipe courtesy of Paula Deen

Cheers!
Ana

Another Lovely Salad!

Greetings, fellow good grapes.  I don't know what's gotten into me, or why I'm eating so many salads, but that's what I'm craving and that's what I'm making.

This is a salad I wanted to recreate at home after a recent trip to visit friends and family in Dallas.  Inspired by a salad I enjoyed at a restaurant there, I thought what so many of us think when we over pay for something because it happens to sound delicious: "This is so good.  I bet you I can MAKE this!"  So that's what I did and I will share how:

Ingredients: 
Summer salad

romaine lettuce (1 head shredded)

chicken breast, seasoned and cooked

avocado

mango

pineapple

jicama

grape tomatoes

dressing (recipe previously posted)

1 clove garlic

1/2 cup cilantro

juice of 1 large orange

juice of 2 limes

1/2 cup olive oil

 

Preparation:
Prepare chicken as desired, slice or shred.  I seasoned with a little bit of Adobo, a little paprika, and some pepper, then broiled on low until cooked throughout.  
Chop fruit, avocado and tomatoes (technically a fruit, I know) to portions of your choosing.
Tear lettuce leaves and add to salad bowl or plate and top with fruit, tomatoes and avocado.  Add chicken.  Serve with cilantro lime dressing, recipe here. 

This was truly a refreshing and delicious salad and allowed me to reuse my cilantro-lime salad dressing that I love so much!  As a bonus, it called for ingredients that were a perfect dinner for the baby, and he loved it as much as I did.  I need more of these time-saving dinner ideas!

For the baby: salad and tomatoes excluded, and peas (for iron) added.  Photos: my own.

Pair with Sauvignon  blanc, suggesion: Concha Y Toro Explorador ($10, Chile)

Cheers!

Ana

Ginger-Sesame Chicken Salad

THIS is a salad I am SO excited to share with my Three Good Grapes readers.  I tore it out of a Redbook Magazine (May 2013) and knew I had to make it.  The result was just beyond refreshing, delicious, and included a dose of healthy.  I can't say enough about this salad.  It's incredibly satisfying.  Before I fill up your whole screen with praise, let me go ahead and share the recipe and let you decide for yourselves.

I swear the chicken is cooked! The pink hue is probably a combination of my crappy phone camera and the red-brown marinade color

Ingredients:

Marinade and dressing

¼ cup reduced-sodium soy sauce

3 Tbsp very finely chopped peeled fresh ginger

3 Tbsp canola oil

2 Tbsp hoisin sauce

1 Tbsp toasted sesame oil

1 tsp sriracha

1 tsp kosher salt

2 (9-oz) boneless, skinless chicken-breast halves

¼ cup red wine vinegar

¼ cup minced scallions (white and green parts)

Photos: my own

Salad

1 lb napa cabbage, halved lengthwise, very thinly sliced crosswise

2 carrots, shredded or cut into matchstick-size strips*

½ cup shredded red cabbage*

3 scallions (white and green parts), thinly sliced on a sharp diagonal

⅔ cup lightly packed fresh cilantro leaves

½ cup slivered almonds, toasted

1 tsp white sesame seeds, toasted

1 tsp black sesame seeds (optional)

Preparation:

In a medium bowl, whisk soy sauce, ginger, canola oil, hoisin sauce, sesame oil, sriracha, and salt to blend. Transfer 3 Tbsp of the marinade to a baking dish, add chicken, and turn to coat. Cover and refrigerate at least 30 minutes, turning after 15 minutes.*

Dressing: Whisk vinegar and scallions into the remaining marinade. Set aside.

Heat a grill pan over medium-high heat. Remove chicken from marinade, add to grill pan, and cook about 4 minutes per side, or until chicken shows no sign of pink when pierced in the thickest part with the tip of a small sharp knife. Transfer to a cutting board and let rest 15 minutes.

Cut chicken crosswise into ¼-inch-thick slices.

In a large bowl, toss chicken, cabbage, carrots, scallions, cilantro, and half of the almonds with enough dressing to coat lightly.

Mound salad in center of 4 plates. Re-whisk dressing and drizzle a little over and around salad. Sprinkle with the remaining almonds and sesame seeds.

* The only thing I did differently was buy pre-shredded carrots and added shredded red cabbage.  Half cup of each.  I broiled the chicken on low for about 20 minutes and didn't let it sit in the fridge first (short on time), and still felt the end result was divine.  Also, because I was in a hurry and rushed through directions, I added all ingredients to the marinade (including vinegar and scallions) and it was fine.  As you can tell in the pictures, I forgot to add the sesame seeds and almonds. Shoot. 

I took this salad over to a friend's house for an impromptu dinner date this weekend and I've enjoyed the leftovers since.  If I had used the entire head of cabbage (I only used half) and all of the carrots and red cabbage and a bunch of cilantro, I could easily feed 10 by cooking more chicken and adjusting the marinade proportions.  Go ahead, give it a try.

Enjoyed with: a glass of chilled Sauvignon Blanc.  Suggestion: Kendall Jackson

Cheers!

Ana

(Light?) Southwestern Casserole

I'm posting about a go-to comfort food of mine, the Light Better-for-You Southwestern Casserole.  It's my modified version of the Light King Ranch Casserole, but I can assure you, there is nothing 'light' about this.  Sure, the recipe calls for everything 'light' and 'reduced fat,' but you just have to laugh at any recipe that consists mostly of opening canned goods.  When you add up all the sodium, you're looking at THOUSANDS of mgs of sodium per serving!  The sodium levels in even the most fat free of canned foods will bloat you up faster than a can full of calories will.  My version adds corn for color, beans for protein and iron, uses a quarter less tortillas to save a total of 440 calories, and adds carrots for a dose of anti-oxidents, vitamin A and beta-carotene.  Still not ideal, but better than the boring Southern Living recipe. 

Z is away for two weeks and I'm on my own during one of my busiest work seasons.  That's why I am nixing the recipes that have me chopping, stirring and stewing all night (you may have noticed I like to make everything fresh and from scratch, including sauces and salsas) until he returns.  My waistline suffers more than my stress levels when he's gone!

Anyway, this recipe is always delicious and makes servings and servings of leftovers, which means I only have to cook once this week so that I can spend the rest of my nights playing and bonding with my adorable little love and squeezing in some work before bedtime.

Ingredients
1 onion, diced
1 green bell pepper, diced
shredded carrots
1 can 98% Fat Free Cream of Chicken soup
1 can 98% Fat Free Cream of Mushroom soup
1 can whole kernel corn, drained and well rinsed
1 can no salt added diced tomatoes with green chiles, drained and rinsed
1 can dark red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1 can reduced sodium black beans, drained and rinsed
1 can green chiles
8 oz. shredded cheese (I suggest not cutting fat here, as recommended in the King Ranch Casserole recipe)
8 corn tortillas, torn in half
3 scallions, green parts only, for garnish
1 lb chicken breast, fully cooked and shredded
2 tbsp corn oil

Preparation 
Heat oven to 375F

Layer tortillas in bottom of greased 9x13 baking dish.  Heat 5-7 minutes.  Let cool.

Heat corn oil in large skillet.  Add onion, pepper, and carrots and cook until onions are translucent in color, about 5 minutes.  Add next 7 ingredients.  Cook until well blended and the mixture begins to bubble.  Reduce heat to low and cook an extra 5 minutes. 

Once the tortillas have cooled, remove 8 halves and cover the bottom of the dish with 4 tortillas (8 halves).  Spoon one layer of the soup mixture over the tortillas.  Cover soup layer with shredded chicken.  Spoon another layer of soup mixture over chicken. Top with remaining tortillas.  Cover with shredded cheese.

Bake in oven until cheese melts completely, about 15 minutes. Remove from oven and cool slightly before serving.

Enjoy!

Cheers!
Ana

Red and Green Salad with Cilantro Lime Dressing

Hello good grapes!  Sorry for the lack of posts lately... It's going to be a busy few weeks for me all the way through mid May.  Anyway, despite the lack of posts I have been enjoying this warm weather and great wine!  You know what else goes with warm weather?  Fresh salads.  

This Red and Green Salad (I made the name up myself, am I not so clever?) was my favorite salad until I made tonight's salad - stay tuned.  Anyway, why the name?  Well, all the of the ingredients are either red or green.  I mean, some are technically purple, but if I told you  to add purple cabbage and purple onion to your grocery list, you'd look at me funny.  The grocery list is pretty simple.  I actually used left over ingredients from my fish taco recipe and added a new protein and a can of kidney beans.  

Ingredients:
salad
Avocado, chopped
1 cup cilantro leaves + 1 tbsp, chopped and separated
1/2 small red jalapeno pepper, finely diced (optional)
1/4 cup shredded red cabbage
1/2 red bell pepper, diced
1 small head romaine lettuce, torn to small pieces
1/4 cup red onion, diced
1 can dark red kidney beans, drained and well rinsed 

 

chicken
1 lb boneless chicken breast
olive oil
pinch kosher salt
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tbsp cilantro leaves

dressing
1 large naval orange
2 limes
1/2 cup olive oil
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 cup cilantro (from above)

Preparation:
For salad dressing, pour olive oil into large measuring cup (I used a 2 cup OXO), juice orange and limes.  Add to blender or food processor.  Add cilantro and garlic and puree until smooth.  

Prepare chicken breasts.  Place over foil on baking sheet.  Drizzle lightly with olive oil.   Sprinkle with garlic clove, tablespoon of cilantro, pinch of salt and pieces of remaining orange.  Broil on low for 15-20 minutes.  

Add salad ingredients to bowl.  Top with slices of broiled chicken and dress with the cilantro-lime dressing.  

Pair with unoaked Chardonnay.  Suggestion:  Mer Solei Silver

Enjoy!

Cheers!
Ana

Taco Tuesday: Fish Tacos

It’s Taco Tuesday, good grapes!  Don’t worry, we won’t have tacos as our main recipes forever, but we’ve been on such a kick lately that I wanted to share our latest homemade creation.  I saw tilapia filets on super sale at the grocery as well avocados for $1.00/each, so my mind told me to make simple fish tacos for dinner.   Can it get any easier than that?  Here’s what we did:

image: my own

Ingredients:

1 bag red cabbage, shredded

1 avocado

1 bunch cilantro

2 limes

1 red bell pepper

1 red chile pepper (or jalapeno, or Serrano, or your favorite pepper)

1 pound tilapia filet

1 bag corn tortillas

½ tsp. corn oil (substitute oil you have at home if you don’t have corn oil)

Pinch salt

Pinch pepper

½ tsp Adobo seasoning (I use the salt free kind)

First I patted the filets dry, then lightly drizzled them in corn oil – PS – I use corn oil on any recipe that will be eaten with corn tortillas – then I mixed up my seasonings and seasoned the fish.  I put them in the broiler on low heat and just watched them until they were done, about 10 minutes, turning them once half way. 

In the mean time I put 4 tortillas in the oven and let them broil directly on the oven rack for a few minutes on each side until they were JUST starting to crisp up.  You want them crisp but still flexible enough to fold.

Then I pulled a handful of cilantro leaves, removed the stems and chopped up the leaves along with half of the red bell pepper.  I put the cilantro and red bell pepper in a small bowl and added the red cabbage until it looked pretty balanced.  I added the juice of one lime and mixed everything up (you can add a pinch of salt and/or pepper here too).

 

By now the tortillas are ready and so are the filets, so I took two tortillas and filled them with the cabbage mix, I halved each filet and put one half in each tortilla, then garnished the plate with more cilantro and a couple of slivers of red chile, for heat.  I took ingredients I had on hand (Greek yogurt, mayo, Sriracha sauce and honey) and mixed up a tiny bit of sauce to go with the tacos, but you totally don’t need this unless you want extra ‘tang.’  Mexican crema would have worked fine too.  

Salsa and guacamole recipes here

To these, add a few extra garnishes, such as avocado or queso fresco (I used leftover guacamole and salsa with these tacos) and sprinkle with lime.  That’s it.  These tacos were so easy to make, super tasty and definitely restaurant grade.  My hubs likes everything I make, but he liked these so much he started thinking of special names for them.  Cute, no?  Let us know if you love these as much as we did!

Pair with a fresh vinho verde if you're enjoying outside for lunch or a crisp and fruity Sauvignon Blanc for later in the day.

Cheers!

Ana