Balsamic Round Steak with Grilled Sweet Potatoes

I have to take a minute before I share this recipe with you to give a little shout out to BzzAgent. I have been signed up with them since 2005, and during that time I have had some really great opportunities to try some amazing products for free. You might be asking yourself "what's in it for them"? The answer is quite simply that they get the word of mouth advertising from happy people walking around telling all their friends about the products that they tried. I could give you the big long list of things that I've tried over the years, but I'll just highlight a few to give you an idea.

I've tried whitening strips for my teeth, chocolate, make up, coffee, sonicare toothbrushes, cleaning products, craft products.. etc

My latest package arrived at my door just a few days ago. I was super excited to take a peek and see what I got!

The folks at Lawry's were kind enough to send an apron, two full sized marinades, a full size sample of their seasoned salt, a big stack of coupons to share with my friends and a recipe booklet!

I decided that the perfect way to put their marinade to the test was with some beautiful round steaks. I picked the round steak because it is a nice lean piece of red meat (I need to make sure I keep those 18 pounds I lost off!). The marinade was definitely a great idea! Fantastic flavor and the steak was tender as could be!

Balsamic Round Steak with Grilled Sweet Potatoes

• round steak
• 1 bottle Lawry's Balsamic Herb Marinade
• sweet potato
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
  
• Lawry's Seasoned Salt
• Lawry's Seasoning Salt Marinade

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees

Place the steak in a shallow dish and cover with the marinade for a minimum of 30 minutes.

Slice the sweet potato, toss with the oil and sprinkle with the seasoning salt. Bake for about 30 minutes, or until the potatoes are tender and starting to get a little crisp. Move the sweet potatoes to the grill to finish them off. Brush with the seasoning salt marinade and grill for 2-3 minutes on each side.

Preheat your grill and if you have a searing burner preheat that as well.

When the grill is ready, sear the steak for 2 minutes on each side. I have a side sear burner, so I started them there and moved them to the regular grill for the rest of the cooking time.

Finish the cooking process on a lower heat, about 350 degrees).

How long you cook your steak will depend on a few different factors. Which kind of steak you are using, how thick it is and how rare or well done you prefer your meat. I found a nice website that had some great recommendations for grilling times for steak. Check out their website HERE for some great grilling tips! This is a chart from their website that you might find helpful when trying to decide how long to cook your steak.

I still prefer to use a thermometer to ensure that I don't overcook my meat. You can pick them up pretty inexpensively and they are a must have in the kitchen.

This is the one that I have, you can pick it up on Amazon HERE.

A fantastic quick and delicious meal! Thanks to Lawry's!


Enjoy!!!

If you are interested in becoming a BzzAgent visit their website HERE!

Spaghetti Salad

Now that the warm weather is finally here you are going to start to see a lot of fun salad recipes. This salad can be paired up with just about anything and you can add or omit any ingredients that you want. I usually just throw in anything that I have in the refrigerator! Have fun with it :)
This salad is going to be paired up with some porterhouse steaks and shrimp that we are throwing on the grill with corn on the cob!

Spaghetti Salad

• 1 lb thin spaghetti (cooked, drained and rinsed under cold water)
• 3 tomatoes, seeded and diced
• 1 large seedless cucumber, peeled and diced
• 1 can black olives, drained and cut in half
  
• 1 red onion, diced
• 3 tablespoons fresh parsley, minced
• 3 tablespoons mild banana peppers, minced
  
• 1 16oz bottle Italian dressing (see notes)
• 2 tablespoons Parmesan cheese
• 1/2 tablespoon sesame seeds
• 1/2 tablespoon poppy seeds

Cook the spaghetti according to the directions on the package, drain, rinse under cold water and place in a large bowl.

Chop all of the veggies and add to the bowl with the spaghetti.

I always find that a whole bottle of dressing is too much, so I start out using half the bottle. Mix half the bottle with the sesame seeds, poppy seeds and Parmesan cheese. Pour over the salad and toss to incorporate. I *always* make this the night before we plan to eat it because it really helps develop the flavors, not to mention it is super convenient. If it is too dry the next day, add more of the Italian dressing.

Now you can add the parsley and toss to combine!

Enjoy!!

Middle Eastern Vegetable Salad with Toasted Pita Chips

I spent the entire day today thinking about what to make for dinner. It was one of those days where I just wasn't inspired to make any one particular thing. I had some chicken breasts in the refrigerator, but beyond that I had no clue what would be on the dinner table tonight. It got to be around 2:00 this afternoon and I finally reached for a cookbook and hoped that something would jump out at me. I came across this recipe for "middle eastern vegetable salad" by Ina Garten and decided that this would be part of my dinner. I was still unsure of what to do with the chicken, so I went with my trusty baked chicken recipe that never lets me down. If you've been following my blog for a while now then I'm sure you've seen the recipe, but just in case you haven't, you can find it HERE. I'm looking forward to the end of a dreary and cold Monday! I'm sure I'll have my spunk back by tomorrow :)

Middle Eastern Vegetable Salad with Toasted Pita Chips
Adapted from: Ina Garten

• 1 12-16oz can chickpeas, drained and rinsed under cold water
  
• 1 pound tomatoes, seeded, cored and diced
• 1 seedless cucumber, halved and diced (I peeled mine but this is optional)
• 10 scallions, thinly diced
• 1/3 cup fresh basil, chiffonade
  
• 1/3 cup fresh parsley, minced
  
• 1/3 cup fresh mint *see note*, chiffonade
  
• 1/2 cup fresh lemon juice (about 4 lemons)
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic (3 cloves)
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 8 oz greek feta, cubed (not crumbled)
• pita bread - to make the chips (I used whole wheat pita)
  

Preheat oven to 375 degrees

Seed, core and chop the tomatoes, peel and dice the cucumber and slice the scallions.

Chiffonade the basil by stacking the leaves together, rolling them and then cutting them into thin strips.

Place the tomatoes, cucumber, scallions, chickpeas, mint, basil and parsley in a large bowl and combine.

**note** My mint was looking rather pathetic when I grabbed it to use it for this dish, so I decided to omit it. I thought it was really good even without the mint, it is your choice whether you want to use it or not.

In a small bowl, combine the garlic, salt, pepper, and lemon juice. Slowly whisk in the olive oil until it is emulsified. Pour the dressing over the salad and toss.

Cube the feta and gently fold it into the salad.

Cut the pita bread into triangles and place on a baking sheet that has been lightly coated with cooking spray. Brush a little olive oil on the top of each pita chip and then sprinkle them with a little garlic powder, kosher salt and pepper. Bake in the oven for 10 minutes. They will be lightly brown and delicious!

If you want to serve it up with my baked chicken, you can find that incredibly simple recipe here.

Enjoy!

BBQ Grilled Shrimp with Garlic Green Beans

I am so completely happy with everything that I cooked today! First I made homemade bbq sauce for the very first time (which was stellar!), and then brushed it on the shrimp and grilled them up! I knew that I would like it, but I had no idea that I would like them that much! It was so very good! I served the shrimp with some garlic green beans and it was a really nice meal. I could gush on and on about how great they were, but I think you get the point ;)

BBQ Grilled Shrimp
adapted from: Emeril Lagasse

For the shrimp marinade:

• 1 pound peeled and deveined raw shrimp
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 1 teaspoon fresh marjarom
• 1 teaspoon fresh thyme
• 1 teaspoon fresh rosemary
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon white pepper

For the BBQ sauce:

• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup onion, diced
• 2 teaspoons garlic, minced
• 2/3 cup cider vinegar
• 1 8oz can tomato sauce
• 1/4 cup light brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon ground mustard
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon hot sauc
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper

The first thing you want to do is get those shrimp marinating. Combine all of the ingredients for the marinade, stir to combine and addd the shrimp. Cover with plastic wrap and marinate for a minimum of 2 hours (overnight if you can!). You may notice from looking at my photos that I did not use the marjarom. I didn't have it, so I omitted it. They were absolutely amazing without it and I'm sure they would be even better with it. Your call. Let those shrimp soak up all that wonderful flavor while you move on to the next step.

Now we can get started on making the BBQ sauce. Heat the vegetable oil in a saucepan and then add the onion and garlic. Cook until tender, about 3-4 minutes.

Add the vinegar and cook for 2-3 minutes.

Add all of the remaining ingredients and stir to combine. Simmer over medium-low heat for 20-30 minutes. Your sauce will be thick and delicious! You can either refrigerate your bbq sauce now for later use (store up to 2 weeks in the fridge), or you can leave it at room temperature to use with your dinner tonight.


When you are ready to make the shrimp heat up your grill (indoor or outdoor). Remove the shrimp from the marinade and place on the grill (medium heat) for 4 minutes on the first side. Now you can flip them over and give them their first coating of the bbq sauce. Cook them for an additional 4 minutes on the second side and then coat the second side with the bbq and serve!
Be careful to not over cook your shrimp! They can go from perfection to rubbery in just a few minutes.

Garlic Green Beans
adapted from: Eva's Kitchen

• 1 1/2 pounds green beans (cleaned and trimmed)
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 6 cloves garlic, minced
• kosher salt to taste

Clean and trim your green beans. I cut mine in half to make them a little easier to manage.

In a large pan, boil water with a little salt. While the water is coming to a boil, grab a large bowl and fill it with water and ice. Cook the green beans in the water for 30 seconds. Yes, that's right I said seconds. We are only blanching them super quick and then we are going to toss them in an ice bath to stop the cooking process. Let them sit in the ice bath for a few minutes and then drain and pat dry.

Melt the butter in a large saute pan over medium-low heat and then add the garlic. We do not want to brown the garlic. Cook for 2-3 minutes and then add the green beans. Cook for about 15 minutes or until cooked and with a little bit of their "snap" left.

Serve the shrimp with the green beans!

Enjoy!!