Steak Fajitas

I love fajitas. C much prefers enchiladas, tamales and anything else served in a TexMex combo plate to fajitas. Recreating a combo plate is a bit beyond my cooking skills, so when we eat at home, fajitas are what I serve. I adapted this recipe from I Was Born To Cook. For whatever reason, flank steak is pricy around here. I can get NY strip, sirloin or beef tenderloin for cheaper than a flank steak. So even though flank steak is what traditional fajitas are made with, I decided to make them with steak. And it was amazing! The beef is delicious and tender. Miss F devoured hers, though she added black beans in her tortilla. C ate the meat without a tortilla because he is never a fan of store bought tortillas. One of these days I will get around to making my own, but for now, store bought works fine for me.

Steak Fajitas

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
juice of 1 lime
3 cloves garlic, minced
½ teaspoon cumin
½ fresh Jalapeno pepper, seeded, rib removed, diced

1 NY Strip
½ onion, sliced
1 green bell pepper, sliced

Whisk together the olive oil, lime juice, garlic, cumin and jalapeno. Pour the marinade over the steak, turning to coat. Let sit at room temperature for 30 minutes. Wipe most of marinade off before cooking. Sprinkle with salt.

Heat a large grill pan for a minute. Add steak, frying each side for about 3-4 minutes for medium rare. Remove from pan, tent with foil and let rest.

Add the onion and bell pepper to the pan, mix with tongs until slightly tender.

Slice meat against the grain into thin pieces. Serve with shredded cheese, salsa, guacamole, and warm flour tortillas.

Pin It Now!

BLT Carbonara

I love a BLT. I love Carbonara. When Tide and Thyme adapted my recipe for Spaghetti Carbonara with Bacon and Tomatoes to become BLT Carbonara, it was a stroke of genius. I changed the recipe to keep the tomatoes closer to their fresh state, more akin to what they are like in a real BLT. This pasta was a huge success. Miss F was a huge fan and I had the leftovers all week for lunch. Delicious! My next Carbonara quest is to recreate the Crab Carbonara at Reef. I think I would be completely fine with eating Carbonara every week, mainly for the fantastic lunch leftovers.

BLT Carbonara

3 egg yolks
¼ cup heavy creamy
½ cup Parmesan cheese
Fresh diced parsley or dried flakes
¼ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
½ pound bacon, cut into lardons
½ small onion, chopped
¼ cup white wine
12 ounces spaghetti
2 Roma tomatoes, chopped
1 cup baby spinach leaves

Whisk together the eggs, cream, Parmesan, parsley, salt and the red pepper together in a bowl. In a large non stick pan, fry the bacon until crisp and set aside. Drain all but on tablespoon of the bacon grease; sauté the onion for 3 minutes. Deglaze the pan with the white wine.

Prepare the spaghetti per package instructions. Drain the pasta and while still warm, add to the onions. Pour cream mixture into the spaghetti, and stir over low heat for one minute. Stir in the tomatoes and spinach and stir for one minute more over low heat. Top with bacon and serve with additional Parmesan.

Pin It Now!

Pink Zebra Cake

When I saw this technique on Pinterest from My Cake School, I knew I wanted to try it.  I didn't want to fuss with two cake flavors, so I decided to make only the vanilla cake and dye half of the batter hot pink.  Much much easier than fussing with two cake mixes...I mean, if I am using a box cake mix, I want things to be easy.  Make sure to check out My Cake School's step by step pictures.  I was lucky this cake turned out at all considering all my issues that day, no way could I handle step by step photography on top of baking!

Pink Zebra Cake

1 box vanilla cake mix (I used Duncan Hines)
2 to 3 drops hot pink food coloring
1 recipe chocolate cream cheese frosting, recipe follows

Prepare the cake mix per package instructions.  Divide the batter into two equal portions.  Use the food coloring to color half of the batter.  Grease and flour two 8" cake pans.  Drop 1/4 cup of batter, alternating colors, in each pan until there are 8 to 10 concentric circles of alternating colors.  Bake per package instructions.  Cool and frost with chocolate cream cheese frosting.

Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting

8 ounces cream cheese, softened
¼ cup butter, softened
½ cup cocoa powder
4 cups confectioners’ sugar

Beat cream cheese, butter and cocoa powder until combined. Add the confectioners’ sugar ½ cup at a time making sure to incorporate it fully before you add the next ½ cup.

Pin It Now!

Recipe Swap: Shrimp and Grits (Polenta)

I was so excited to participate in this week's swap: seafood. I submitted one of my favorite dishes, Jambalaya Marylaya, for the swap. When I received Shrimp and Grits fom Cookaholic Wife, my excitement waned. Grits are nasty. I just cannot handle grits, but the rest of the recipe looked amazing to me. I did check to see if my parents had any grits at their house, so I could have just made it and served it to my grits loving dad, but they did not. So I decided to change it up and replace the grits with polenta. Which turned out to be the perfect substitution. This dish was rich, creamy and satisfying.  I served Miss F's shrimp with mac n' cheese since I know she hasn't been a huge polenta fan in the past.  She just loves shrimp (thank goodness!)

Shrimp and Polenta

2 cups water
2 cups milk
1 ½ teaspoons salt
1 cup polenta
2 tablespoons butter
½ teaspoon pepper
4 ounces Parmesan cheese, grated

2 pieces bacon, chopped
1 small white onion, chopped
1 tablespoon garlic, minced
8 ounces sliced mushrooms
1 pound shrimp, peeled and deveined
½ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
¼ cup half-and-half
1 tablespoon flour
¾ cup chicken broth
1 tablespoon minced parsley

In a large pot over medium-high heat, bring milk, water, and salt to a boil. Gradually whisk in polenta. Reduce heat to low, and cover. Cook 20 minutes, until creamy, lifting the lid and stirring every 3 or 4 minutes to prevent sticking. Remove pot from stove, stir in pepper and butter. Gradually stir in cheese. Cover again and set aside, keeping warm.

In a large skillet, cooked the bacon over medium-high heat until crispy. Remove with a slotted spoon to a paper towel to drain. Add the onion, garlic and mushrooms to the skillet and cook for 8 to 10 minutes, stirring frequently. Add the shrimp and crushed red pepper flakes to the skillet and cook for 3 minutes or until shrimp are pink. Combine the half-and-half and flour in a small bowl, whisking until smooth. Add the mixture to the skillet, along with the chicken broth and cook for 2 to 3 minutes or until thickened. Season with additional salt and pepper to taste. Spread polenta on plate and top with shrimp mixture. Garnish with minced parsley and reserved bacon.

Pin It Now!