The Perfect "Cute, Portable, Easy" Dessert Hunt

I love finding treasures in discount stores like TJ Maxx and Ross. I don't mind flipping through hundreds of items to find the perfect "thing" waiting for me. It's the thrill of the chase. I often feel that way about recipes. I'll have something in mind and I know, with just enough patience and searching, I'll find just what I'm looking for. Granted, I hardly ever follow a recipe exactly, but I like to have something solid to start with.

I'm bringing a dessert to a P.E.O. meeting in a couple weeks, so I've already been combing through websites and magazines for something cute (I'm serving it to lady friends), relatively easy, portable, and "light."

Just so happens that today two copies of Cook's Country Magazine landed on my desk. Its the magazine version of America's Test Kitchen TV show, in case you've never heard of it. They take a recipe and mess with it until they get the exact result they desire. I love that kind of recipe work!

In the April 2010 issue they feature Raspberry Mini Cheesecakes (not available on their site, I checked). Results: Portable-check. Cute-definitely check. Easy-we'll see. "Light"-well its not a heavy chocolate cake or pie, so I guess I'd consider it light. Plus it has fruit in it, that has to count for something. PLUS the "crust" is genius (that's bait to get you back for the recipe).

I'll post the recipe and results soon. But I just couldn't contain myself until then!

Leftovers: Italian Beef Stir-Fry

Leftovers. We have a love hate relationship. I love having enough for more meals, but I hate eating the same thing over and over. My Steak and Grilled Vegetable Salad from "Mmmm, Meaty Salad" had worn out it's welcome. It needed a face-lift. So for Sunday night dinner, I made what I'll call and Italian Beef Stir Fry. I cut all the ingredients (minus tomatoes) from my previous dinner into bite sized pieces. I also cooked some brown rice. I dumped all of that into a medium hot pan and sauteed with some light Italian dressing. At the last moment I threw in some arugula, just letting it wilt slightly. Topped it all off with some Parmesan cheese and we had a nice "leftover" dinner that felt new.

Guy take: "This is actually good." As if he doubted me.

I counted 6 points for my serving.

I cut some lilacs from Brent's neighbors bush. They livened up his bachelor pad.

An Italian version of a stir fry.

Crepes, Empanadas, and Cream Puffs--Oh My!

As mentioned in my "Sushi and Cream Puffs" post, I had a card for a free cream puff burning a hole in my pocket. After finding out that Rocky Treats had more than just cream puffs (things like sweet and savory crepes) I decided Brent and I should visit for brunch. The location was very plain and simple with just about six tables and one carafe of coffee available. But once the charming owner came out, we forgot all about the humble surroundings.

We chose two sweet crepes, an empanada and our free cream puff. The spicy beef empanada wasn't a traditional version--rather than being baked, the dough and filling where steamed to perfection. I could have eaten three of them, but instead I had one half after generously giving Brent the other half. My crepe choice, the blueberry and cream cheese, was the best. His banana and nutella was really good, but we both wished the banana had been cut into more manageable slices. And the green tea cream puff was made fresh in front of us. WOW! All that (the cream puff was free, mind you) was something ridiculous like $11.50.

We'll be back and we'll probably order one of each of the empanada flavors. And maybe one sweet crepe to share. I hope all my south suburban friends make the trip to Rocky Treats--its worth the trip!

The spicy beef empanada--this alone will bring me back for more!

Brent's banana nutella crepe

"Best in Show"--blueberry cream cheese crepe

The green tea cream puff. There are no words to describe a fresh cream puff!

Mmmm, Meaty Salad

Thanks to Real Simple for a very beefy June issue. It inspired my dinner tonight, but of course I couldn’t follow the recipe exactly as written. The original called for skirt steak. First, I can’t find skirt steak all the time and second, there are so many great beef cuts—why limit myself? So I went to the store and they had Flat Iron on sale. It’s a pretty new cut, so you may not be familiar with it. It's usually vacuum packed in the meat cases. Here’s a picture of it.

Beef Flat Iron

It’s a nice lean cut and if it’s been cut right, it should have very little connective tissue. It performs best at medium rare, so be careful not to overcook it.

Steak and Grilled Vegetable Salad

1 pound beef flat iron (sub skirt or flank steak if you like)
1 large red onion, cut into ½ inch rounds
1 pound white mushrooms, halved
1 pound green beans, cleaned and trimmed
3 roma tomatoes, ½ inch slices then quartered
2 Tbsp olive oil, divided
Salt and pepper
3 Tbsp balsamic vinegar, divided
4 cups arugula (or you could use watercress or spinach or romaine)

Heat grill to medium heat. (I used an indoor grill pan because I was out of propane) Toss cut vegetables into large bowl and coat well with 1 Tbsp olive oil, salt and pepper. Grill each vegetable, except tomatoes, until crisp tender 8-12 minutes. Grill flat iron, brushing lightly with 1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar, 5-7 minutes on each side until internal temperature reaches 145°F (med rare). Lightly grill tomatoes during the last 3 minutes. Remove beef and let rest at least 5 minutes before slicing against the grain into thin slices. Place ¼ of the vegetables atop 1 cup of arugula. Lay 5-7 slices of beef on top of salad. Drizzle remaining olive oil and vinegar on top of salads.

Makes 4 servings.

My grill pan--love it!

All my finished grilled vegetables

This was a beautiful dish. They say you eat with your eyes first and in this case your eyes will make your mouth water. The peppery-ness of the arugula added a nice touch. I chose a beer to pair with the meal tonight only because I was out of wine and a beer sounded so good after mowing my lawn.

If you’re counting points, I counted 5 points for one serving. I’m satisfied and full.

A beautiful dish, if I do say so myself