Marinated Flank Steak & Noodle Bowl

I found the starting point of this recipe in EveryDay with Rachel Ray.  The marinated flank steak was one of the reader submitted 5 ingredient recipes.  We had some flank steak in the freezer, waiting to get used and a giant bottle of teriyaki sauce that Zach had leftover from making beef jerky.  I wanted to turn it into a quick and easy meal though.  We marinated the meat that morning and let it sit in the fridge all day soaking up yummy flavors.  Then, I cooked a package of ramen noodles, minus the seasonings, and drained them.  I LOVE ramen noodles.  If I was still single I'd eat them at least once a week.  I love them not as a soup, but boiled up and then tossed with butter and hot sauce.  I even love them dry, just crack into pieces and eat like crackers, except messier.  I think they are great.  So, they were my first choice in the base for my teriyaki steak noodle bowl.  We also just cooked up a frozen bag of broccoli and carrots and mixed that in too.  It turned out pretty delicious!

Marinated Flank Steak & Noodle Bowl
adapted from EveryDay with Rachel Ray
Serves 4

Ingredients:

½ cup bottled teriyaki sauce 

1/4 cup soy sauce 

4 cloves garlic, chopped 

1 pound flank steak 

1/4 cup spicy brown mustard 

2 packages Ramen Noodles, seasoning discarded

1 package frozen broccoli and carrot mix (or any other veggies you desire)

2 scallions, sliced

Soy sauce

Directions:

• In a bowl, combine the teriyaki sauce, soy sauce and garlic. 
• Make 1/4-inch-deep cuts about 1/2 inch apart on both sides of the steak, cutting diagonally across the grain. Rub both sides with the mustard and place the steak in a large plastic bag, then pour in the marinade. Refrigerate for up to 3 hours, turning occasionally. 
• Preheat the broiler and line a shallow pan with foil. Also set a pot of water on to boil for the ramen noodles and prepare veggies as directed on package.
• Broil steak for 6 minutes on each side for medium-rare, basting once on each side with remaining marinade. Let rest before slicing across the grain.
• Cook the ramen noodles for 3 minutes, draining away water.  Toss noodles with a splash or tow of soy sauce, then top with sliced steak and veggies.

Triple Play Cinnamon Rolls

I found these in The Best of Cooking Light.  I love cinnamon.  It's one of my favorite spices/flavors.  I was in the mood for some cinnamon rolls and these looked delicious.  The name, Triple Play, refers to the recipe using three different kinds of sugar -- granulated in the dough, brown in the filling and powdered in the glaze.  I think they turned out pretty yummy and gave us breakfasts for some time!  We froze about half of them to use later.  After defrosting over night, warming up in the microwave for about 15 seconds and then adding fresh glaze on the warm rolls you'd never know they weren't freshly baked. 

 

Triple Play Cinnamon Rolls

Adapted from The Best of Cooking Light

Makes 20 rolls

Ingredients

Dough:
1  package dry yeast (about 2 1/4 teaspoons)
1/4  cup  warm water (100° to 110°)
1/2  cup  warm 1% low-fat milk (100° to 110°)
1/3  cup  granulated sugar
1/4  cup  butter, softened
1  teaspoon  vanilla extract
3/4  teaspoon  salt
1  large egg, lightly beaten
3 1/2  cups  all-purpose flour, divided
Cooking spray

Filling:
3/4  cup  raisins
2/3  cup  packed brown sugar
1  tablespoon  ground cinnamon
2  tablespoons  butter, melted

Glaze:
1  cup  powdered sugar
2  tablespoons  1% low-fat milk
1/2  teaspoon  vanilla extract

Preparation

• To prepare dough, dissolve yeast in warm water in a large bowl; let stand 5 minutes. Add 1/2 cup warm milk, granulated sugar, 1/4 cup butter, 1 teaspoon vanilla, salt, and egg; stir with a wooden spoon until combined (batter will not be completely smooth).

• Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Add 3 cups flour to yeast mixture; stir until a soft dough forms. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead until smooth and elastic (about 8 minutes); add enough of remaining flour, 1 tablespoon at a time, to prevent dough from sticking to hands (dough will feel slightly tacky).

• Place dough in a large bowl coated with cooking spray; turn to coat top. Cover and let rise in a warm place (85°), free from drafts, 1 hour or until doubled in size. (Press two fingers into dough. If indentation remains, dough has risen enough.)

• To prepare filling, combine raisins, brown sugar, and cinnamon. Roll dough into a 15 x 10-inch rectangle; brush with 2 tablespoons melted butter. Sprinkle filling over dough, leaving a 1/2-inch border. Beginning with a long side, roll up dough jelly-roll fashion; pinch seam to seal (do not seal ends of roll). Wrap roll in plastic wrap; chill for 20 minutes.

• Unwrap roll, and cut into 20 (1/2-inch) slices. Arrange slices, cut sides up, 1 inch apart on a jelly roll pan coated with cooking spray. Cover and let rise in a warm place (85°) free from drafts, 1 hour and 15 minutes or until doubled in size.

• Preheat oven to 350°.  Uncover dough. Bake at 350° for 20 minutes or until rolls are golden brown.

• To prepare glaze, combine powdered sugar, 2 tablespoons milk, and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla, stirring well with a whisk. Drizzle glaze over warm rolls.

Nutritional Information
Calories: 200
Fat: 4g
Fiber: 1.1g
WW Points (per roll): 4

Taco Pasta Toss

As soon as I saw this in my latest issue of EveryDay with Rachael Ray, I knew we'd be making it soon!  We really love tacos, and we really love pasta, so combining tacos and pasta sounded like a win-win situation.  I do like Rachael Ray's recipes, but I always find that they make a TON of food.  I cut down the pasta in this dish to half a box, 8 ounces instead of a full pound and still had enough to make 6 servings.  We enjoyed it for dinner and for lunches for a few days.  I also added sour cream to mine, since I had used a ground chipotle chili powder, which was rather spicy.  I used ground turkey instead of beef, and also only one teaspoon of oil in a non-stick pan to cut down on calories.

Taco Pasta Toss

slightly adapted from EveryDay with Rachael Ray, March 2010

Ingredients

• Salt and pepper
• 1/2 pound whole grain penne 
• 1 teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil 
• 1 pound ground turkey
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 1 large jalapeño chile—halved, seeded if desired and thinly sliced crosswise
• 4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 2 tablespoons chili powder 
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1 tablespoon ground coriander
• 1/4 cup tomato paste
• One 12-ounce bottle beer or 1 1/2 cups chicken stock
• 2 cups shredded cheddar, monterey jack or any Mexican semisoft cheese
• 2 small plum tomatoes, seeded and chopped
• 1/4 head iceberg letuce or 1/2 small heart romaine lettuce, chopped 

Directions:

1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil, salt it, add the pasta and cook until al dente. Drain and return to the pot.
2. While the pasta is working, in a large skillet, heat the EVOO, 1 turn of the pan, over medium-high heat. Add the beef and cook until browned, about 5 minutes. Add three-quarters of the onion, the jalapeño, garlic, chili powder, coriander and cumin; season with salt and pepper. Cook until the onion is softened, 6 to 7 minutes. Stir in the tomato paste for 1 minute, then stir in the beer.
3. Add the sauce to the pasta and toss. Spoon into a serving dish, top with the cheese and tent with foil to melt the cheese, about 1 minute. Top with the remaining onion, the tomatoes and lettuce— just like tacos!

Individual Meatloaves: Barefoot Bloggers

These were great!  We made these on a weeknight and they made a great meal with leftovers for yummy lunches.  I cut the recipe in half, but still made 6 individual loaves.  They were still a pretty good size I felt.  We served them with mashed potatoes and roasted baby carrots.  I don't have a lot to say about the recipe, since except for cutting it in half I didn't make any changes and thought it turned out rather well.  It is not our favorite meatloaf recipe however, that is still Alton Brown's meatloaf, but these were good and easy for a weeknight. 

Individual Meat Loaves 

chosen by Tonya of What’s on My Plate?

Caesar Club Sandwich: Barefoot Bloggers

This is the second recipe in March for the Barefoot Bloggers.  I made these for a Sunday lunch.  They were super, and since the recipe made four sandwiches we had some leftover for a few lunches during the week.  They only got better as the week went on.  The only change I really made was to use sun-dried tomatoes not packed on oil, just the regular ones in the bag.  I also used boneless, skinless chicken breasts that I sauteed on the stove top in olive oil.  I loved the caesar dressing in the recipe.  We had some leftover and used it to make a wrap later in the week.  It was salty, garlicy and just delicious.  I did make one other change, which was to use my local grocery store's whole wheat ciabatta rolls instead of a loaf of bread.  They were very good sandwiches and I'd definitely make them again.  Every few months we like to visit a few local wineries and take a picnic lunch along to eat at one of our stops, these sandwiches would be great to take along!

Caesar Club Sandwich 

chosen by Karen of Shortbread

Cookbook of the Month: April 2010

For April I'm choosing a cookbook I've been very excited about since we got it in December.  Even before we moved down to the Washington DC area and got to live near his fabulous restaurants we've been fans of Jose Andres.  We started watching his show Made in Spain on PBS, and love his enthusiasm for his Spanish culture, traditions and cooking.  We wanted to learn more about him as a chef so we googled him and we were surprised to discover we had actually already been to one of his restaurants!  On a trip to DC the year before we had dined at Jaleo, Crystal City.

We ended up there by chance, since it was a short walk from the hotel I was staying in and the menu looked good.  After reading more about him, and knowing we'd be moving to the DC area soon, we set ourselves a goal of eating at each of his restaurants.  So far we've been to Oyamel and Jaleo Bethesda.  We went to Jaleo Bethesda for a chance to meet the chef himself.  He had a cookbook signing there in December of 2009.  We went, had dinner, then waited in line to get our own signed copy of Made in Spain.  I've been waiting patiently to make it our Cookbook of the Month!  I can't wait to make some of the dishes and blog about them.

White Bean, Rosemary, Garlic and Red Pepper Dip

We made this dip way back in February for our little Super Bowl snack fiesta!  It was very low in points -- only 1 point for 1/6th of the recipe! -- and yummy.  I did make quite a few modifications to the original recipe however.  It called for parsley and I used rosemary instead.  It called for small diced red pepper to be mixed in the dip and I just threw it in the food processor with everything else (this modification was mostly out of laziness and time constraints of watching the big game).  We already had the roasted garlic from a previous recipe, so that was quick to just pull out of the fridge.  The original recipe also called for lime juice, which I substituted with lemon juice.  First off, we had a lemon left from a recipe I needed the zest for, and I thought lemon would go better with rosemary than lime.  I'd definitely feel free to vary the herbs as I did here, lime and  cilantro would be very good I would think.  I served it with whole wheat pita chips, red pepper strips and cucumbers for dipping.  

White Bean, Rosemary, Garlic and Red Pepper Dip

adapted from Weight Watchers New Complete Cookbook

makes 6 servings

Ingredients:

1/2 garlic bulb, about 6 large cloves

1 cup canned cannellini beans, rinsed and drained

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice 

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

3 scallions, cut into large pieces

1/2 red bell pepper, cut into chunks

1 1/2 teaspoons rosemary

1/8-1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 400 decrees.  Cut off a thin slice from the pointed end of the garlic bulb.  Wrap the garlic in foil and roast until soft, about 30 minutes.  
• Unwrap the foil and let the garlic cool slightly.  Squeeze the garlic from the skins into a food processor.  
• Add the beans, lemon juice, olive oil, scallions, red pepper, rosemary and caynne, puree.
• Transfer to a bowl.  Refrigerate, covered, until the flavors are blended, at least one hour.  Serve with pitas, broccoli, cauliflower and carrots for dipping.

Nutritional Info
Calories: 84
Fat: 3g
Fiber: 3 g
WW Points: 1

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

I modified this recipe from one I found on Cooking Light's website. Their website has quickly become my first place to go when I need to search for a recipe. I love that it lists calorie counts and nutritional info, which makes finding out the Weight Watchers points a snap. It's a great resource and I decided to "give back" by subscribing to the magazine. I figured I got so many great recipes for free recently, I might as well start paying to get some more! I am very excited and can't wait for my subscription to begin.


These cookies were originally Oatmeal, Chocolate Chip and Pecan cookies. I was looking for an oatmeal cookie, but they typically have raisins, and I do not like raisins. So, I started looking for an oatmeal chocolate chip cookie, but most of them had nuts, and I don't like nuts in my cookies either. I adapted this recipe by adding more chocolate chips in place of the pecans. I looked it up and estimated the correct chocolate chip to pecan substitution to maintain about the same nutritional info. They turned out really great. They had a delicious flavor, the oatmeal makes them feel semi-healthy and they were crisp on the outside, but chewy in the middle. I used a small cookie scoop, and recalculated the points for the amount of cookies I ended up with, and was happy to see they were one point per cookie! The dough was quite dry, and i had trouble keeping it in a nice ball-shape when scooping them -- they often crumbled apart when coming out of the cookie scoop. That was my only complaint. They didn't spread out that much, they mostly kept their rounded, domed shape as they cooked. I didn't mind their shape, but if you wanted to avoid it you could use a glass to press the balled dough shape down into a flatter cookie before baking, like you would a snickerdoodle.

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies 
adapted from Cooking Light 
Yield: 3 dozen (serving size: 1 cookie)


Ingredients
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour (about 5 1/2 ounces)
1 cup regular oats
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/3 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 large egg
1 cup semisweet chocolate mini chips

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350°.

• Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour and next 4 ingredients (through salt), stirring with a whisk; set aside.

• Place sugars and butter in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed until well blended. Add vanilla and egg; beat until blended. Gradually add flour mixture, beating at low speed just until combined. Stir in mini chips.

• Drop dough by tablespoonfuls 2 inches apart onto baking sheets lined with parchment paper. Bake at 350° for 12 minutes or until edges of cookies are lightly browned. Cool on pans 2 minutes. Remove cookies from pans; cool on wire racks.

Nutritional Information 
Calories: 81
Fat: 3g
Fiber: 0.5g
WW Points: 2  

Chocolate Muffins

This is one of the recipes from my Cookbook of the Month, Weight Watchers New Complete Cookbook.  I made these when Zach's mom and sister were coming to visit for a weekend.  I wanted to have a yummy breakfast option that would still feel like a dessert, and chocolate muffins were a good option.  They were easy to make and held up well to freezing.  I made them when we had the giant snowstorms here in the Washington, DC area, and I was home from school on my week of snow days.  It was about 3 three weeks that they were frozen, and they survived just fine.  They were light and not too heavy as chocolate muffins can be.  

Chocolate Muffins

Makes 12 Servings

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups flour

3 Tablespoons sugar

2 Tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup fat free milk

1 egg

4 teaspoons unslated butter, melted

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  Spray a 12 cup muffin tin with non-stick cooking spray.  
• In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, and salt.  In a small bowl, combine milk, egg, butter and vanilla.  Pour wet ingredients over dry ingredients, stirring just until blended.  Do not overmix.
• Spoon the batter into the cups, filling each about to-thirds full.  Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean, 20-25 minutes.   
• Cool in the pan on a rack 5 minutes; remove from the pan and cool on racks. 

Nutritional Info
Calories: 91
Fat: 2 g
Fiber: 0 g
WW Points per muffin: 2

Lumberjack Hash

Just like the Apple Cinnamon Coffeecake, I found this recipe while searching the Cooking Light website in preparation for my parent's weekend visit.  I knew I wanted something that would use hash browns, simply because I was in the mood for them.  The combination of peppers, onion, ham and cheese with the potatoes was delicious.  I thought it was a great morning treat, perfect for a weekend breakfast.  It was great right alongside scrambled eggs and coffee.  I topped mine with hot sauce, but you could also top with ketchup, or they are great as is!

Lumberjack Hash
Cooking Light 
Yield: 4 servings (serving size: 1 1/4 cups)


Ingredients
2 teaspoons vegetable oil
2 teaspoons butter
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup chopped green bell pepper
2 garlic cloves, minced
8 cups frozen shredded hash brown potatoes, thawed (about 1 pound)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
4 ounces 33%-less-sodium ham, diced
3/4 cup (3 ounces) reduced-fat shredded cheddar cheese

Directions:

• Heat oil and butter in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add onion; cook 5 minutes. 
• Add bell pepper and garlic; cook 3 minutes. 
• Add potatoes, salt, pepper, and ham; cook 16 minutes or until potatoes are golden brown, stirring occasionally. 
• Top with cheese; cook 2 minutes or until cheese melts.

Nutritional Information 
Calories: 276 
Fat: 9.1g
Fiber: 3.5g
WW Points: 6