Beef Valencia (Woman's Day Month of Menus)

I take back what I said yesterday, I don't like cooking.  Not after this.  The 18 minutes is a joke.  I guess it does say for medium-rare but it was very rare in my opinion, had to cook it much longer.

Beef Valencia

• Active Time: 8 minutes
• Total Time: 18 minutes

Recipe Ingredients

• 1. Four 3/4-in.-thick boneless shell steaks (about 6 oz each)
• 2. 2 navel oranges, peel and pith removed, cut into sections
• 3. 3/4 cup Goya Alcaparrado (Manzanilla olives, pimientos and capers)

Recipe Preparation

Season steaks with 1/2 tsp pepper and 1/4 tsp salt. Heat 1 tsp oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat.Add steaks and cook, turning once, 6 to 7 minutes for medium-rare. Meanwhile, mix oranges, Alcaparrado and 1/4 tsp pepper in medium bowl. Serve steaks topped with mixture.Different TakesAdd some sliced red onion and chopped cilantro to orange-olive mixture.Rub steak with ground cumin before cooking.Use pork chops instead of steak.

My Experience:
The Process-
I will NEVER cook steak on the stove again.  Never have before this recipe, and never will again.  It doesn't taste nearly as good, doesn't cook as thoroughly, in my opinion, and was just not effective.  If I had cooked over medium-low instead of medium-high my results may have been different, but I had to cut the steak up smaller in order to get it to cook through to the medium cook my husband and I like, well he doesn't mind medium rare, but I do.
It was a hassle to have a pot of rice boiling over and practically overflowing and steaks cooking and trying to peel the oranges at the same time. 
Once dinner was served though, things got better.

(can't find the picture for this anymore... no idea why)

The Result-
This food was really, very good!  The steak was slightly chewy probably because of how I cooked it but I really liked the oranges and cilantro, surprisingly they complimented each other very well.  The rice wasn't cooked the way I would have liked, and I wish I had added more salt but that's not the recipe's fault.
I would rate the recipe only three stars because even though it tasted good, it was not a very practical recipe for me.

Oven Fried Drumsticks (Woman's Day Month of Menus)

Man, I am so tired.  Unfortunately, the blissful moments of rest I experienced on our vacation did not last long.  It's funny, cooking dinner has always been the most dreaded chore for me, but now as I continue with my blog, it seems the part I least look forward to is making the actual cooking post!  And I enjoy blogging, and used to not like cooking (yes, I admit, it's not so bad anymore)... how is this making sense?

Anyhow, here is the recipe after getting some sleep I promise to update you all on how disastrous it was tonight.

Oven-Fried Drumsticks Recipe

By Woman's Day Kitchen from Woman's Day | April 1, 2009

• Active Time: 20 minutes
• Total Time: 50 minutes

Recipe Ingredients

Drumsticks
• 8 drumsticks (3½ lb)
• 1 large egg
• Crunchy Coating, below
• Nonstick spray
Crunchy Coating
• Italian: 1 cup wheat germ, ⅓ cup grated Parmesan, ¼ tsp each garlic salt and pepper
• Honey-Mustard: 3 cups honey-mustard pretzel pieces, ¼ tsp pepper
• Mexican: 3 cups tortilla chips, 2 tsp each chili powder and ground cumin
• Krispie Ranch: 1½ cups crisp rice cereal (Rice Krispies), 1 envelope ranch dressing mix
• Cheesy: 3 cups cheese crackers, 1 tsp onion powder, ¼ tsp pepper
• Herb: 1½ cups herb stuffing mix, 1 tsp each onion powder and paprika
• Curry: 3 cups french fried onion rings, 2 tsp curry powder

Recipe Preparation

1. Heat oven to 400ºF. Line a jelly-roll pan or shallow roasting pan with foil. Coat with nonstick cooking spray.

2. Skin chicken by grasping skin with paper towels and pulling off.

3. In a pie plate or shallow bowl, slightly beat egg. Coat a few drumsticks in egg at a time.

4. Place desired Crunchy Coating in plastic food bag. If using tortilla chips, stuffing mix, french fried onions, cheese crackers or honeymustard pretzels, close bag and crush with a rolling pin. Put 1 or 2 drumsticks in the bag at a time and shake to coat chicken evenly.

5. Place on prepared pan; lightly coat drumsticks with cooking spray. (If using fried onions or honey-mustard pretzels, do not spray.) Bake 30 to 35 minutes until chicken is cooked through and coating is browned.

My Experience:
The Process-
I used the ranch dressing variation of this recipe and it was pretty good.  I was kind of annoyed that I didn't read the recipe through the night before, otherwise I would've used my skinless chicken rather than the drumsticks I had where I had to pull the skin off.  I've never pulled the skin off of chicken before, it's pretty gross.

Then I pulled it out of the oven and it looked and smelled pretty good, but turns out the chicken was almost completely raw on the inside so we ate leftovers instead and popped the chicken back in the oven.

The Result-
 Well, I had a bite of the chicken and then realized it was raw, so we didn't really get to eat this. It smelled good though...

Let's just call this endeavor a fail and move on :)

Grilled Sweet Onion and Cheddar Pizza (Woman's Day Month)

Grilled Sweet Onion and Cheddar Pizza
* Active Time: 6 minutes
* Total Time: 25 minutes


Recipe Ingredients

o 1 tube (13.8 oz) refrigerated pizza crust
o 1 sweet, medium onion, sliced 1⁄2 in. thick
o Nonstick spray
o 1 can (8 oz) tomato sauce
o 11⁄4 cups shredded Cheddar cheese
o Garnish: chopped parsley


Recipe Preparation

1. Heat outdoor grill. Line a baking sheet with nonstick foil. Unroll dough on foil; press into a 16 x 10-in. rectangle. Coat dough and onion with nonstick spray.

2. Grill onion 10 minutes, turning slices as needed, until tender. Remove; cut bite-size. Invert dough on grill; peel off foil. Grill 1 minute until bottom is lightly browned. Turn crust over and spread with sauce; top with onion and cheese. Cover and grill 2 minutes until cheese melts; remove. Sprinkle with parsley; cut in 12 pieces.

My Experience:
The Process-
Okay so, I guess I am breaking my own rules, or not learning from my mistakes because if I had read this recipe all the way through earlier today, i would have gone and gotten gas for the barbecue.  But I don't like propane grills anyway, I prefer charcoal cooked food and we gave that grill away.

So, I went ahead and made this pizza in the oven and just sauteed the onions again beforehand.  I also made the pizza dough from scratch because it was like $12 at the store and I thought that was pretty ridiculous.  In addition to this, I added oregano, basil and mozzarella cheese baked into the crust- my own attempt at stuffed crust, that sadly didn't turn out as well as I had hoped.

When it was finished cooking, I also added some tomatoes from our garden, because no pizza is complete without fresh, uncooked tomatoes on top!

The Result-

The pizza was very, very good!  My mouth is watering for another piece but I'm just too full to eat more.  I served it with some of the leftover salad from yesterday (sans salmon, we're saving it for another day) and it was really delicious!

Being from New York, I am a huge pizza critic but also a huge fan of it when done right.  I would have to say this pizza was pretty much perfect, I only wish I had more mozzarella to add to it, and fresh basil  could have put with it.  Love basil!

My husband, not as much of a pizza lover and a little disappointed at the lack of meat still said that today's pizza was pretty good, and better than yesterday's dinner.  I would give this recipe overall a four!  Very good!

Glazed Salmon on Greens and Orange Salad (Woman's Day Monthly Menu)

I changed up the order of the recipes for this month so today I am doing this recipe. Mainly because we have a delicious salmon given to us in Alaska that I am eager to eat!

The recipe for today is Glazed Salmon on Greens & Orange Salad with a side of sesame breadsticks.

Glazed Salmon on Greens & Orange Salad
http://www.womansday.com/Recipes/Glazed-Salmon-on-Greens-and-Orange-Salad
* Active Time: 10 minutes
* Total Time: 30 minutes

Recipe Ingredients

o 4 (5-oz) salmon fillets
o 1/3 cup Asian ginger salad dressing
o 2 Tbsp clementine or orange juice
o 1/2 cup thinly sliced red onion
o 8 cups salad greens (I used lettuce and arugula, maybe not the best mix but it's what I did)
o 4 clementines, peeled and sliced
o 1/3 cup chopped unsalted toasted almonds I left these out

Recipe Preparation

1. Place salmon skin-side down on foil-lined rimmed baking sheet. Spoon on or brush salmon with 2 Tbsp of the dressing. Let stand 15 minutes.

2. Put remaining dressing and the juice in a large bowl; add onions and toss to coat. Heat broiler.

3. Broil salmon 8 to 10 minutes or until just cooked through.

4. Add salad greens and clementines to bowl with onions; toss to mix and coat. Arrange salad on serving plates. Lift salmon off foil, leaving the skin behind. Place salmon on salad and sprinkle with almonds.

My Experience
The Process-

Okay, so I've never actually broiled anything before but it turns out there is an actual "broil" setting on the stove so you don't turn it to a specific temperature, it's just "Broil". And our oven took a really long time to heat up, so I wish I had started pre-heating sooner.
Anyway, so being from Alaska and all, my husband is pretty picky about his salmon so I was pretty apprehensive about this. Also, I've never cooked a salmon before, ever so I was nervous. Of course the first thing my husband says when he gets home is, "why are you cooking it in the oven?" As if this was the worst possible thing you could do to a salmon (he always fries it in bread crumbs).
So having a high standard to meet, this was a challenging recipe but pretty quick to prepare. And P.S our salmon was given to us as a gift in Alaska so it came cleaned and skinned already. I don't think I would ever cook a salmon with the skin on, in my opinion that is what gives it the fishy smell and taste.

The Result-

The first time I pulled it out of the oven (after 8 minutes) it turns out the salmon was not cooked properly. You can tel because when it's cut the center looks like one big chunky center and when it's cooked it's more lined and falls apart. If that makes sense...
So after popping it back into the oven we tried the food. I thought the salmon really didn't have any flavor whatsoever and I didn't really like the taste of the arugula so I ended up just picking the orange segments out of my salad and not eating much else.
Despite his earlier doubts, the Husband enjoyed the meal and said it tasted pretty good. I did have him add some lemon zest and black pepper seasoning to it though because I thought it was lacking in flavor. He gave it about a 3 and 1/2 but I only give it a 2, which brings this recipe's score up to about a 3.
I'd skip this recipe and just grill the salmon or cook it in a trusted seasoning that you like.

Italian Steak and Bread Salad (Woman's Day Monthly Menu)

Today is the first day of Woman's Day Month, where I am following the posted monthly menu in Woman's Day magazine. I want to see if planning a whole month of cooking really is more convenient, and if it saves money. Too read more, see here.

Today's recipe is for Italian Steak and Bread Salad with a side of grilled corn on the cob.


Italian Steak and Bread Salad
http://www.womansday.com/Recipes/Italian-Steak-and-Bread-Salad

* Active Time: 7 minutes
* Total Time: 15 minutes


Recipe Ingredients
o 12-oz 3⁄4-in.-thick sirloin steak
o 1⁄2 a 1-lb loaf French bread, split
o Garlic-flavor cooking spray <-- replaced this with minced garlic
o 1⁄2 tsp salt
o 1⁄2 tsp pepper
o 2 cups ripe tomato chunks
o 2 bags (6 oz each) baby spinach trio (baby spinach, arugula and carrots), or baby spinach
o 1⁄2 cup sliced onion
o 1⁄2 cup crumbled blue cheese - I left this out, I don't like blue cheese
o 1⁄2 cup olive oil (I just used this to saute the onions)


Recipe Preparation

1. Heat outdoor grill or stovetop ridged grill pan. Coat steak and cut surfaces of bread with garlic spray; sprinkle with salt and pepper.

2. Grill steak, turning once, 6 minutes, or until an instant-read thermometer inserted from side to middle registers 155°F. Remove to a cutting board, cover loosely with foil and let rest. (Temperature of steak will continue to rise to 160°F for medium doneness.)

3. Meanwhile, grill bread, cut sides down, 2 minutes, or until lightly toasted.

4. Cut bread in chunks; thinly slice steak. Combine in a bowl with remaining ingredients; toss to mix.

My Experience:
The Process-
Well I learned 5 minutes before I was about to start grilling that the barbecue was out of propane so I couldn't use it.  This was disappointing but I decided to just cook the steak on the George Foreman grill and boil the corn instead of grilling it.
Also, the Italian bread I used was a bake it yourself type thing and came out really hard on the outside and soft on the inside.  Since i don't like hard bread, I decided it was not suitable to put in the salad so I served it on the side instead.
The entire cooking process took me a little under 30 minutes, unlike the noted 15 minutes stated in the recipe.  This probably had to do with the fact that I was using frozen spinach I had to boil, and that I decided to saute the oinions.

Also, the corn I had got awhile ago, had shriveled up and did not taste very good, so i was a little bummed about that.  I guess i should have bought more at the grocery store yesterday but I thought the other corn was still good.

One nice bonus however, was that the husband came home early from work so he helped me cut up the steak and pick the tomatoes from the garden.  He could tell I was not in a super great mood today and his help made a world of difference, and now I feel much better.

The Result-

Despite the hard bread and shriveled corn, it was a really good meal!  I was a little apprehensive about cutting up such a nice looking steak and mixing it into a messy salad but the salad was really delicious!  I used spinach and arugula combined instead of the trio mix suggested in the recipe.  It felt so rewarding to have a dinner with fresh greens and tomatoes and onions and that I made it on my own (with a little help from the husband).  I'm actually glad that I left out the bread because I think the salad tasted better that way.  I don't like croutons on my salad, and the thought of the bread getting soggy in it and ruining the fresh tastes and crunchiness of other things makes me go "bleh".

So I give the recipe itself 3 stars because I don't think it would be as good if it had been prepared exactly as stated, but today's dinner 4 stars!  If you take the bread out of the salad I'm sure it will be great for you, too!

The husband also thought the meal was really, very good, and it's rare to get such a descriptive compliment on a meal from him so I think he enjoyed it as well.  Although, I'm pretty sure when steak is involved it would be incredibly difficult to displease the man.

Woman's Day Monthly Menus Month!

I know, shame on me, I didn't post a recipe today.  Well, in case you care the little one is teething and maybe cranky just from us traveling so much, and has been screaming ALL. DAY. LONG.  In addition, Husband didn't get home from work until 8pm and I had to go grocery shopping, and we still had leftover pork so I figured he could make something with that when he got home.  On top of this, Little One pulled down my favorite floor lamp and it of course shattered all over the floor.  I'm totally bummed about it, so let's just move on to better things... I am very excited for tomorrow!  Why? Because tomorrow is September 1st and the start of Woman's Day Month!

In between my child screaming and changing diapers I was able to organize the monthly menu for September and make a shopping list.  Turns out the local grocery store had some really great deals (thank you, Labor Day) and I was very excited that I got some great sirloin steaks (7 total) for right around $10.00 and a bunch of other things for a fairly good price.

So I did rearrange the original Woman's Day September meal plan to suit my own needs (switched slow cooker recipes to the day I work, took out foods we don't like, are allergic to, etc.,) but I think it is a solid meal plan and will work out well for our family.  Here is a peek at September's recipe plan- note there aren't really any weekend recipes because I don't post on weekends:

(click to enlarge)

I went ahead and bought the groceries I would need for the next 2 weeks and all of the meat for the entire month since it was really greatly priced and should keep just fine.  The total I spent was right around $50.00 which I don't think is bad at all.  The Husband was fairly impressed but he has a tendency to overspend at the grocery store... I won't get into that.  Anyway, I adapted the grocery list to my needs since I rearranged the monthly meal plan but here is Woman's Day down loadable grocery list if you're interested click here.  I plan on posting at the end of the month how much I spent total and if I think the meal planning helped save money.

So far, I am really liking this planning in advance thing.  The fact that I went grocery shopping means I don't need to search for recipes based on the ingredients that I have, and I am also sticking to a budget.  So that means, so far, so good, now I just need to make sure I don't botch the recipes!

See you all tomorrow for our first September recipe!