Grilled steak and mashed potatoes (and chipotle mayonnaise)

Tonight is a school night and our friends are coming over so we can plan our trip.  We’re staying in a condo with a kitchen so we’ll take food.  It will be less expensive and we will eat better.  Since we are coordinating tonight, I wanted to keep dinner simple.  I had sirloin steaks in the freezer and I dipped them in the last of the chipotle marinade that I made a few weeks ago (blogged on 2/12 and 2/19).  I’m making the same mashed potatoes that I blogged with the marinade.  My friend is bringing a salad so we are all set.

The chipotle chiles in adobo sauce come in a small jar and I only needed 2 for the  marinade.  I saved the rest and I’ve made two batches of chipotle mayonnaise.  Take 1 cup of mayonnaise and 1 chipotle pepper and combine in a food processor or blender.  Taste and add more pepper or more mayo depending upon how much heat you like.  This is awesome on turkey or roast beef sandwiches.

Grocery list for 2/27

The spicy marinade is the last of the marinade I blogged about a few weeks ago – the one with chipotle pepper.  This is the third meal from that marinade and the marinade is a definite repeat – it was great on meat and chicken and I think it would also be excellent on pork.  If you did not make it or don’t want to, you can always marinate steaks in Worcestershire sauce for a quick and easy solution.

Grocery List

Produce

• Potatoes
• Arugula

Dairy

• Parmesan cheese

Meat and Seafood

• 1 sirloin steak per person (4 – 6 oz)
• 1/3 lb of sea scallops per person

Miscellaneous

• Pizza shell
• Pesto
• Tomato paste
• Pine nuts

Check your pantry and buy if you don’t have:

• Milk
• Butter

Menu plan first half of 2/27

The menu plan this week will be in two installments.  We are going away with another family next weekend and are meeting tonight to plan the food we will take on our trip.  Here is the menu plan for tonight and tomorrow.  I am out of town on Tuesday so my husband has his choice of leftovers from the freezer.  I’ll send store list for these two meals and then update for our trip after we coordinate.

Sunday

Grilled Sirloin steaks with spicy marinade and mashed potatoes

Monday

Pesto Scallop Arugula Pizza

Salad with Steak

Tonight we had leftover London Broil on top of salad.  I decided the salad dressing from the warm spinach salad was so good that I would make it again.  I also decided on the way home that the salad needed some cheese so I stopped at the store and picked up some Havarti.  It was delicious.

Salad with London Broil

• Greens
• 1 TB Balsamic Vinegar
• 4 TB olive oil
• 2 tsp Dijon Mustard
• 1 chopped shallot
• Leftover London Broil
• 1 oz Havarti, cut in cubes

Wash and dry greens.  In small jar, shake vinegar, oil, mustard and shallot.  Toss greens with dressing and top with steak and cheese.  Serve.

Asparagus and Brownies

Tomorrow we are having a pot luck lunch at work.  I was thinking about what to make (a little bit of pressure when you are the one in the office with the recipe blog!).  Decided to go with a savory and a sweet.  Savory is blanched asparagus with wasabi mayonnaise – an awesome appetizer and a sign that spring is on the way and sweet is my mom’s famous brownies.  I grew up on these brownies and did not even know until I was about 11 that you could make brownies from a mix.  When I tasted brownies from a mix, I didn’t understand why you would bother – they only take a few minutes to make from scratch and they are so much better they are not even the same thing.

Blanched Asparagus with Wasabi Mayonnaise

• Asparagus spears, tough end broken off
• 1 cup mayonnaise
• 4 tsp low sodium soy sauce
• 2 tsp lemon juice
• 1 tsp sugar
• 2 tsp wasabi paste

Boil water with salt and blanch asparagus in batches for 2 minutes.  Drain and rinse with cold water to stop cooking.  Refrigerate wrapped in paper towels.  Stir together remaining ingredients and refrigerate.  Serve asparagus with wasabi mayonnaise for dipping.  NOTE:  Leftover wasabi mayonnaise is great on turkey sandwiches.

Brownies

• 4 squares Baker’s Unsweetened Baking Chocolate
• 2 sticks butter
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 cup flour
• 4 eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 350.  Melt chocolate, butter and sugar over low heat.  Remove from heat and let cool for 10 minutes.  Stir in flour, eggs and vanilla.  Transfer to a 10 x 14 inch baking pan lined with parchment paper and bake for 22 minutes.  (You can halve the recipe and cook in a smaller square baking pan.)  Remove from oven and let sit in pan for at least an hour before cutting.  You will never bother with a mix again.

Warm spinach salad review and tomorrow’s chicken

The warm spinach salad was great.  I would suggest microwaving for a little longer than 45 seconds – maybe a minute 15 seconds.  The dressing was delicious – my husband thought it could have used more dressing so definitely increase the quantities if you are serving more people.  I probably put in too many mushrooms but at least they are healthy!

Tomorrow we’re having Tandoori Chicken.  It’s marinating overnight and will be served with rice tomorrow.  The yogurt makes it very tender – leftovers make really good sandwiches.

Tandoori Chicken

• 1 8 oz container plain yogurt, low fat or no fat
• 1 TB Tandoori spice mix
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 1 boneless, skinless chicken breast per person (or more for leftovers)

Combine yogurt, spice and lemon juice.  Stir thoroughly.  Toss with chicken in a ceramic baking dish and refrigerate overnight.

When ready to cook, preheat oven to 350.  Cook chicken for 35 -40 minutes or until done.  Serve with rice.

London broil and Warm Spinach Salad

Tonight we’re having grilled London Broil.  As mentioned in my grocery list, I can buy a very good bottled marinade for London Broil at my local grocery store.  That makes this really simple.  If you can’t find one, try this combo:

London Broil Marinade

• 1 TB fresh ginger, chopped
• 1/2 red onion, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1/2 cup chopped parsley
• 1/4 cup red wine
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 1/4 olive oil

Combine ginger, onion, garlic and parsley in a food processor until smooth.  Add wine, soy sauce and oil and combine.  Marinate steak for 4 hours up to overnight.  Grill to desired doneness and slice meat at an angle.

I had a wonderful warm spinach salad at a restaurant a few weeks ago and I’m going to try to replicate it tonight.  Here is what I plan to do – I’ll let you know how it turns out.

Spinach Salad

• 1 bag baby spinach
• 2 hardboiled eggs, chopped
• 2 strips bacon, cooked and chopped
• 6 oz. mushrooms, stemmed removed, cleaned and sliced
• 1 TB balsamic vinegar
• 2 tsp Dijon mustard
• 3 TB olive oil
• 1 chopped shallot

Wash and dry spinach.  Combine vinegar, mustard, olive oil and shallot in a small jar and shake.  Microwave spinach on high for 30 seconds and toss with egg, bacon and mushroom.  Toss with dressing and serve.

Grilled tomato shrimp with orzo

We’re having one of my former teachers over for dinner tonight.  I want to be able to visit rather than cooking.  The shrimp will marinate ahead of time and the orzo is quick to fix.  My husband selected this as one of his favorites.

Grilled tomato shrimp with orzo

• 3 TB olive oil
• 2 TB tomato paste
• 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 tsp basil
• 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
• jumbo shrimp, peeled and deveined (about 1/3 lb per person)

Combine all ingredients except shrimp in a jar or bowl and mix.  Toss with shrimp and allow to marinate in refrigerator 1 -2 hours in refrigerator.  Skewer shrimp on metal skewers and grill until opaque.  Brush with any remaining marinade while grilling.  Remove from skewers and serve over orzo (see below.)

Orzo with feta

• orzo
• olive oil
• feta cheese
• pepper

Cook orzo according to package directions.  Drain and toss with olive oil (2-3 TB) and feta (about 1/4 cup).

Grocery list for week of 2/20

Here is the grocery list for the week.  Shrimp recipe to follow:

Produce

• Spinach
• Mushrooms
• Greens
• Shallots

Dairy

• Feta cheese
• Lofat plain yogurt (1 small container)

Meat and Seafood

• London Broil
• Shrimp (about 1/3 lb per person)
• Boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• Bacon

Miscellaneous

• Tomato paste
• Orzo
• Tandoori spice
• London Broil Marinade (I’ll give you a recipe for one but my grocery store sells an excellent bottled marinade under the store label so I use that)

Check pantry and buy if you don’t have:

• Olive oil
• Red wine vinegar
• garlic
• basil
• red pepper flakes
• eggs
• lemon juice
• rice
• Dijon mustard
• lime juice

 

Menu plan week of 2/20

We’re having company for dinner tonight and decided to go with grilled shrimp.  (I made the Barefoot Contessa’s Frozen Key Lime Pie for dessert.)  Here is the rest of the plan for the week:

Sunday

Grilled tomato shrimp with orzo

Monday

London Broil with Spinach Salad

Tuesday

Tandoori Chicken with Rice

Wednesday

Salad with leftover steak

I had planned fish tacos for Thursday and then my husband reminded me we’re attending an event Thursday evening.  (You can search blog for fish tacos if you’re interested.)

Grocery list coming up.