Sunday, March 28, 2010

A Weekend Away....

It feels so good to have a weekend away. I am on my Spring Break (SPRING BREAK 2010 BABY!!!!) Every year on Spring Break, I feel like yelling that out...makes me feel like I am in Mexico with MTV for Spring Break...I know I am a dork.

My brother's band Roster McCabe was up here recording their next album and they finished early, so Chad and I jumped on the opportunity to come up here and spend some time together.

Before we left, I chose 3 new recipes from the Cooking Light: Fresh Food Fast magazine I picked up this week. I was SUPER excited to have some time to spend cooking this weekend!!

Chad, however, was not so excited to participate in my experiments.
He is very strong on his desire to stay OFF the blog...why??

My first meal was for Saturday's lunch...

Skillet Sloppy Beef Sandwiches.
Ingredients:
* Cooking spray
* 1 lb. Lean ground beef
* 1 c. refrigerated prechopped tricolor bell pepper
* 1/2 c. frozen whole-kernel corn (I only had canned corn)
* 1 (14.5 oz) can Mexican-styled stewed tomatoes with jalapeno peppers and spices, undrained (I could only find diced tomatoes with the Mexican spices)
* 1/4 c. plus 2 T ketchup
* 4 (1 1/2 oz) whole-wheat hamburger buns (thanks Lund's bakery!!)

1. Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add beef and bell pepper and saute' for 5 minutes or until meat is browned. Drain
2. Return meat mixture to pan. Add corn, tomatoes and ketchup.
3. Cook 9 minutes or to desired consistency.
4. Serve on hamburger buns.

Yield: 4 servings (1 c. beef and 1 bun)

Calories: 382 Fat: 13g

Creamy Ranch-Style Coleslaw
Ingredients:
* 1/3 c. light mayo
* 1/4 c. nonfat buttermilk (I forgot this at home so I added a little milk)
* 1 t. salt-free onion and herb seasoning blend
* 1/4 t. salt
* 1/8 t. black pepper
* 4 c. packaged coleslaw

1. Combine first 5 ingredients in a bowl, stirring well with a whisk. (I forgot to do this...oops)
2. Pour dressing over slaw. Toss well. Cover and chill.

Yield: 4 servings (serving size 1 cup)

Calories: 85 Fat: 7 g.
Chad's only words were, "WOW. This is so good!!" I think he said it 4-5 times :)

I was so happy that he approved!! He is pretty hard to please when it comes to food...

Because we were eating, Tesa decided it was time for her lunch too.

Tesa has really enjoyed being at the cabin! She has been exploring the whole time. We even let her explore outside yesterday for awhile (even though I was freaking out about it!)

She had a hay-day with a plastic bag...you would have thought I gave her a ton of treats!

Saturday night, I pulled out all the stops for dinner. I went all out with this recipe. I knew it would be another favorite of Chad's.

Tenderloin Steaks with Beer Reduction and Blue Cheese

Ingredients:
* 2 t. steak rub (McCormick Grill Mates)
* 4 (4 oz) beef tenderloin steaks, trimmed (I only made 2)
* 1 t. olive oil
* 1 (12 oz) bottle dark lager (we used Finnegans)
* 2 T. light brown sugar
* 2 T. crumbled blue cheese

1. Preheat oven to 450.
2. Rub steak seasoning over both sides of steaks. (I refrigerated them for 30 minutes)
3. Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add steaks and cook 2 minutes on each side or until browned. Remove steaks from pan and place on a baking sheet. Bake at 450 for 4-5 minutes or until desired degree of doneness.
4. While steaks bake, combine beer and brown sugar in medium bowl and add to pan. Cook 6 minutes or until mixture is syrupry and reduced to about 1/4 c.
(I made a HUGE mistake here. I added this mixture to the pan in the stove rather than the pan on the stovetop. The mixture did not crystallize or reduce because it was in the oven...duh)
5. Serve steaks with reduced sauce and sprinkle evenly with cheese.

Yield: 4 servings (1 steak and 1 1/2 T sauce and 1 1/2 t. cheese per serving)

Calories: 209 Fat: 8g

Garlic-Herb Steak Fries

Ingredients:
* 3 cups frozen steak fries (I could not find these and used crinkle fries)
* 1 T. chopped fresh rosemary
* 1 T olive oil
* 1 t. garlic-sea salt blend

1. Preheat oven to 450
2. Combine all ingredients in large bowl. Arrange fries in a single layer on a large baking sheet.
3. Bake at 450 for 17 minutes or until lightly browned, stirring once.
Yield: 4 servings (3/4 cup per serving)

Calories: 170 Fat: 7g

Chad made a great salad, but again refused to be photographed.

The fries got a little too done, and the steaks were a little too done as well. Chad was changing out the laundry and he is the steak master so I overcooked them :(

It was still SUPER GOOD!!!

Dessert was only enjoyed by moi. Chad isn't a big dessert guy. That is one place where we totally disagree!! :)

Peanut Butter-Chocolate Banana Split

Ingredients:
* 6 T Chocolate syrup (I used Trader Joe's Chocolate Sauce)
* 1 1/2 T. reduced-fat peanut butter
* 3 bananas, cut in half lengthwise
* 3 c. vanilla bean light ice cream
* 3 T. chopped unsalted peanuts

1. Combine chocolate syrup and peanut butter in a 1-c. glass measure. Microwave at high 40 seconds or until peanut butter melts. (I did not measure these out and only had a plastic measuring cup. I had a hard time getting the consistency right between the syrup and peanut butter. It was really thick)

2. Cut each banana half crosswise into 2 pieces. Arrange 2 banana pieces in each of 6 dessert dishes; top banana evenly with ice cream and hot chocolate sauce. Sprinkle with peanuts and serve immediately. (I only used 1 banana because it was just me. I skipped the peanuts and added strawberries.

This was excellent!!!!!

I woke up bright and early...at 7:10 a.m. I know right?? I'm on Spring Break, I should be able to sleep in. I got dressed and went for a run. It was A LOT colder than it was yesterday. The outdoor thermometer said 26 degrees....BBBBRRRRRRRR!!! I had to dig out an old-school purple headband to cover my ears.

It was really hard to continue running with the cold air... I ran/walked 2 miles. I came home and tried to sit on the deck to read my book...had to go inside because it was TOO COLD!!!



This is not water on the chair...it is ice!!

This morning, we got up and went to the Wharf in town for breakfast. They just started serving breakfast so I was excited to check it out. I ordered the eggs and hashbrowns. I did not realize the hashbrowns came on TOP of the eggs and there was 3-4 c. hashbrowns and 2 eggs. TOO greasy for me!!

I also had a small pancake on the side, which I ate half of. I had 2 cups of coffee.

Now it is time to take a quick nap and read my book.

Tonight's dinner plans: Lemon Red Snapper with Herb Butter and Risotto...yummy!

No comments: