Steak Tacos

I've made beef carnitas for tacos before and it's divine. BUT it is an all-day, on the stove affair and requires a bit of forethought. These steak tacos, on the other hand, are pretty quick to whip up. The recipe is from Cook's Country. Flank steak is "marinated" with garlic, jalapenos, green onions, cumin, chili powder, salt, and pepper. Then it is very thinly sliced and pan-fried for about a minute. The steak is removed from the pan and some tomato sauce is thrown in with a squeeze of lime juice. This helps soak up all the browned juices and bits as you stir it around. Once the "sauce" thickens up the steak is thrown back in to be glazed. Ta-da! These steak tacos are so yummy! I served them with tortillas, lettuce, tomatoes, and sour cream. My son said, "I could eat this every day!" Now THAT'S a recommendation for you.

Garlicky Oven Fries

I love french fries! But I hate frying them because too much oil is involved and I always feel guilty throwing out all that oil afterwards. I've tried a few oven fry recipes. Cooking Light has one with great flavor but the fries always end up soggy. So, when I encountered a version from Cook's Country, I knew I had to try them.

The first thing you do is mince six cloves of garlic. Add it to 6 tablespoons of vegetable oil and nuke it in the microwave for a minute. Then use this garlicky oil to grease a large rimmed baking sheet. Reserve about a tablespoon of oil and all the garlic. This reserved mixture gets tossed with 1 and 1/2 pounds of russet potatoes cut into wedges with the skin left on. Cover with plastic wrap and microwave these for about 5 minutes, stirring halfway through. Toss the microwaved potatoes with a mixture of 2 tablespoons cornstarch, 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, 1/2 teaspoon pepper, and 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder. Arrange them on your pan in a single layer. Bake for 20 minutes at 475 degrees. Flip them over and bake for another 20 minutes. Yum! These were a hit. They were flavorful, crisp, garlicky. No ketchup needed!

Curried Cauliflower Bisque

When I told my husband the menu for tonight he looked ready to run for the phone to order a pizza. Curried Cauliflower Bisque from Didi Emmons' Vegetarian Planet sounded good to me so I decided that I would make it whether the rest of my family wanted it or not. The bisque is simple in ingredients - curry powder, coriander, onions, garlic, ginger, milk, and cauliflower. The house smelled divine as I simmered it. The soup is very pale which belies the great flavor. If you are looking for an Indian inspired soup on a cool evening, this is the ticket. I also made some homemade garlic naan. I modified Didi Emmons' recipe, leaving out the scallions and cumin seeds since they didn't appeal to me. Once the dough was formed, I brushed it with a garlic, butter, parsley combination and then baked it in my oven on a pizza stone at 500 degrees. I don't know how authentic it was but all three naan loaves were soft, tender, and garlicky. As for the pizza, it was never ordered. My husband, my five-year-old, and my one-year-old all slurped up their soup and nibbled their naan. Yay!

Snow Day Stew

Last week we had a snow day. It was great fun to run around in the snow, making snow angels, throwing snowballs, and breathing in the cold air. The best part was that I had made a slow cooker stew in the morning so that every time we came inside we were greeted with the decadent smell of dinner! This stew is super easy. A pound of beef stew meat, four cups of V-8, some onions, carrots, celery, potatoes, thyme, and basil. Paired with homemade biscuits and peach freezer jam put away last summer. A perfect way to end a snow day!

Fried Rice and Dumplings

So, you may have noticed that I've been out-of-commission for a week. Well, my parents visited for a few days AND I was getting ready for my five-year-old's birthday party. I'll be posting pictures of the cake and cardboard pirate ship on http://ecirclecooking.blogspot.com/ soon. Anyway, I told you I'd be making fried rice with my leftover chicken so I wanted to show you the results. The recipe I used was given to me by my father and it really is the best fried rice recipe I've tried. It's really flexible as far as the meat and vegetables and is a great way to use leftovers. The only ingredient I think this recipe is missing is soy sauce so once I've cooked up the recipe I add in a few glugs of soy sauce to my taste. My son loves this fried rice and will eat the bowl if I let him.Since I can't leave well enough alone, I also decided to try a new recipe from Cooking Light. Ginger-Shrimp Pot Stickers with Spicy Peanut Dipping Sauce. My husband, who doesn't like shrimp, onions, or cabbage, all of which are ingredients in these dumplings, loved them. The dipping sauce is really what gives it the awesome flavor. I made a whole batch of the pot stickers and froze half of them since I knew my son wouldn't eat them. So, now I just have to whip up a half-recipe of the dipping sauce, pan-fry my pot stickers, and I've got a great appetizer for another Asian meal.