Fajitas

Well, I'm a moron! For the last zillion years I have made fajitas at least a couple of times per month. It's such a regular go to item in the house that I was sure I had posted the recipe long, long ago. Alas, I had not! What evilness lurks in my brain to be withholding such an easy and delicious recipe from you? It's my favorite kind of dish to make too. Marinate in the bag all day... 10 minutes to the table at night. And hardly a dish to clean up (especially if you use paper plates). How "ungreen" of me... I know. Next time you see me, you can let me know what you think of my "ungreenness". But I am warning you, I deadlift over 250 pounds now... you may be playing with fire.

So let's get started.

What you'll need:

Grass fed skirt steak (4oz per serving)

1 purple onion

1 white onion

1 red bell pepper

1 green bell pepper

1/4 cup olive oil

juice of 2 limes

zest of 1 lime

2 tsp chili powder

1tsp garlic powder

2 tsp cumin

1/4 tsp cayenne (or more for more kick)

additional lime wedges to serve with

guacamole

What you do:

Start this one off at about 11pm the night before. Prep for this great meal by praying to the gods that your son will sleep this fine night so you can be refreshed in the morning and actually feel human. At midnight realize that you have fallen asleep on the couch with a bite of apple hanging out of your mouth and the almond butter that should have gone in with the apple is now pasted to the side of your face and in your hair. At 12:05 thank your husband for taking over the child care duties while you passed out. Sit down on the couch with said husband and watch in amazement as the same son that did not nap, the same son that got up at 7am after only 4 hours of sleep the night before, the same son that has been going nonstop all day, continues to run and laugh and scream with delight and jump on his trampoline. Face it there is no end in sight. Now do what any other irrational and exhausted mother would do. Pack up your son and head on out for what we lovingly call the 55 loop. Drive the 55 fwy from Orange to Costa Mesa for the next hour until he falls asleep. Consider staying in the car all night. After all, it's quiet in there. Get back in the house and colapse into bed. Sweet dreams, you now have 4 hours until it starts again.

Now in the morning start off with a big-ass cup of coffee. Get out a 2 ziplock bags. Slice up the onions and peppers and place them in the first bag. Slice up the meat in strips making sure you slice across the grain. This ensures the meat is tender when cooked and not stringy. Put the meat in bag #2. Whisk up the olive oil, limes, lime zest and spices. Poor it over the meat, seal that baby up and squish it all around to coat the meat. Stick the meat and veggies in the fridge. When it's time to cook in the evening, get out your pan and cook up the veggies in a little oil until they are crisp-tender. In the same pan cook the meat in two separate batches so you don't crowd the pan. If you put all the meat in at once you will steam the meat instead of saute it.

Serve the fajitas up with some additional lime wedges and store bought guacamole. This literally takes 10 minutes to throw together. The perfect meal for when you are just shy of comatose.

Enjoy!

Braciole at lightening speed

Braciole... what the heck is that! Well, let me tell you. Braciole (pronounced braw chawl) is an Italian dish of thin beef or veal wrapped around a filling and baked in wine and tomato sauce. Did I get your attention? Sounds great, doesn't it?

The major problem with making this dish is that it takes a small army and all day to prepare it. First of all, that counts me out immediately. Secondly, it sends me back in time... back to where the level of chaos in my house was at an all time low. Back to where I had the time to spend reading different recipes and not having a matchbox car driven by two year old fingers all over the pages. No one was screaming. There were no battles for attention. No snacks, no runny noses, no songs about going potty... just me and my cookbook...

But there were also no wide eyed smiles, no tugging on my pant leg, no chubby bodies with little dents in the wrists and knees. There were no tiny cuddles and squeals of delight. I must admit, sometimes I long for the days of me and my cookbook, but I'll take the latter any day. Being a new mother (again) is the hardest and most rewarding thing I have ever done.

So in the best interest of my children, I have taken the traditional braciole recipe and cut the prep and cooking time considerably. The essence of the recipe is still there. The intense manual labor is not. With a few short cuts, you'll have an incredible, Italian delight on your table in about 30 minutes.

What you'll need:

1 piece of grass fed sirloin tip steak per serving

2 cloves garlic, minced

pine nuts

ground black pepper

1 red bell pepper (or you can buy roasted red peppers in the jar)

1 bag of spinach

strips of sun dried tomato in olive oil

1 cup of red wine

1 large can crushed tomato

1 T. Italian seasoning

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp onion powder

What you do:

Start by roasting your red pepper on the open flame of your stove. Lay the pepper directly on the flame and wait for the skin to blister and turn black. Turn it until all sides are blackened and the pepper is soft. Put the blackened pepper in a paper sack and close it tightly. Remember to make sure your pepper is not on fire before placing it in the bag... it's kind of hard to explain yourself out of that one. Let the pepper sit in the bag for 10 minutes. Rip open the bag and slide your hand over the surface of the pepper to peel the blackened skin off. Cut off the top and bottom ends of the pepper, slice it open and cut out the seed pod. Go ahead... take a little bite. This glorious flavor is what a freshly roasted red pepper tastes like. Admit it, it's heaven.

Next you'll want to pound the steaks to about 1/4" thickness. Lay out a piece of flattened steak. Put some pepper on it. Divide the minced garlic up evenly among the steaks and press the garlic into the steak. Sprinkle a few pine nuts over the steak and press them into the meat. Now lay a slice of that glorious roasted pepper over the steak. Things are getting interesting, aren't they. Next goes a small handful of spinach followed by a few strips of sun dried tomato. Roll that baby up the best you can and secure it with toothpicks.

Get a heavy skillet hot with olive oil and brown the rolled meat on all sides quickly. Remove the meat to a plate. Next put in your cup of wine. Notice the wine bottle has about three more cups in it. What ever will you do with all that luscious wine? Resist the urge to conceal it in a brown paper bag while slumping down in your kitchen like a derelict. It will go really well with the dinner when it's done. Just another 30 minutes... you can do it. Reduce the wine on high heat until about 1/2 a cup remains. Add the tomato sauce, Italian seasoning, garlic and onion powders. Give it a stir. You may want to hold on to the side of the stove before smelling this broth. It's quite possible you will loose consciousness from the awe-inspiring aroma.

Once you have your broth mixed together place the meat back in the pan and spoon some broth over the meat. Cover it and turn the flame down low. Leave it for ten minutes and then turn the meat over. Baste it, cover it, and let it go another ten minutes.

Serve this beautiful dish with a nice green veggie and don't forget the wine. You wouldn't want it to go to waste now, would you?

Enjoy!

Italian Beef

Italian beef is something of an art. It is usually cooked low and slow with lots of spices and peppers and is oh so yummy. It's served on a giant toasted roll with melted mozzarella... ahhh...

You were thinking it, weren't you? I can see the thought bubble above your head right now. "She's actually going to make a recipe where we can have a roll?... and... cheese? Um... that would be... NO! Any one who had that thought should immediately do 25 burpees . You probably just gained 5 pounds for merely thinking about bread!

Truth be told you are trading in a huge toasted roll for the opportunity to add years of quality health to your life. When you look at it like that, the importance of the bread is reduced to a non-issue. The roast is still tangy and delicious. It still falls apart effortlessly. It still melts in your mouth. So stop being a baby. You don't need the roll (or the cheese for that matter).

You can use just about any roast you want but keep in mind that chuck is the fattiest. Sirloin or round work great. If you have 33 additional seconds in your morning you can make this roast. So I say go for it!

What you'll need:

a 3 to 4 pound roast

2 T Italian seasoning

3 cloves crushed garlic

1 jar sliced pepperoncinis - 16oz

1 can low sodium beef broth (gluten free)

What you do:

Get out your old faithful crock pot. Spray the bowl with olive oil so you don't have to scrub it into the next century. Now pay close attention... here comes the tricky part...

Put the roast in. Put the can of broth in. Put the jar of peppers in with the liquid. Sprinkle the roast with Italian seasoning and crushed garlic. Set the crockpot on low and walk away. Whew! That was tough. You'd better go take a nap! Let that sucker cook on low all day. It's very forgiving. You can let it go for up to 15 hours and it will be fine. I cook mine for about 10 hours. If it's easy to shred, it's done.

You can slice it or shred it and serve it right on a plate with your veggie of choice.

And there you have another quick, easy meal for your way too busy life.

Enjoy!

Amazing Short Ribs

I still love comfort food so I'm going to go out on a limb here. Short ribs can be very fatty, but if you are patient, and you order them from a grass fed cattle farmer they are simply heavenly. You see, the fat in short ribs from a grass fed cow is the fat that you need in your diet. The fat from a grain fed cow is... well... deadly. So since my goal is to help all of you have long and healthy lives, I don't want to hear that you've made this recipe with some nasty, grain fed, sickly, obese cow. That's just no bueno.

This dish is another one that you can smell from across the street. It has bold and rich flavor. So don't be surprised if the neighbors come out of the woodwork, moving toward your house in zombie like fashion trying to steal your dinner and eat your brains. (Really, sometimes I think I've actually lost it). But really, you should make a few more than you think you will need. If you cook this... they will come.

What you'll need:

4 pounds of short ribs

almond flour for dusting

1 can beef broth 8 oz (low sodium, gluten free)

2 cans tomato sauce 8 oz (low sodium)

1 tsp horseradish (optional but worth it)

1/2 onion, minced

2 cloves of crushed garlic

olive oil/avocado oil/coconut oil

What you do:

Get out your heavy and deep skillet. Get it hot with the oil of your choice. Cut the short ribs into individual pieces and dust with a little almond flour. Brown them in the oil on all sides. Drain the pan of any excess fat. They look yummy already, don't they.

Add the rest of the ingredients to the pan and bring to a boil. Once it starts to boil lower the heat and cover the pan. Simmer for 2 - 2 1/2 hours until meat is tender and falling off the bone. In the mean time, if you haven't fainted from the fantastic aroma coming from the pan, you can bake a sweet potato and mash it (or steam some veggies if you are in weight loss mode).

So there it is. Comfort food made paleo friendly. To plate this little beauty make a little mountain of sweet potato or steamed veggies and put your short rib on top. It makes a pretty presentation and I am all about presentation. When I go out to eat I study the way the chef plates my food and I try to copy it at home. I promise pretty food tastes better!

Enjoy!

Winter Stew

It seems like forever since I last posted a recipe. Truth be told one or another of us (or all of us together at one point) have been sick. We've caught nearly every kind of cold, virus and flu out there but all at the same time. In a nutshell, we feel like crap. But hey, life goes on and we must keep moving forward, right?

So let's get down to dinner. When I feel crummy I always want something warm and comforting. It helps if it's packed with vitamins and protein to help put me back on my feet. Who am I kidding? All you mothers out there can attest to the fact that we may get knocked on our butts, but do we get to rest? Um... that would be NO! So here's hoping this hearty meal will nourish my broken body. Lord knows, it's my only hope.

What you'll need:

about 3 pounds of stew meat

1 onion, chopped

3 carrots sliced on the diagonal

about 10 mushrooms (not allowed in my house)

6 green onions

3T fresh ginger, minced

3 T tomato paste (low sodium)

3 cloves of garlic, minced

2 cups beef broth (low sodium, gluten free)

1/2 cup fresh cilantro, chopped

1/2 cup fresh mint leaves, chopped

1 cup coconut milk, unsweetened

lime wedges

What you do:

You're going to start with a little exercise in kitchen prep. Chop the onions (both varieties), slice the carrots, slice the mushrooms (unless you are me, then your marriage contract states no mushrooms... ever). Mince the garlic. Peel the ginger. Did you know that if you use a spoon and scrape it on the ginger peel, it comes right off? Magic! Mince the ginger. Now, another handy kitchen trick: Take your cilantro and break the stems off with one giant twist. Put the cilantro in a coffee mug and start snipping away at it with your kitchen shears. This is much easier than trying to chop herbs that just end up getting stuck to your knife and flying all around the kitchen. Do the same with the mint. Open your cans and get them ready. Whew! Time for a coffee break! That was some serious prep! By all means feel free to enlist the household to help. I tried that once with my hubby. He tore his rotator cuff chopping the garlic. No, I'm not kidding. I think he did it on purpose to get out of his part.

Alright, so you've chopped everything within arms distance (you may want to inventory your pets) and opened your cans. You are now ready to get out a heavy and deep pan and add some olive oil. Get the pan hot. Dry your stew meat off with paper towels. I know it sounds weird but you want it to brown, not steam. Add the meat a little at a time and brown it for a couple of minutes. If you add your meat all at once the temperature of the pan will come down and your meat will turn all grey and look like mushed up brains. Don't do that, it's not cool. Remove it to a plate when browned. After all the meat is browned you can add your onion and green onion, carrot and ginger to the pan. Poor in a bit of beef broth to loosen the browned bits off the bottom and scrape the bottom of the pan. Get all those bits up! This is where flavor is born. Continue to saute the veggies about five minutes.

Things are starting to smell good, but this is only the beginning. Stir in the tomato paste and garlic. Add the coconut milk, beef broth, mint and cilantro. Now things are getting interesting. I don't even know what region this dish would fit with. It's kind of Moroccan- Thai meets Mediterranean-American. But I do know that your house smells pretty darn good right about now.

Ok, now add your meat back in to the pan and bring it up to a boil. Turn the heat way down low. Cover and simmer for about an hour, stirring occasionally to keep all the pieces of meat covered with the sauce. After the hour is up take the lid off and raise the heat to medium. Let the sauce reduce and thicken up about 30 more minutes. You will add your mushrooms in the last 30 minutes if you choose to use them. Gosh, I miss mushrooms...

Serve it in a big shallow bowl with a generous squeeze of lime and don't be surprised if you get a knock on the door from the neighbors asking you what you are cooking. This dish can be smelled from across the street!

Enjoy!

Steak Pizzaiola

I love Italian food. To me it represents the warmth of home. The deep flavors mingle with rich traditions of generations past. Having said that, come along with me as I mutilate another great Italian recipe and replace the hours of toiling in the kitchen with a quick and easy meal fit for the busy families of 2010.

I wish that I had the time to prepare traditional food using family recipes and old world cooking but that's not going to happen at least for another couple of years. So I have taken family recipes and shortened them significantly so you can have dinner on the table in under an hour.

I wooed my husband with my cooking. I had a big plate of sausage and peppers at the alter just in case he got cold feet. And now look what I've done. I've taken his heritage and desecrated it all in the name of saving time. It's a shame but he really should have thought about it before he decided to give me twins. Yes... I blame him.

This recipe is wonderfully aromatic. Yes, it is quick... yes, it is simple, and yes, I used jarred sauce (father forgive me for I have sinned). I hope you love it as much as I do.

What you'll need:

top sirloin steaks

1 jar of Trader Giotti's Puntanesca Sauce

1 Spanish onion

2 bell peppers (I used yellow, green gives me a stomach ache)

olive oil

What you do:

Take a meat mallet and pound the steak thin to about 1/2 an inch. Use the bumpy side to tenderize it a bit. Slice up your onion and pepper. Put a little olive oil in the bottom of a heavy skillet (the kind that can go in the oven). If you don't have one of those then use a baking pan. Spread the oil around in the pan. Put your steaks in next and cover them with the onion and peppers. Take your jar of sauce and pour it all over the steaks and veggies. Now go immediately to confession and tell the priest that you have sinned. Also, pray that your husband never finds out that you are using jarred sauce... you know, the jars of sauce that you keep above the fridge, way in the back, behind the vases? Ya, those...

Ok, so you have your steak, your veggies, your sauce. Put the lid on the pan or cover it in foil and put it in a 350 degree oven for about 45 minutes. Don't peak. Serve it over a giant plate of spaghetti with a side of bread the size of a football. JUST KIDDING. You thought I lost my mind didn't you! Serve it with a nice side salad and revel in the fact that you can eat Italian food on the Paleo diet!

Enjoy!