¡Feliz Cinco de Mayo!

The Spanish teacher in me wanted to make an all-out Mexican feast for dinner tonight. But, the scheduling gods decided that Adam needed to work until 9:30, and Me + TONS of Mexican food = Disaster! I went, instead, with a Latin-inspired meal with a very healthy twist on it.

We’ve been talking about making black bean burgers well, since I made them last time. Rather than going with the Asian hot sauce, sriracha, I went with some chili powder, red pepper, and some Tabasco for a more Mexican flavor. On the side was something I’ve never cooked with before: plantains!

When I lived with a Puerto Rican roommate, she introduced me to the amazingness that are tostones. Typically, tostones are slices of plantains, deep fried once, smashed, then deep fried again. Needless to say, I didn’t deep fry. I made my tostones in all of 2 teaspoons of oil and they came out just as well as the ones I’d eaten at restaurants!

Sorry for the weird colors... I took the pic outside and forgot to adjust my settings!

Sorry for the weird colors... I took the pic outside and forgot to adjust my settings!

Healthy Tostones

Ingredients

1 large green plantain, sliced into 1 cm. slices

2 tsp. oil (I used olive), divided

salt to taste

Directions

Heat 1 tsp. oil in a large skillet. Place the slices of plantain into the pan, and cook until the slices are lightly browned on both sides. Transfer to a cookie sheet lined with paper towel and drain off the extra oil. Using a drinking glass, smash the slices of plantain until they are much thinner. Heat the other tsp. oil in your pan, and cook the smashed slices a second time. Salt while hot and enjoy!

For those of you who have never had a green plantain, you must. They look a lot like a big green banana (that’s what she said), usually speckled, but do not taste much like banana at all. They are more like a potato in texture, and hardly sweet. You must try them. There are also other varieties of plantains that are used in different ways, but these are my favorite.

I’m definitely having a second bean burger because I worked my BUTT off at Jazzercise today! Our teacher broke out some new routines and I was sweating a ton. Before I left the house, I called it “650 calories at least today.” That’s what I did! 653 Calories! Now mind you, I’m not rewarding myself with food… I’m HUNGRY!

Tonight’s guest for dinner is a fantastic cook I met on Twitter. Jeff is known as The Catholic Foodie and this makes today’s guest our first official cross-cultural foodie post! Jeff’s blog is fantastic, and if you haven’t seen it yet, you must. So, Catholic Foodie, pull up a chair, have a seat at my table, and tell us about your meal!

So I had a sirloin roast in my fridge… For two days.

I had no idea what to do with it, but I had a hankering for beer. Good beer. So I went to the grocery.

img_3451Browsing in the (upscale) beer section, I saw it: Murphy’s Stout. No, not to drink. This brew was for the roast!

To be honest, I did buy beer to drink too. Abita Abbey Ale, Abita Turbodog, and a Lobster Lovers Beer. What? Too much? I don’t think so! You gotta have something to sip on in the kitchen!

So I poured myself a cold one (or two!) and I got to work.

This is what I needed, and this is what I did:

Ingredients:

1 4 lbs. Beef Sirloiin Roast,  at room temperature
2 to 3 tbsp Salt and freshly ground pepper, or to taste
1/8 to 1/4 tsp Ground cayenne pepper, or to taste
2 pint Beer (Stout), at room temperature
2 to 3 Russet Potatoes, cubed
3 or 4 Carrots, diced
7 to 9 cloves Garlic, sliced thickly
3 medium to large Onions, sliced length-wise
3 to 4 tbsp Worcestershire sauce, or to taste

Directions:

1. Make numerous small slits in both sides of the roast (space them evenly). Stuff the slits with the sliced garlic. I slice the garlic into small, thick pieces so that they will fit into the slits.

2. Liberally season the roast with coarse ground sea salt and black pepper. Rub it in well.

3. In a hot dutch oven or large pot, pour enough extra virgin olive oil to coat the bottom. Brown both sides of the roast for several minutes. Then, transfer to crockpot.

4. Add a bit of water to the hot dutch oven or pot. With a strong spatula or large spoon, scrape the bottom to loosen up the debris. Add water and debris to the crockpot. Then add Worcestershire Sauce.

5. Pour 2 pints of Stout (I use Murphy’s Stout… not too expensive. About $1.50/can.) to the crockpot. At this point, the roast should be covered with liquid.

6. Add the onions, potatoes, carrots to the crockpot. You could also put some on the bottom the crockpot before you put the roast in.

7. Turn crockpot on high and let it cook for 3 or 4 hours.

8. Turn crockpot down to low and let cook for several hours (5 or more?).
img_3453
NOTE: Just made this the other day. I cooked it on high for about 3 to 4 hours, then turned it to low and cooked it for about 8 more hours! Delicious and fall-off-the-fork tender.

Serve with rice.

Recipe By: Jeff Young – The Catholic Foodie
Serving Size: 10

I have to say… this recipe turned out fall-off-fork good! You gotta try it!

Thanks so much Jeff! This looks absolutely fantastic! I’m sure that the beer adds a real something special to a crockpot meal! Do you want to be my guest for dinner? Just send me an email to mara@imadedinner.net describing your dinner, with a photo and/or recipe, and I’ll post it!

On queue for tonight? The Biggest Loser Finale! It’s very interesting to watch this show after working my own tail off instead of while eating a pint of ice cream, like I used to…

P.S. Make sure you stop over at Gliding Calm today to wish Miss GC a VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!! Love you girlie!!!!

Technorati Tags: , , , ,

Oh, Patty (Melt)

I don’t know why, but I’ve wanted red meat the last couple days. Hmm… this seems to be a monthly pattern…

I decided last night after talking to Adam that tonight would be burger night. I make a mean burger (mean in the best possible sense), but I wanted something a little different. (Isn’t that how some of the best cooking adventures start?) I’ll stop using parenthesis now. Adam told me on Sunday that he worked tonight until 9:30, which meant that I was on my own for dinner, only having to cook for myself. I, of course, cooked enough for him, but I did add some things to dinner that I knew only I would like. My brain started spinning on the way to Jazzercise, trying to figure out what I could do with burgers that would be “different” but not so different that it was no longer burgers. Man, I really talk a lot about my dinners. After burning 720 calories at Jazzercise, I headed to the grocery store for a couple things, and came home to cook. The ultimate result?

PATTY MELT WRAPS!

I made my summer burger recipe, but made them thin and an oblong type shape to fit better in a wrap. I also made some caramelized onions that literally cooked on low heat for about 25 minutes (this was thing #1 Adam wouldn’t want to eat.) Then, I placed my oblong burger in the middle of a La Tortilla Factory whole wheat wrap, topped it with the hot caramelized onions, and some reduced fat shredded cheddar. I did my best to wrap the burger in the wrap, and came out with this gorgeousness:

I had to put the wrap seam-side down on my plate for the picture

I had to put the wrap seam-side down on my plate for the picture

Thing #2 that Adam wouldn’t touch so I made because he was working late was SAUTEED MUSHROOMS!!! I ate a bunch of them on my small garden salad.

Mushroomy goodness

Mushroomy goodness

I decided that today was a good day for a treat, too. I walked up and down the ice cream aisle at my grocery store looking for coconut milk ice cream like Brandi and Heather rave about, but they didn’t have any. Then I found the Easter candy. I perused and I thought, and carried a bunch of things around trying to decide what to get. Then I happened on the CUTEST THINGS EVER! MINI Cadbury Creme Eggs!

They're just like the big ones, but LITTLE!

They're just like the big ones, but LITTLE!

Make sure to enter Chocolate-Covered Katie’s CCV In a Box Giveaway, and The Girl in the LBD’s Quaker Robe giveaway!

It’s Biggest Loser time, then shower time, then bed time! Have a wonderful night, and a FANTASTIC APRIL FOOL’S DAY! OH and make sure you DON’T download any mysterious email attachments. There’s a real computer virus going around.

Technorati Tags: , , , ,




Rss Feed Tweeter button Facebook button Technorati button Flickr button Stumbleupon button