All for 'beef'

Lunch Tomorrow: Hamburgers with chillies
Carne Asada Fajitas
Kheema and Samosa
Moussaka, French Onion Soup, Sides and Bread Pudding (company)
Beef Enchilada Casserole
Koftas
Koftas and Chickpea Stew
NY Strip Steak and Brussel Sprouts
Real chili cook off
Shepherd's Pie and Swiss Chard
Moussaka
Taco Stew and Brussel Sprouts
Chili and Mashed Potatoes
Taco Cupcakes and Zucchini Fritters
Taco Stew
Koftas and White Bean Eggplant
Moussaka Cupcakes
Beef Barbacoa
Beef Enchilada Casserole
Taco/Fajita cupcakes
Sweet and Sour Meatballs with Zucchini Fritters
Steak and Roasted Beets (BURNED)
Seasoned Hamburgers and Baked Fries
Moussaka and "Fried" Zucchini
Sloppy Joes and Curry Cauliflower
Meatloaf and corn
Taco Cupcakes
Taco Stew
Taco Stew and Butternut Squash
Hamburgers and Edamame
Taco Stew
Tacos (with Kale) and Zucchini Chips
Italian Wedding Soup
Moussaka
Taco Stew and Roasted Cabbage
Sloppy Joes and Zucchini Fritters
French Onion Soup and Moussaka
Sloppy Joes, Roasted Cabbage and Spinach Salad
[Fake] Reubens
Extra Lean Beef Baked Eggrolls and Roasted Cabbage
Zucchini Fritters and Reuben(ish) Sandwich
Sloppy Joes and Curry Cauliflower
Chili and Roasted Eggplant
Taco Stew and French Onion Soup
Taco Stew and Brussel Sprouts
Tacos and Roasted Cabbage
Reuben Empanadas and Corn
Beef with Broccoli and Wonton Soup
Beef with Broccoli and Wonton Soup
Corned Beef with Poached Eggs
Open-Face Seasoned Hamburgers on Eggplant
Broccoli Beef
Taco Cupcakes and Oven-Fried Zucchini
Grilled Koftas and with other grilled vegetables
Rutabaga Chips and Open-Face Almost-Reubens
Taco cupcakes and zucchini
Beef with Brussel Sprouts (as opposed to Broccoli)
Burgers on Yellow Squash
Beef Bulgogi, Stir-Fried Broccoli and Pickled Red Onions
Patty Melts and Rutabaga Chips
Beef Koftas and Spicy Shoestring Jicama Fries
Korean Beef Bulgogi Tacos
Spicy Thai Beef Salad
Green chile Shepherd's Pie
Kofta Style Tacos
Taco Stew
Thai Basil with Beef
Moussaka
Karniyarik - Turkish Stuffed Eggplant
Keftas and Grilled Eggplant
Shepherd's Pie
Twice Baked Potatoes with Roast Beef

I was putting away some 92/8 ground beef and I decided to make lunch for me and Meredith tomorrow. I do not know how they will taste yet, but I used all kinds of things in the burgers including tabasco, sriracha, serrano chillies, worcestershire and other stuff. I also grilled some serrano pepper to put under the cheese.I may have overcooked the burgers a little.

I made the carne asada marinade roughly following this recipe including the kiwi. I did not have cilantro and I used lime juice. I also used splenda. I added too much lime and it was noticable but not too bad. I forget the cut of meat, but it was very lean. One nice thing is that it marinated for over 24 hours so it did have the flavor (even if it was too much lime). I cooked it on the griddler with the thermometer method (so easy!)

The pepper are red bell and poblanos. Poblanos are more flavorful and spicier than green bell peppers. The onion was a vidalia onion. I mixed in a bit of fajita seasoning to give it all flavor.

The steak was 10 for the meat and probably some for whatever oil stayed from the marinade. The wraps were 1 each (La Tortilla Factory).

The kheema was base off of a bunch of recipes which I will link to when/if Meredith sends them to me. Basically, it was extra lean ground beef, a bunch of Indian seasonings included coriander, cumin, garam masala and turmeric. Then there was sautéed onion, garlic, tomato paste, peas, and some fat free greek yogurt (just a bit)

The samosa was okay. We used the same dough that we had been using for the empanada. We filled them with a mix of potatoes, onions, peas and a wide mix of seasoning. Points are difficult to figure but I try below.

milk...~1 (skim is 2 per cup and I doubt I came close to a 1/2 cup but whatever)

We were having company over so we went for a full three course meal. Sadly, in the rush of getting everything out, I didn't get a good picture but that is fine because we didn't really do too much new stuff.

Appetizer:

We made french onion soup just like we have in the past but we made a bit more. About 6 cups of broth (mix of beef and chicken) with about a cup of white wine. It came out pretty good. I do not remember if it was 2.5 or three onions. I will have to ask Meredith.

Main Course:

We made the moussaka as we have in the past (with points on that last one). It was good. We made it the night before and refrigerated it. I think that caused the bechemel sauce to crack differently but it was still good. It was actually nice because we did it such that as the sauce cooks down (the longest part), we ate dinner the night before. It made this a less intense meal for one night.

We also had roasted butternut squash and steamed broccoli. I think we over-roasted the squash but both Meredith and I like it mushy so it was not really a bad thing. The broccoli was normal and good.

Dessert:

For dessert we made bread pudding again from the same recipe. We again only used half brown sugar and half splenda. Meredith also added more splenda but I will have to check with her on how much. We also added raisins which was really good. This time we used bananas as the recipe calls for. Also, we used whole wheat bread to make it healthier. With the extra splenda, it was really, really good! We will have to do this again.

Not really anything special. This is the same as what we did on 2010-10-27, again with beef instead of chicken. We did not have mixed frozen veggies so we just used a mix of frozen peas and corn. Not much else to say

We made beef koftas based on the recipe below. Basically, we just subbed extra lean ground beef (around 0.75 lbs) for the 1lbs of turkey. We used ground cumin and coriander so we skipped the toasting of the spices. We did use fresh mint but dried dill.Finally, I screwed up and put too much salt into the beef. I didn't read the "divided" part. Thankfully, I thought it was too much so I didn't do all of it. Also, I just used grill-pam with the cast iron pan instead of oil to cook the beef.

They were salty but really good. I do not know if is was the salt but they were surprisingly moist despite using such lean beef. We liked the flavor quite a bit and we will do them again. But, less salt!

Meredith made her own tzatziki but I do not know her recipe. She also added some fresh mint since we had it. I didn't really taste the difference with the mint but Meredith said she liked it less.

We did the koftas without any tzatziki or bread. We just ate them with a fork and knife. We followed the same recipe as last time except we didn't use too much salt. The mint was wintergreen I think and maybe I used more since they were mintier than before. I still really liked them. It is just not an expected flavor inside of beef.

The stew was based on the recipe below. It was a bit disappointing. Not too many flavors came out. I think one thing was the pot with everything but the eggplant was too crowded so we didn't get the flavors to develop as well. Also, we went lighter on the sauce since were using the leftovers from the pizza and it was all we had.After reading about Harissa, we used Sriracha instead. We actually had and used fresh parsley and cilantro. No hurry to make this again!

Meredith was away so I decided to try making a steak. I bought the smallest NY Strip steak I could find and followed a combination of many oven/pan cooking methods. I needed to keep the oven at 400 for the brussel sprouts so that limited me. I let the cast iron pan heat up in the oven (took a long time), I sprayed olive oil pam on the room-temp steak and sprinkled salt and pepper on it. After the pan was hot, I put it on the burner on hot for a bit longer. Then I put the steak on and seared each side for 1 minute without moving it. I put it in the oven with the pan. Most recipes said to cook four minutes on each side in the oven so that is what I did. When I took it out, I am glad I decided to quickly check the temp since it was still raw inside (not rare, raw!). So, I cheated a bit, I switched from the instant read thermometer to the one that has an in-oven temperature probe. Using that, and filliping one more time, I brought it up to about 135-140 for medium. It was a very thick piece so it wasn't too surprising that it took longer. I did let it rest for 2 minutes but it may have needed more to absorb more liquid.

Overall, it was the best steak I have ever cooked but that doesn't say much. It still was not amazing. I do not know what I am missing. Maybe it really does need butter? Since Meredith doesn't like steak, I do not imagine I will trying again anytime too soon but when I do, I'll investigate rubs. One nice thing about cooking my own piece is that I knew where all the fat was starting out so I could easily cut it off.

I also had roasted brussel sprouts. Always a favorite of mine. However, I got a bit nervous and took them out a tad too soon for my taste even though it was probably the right time for most people (I like all of my cooked veggies overcooked apparently)

Meredith's sister was visiting and we decided to do a real chili cook off unlike last time. It was a while ago so I will not remember all of the things. Brooke's was the closest to normal chili. She used taco seasoning and normal chili powders. She also used some gimme lean which gave it a different but nice texture. Meredith's was based on the chocolate one from last time (link above). I do not know the exact changes. Mine was strange. I used a lot of adobo sauce from chipotles in adobo giving it a smoky taste. Then I added curry powder. Finally, instead of beans, I used lentils. So, it was strange to say the least. Mine is in the while bowl, Meredith's is the top and Brooke's

Meredith basically made this meal so I do not know too many details, but we followed our standard shepherds pie. The mashed potatoes were with red-bliss potatoes and made with non-fat greek yogurt, fake butter, etc to make them rather healthy. This was our first time using a potato masher instead of a fork which worked very well. It certainly made it easier. The beef was 95% lean beef with some frozen corn and peas. Meredith put a lot of seasonings in, including garlic and onion powder and oregano. We do not really know why but it came out rather wet today. It could be the different potatoes or that we cooked it covered for the first half. I do not really know but it was certainly delish.

We made Moussaka with the recipe from here (which I have updated). It was extremely good. We did the normal changes listed on the recipe page. It was so incredibly good. We always really like it but it was just really, really flavorful today. Perfect amount of saltiness with all of the other flavors showing through very nicely. As usual, it had lots of leftovers. It easily makes 6-8 servings...or 4 if they are very big. I calculated the Points plus here to be less than 38 for all of it. So good!

We made the standard taco stew but I don't think we let it cook long enough. It was a bit watery and less flavorful. So, next time we need to let it cook a bit longer. We also made the standard roasted brussel sprouts. They were also not as good as usual. They were a bit old. Also, I think I overcrowded them on the tray.

So, this meal was good but not as much success as we have had with the same items.

We made chili using a bunch of different seasonings. We also ended up using a good amount of taco seasonings. In the end, we decided it tasted a bit like our much beloved taco stew. Not a bad thing but not really chili either.One of these days, we will perfect a chili recipe!

The mashed potatoes were made the healthy way. We used non-fat greek yogurt, Olivio (only a bit) and Molly Mc Butter. That, along with garlic and onion powders. They were a bit dry but pretty tasty.

This was a very successful meal. First, the zucchini fritters. I followed the original recipe with my notes from that day (basil,cayenne, spices). I also used a bit extra baking power. I was nervous about these since last time they stuck. I extra pammed the pan and all. I also tried to make them thin so they would cook more. When I went to flip the first one, it stuck but then I switched to the sharpest, flattest metal spatula I had and I really scraped before flipping. That worked well! I also let them cook a bit longer. The fritters were as good as, if not better, than the first time.

The taco cupcakes were inspired by the recipe at EmilyBiltes but I am not going to copy the recipe since we didn't really follow it for anything but the idea. We had eggroll wrappers but not wonton so we quartered the wrappers. We pammed muffin tins and pressed a layer into the wrapper. Then we added our taco meat stuff, put some grated cheese on it, then pressed another layer into it. The double layering helps hold it all together and kind of join the wrappers. We then topped it again with the taco and then cheese.

The recipe calls for cooking them for 18-20 min at 375. However, since we had the oven at 425 for the fritters, we used that for about 8 minutes. Just until the edges of the wrappers were crisping. While that worked, next time we will do the lower temp for longer. The part of the wrapper not hanging over the edge didn't get as well cooked but we couldn't go longer without burning the outer part.

Meredith made the taco filling so she may be able to clarify, but it was largely inspired by the taco stew without the water. We used sautéd onions, browned extra-lean beef, black beans, taco seasonings and diced yellow squash (since more zucchini would have been redundant).

These were extremely good, even if the wrappers didn't fully crisp. We will definitely make them again. And use the idea with the wrappers to make other meal cupcakes as well.

I did this a long time ago, but we made Koftas (without bread or tzatziki) and the Norther Bean Bruschetta as we have in the past. We used regular eggplant this time instead of graffiti. I like the skin and the look of the graffiti more, but the regular had a nicer taste. However, the skin was extremely tough making it harder to eat.

This was a new twist on an old favorite. I made Moussaka Cupcakes. I used ourmoussaka recipe to make the filling except I halved everything (therefore using the normal amount of seasonings). In addition, I chopped up potatoes and put them in at the beginning. Finally, I broiled eggplant and added it too. So basically, it was all the layers of moussaka as one filling. I also made the béchemel halved. We only had sweeter almond milk and vanilla unsweetened almond milk. Except that this brand's vanilla is more strong than the Almond Breeze or even Silk. I used extra salt to try to balance it out.

I then followed the general idea of Taco Cupcakes. I put down the wonton wrappers, then filled them halfway with moussaka. I put another wrapper on, filled more sauce, then I topped it with béchamel. Cooking them was the usual issue of the exposed wrapper getting too crispy while the unexposed was still soft.Thankfully and somewhat surprisingly, almost all of them came out of the cups nicely.

Meredith made this so she may have more comments, but we made 4 lbs of Beef Barbacoa. We had it for one dinner and 3 lunches. It was really good and nice having it for all of our meals later in the week. The broth was also really tasty. We also made something like the veggie tian before

This was basically the typical Hungry Grill Enchilada Casserole except with beef instead of chicken. Also, we discovered that the healthy option condensed soup was healthier than the 98% fat free. I do not know if it made a difference, but it was good in here.

This was supposed to be like taco cupcakes, again using the basis of the taco stew as the filling. However, I accidentally added fajita seasonings instead of taco. It was different. Not bad, but different. THe filling was beef, a lot of onion,zucchini, seasonings, salsa (key ingredient) and some corn. I forgot the black beans until I was assembling,

To assemble, we put a layer of wonton wrapper down, then some beef, some cheese, another wrapper, more beef and more cheese. We put a bit too much beef into the first layer so they two wrappers didn't totally meld together. Still, most held their shape.

While it would have been better had I used the correct seasoning, I still liked them a lot. I also really like using the wonton wrappers since it gives a nice crunch and a nice texture

The meatballs were very good and very tasty. The sauce may have cooked down a bit too much to the point that is was really just goop. But, it was still rather good.

I tried something slightly different with the zucchini. Before I grated them, I grated half an onion. Well, that made onion mush with LOTS OF WATER. I had to drain it as best I could and I still struggled to get all the water out. This may also be why I had so much trouble pressing the water out of the zucchini. Despite spending a day in the fridge with lots of weight on the pans, I had to put in new towels and stand on the pans to really get the water out. I may try my Dad's suggestion next time which is to use dried, minced onions. THey will absorb the water!

I made the meatballs based on the recipe below. The major changes I made was to use extra lean beef (and less, 2/3 lbs), egg beaters, no garlic and finally to bake the meatballs (375 for 25 min). For the sauce, the only change I made was less oil and I replaced half of the brown sugar with Splenda. That saved about 8 points plus. I realized as I was making this that the points would climb so I actually calculated them. The entire meal (half of what I made) was 17 points plus. I guess that isn't awful compared to what I would get if I ate out, but it was a bit more than I think I want (not that I have been budgeting).

This was not a very successful meal. My goal was to make a good (but small) steak and some roasted beets. I let the beets roast for a while, maybe 40 minutes at 450. That may have been too much, but was going well. Then I tried to cook the steak like I did before. I bought a small (8 oz) NY strip steak. I put it on a really, really, really hot cast iron pan. It started pumping the apartment with smoke, but I kept going. Then, I threw it into the oven after the flip. This pumped the oven full of smoke, but also added a lot of heat to the oven, and being that the pan was very hot, it probably added a lot of radiant heat.

Well, in the time it was in the oven, the steak got a bit overcooked, but the beets BURNED. They tasted awful. Even the ones that were less burned tasted like smoke, The steak was okay, but a bit overcooked and not all that good (even though I let it sit to reabsorb juices, etc). Also, the apartment had a 4 foot visibility from the smoke. Once it started smoking, I took off the fire alarm so that was one less thing to worry about.

This was my first meal I cooked in my new apartment. I also got to use two new kitchen toys. FIrst, I made the hamburgers with lots of seasonings including a tiny bit of nutmeg, some garlic powder, minced onion, and others. Then I used my new cast iron grill pan. It worked pretty well! I decided to have them open face (each patty was about 3 oz)

I cut the fries with my new mandoline. It was so easy! Much better than the old one or doing it by hand. I sprinkled them with olive oil, then salt+pepper and baked them at 400 for 35 min. Despite rotating the trays halfway through cooking, one set got more cooked than the other. Oh well.

I described theMoussaka yesterday. I had a portion of that and I tried to "fry "zucchini. I basically just sliced it thin (made easy with the new mandoline) and then I dipped it in egg beaters then Panko bread crumbs. The bread crumbs did not stay on very well. I guess I really should just use regular italian bread crumbs. Or, I may have been trying to skimp. Either way, I think it was better than the fiber-one kind. The zucchini kind of just tasted like baked zucchini. Not really a bad thing, but not as good as I was going for.

I made sloppy Joes with the regular recipe with extra garlic powder and a bunch of seasoning. I also added a habanero but it (surprisingly) didn't add any heat. I had it on multi-grain rolls I bought.

I also made Curry cauliflower with this recipe. It was good. Could have been cooked a bit more, but really not bad

I made meatloaf (or more correctly, meat loaflets) based on a few different recipes. I have never made meatloaf so I didn't really know what I was doing. I read a bunch of recipes and decided to base it on the one below but with lots more seasonings.

It is a bit strange since it uses oatmeal instead of bread crumbs. This is easier and saves having to make bread crumbs. Also, it is pretty healthy compared to bread crumbs.

Other than that, I also used some sriracha and a tablespoon of worcestershire (which almost every other recipe except this one calls for. Oh, and I cut it a bit to use only 2/3 lbs of beef.

It was pretty good. I made it into meat loaflets using a cupcake pan. Note to self, that I didn't need to cook it so long since it was smaller. I would do it again!

I also had corn which I just cooked with the husk in the oven for 30 minutes at 350.

I made taco cupcakes using the method from here. I basically made taco meat, but with extra onion, then I added a chopped zucchini, some corn, and a can of black beans.

It actually made a bit too much meat. I overfilled the tacos making them come apart. I have to be more careful about that, but other that that, they were very good. I used Old El Paso low sodium seasoning. I may some day try to make my own taco seasoning.

This was the standard taco stew. I kept it pretty darn close to the recipe. I think the only thing was I just put the whole seasoning packet in for extra flavor and ease.

I made the pretty standard taco stew. Really nothing notable at this point. I made it so many times in the past. I also made butter nut squash. I cooked it at 425 for 20 minutes, flipped it and then for another 15-20 minutes.

I made hamburgers with a bunch of different seasonings. I do not even remember what I used but I know there was rosemary, onion powder, garlic powder, some Montreal Chicken Seasoning and probably some salt. They came out a bit dry but that is not too surprising since a) I tend to overcook hamburgers no matter what and b) I used extra lean beef. I need to work on making them bigger and thinner but it is hard to form them that way. I'll look into it.

I made tacos using lean ground beef. I only used 2/3 lbs but used the while package of seasoning. I put a lot of garlic powder and some crushed red pepper into the seasoning water. This really helped to infuse the meat with the flavors. I again used kale instead of lettuce. I also had tomato and avocado. I use the taco shells I talked about on 2012-07-01 but cooked them a little less so they were softer.

I also tried making the zucchini chips again with the same recipe as before. I used the 2nd from smallest setting (3mm I think). They seemed to need longer to cook but that isn't surprising. I switched pans about half way through, but the_top_ pan (for the second half) seemed get much more done. Usually you expect that to be the bottom, but I wonder if, at such low heat (250), the hot air rising trumps the affect of radiative heating from the element. You can see in the picture the different amount they came out cooked. The brown ones were still good, but, had a slight burn taste. The green ones were still a tad soggy. I did give them 5 minutes to harden after being taken out.

I made italian wedding soup. I looked at a bunch of recipes and basically just made some meatballs with bread crumbs, parsley, salt, pepper and other seasonings. I read a bunch of different recipes; some suggested cooking the meatballs first while others said to cook in the soup. I decided to cook it in the soup. It was hot enough and I let it boil for a while to make sure that not only the meatballs were well cooked, but the soup was well boiled.

I used chicken broth (better than bouillon) and carrots. When it was almost done, I put a whole bag of spinach in the soup. For the pasta, I smacked a bunch of rotini and used that.

The soup was okay, but definitely not as good as others I have had. It just didn't have that much flavor. I do not know what other recipes do, but I will read more recipes before I try again.

I made the usual Moussaka. Despite what I noted last time, I again forgot how intense it is to make this. There really isn't a moment when you can stop.Especially when trying to keep the mess contained. I followed out adapted recipe pretty closely. However once the beef mixture was done, I tasted it and was lacking a bit so I added more spices. It didn't have the full affect since they didn't cook into it for 45+ minutes but it helped.

I again sliced the eggplant length-wise with the mandoline. That made it much easier. Also, I didn't worry about layering it a bit since the slices are pretty thin after being cooked. Another thing I did differently was, after laying out the potatoes, I sliced them to make cutting easier later.

It took so long to make that by the time it was in the oven and the kitchen cleaned, it was late. While it was cooking, I realized I wasn't that hungry. So I actually ate something else and just had a bit of this for dinner. It made 3 nice sized lunch portions, a large dinner portion (for the next day), and a smaller side-dish type portion which I froze.

The bit I ate was very good though, as I said above, the sauce could have used a bit more flavor. And maybe less salt.

I made the normal taco stew. I also made more roasted cabbage like the other day. Again, both were very, very good. I love the roasted cabbage. And of course, the stew is easy and delicious

I made sloppy joes based off my normal recipe but I added a bunch of seasonings. I also used splenda instead of sugar. I also adjusted down to about 2/3 of a lbs for the beef. I let it simmer for a long time (which I think is extremely important). I also added Dave's Insanity which made it pretty hot. It was extremely good. I also put spinach on it to get some extra nutrients.

I also made zucchini latkes for chanuka. I followed the recipe (but I corrected the mistake with the flour on it) and with dried minced onion instead of real. I intended to make this earlier but didn't have everything so the zucchini got extra time to dry out. So, I do not know if that is why, but they were really dry (the onion probably didn't help either). I also think I over-cooked them a little. Oh well, I know for next time

My mom was visiting and we decided to cook. We started with french onion soup. We used the cast iron dutch oven and really, really caramelized the onions. I do not know what else we did differently, but it was probably the best french onion soup I have done before. About half and half chicken and beef base (maybe 6-8 cups) and a cup of white wine. We put slices of bread in and melted the provolone in the broiler.

The moussaka was the standard. It took a long time to cook down, but I am not sure it was more or less than the usual. I think I overcooked the béchamel since it was too thick. Based on my mom's comments, I should try to see if there are alternative more flavorful, yet healthy, ways to do the béchamel. It isn't a crucial part of the recipe, but I want it to be better.

I made the pretty standard roasted cabbage(half a head). I did a few things slightly differently. First, when I quartered the head to slice on the mandoline, I made sure the "pointy" side of the quartered cabbage was hitting the blade first. This made it slice better and more fully. Also, while I sliced into a bowl to break it up and distribute, I didn't add any oil until I used the pam on it on the tray. Both worked well.

I also made sloppy joes. I used half a poblano instead of a bell pepper. I also added some balsamic vinegar and a tiny bit of Dave's Insanity hot sauce. I tried a different method to brown the onions based on this The Kitchn post where you do brown them dry first. I did that then added water and pam but it left a lot of residue on the pan. I think that caused the meat to burn more while simmering. I do not know for sure. I'll try it again but be more careful.

Also, I couldn't find Arnold's sandwich thins, so I used whole wheat english muffins. They have130 calories each vs 100 for the sandwich thins so there isn't much of a difference, but I liked them a lot for this. They were more bready and thicker. I would definitely use them again on sloppy joes

Oh, I also had a small spinach salad. Just spinach and (FF) dressing, nothing else, rather boring

I call these fake reubens for two reasons. First and foremost, I didn't use rye bread. You ~~cannot~~should not call it a reuben if it isn't corned beef,sauerkraut, thousands island dressing and swiss cheese. Any deviation and it is no longer a reuben. But I digress. The other reason I call these fake is that they were cold. The power had gone out but I was able to throw this together anyway.

They were okay. Cold and somewhat soggy (from the sauerkraut) Arnolds rolls are not that good. Then, the Target corned beef was kind of sub-par. Now I know not to get it there. I also had this for lunch, but the power had come back on and I was able to panini press them (though I did it in aluminum foil which was interesting.

These were really good! I made a lot of filling with the recipe below...more or less. I used 9 oz of extra lean ground beef. I also used half an onion. I shredded a quarter of a large head of cabbage with the mandoline (on 3/16 of an inch instead of the usual 1/4). I also added a handful of bean sprouts and a bunch of carrots (though probably not a whole 1/2 cup). I added extra ginger. The ginger was very easy with using a spoon to scrape off the skin then the micro plane. I am glad I added extra ginger. It added lots of flavor. I probably went heavy on the oyster sauce (which, BTW, I bought about 2 years ago and it doesn't expire for another 3!). Finally, I added garlic powder, 21 seasoning salute and some Dave's Insanity (to really kick it up). I cooked them at the 400, but I let them go a bit longer. I forgot to use water to seal it but it worked fine. Also, I cooked the onions without oil using water to keep the temp in check. It's a great way to save on some fat.

As I said, they came out really, really good! They were very flavorful, very filling, and a great consistency. I kept having to turn on and off the heat since I was juggling the other dish. Still, everything cooked down really nicely. I'll definitely make this again! Oh, and it made 11 of them. I had 5 for dinner. I'll have 4 for lunch and I'll save two for sides with other meals.

I also made roasted cabbage as per usual (except again with 3/16" cut which I liked more). Again, I didn't add any oil until it was on the pan. I then added salt and spray then. Some of it was for lunch and the other for tonight. But I cooked it before the eggrolls and then put this pan back in for the last 4 minutes to warm it up.

There was (guessing) 5 servings (10 tsp) cheese in the cabbage so that whole thing was 3.

First, I madezucchini fritters. I added the normal extra stuff, plus some chili powder and curry powder to mix it up. They came out pretty flavorless today. Maybe I need more salt and/or seasonings. I did use the Reynolds Wrap Non-Stick and I am a convert. No pam needed and they came up easily, which has never happened before. I think next time, I will cook them for longer at a lower temp to get the insides a bitmore done. They always seem to be somewhat mushy inside

I also made a Reuben(ish) panini on a Flatoush "wrap." I used about 0.3 lbs of corned beef slided thin and folded. I used slices of swiss which were pretty thick (and I do not think low fat, but I counted accordingly) and LF thousand island dressing. I used the panini press on medium-low for a while, but I think too long since the cheese kind of melted everywhere. Still, it was very, very good. It held together nicely and the flat-out bread was just thick enough. I also prepped another one and wrapped it tight in aluminum foil and froze it. I can easily just throw that on a (very low to defrost) panini press in the future for dinner.

The sandwich came out pretty high, but I guess the whole meal at 21 isn't too bd

I made sloppy joes using the usual recipe. In addition to regular bell peppers, I also used a bunch of peppers that Meredith gave me (I'll add the kind later). They were really small so I just chopped them and let the seeds stay. They were a bit hot and I was constantly coughing while cooking, but the heat wasn't too bad while I was eating it. Not much more to add than that. I let it cook for a while and then topped it with a mass of spinach and arugula.

I also had curry cauliflower. I was careful to watch it so it didn't overcook. As per the usual, it was extremely good. A nice crisp and lots of flavor. It is also really easy and low in points.

I followed the recipe below and I actually did a pretty good job sticking with it. I roughly halved it. I used 2/3 lbs extra lean beef. Rather than use half a bell pepper, I actually used two (as the extra vegetables). I also 5 Birds Eye Chili and one small dried bhut jolokia. THat was all it needed to make the whole apartment nearly toxic. I spent quite a bit of time coughing to it. Instead of salt, I used extra Better Than Bouillon in the broth. For the seasonings, I used chili powder, cumin, garlic powder and oregano. I didn't really measure it but it was probably more than it called for.

I kept adding extra beer as needed to keep it moist. Probably a bit over had a bottle by the end. I cooked it for about 30-40 minutes before adding the tomatoes, beans and 1/2 cup of corn.

It was very, very good. Spicy from the peppers but a lot of flavor. Maybe a bit dry for chili but not really too bad. It made two big bowls (one dinner; one lunch). I would definitely make this again.

I also made roasted eggplant. I cubed a big eggplant, sprinkled it with a bit of olive oils, salt and lots of rosemary. I roasted it for 20 minutes at 400; tossed it and then another 20 but at 425. They were cooked nicely they were pretty good. Maybe a bit dry but that was fine. It was rather easy to make and I would do it again.

1. Brown the meat. If using meat, warm a teaspoon of oil in a large heavy Dutch oven or soup pot over medium heat and brown the meat. Break up ground meat as it browns, leaving pieces as large or small as you like them. If you're using chuck roast, make sure all sides of the beef cubes are seared dark brown. Transfer the browned meat from the pot to a clean dish.

If you're making a vegetarian chili with tofu or other protein, add it along with the beans in Step 6. Reduce the amount of stock and the cooking time by half.

2. Cook the vegetables. In the same pot used to brown the meat, warm a tablespoon of oil over medium to medium-high heat. Add the onions and cook until softened and translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the other vegetables and continue to cook until softened, another 5-8 minutes. Clear a space in the middle of the pan and add the garlic. Cook the garlic until fragrant, about 30 seconds, then stir into the vegetables. It's normal for a dark sticky crust to start forming on the bottom of the pan.

3. Add the seasonings. Add the seasonings and 2 teaspoons of salt to the pan. Stir until the vegetables are coated and the spices are fragrant, another 30 seconds.

4. Deglaze the pan. Pour the beer or wine into the hot pan. Scrape up the dark sticky crust as the liquid bubbles. Continue scraping and stirring until the beer or wine has almost evaporated.

5. Add the broth and simmer. Add the browned meat back into the pan. Pour in the broth. Bring the chili to a simmer and cook for 45-60 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the meat has is very tender (cubes of chuck roast may take a bit longer). The chili will still look soupy.

6. Add the tomatoes and beans to the chili. Add the tomatoes, beans, corn (if using), and vegetarian protein (if using) to the pot. Simmer for another 10 minutes. Taste and add more seasonings or salt to taste.

7. Serve with garnishes. Chili is often best the day after it's been cooked. It will also keep for up to a week and freezes well for up to three months. Serve with cheese and other garnishes.

I had a soupy (and salty) meal. I made the pretty standard taco stew with no major changes. I might have used a bit too much broth and didn't let it cook down. It was a bit salty but pretty good. Point-wise, it was 11 for the beef, 8 for the beans, 4 for the corn so 24 for the whole thing. It made three large portions. I had about two for dinner and I have one for lunch. 8 each.

I also made French Onion Soup. I let 3 sweet onions caramelize with a bit of oil and Smart Balance. I let it go for a while covered then I turned up the heat and let it get nice and caramelized I then added 1 cup of wine and 3 cups of a broth (mixed 1/2 and 1/2 beef and chicken). It was also a bit too salty. (theme of the meal). I used the broiler to melt some swiss cheese on top. I do not know the points for this. Probably not too high as most of it just comes from the oil.

I made this at Adam's apartment. I used roughly the normal taco stew but we really just threw it together more than anything. I used extra zucchini, more meat, lots of salsa, etc. I also used peas instead of corn since that is all we had. There really isn't much more to tell about it. It was pretty standard. As a side note, we didn't have any sour-cream or yogurt so we used bleu-cheese dressing. It was actually a really different but nice flavor.

The brussel sprouts were done between 400 and 450 (I don't recall which we used, I think it was 450). They were pretty good!

I made tacos and roasted cabbage. I used red cabbage to mix it up this time though it didn't affect the flavor. It was good as usual though I think I am getting a bit sick of it. I should look for alternative cabbage recipes or just give it a break for a bit.

I also made taco meat with beef, onions, 1/2 a bell pepper and a bunch of spices (including taco powder). The meat was pretty standard and fine. The problem was I tried to put it in wraps that were too old and too big. It just didn't hold together well. I think I prefer when I make hard shells out of smaller tortillas and use them.

I wanted to try something different so I made baked reuben empanadas. I based the dough on the regular empanada dough but used rye flour instead of wheat. I also didn't have egg, but this site suggested I could used soy yogurt. Since I wasn't trying to be vegan, I used greek yogurt. The dough came out okay. Very sticky. Plus, making so little is hard with the mixer.

Anyway, I rolled them out, put a small coating of lite Thousand Island, some (squeezed out) sauerkraut, then sliced corned beef and finally, I topped it with half a slice of light swiss cheese. (see the picture at the bottom).

They came out okay. I think I liked the idea of them more. They didn't taste overly "reubeny". The dough tasted the same so next time, I think I'll throw some caraway seeds in it to make it more rye tasting. And I do not know what else to try to bring out the flavors. Also, I kind of forgot how intense and time consuming it is to make empanadas alone.

I also had corn. Most things said to do them in the oven for 30 min at 350 but I did them for 24 at 400 since I was doing the empanadas anyway.

Pointwise, I don't think it should be too bad. It made 6 empanadas (3 dinner/3 lunch). It was 12 pp for the dough, plus (3x1pp) for light swiss slices + 1/2 lbs corned beef (8 pp) and guess 2 for the dressing. That's 12+3+8+2=25 for 6 or 4 points plus each.

I made broccoli beef based on the recipe below. I note my changes there as well.

Major changes: brisket for hanger steak. Used 0.6lbs. They were out of hanger and this was very lean so I figured I'd use it. I also steamed the broccoli. And went heavy on the marinade ingredients. Added sriracha to both marinade and sauce

Next time: Cut the beef even thinner. I'd use brisket again, but I'd trim the small fat layer on the bottom since it didn't cook off enough and made it hard to eat.

Thoughts: I liked the recipe a lot and it didn't need many changes. I was actually surprised that the sauce was enough to coat everything but it did. It made enough for a light-to-medium dinner and lunch. Plus, it's really healthy since I steamed instead of boiled the broccoli.

I also had TJ's wonton soup. The points were low with about 10 for the beef (it was lean), plus the small amount for everything else.

This was an exact copy of the last/first time I did this. I used the recipe on that page except that I used "Beef Top Round London Broil" which I liked even more. There wasn't a big layer of fat and I was very easily able to cut off what was left. I sliced it thinner too. I froze it for 25 minutes and then very carefully sliced it as thin as I could.

It would very well. The whole meal was very good though the soup was a but less flavorful than usual.

I wanted to do something with corned beef but I was tired of just doing reuben things. I warmed/fried a bit of corned beef on the pan, put it on top of a whole grain english muffin and then topped it with a poached egg. I poached the eggs using the trick from Serious Eats where you strain away the very wet part of the egg. I forgot to use the strainer though to put the egg in the water. Still, it worked really well for one (closer in the pic) and pretty well for the other. I did cheat a bit with a tad of vinegar in the water.

The corned beef was from Whole Foods and didn't have any nitrates. I liked the idea of healthier corned beef and it was pretty good flavor wise but a bit too salty. Oh well.

I also had (too much) steamed sugar snap peas. I didn't calculate the points, but it wasn't too bad. 3 eggs (6) (only two pictured), 2 low-fat, whole grain english muffins (6) and 1/4 lbs corned beef (~4)

My original plan was to make taco cupcakes but for various reasons, I didn't end up cooking until 9:00pm. So I came up with this. I made a bunch of small burger patties from extra lean ground beef with lots of stuff mixed in. I do not remember everything, but there was: garlic powder; salt and pepper; crushed red pepper; 21 seasoning salute; and probably other things I am forgetting. I did them on the grill pan.

While they were grilling, I thickly sliced two graffiti eggplants, pammed them and then sprinkled them with salt (key ingredient with eggplants; though better if you can let it sit for a bit). I then broiled them for 5-6 minutes/side.

I used a bit of low sugar ketchup and some hoagie spread, then I put the seasoned burgers on top.

They came out very good though extra messy. I assume the liquid coming off of them was the eggplant since I used such lean beef and the patties dried out a bit. Still, I liked how fast and easy the meal was. It was also very healthy at just 5 or 6 points for the beef (1/3 lbs extra lean) and maybe one for the pam + low sugar ketchup.

Another copy of the first time. It may be a copy, but it is also becoming one of my favorite meals. It is really easy and rather healthy. I would be interested in making a vegan version sometime with seitan and vegan oyster sauce

I made taco cupcakes using the normal idea with a whole julienne zucchini. I liked using extra zucchini as it gave the mixture more volume. I filled all 12 and still had a bit leftover. I was out of regular cheese so there is none on the bottom layer and I used parm on the top. Actually, it worked pretty well without the bottom layer cheese so I'll skip it from now on. They were also very spicy from the tiny bit of Dave's Insanity that I added to the mixture.

I also made oven fried zucchini. I added curry powder to the bread crumbs to try to mimic that of my favorite restaurant but it still wasn't as good. I wasn't even as good as last time. I'm not sure why. My only guess is that I misread the temp and did these at 425, not 475.

I decided to try grilling again. I made koftas but only roughly followed the recipe. I just chopped up a bunch of mint and then added the other seasonings. I used dried onion since I didn't feel like chopping it. I also added a serving or so of bread crumbs since it was very wet (likely due to using quickly defrosted beef). I also added a whole, finely chopped,jalapeño (including the seeds)

For grilling, I also skewered whole jalapeños, slices of red pepper and broccoli florets. I pammed the veggies and added salt and pepper.

I am still getting the hang of using a charcoal grill. I filled the chimney starter and let it go for a long time since at 20 minutes, all the coals were not yet white. I made sure all vents were open; dumped the coals, and let it sit for another minute or two. I then just added everything. I didn't time it at all or anything, but just flipped it at a certain point. The veggies had a nice char, as did the kofta burgers, but I think that is part of the flavor. I thought the heat was dying, but I think I was wrong since I still felt a lot of it as I took everything off.

I served the koftas open-faced on whole grain english muffins and a za'atar + garlic powder + salt and FF greek yogurt dip/spread.

Surprisingly, eve yt hing came out pretty good. The burgers were probably a bit overdone, but I didn't mind since they weren't dried out. The veggies were somewhat blackened, but not bad. I removed the charred part from the red pepper but kept it on the jalapeños. The jalapeños were very good but very, very hot. The broccoli was okay but the red pepper was out of this world! I was a bit skeptical that the meal would be a success (hence the picture while cooking it, plus I took pictures of it all prepped in case it was a failure).

I think I would still prefer to move to a gas grill (and keep it hush-hush) but at least I don't feel like this was a failure on the charcoal.

First, the rutabaga chips. I peeled and then quartered a big rutabaga I sliced it into 3mm or 1.8" slices (the second from the smallest setting on my mandoline, also blue labeled). I then laid them on a tray (one with a silpat, one with non-stick aluminum foil). I pammed both sides and sprinkled them with salt and pepper. I cooked them for about 10 minutes at 375, flipped them and did 15 at 425. I then flipped them again and did about 10-15, again at 425 and took them out. The temperatures were inspired by this link but I thought they needed a higher temp. The oneson the aluminum foil got a bit crispier but came out less nice since they slid around a lot. I am not sure if I would go thinner next time or not. Either way, they worked out pretty well. Not very crispy, but then again, neither arepotatoes. Still, I think between rutabagasand/or turnips, I can stop using potato in many things.

I also made mini, open-faced almost-ruebens. The "almost" is because they didn't have rye so they are not, by definition, a reuben. I used Trader Joes whole grain english muffins (3 points each). I was originally going to just make two open-faced ones, but they were small and didn't need much meat. So I was able to make four! (actually, 8 but half are for lunch). For four of them, they had all of 1/4 lbs of corned beef and 2.5 oz lite jarlsberg cheese. So, a lot of food for not too many points. I would definitely do this again. And I liked doing "sandwiches" open-faced. It makes it seem like more food plus, you lessen the points form the carbs. Oh, and I used lite thousand island dressing

I made taco cupcakes doing the pretty standard mixture. I used 2/3 lbs lean beef and a whole zucchini julienned. I also added beans (which I don't usually do but I have done in the past). I added salsa (which I do not recall if I usually do) and corn. In the taco seasoning, I also added garlic powder, onion powder,cayenne, 21 seasoning salute, and a few other things. The salsa gave it a bit more heat than usual but I really liked it.

I again didn't use cheese on the bottom layer but I did use low-fat mexican cheese on the top. I was a bit worried since the shells were past the expiration but they seemed okay.

I also made oven-fried zucchini with the extra zucchini but this time I actually used the right temperature (475). They actually were a bit over-cooked. I'll be more careful next time

I had this idea when I was at Costco. I decided to give it a shot making one of my favorite dishes,broccolibeef, but with brussel sprouts instead of broccoli. I didn't want to boil the brussel sprouts so I used the oven.

Even though (as I said here), I was tired of doing the brussel sprouts at the extremely high temp, I used it for this since I wanted them not too mushy but cooked. And I knew they would cook more in the sauce. So I did them for 15 minutes at that insane heat

I had used 1.5 times the normal amount of sauce since I thought I had so much vegetables but it turns out that two pounds of brussel sprouts takes much less space than two points of broccoli so I had too much sauce. It was okay though, it cooked down nicely enough. Just a bit more thick than usual. I also added crushed red pepper in both sauces but it wasn't too spicy.

All in all, this was an interesting approach. I wouldn't rush to do it again, but I am glad I tried something new

I was originally going to grill but the chimney starter didn't take. so I tried to mix using the cast iron grill pan and the broiler. I started by heating the grill pan while the broiler was heating. I put the yellow squash right into the broiler and I put the hamburgers on the grill pan and then the whole thing in the oven. While that was going, I cooked the zucchini right on the cast iron pan.

The beef did okay like this, though definitely overcooked. The zucchini cooked okay but the squash just wasn't getting there so I moved them to the regular cast iron pan.

So overall, it was all cooked but I wouldn't really call it successful but it was okay.

I did the burgers with salt, pepper, garlic powder and some sriracha. I did the veggies with salt and pepper. I put some ketchup and pepper relish / hoagie spread on the squash between the burger.

I made Beef Bulgogi based on the recipe below, but I made a bunch of changes. I will still include the recipe, but here are my changes:

I used tri-trip beef which had some more marbling and only 0.6 lbs. I froze it for 40 minutes to become easier to cut. I then thinly cut it. I marinated it overnight and cooked it on the cast iron pan. I deglazed with white wine and added that sauce

They were very, very good. One piece was not really cooked enough but the rest of very good. Maybe a bit salt, but still, it had lots of flavor. I would certainly do this again

I also tried to make stir-fry broccoli by first steaming it and then mixing it with a sauce of 1/4 cup Soy Vey and 2 Tbsp vinegar and 1 Tbsp sriracha. However, it was too wet and basically just cooked the crap out of it. The broccoli was good, but way over cooked.

Finally, I had pickled red onions. I made them based on the recipe below but I used regular salt instead of kosher salt. I used less but it was still too much. It was way too salty! I would definitely do it again but with_lots_ less salt

Recipes

I made low-fat patty melts and rutabaga chips. To make the patty melts, I made two 1/3 lbs patties. After they were done, I sautéd onions in the same pan. I kept having to deglaze with wine but it worked well enough. The onions didn't really caramelize too much but they had a lot of flavor. I then assembled with fat-free thousand island and a bit of shredded cheese. I spread Brummel and Brown "butter" on the outside of the bread and I tried to grill it. It worked better when everything was warm. (I had made lunch for the next day and refrigerated the stuff and then assembled dinner the next day). As you can see from the picture, it came out a bit messy. I was afraid of over-cooking the bread (I burned a slice the day before) and I was just having issues all around. Oh well, it still came out pretty good.

The rutabaga chips were also really good. I played with slice thickness and settled on the second-from-the-smallest ~~(3/8" I think~~ 1/8"). I baked them at 425 for 30 minutes. I flipped them and did another 5. Unlike potatoes, these crisped up really nicely. I wouldn't say they were better since rutabaga has a very different flavor, but I liked them a lot. I will do it again! (note, I may be wrong about the times. I seem to have lost my notes so I am using the best of my recollection)

The koftas were from our regular recipe. We did toast the coriander seeds but only had ground cumin so we tossed it onto the hot pan at the last second. Other than that, we stayed pretty true to the recipe. We used Meredith's mint and we used what the recipe called for though I would have liked a bit more. And for the onions, we used finely chopped red onions. The beef was 90/10 ground beef (5 points plus/4 oz) and we used exactly a pound for four meals.

The other thing was jicama fries. We followed the recipe below from Inspiralized though we went light on the cayenne since Meredith said it was too much last time. We also just used the seasonings as a guide. I added some garlic powder, omitted the onion powder, added some smoked paprika, etc. We cooked them as it said but ended up giving them another 5 minutes to really crisp. Tip for next time: quartering the peeled jicama made it much easier and efficient to spiralize.

The texture was interesting. They felt limp but the natural crisp of jicama gave them a crunch. And they were just really good all around. We will do this again.

Meredith also made tzatziki with cultured almond milk (aka almond yogurt). It beat the soy version hands down

I did not calculate the exact points. The beef was 5. There was probably another 1-2 or so of miscellaneous oil. And I am not sure about the fries.

Recipe moved to separate page. Password is the name of my dog in all lower-case.

Meredith and I made korean beef tacos. We used this beef bulgogi recipe as the marinade. We actually made the marinade Sunday night but didn't add the beef until yesterday. We followed the recipe pretty closely except used less beef (0.675lbs -- see photos below) but the same amount of marinade. Anyway, we marinated it overnight and then cooked it on the grill pan (warmed up at 7-8/10). The grill pan was good since the marinade dripped down but it was still hard since I couldn't see the meat well. Actually, next time, I think I would cook a whole piece of meat, let it rest, then cut it.

Anyway, on my plate, I also quickly heated 3 corn tortillas (50 cal each) and had some lettuce. Meredith just had it on lettuce.

Overall, it was pretty good. And rather low in points -- especially the ones served only on the lettuce, though the corn tortillas weren't too many points.

Future Changes

Additional Photos

Meredith and I made Thai Spicy Beef Salad. We again used this recipe (Originally: 2014-11-07). We made similar changes including heating the sauce and using an extra tsp of fish-sauce. We did not put chilies in the marinade but we still put them in the sauce.

We used about 10 oz of Top Round which is really lean. I never know with cooking it, but from the pictures, you can see that it was more rare to medium-rare than medium. I still liked it though! The whole dish was really good and rather low in points since it used lean-proteins.

Additional Photos:

Meredith and I wanted to make a good meal that was also low in points so we decided on green chile shepherd's pie.

We followed the basic idea as we did on 2015-03-17. We made it green chile both by adding some hot green chiles (frozen) and spices.

The beef mixture was about a pound of ground beef, an onion, about 1/2-3/4 cup of both frozen peas and frozen corn, and then also green chile. We spiced it with salt, cumin, chipotle powder, garlic powder, and minced dried onion. The beef came out really spicy but I think that is from the chipotle powder though it may have been the green chile.

Meredith made the potatoes with 3 red-bliss potatoes and half a head of (intentionally green) cauliflower. We boiled the potatoes and steam the cauliflower. We used roasted garlic, salt, garlic powder, more green chile, and non-fat greek yogurt.

It worked very well. Lots of flavor and pretty easy. Also, I estimate about 1- points for the vegetables (Assuming 1 cup each just in case) plus 15 for the beef and another 10-15 for the potatoes. That is about 8-9 for each quarter.

We had some more raw beef we had to use up (didn’t end up having time for beef jerky) and we wanted something easy. We had taco meat the other day, so decided to do something different and make kofta tacos.

We used the kofta recipe but instead of mixing it all in raw, we sautéed the onions and then added all of the other stuff.

I tried to heat the tortillas in the oven which worked ok but not as well as when you do it on a flat pan (or, say, a griddle). But it let me do more at a time.

It actually came out pretty good. The beef had a lot of flavor and it was easy enough to make. I would do this again. Though, I thought the beef was more flavorful without the other stuff.

Additional Photos

We realized we hadn't had taco stew in a long time so we decided to have it. We used the regular recipe but also added some worcestershire (which worked pretty well). Not really much to it. It is a simple and easy meal.

We made Thai Basil with Beef from the Shutterbean Recipe (Local ¹). We followed the general idea for the beef (didn't do the slaw) and also added snow-peans and chopped bell pepper. Also, one semi-major change in how we cooked it was that I stir-fried it. This meant that beef cooked in about 2 minutes rather than the 10 or so and everything else just happened faster. Also, we used 2/3 of a pound of beef since we only planned 2 servings.

Since we didn't do the slaw, we just added the dressing at the very end with the heat off. The idea being that it would mix more easily. And then we still topped it with extra thai basil and scallions (we also added some scallions to the stir-fry)

We both thought it was pretty good. However, it was super lacking in spice! Next time, we will do a bunch of thai chili peppers instead of a jalapeno. I thought the sauce was good but maybe could have been a bit more pungent (read: a bit more fish sauce). It was hard enough to get Meredith to make the sauce with the specified amount, let alone add more!

U: guest, P: name of my dog, lower case ↩

In the craziness of making food earlier, I was also making Moussaka. I followed the general recipe. There wasn't too much to change or anything, but this came out super watery. I let it simmer for a long time and it was still very wet when it was cooked.

Still, it was good as usual. I like that the entire thing had only 1.5 pounds beef. We cut it up to 8 servings and are freezing some of them.

We made Karniyarik, a Turkish stuffed eggplant dish with beef. We used the recipe from The Domestic Man (Local ¹). This dish is very well suited for prep ahead. We made the beef mixture on Sunday and did the eggplant and baking it on Monday.

We followed the recipe pretty closely. The only changes for the beef were that we used garlic powder. Otherwise, we just skipped the parsley, and did the eggplant differently. We halved the eggplant and salted it. After some time, we patted it dry before doing it on the stove (with [too much] coconut oil). I Think I would use ghee next time though...and maybe less.

We liked it a lot. It needed more salt but was otherwise really good. The serrano on top was also very good, I think we would add some hot peppers to the beef mixture too.

U: guest, P: name of my Boston Terrier, all lower case ↩

Meredith had keftas in Epcot when she went Disney last fall. We decided to make them since the work fine for Whole 30.

We used this Serious Eats Recipe (local) but with just beef (and just 1 lbs). We also finely chopped the red onion instead of grating it. This worked fine enough.

We liked them, though Meredith would have preferred it without the mint. I didn't have anything to compare it to.

We made Shepherd's Pie (along with a ton of prep ahead stuff) for dinner. It was pretty standard but with some different veggies. We made the beef with ground beef (in a bit of butter). We took the beef out and sautéed an onion, a bell pepper, and then later two yellow squashes. We then added frozen peas (which is part of the "recipe", not that there is one).

We seasoned it with salt, pepper, oregano, garlic powder, onion powder and lots of 21 seasoning salute.

Meredith did most of the mashed potatoes. She used greek yogurt, salt,garlic powder (a lot), a little bit of butter, and scallions.

It came out really good. As with last time, it looked like it was all meat but when cooked and served, it actually seemed like mostly potato.

Either way, it was great comfort food but pretty healthy (4 oz potato and 2.6 oz of beef per serving)! We should keep it in mind more since it made 6 servings so we have lunches too!

We made (and prepped ahead) healthy twice baked potatoes. We didn't follow any specific recipes, though we looked around for times. We roasted the potato for about 1.25 hours at 400°F rotating it ever 20 min or so. After they cooled, we hallowed the out and Meredith made horseradish mashed potatoes.

We used a mixture of greek yogurt, some butter, a little bit of mayo (for creaminess), salt, pepper, garlic powder, and lots (and lots) of horseradish. We also threw some scallions and "Unexpected Cheddar" from Trader Joes.

We stuffed them into the potatoes and cooked them (I forget how long). Meanwhile, we super caramelized onions. We french cut them and used butter and salt as appropriate. Also, while we used a low heat, we also deglazed as needed with white wine.

Finally, when we reheated the, we topped it with roast beef and some spinach sautéed with Mural of Flavor.

It was pretty good. Kind of fun to make and also pretty easy. We would do this kind of thing again! And the onions were also really good.

KitchenKatalog

Appetizer:

Main Course:

Dessert:

Recipes

Future Changes

Additional Photos

Additional Photos:

Additional Photos