A Long Time Coming: Super Bowl Flank Steak

Hi. It's been awhile. Not much has changed, except that life seems to be moving faster and faster everyday. So quickly in fact that as I watch my girls I am torn between immense pride in their daily growth and a nagging feeling that maybe the four of us should just hide out in a cabin in the woods for a few years... In between all these ordinary and extraordinary occurrences of life, I have developed a few new little obsessions; namely tea, my iPhone4, and Pinterest. These new habits have mainly been positive, and often very interconnected. For example, a recent Saturday had me dragging my husband to a tea house, ( with the promise they sold beer there as well)that I had found with my Yelp app. I had obtained directions from Suri, and also the information that it just so happened to be near a much loved home decor store, where I hoped to find a few items that would help a few of my pinboards come to fruition.

While we sat enjoying our beverages (Oolong & IPA), my hubby, ( who is not a big fan of Facebook) brought up the notion that before people were allowed to post on Facebook, something should pop up asking the user " are you sure?" or " do you really want to post this?" , maybe " would you want your grandma to see this?" , etc. The idea was meant partly in jest, but rooted in seriousness. I mean how much of our time is spent getting way too much information otherwise known as TMI most of it from people you wouldn't have coffee with, yet they are your Facebook "friends"? I got to thinking about how nowadays anybody can just google you and find out half of your personal business. I mean, the internet is a stalkers dream! Or how your boss can send you an urgent email on a holiday or at midnight and you can't just ignore it or pretend you didn't get it because he made sure that one of your company perks was a paid for Blackberry and data plan! I continued to digress into why the Internet SUCKS but then I stopped myself. It's true, the Internet , like everything , has its faults, but it also has its virtues. The power of information for one, and the spreading of ideas and creativity that has only been possible through the Internet. The very personal function that the Internet provides in keeping us connected to each other. Like your friend from grade school whom you haven't seen in over a decade but somehow you have been able to interface with one another through blogging, Facebook, and "pinning" together. All of that makes you realize why you were friends in the first place, and you just know that you would be sharing a pot of tea or pitcher of beer together if you were to actually live in the same city, state, or country. That's the magic of the Internet, it keeps friends from becoming strangers.

Food also brings people together, which is why every culture has celebrations that focus on eating and drinking. Personally, I can not think of a holiday that I do not associate with a specific food or beverage! One of the great American cultural events is the Superbowl. You may not care or even know what teams are playing but you better believe you showed up at the party expecting buffalo wings and jalapeño poppers! This past Superbowl it was a given that those items would be served, but I also wanted a great main dish to wow my guests with. Not finding quite what I wanted on food blogs or pinboards, I appealed to Facebook. Quickly, I received a response from my friend Chad, a Major in the United States Marine Corps. He was overseas serving our country in the Middle East. Being the sports enthusiast he is, I should have known he would possess a killer, crowd-pleasing recipe for game time. Chad may have been thousands of miles away, watching the Superbowl at 3am, but it felt like he was in Oregon watching it with us because we were eating his food. And that I think, is the real power of the Internet.

CHAD'S MARINATED FLANK STEAK

2 Flank or Skirt Steaks
1 Cup Olive Oil
1 Cup Soy Sauce
1 Medium Onion, diced
7 Cloves of Garlic, diced
3 Tablespoons Honey
5 Tablespoons Powdered Ginger

Combine all ingredients in large pan or bowl. Marinate steaks 24 hours, turning every few hours. About 2 hours before serving, remove steaks from refrigerator and bring to room temperature. Grab your grill master (in my case, my hubby) and grill steaks on each side, 4-5 minutes. Let stand 5 minutes before slicing. I served these steaks with flatbread and pickled vegetables.

Lasagna, Mexican Style

The weather forecast predicts low 90’s this weekend in Portland. Growing up in the Central Valley of California, I am no stranger to hot summer weather, but everyone also had air conditioning and my grandparents had a swimming pool. But that is not the case up here, and 92 degrees in PDX feels like a 102 degree day in Merced because of the humidty. However I am not going to complain about it, the rain will be back soon enough and then you may/will hear me whining! In the meantime we will try and stay cool by finding a piece of shady grass or maybe a fountain to splash in, blowing up the kiddie pool, and grabbing a cold beer....

No matter how hot that thermometer reads outside, on Sundays I always turn on my oven, even if that means being uncomfortable while I cook. There is just something about Sundays that calls for something comforting and warm to fill your plate a little fuller than usual. Whether it be pot roast, baked penne, or this Southwestern take on lasagna, Sundays are just better with a hot family style meal. Even this Sunday after I recover from my 4th of July hangover of too many hot dogs, root beer floats and sun, I know I will turn on the oven, perhaps attempting yet again to make the brownie recipe (the one that turned out so disastrous last night!), despite the heat…...

Mexican Lasagna

Feeds a crowd! 8-10 Servings

1 Pound ground beef
1 Can (15 oz) golden corn, drained
1 Can (15 oz) tomato sauce
1 Cup salsa , mild, like picante
1 Tablespoon chili poweder
1 ½ Teaspoons cumin
16 Ounces Cottage Cheese
2 Eggs, beaten
¼ Cup Parmesan
1 Teaspoon Oregano
½ Teaspoon garlic salt
1 Cup Cheddar, shredded
12 Corn tortillas

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Brown ground beef in medium pan over medium high heat. Add corn, tomato sauce, salsa, chili powder and cumin. Simmer 10 minutes. Meanwhile, in separate bowl, combine cottage cheese, beaten eggs, parmesan, oregano, and garlic salt. Set aside. Grease large 13 x 9 baking glass baking dish. Place 6 corn tortillas on bottom. Top with 1//2 the cottage cheese mixture, then half the beef mixture. Repeat with tortillas, then cottage cheese, and then beef. Just like if you were making lasagna! Then top with the shredded cheese. Bake for 30 minutes!

A typical Sunday afternoon family portrait....

Grass Fed Beef...It's Whats For Dinner...

I was never much of a beef eater, unless it came on a rib from the Elegant Bull , or a Mcdonald’s cheeseburger plain (super classy, I know.) That was until I was fortunate enough to gain a freezer full of beef. Not just any kind of beef, but the grass fed, hormone & pesticde free , “free range” beef….. (Thanks to my daddy, who killed me a cow…) Just kidding, he actually humanely owns some cattle and breeds them, and occasionally a few get chosen to well, y’know provide sustenance. Um…but back to the meat in my freezer….so at first I had no idea what to do with the meat packaged and labeled so prettily in the Frigidaire. I mean, I was coming to the realization that I was in fact a meat racist. I never actually cooked red meat, maybe the occasional sausage, but basically I was being so narrow minded. Red meat, outside of prime rib and hamburger could actually be delicious, and there were so many ways to cook it…

Armed with my freezer of meat, I started trying out cooking techniques on many different cuts of meats, some I had never heard of Coulette? Bifanes? What? Maybe it was the not feeling guilty about the actual dollars$ the meat was costing me..(Thanks Dad..) but I really let loose and had a number of “winning dishes “ So many in fact that it got me thinking. Was it my fabulous cooking….(obviously!) or was it simply the result of a quality product? My answer: a quality product. The thing is, grass fed beef is just plain better. Everyone knows that ground beef they buy for their burgers in the store; with sometimes highly questionable smells and color, the worst wrapped in rolls looking like they are something to be popped at New Years. That was the ground beef I was familiar with. But natural, grass fed ground beef is just different; for one, no smell (good sign!), good color , and very lean. For the first time in my life I made an excellent Bolognese sauce. No gritty, chewy, fatty beef tendrils here! In short, it tastes so much better!! Knowing where it comes from also helps, not sitting in a packaging plant and then being shipped across the United States, just leads to better flavor & quality. The worst thing I have noticed? You need to use more seasoning because grass fed beef naturally has a lower fat content, so more flavor is needed. And last but not least you need to make sure to know your product beforehand, meaning where it is from and who produces it. (Note: when buying grass fed beef it is often frozen, to instill freshness for local producers.) You can find local sources of Grass fed beef by going to www.gowild.com . Another suggestion is to actually just ask around at your locals farmers market. Many small cattle ranchers can’t afford to market & advertise their meat, so it is all really done on a first come, word of mouth basis. You can almost always visit these farms/ranches to ensure quality also (just don’t go naming the cows…) Cattle “season” generally lands in August/September but check around. That is also my dad’s season, so contact me if you are interested in getting a hold of some of that yummy red meat…

Recipe from the woman who swore she would never make pot roast or meatloaf: Bacon & Beef Meatloaf. This recipe was greatly inspired by a recipe in the January 2009 Bon Appetit but has very much been changed.
1 # grass fed beef
10 slices bacon
1 small yellow onion
3 cloves garlic
2/3 cup ketchup
2 eggs
2 slices whole wheat bread
¼ cup chopped Italian parsley
2 tablespoons grated parmesan
Kosher salt & pepper
1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme
Preheat onion to 400 degrees. Grate onion and garlic into large bowl. Add beef, 1/3 cup ketchup , 2 eggs , parmesan , thyme , salt and pepper. In food processor chop up bread and 7 slices bacon until well minced. Add to bowl. Add chopped parsley. Mix well. (Let’s be honest, spoons don’t work. Get in with your hands and work it!) When mixed, put in loaf pan. Slice remaining 3 bacon slices in half. Wrap slices around loaf leaving ½ inch spaces. Fill in spaces with remaining ketchup. Cook for 1 hr, 10 minutes. (You want the meat to caramelize along the edges!) Let rest 10 minutes (This is important, don’t skip this step!) and serve with some potatoes!