This week was a tough week. The Covid-19 numbers are rising in Ohio and it has been making my anxiety very high. So this week was spent mostly cooking and chilling at home. On Monday my friend came over for dinner and taught me how to make Maple Dijon Salmon with a sweet potato baked potato. I am embarrassed to say for how much I love salmon I never make it at home and have always been nervous too. I learned on Monday it was not that difficult and it turned out amazing. If anyone is interested in the recipe I can get it from her and share it with you. I know it is something I will be asking her for. I am also trying to convince her we should do a cooking show, as I would love to set up a You Tube page and think it would be a blast to have that be some of the segments. Your Thoughts?
Tuesday I used the rest of the Basil Chimichurri from last week and made steak tenderloins and some Chipotle Lime Roasted Cauliflower on the grill. I had so much basil the last couple weeks and could not let it go to waste so I decided to try my hand at making Basil Chimichurri. The recipe came from Better Homes and Gardens www.bhg.com/recipe.basil-chimichurri. I am a huge fan of my Vitamix and use it for everything. I put all the ingredients into the Vitamix blended for a minute and it was all set and ready to go. This recipe I used for another dinner the week prior and could have been used a couple more times.
The tenderloin recipe came from Once upon a chef and also had a different recipe for Chimichurri sauce that did not have basil in it but had mint and cilantro, which is another option. The link is www.onceuponachef.com/recipes/grilled-spice-rubbed-beff-tenderloin-filets-with-chimichurri. The spice rub consisted of paprika, cumin, ground mustard, black pepper, and salt. It gave the steak a nice crust on it and a little bit of a spicy flavor, which worked well with the basil chimichurri. Something I am trying to get better at is not over cooking my steak as I tend to do that. It is just hard for me to time it just right but with this rub it actually made it a little easier because I got the crispiness on the outside, which I love without having to over cook the steak itself. For a side I went with Chipotle Lime Roasted Cauliflower on the grill. This is a super quick and easy recipe consisting of fresh cauliflower, garlic, olive oil, chipotle powder, salt, pepper, lime juice and your choice of coriander or cilantro leaves. With the basil chimichurri made prior this was a super quick and easy dinner for after work or just on a busy night.
The next recipe lasted multiple meals, lunch and dinner, and was a little more time consuming. I made Barbacoa Beef in my crock pot. The recipe I made came from skinny taste, which you will see I am obsessed with her recipes and she understands how weight watchers works. www.skinnytaste.com/barbacoa-beef. This recipe we had as a bowl the first night then on tacos the next night/day and for sliders with fresh mozzarella for lunch. My one hint with this recipe has to do with the spiciness. It says to use 2-4 TBSP of the chipotles in adobe sauce to taste. When I initially tasted this with 2 TBSP I thought it was spicy and did not add anymore. After it cooked for a couple hours and you finish the recipe it could have used a little more. The meat had great flavor to it but if you like spicy then adding a little more is the way to go and is exactly what I will do next time I make this.
The two additions to this recipe were Corn Salsa with Lime and Chipotle Cilantro Lime Rice, which I made enough to eat with the bowl as well as with the tacos. The rice recipe calls for long grain rice or basmati rice which I did not have either so I just used white rice and it was fine. I am not much of a cilantro fan but I have been learning how to cook with it and the lime and cilantro gave this rice tons of fresh flavor. The corn salsa I also finished up with just tortilla chips. It made the perfect snack. Both of these recipes are Skinny Taste recipes as well. www.skinnytaste.com/corn-salsa-with-lime and www.skinnytaste.com/chipotle-cilantrol-lime-rice
I attempted to grill peaches and make a peach watermelon salad with balsamic drizzle and fresh mozzarella. The peaches were really good on the grill. Just a little olive oil and 2 minutes on each side and they were perfect. A couple cooked too long so they were slightly mushy but mixed with the balsamic, mozzarella and watermelon the flavors meshed well together and it was a super light side dish with how hot it has been. Since I like this so much the question is what other fruit can I grill? Might need to do some experimenting in the up coming weeks.
We did go get ice cream this week to get out of the house. Stopped at Kirtland Creamery on 306 in Kirtland. I will have a full review of this soon, as we have been here twice this summer on our tour. It impressed us so much the first time we had to go back and I plan on going back before the end of July to have the monthly flavor again.
The Lake Erie Monster is the flavor of the month and it was amazing. It is blue cake batter ice cream bended with cookie dough chunks, drops of chocolate chips, and chocolate cookies and cream. They then put this in their sundae of the month The Fireworks sundae. Aside from my love of hot apples with vanilla ice cream this was probably one of my favorite ice cream concoctions I have ever had. I will be back before July is over. I must have it again.
Spent most of my weekend swimming and trying to avoid the super hot weather and then rain. Saturday was so hot out we decided to get some take out from Tavern 6 instead of cooking. I got my usual chicken sandwich and Mac and cheese. But lets talk cupcake because we all know that is what everyone wants to know about. The cupcake of the day was a Raspberry cake devil’s food whipped cream with chocolate magic shell and raspberry drizzle. I will say these two things a thousand more times, I normally do not eat chocolate it’s just not my thing, but when it comes to these cupcakes I eat chocolate and you must try their cupcakes. This one was amazing like always. I really enjoyed the extra raspberry drizzle.
Well guys that’s a wrap for the week. This week coming up I am trying to meal plan a little more as I am hoping it will help the dieting and weight loss. I have been staying steady but would like to push a little more this week. Hope everyone has a good week!!!