Steak with onions sauteed in sherry wine and honey

Since I've become a stay at home wife I've been experimenting with all types of different cooking.
I recently have been trying the skillet method; where I sear the meat in hot oil first then add in aromatics and veggies or fruits sometimes and then wine to de-glaze the pan.

I happen to be a huge fan of onion soup which is made with sherry wine which is how this recipe was born. This steak is so flavorful I promise you won't even need ketchup. It was my first time ever eating steak without ketchup and I'm a ketchupholic.

Please let me know how it goes if you make this. I would love to know how it comes out.

2 boneless rib steaks or chuck steaks
salt and pepper
1 onion sliced in rings
3/4 cup sherry cooking wine ( kedem's is great)
1 tsp and 1 tbsp of honey.
Olive oil to coat the pan.

Sprinkle salt and pepper on both sides of the steaks.
Place the skillet on the burner and turn the heat to medium high. Add the oil and let it get hot about a minute.Place the steak in the hot oiled skillet and let it sear for about 3-5 minutes on each side. remove the steak and put on a plate. Add the onions, they will turn light brown from the steak juices. Let them saute for a few minutes till they turn translucent and very soft and start to caramelize. Pour in the sherry and honey. Allow the liquids to boil and reduce for about 5-10 minutes till it's down to a half a cup. Place the steaks back in and use your tongs to swirl them around in the liquid, then cover the skillet and let it cook for 3-5 minutes till heated through.

Serve with onions on top and pour the sauce over it. Delicious with a healthy green salad.

Btai Avon!

Easy One Pot Meal

In the winter when days are short and cold there's nothing like coming home to a hot home cooked meal. Except as the main cook in my house, I usually am the one who has to cook it, not come home to it. That's why I love my slow cooker, because it allows me to come home to a meal that took minimal time, and prep work and is fresh, easy, and delicious.

Most of us take the slow cooker out once a week for cholent and it sits unused on the shelf, just taking up space the rest of the week. So take the slow cooker off the shelf and get ready to use it because the possibilities are endless. From soups to one pot meals it all is in one pot, the crockpot.

I came up with this easy recipe, you can play with it and add or subtract things as you please, what I'm really teaching is a method.

Ingredients

1 onion diced

1 tsp. fresh chopped garlic

1/2 package to a whole package ground beef

2 stalks basil leaves

4 mini vine tomatoes quartered or any type of tomato diced

2-3 baby bella mushrooms ( I find that these hold up better and have a meatier flavor but any type of mushroom will do)

4-5 fingerling or red bliss potatos cut in rounds

3 tbsp marinara sauce mixed with 1/2c cup Kedem sherry cooking wine ( or any red wine you have lying around)

Olive oil

Salt and pepper

Turn the slow cooker to keep warm. Drizzle a little extra virgin olive oil at the bottom of the pot. Toss in the garlic and onions. Add the meat and break it up with the side of a wooden spoon. Sprinkle salt and pepper over the meat.Toss together so the meat mixes with the garlic and onions. Add in the tomatoes. Pull the basil leaves off of the stems and tear the bigger leaves in pieces. Drop them in the pot. Add the mushrooms and potatoes and pour the sauce (marinara and wine which you've combined) over everything and give a quick stir to combine the ingredients.

Turn up the slow cooker to low heat and let cook for 6-9 hours.

Come home and enjoy!

( Remember you can substitute any ingredients with what you have in the house)

Easy blueberry pie

This week we were invited out for shabbos dinner and our contribution was dessert. I wanted something easy with ingredients I already had around the house. I came up with this easy recipe that uses simple ingredients you probably already have around the house . Served warm with some vanilla Ice cream or sorbet it'll be a hit at your next meal.

Filling

1 1/2 pints blueberries

1 tsp lemon juice

1 tsp sugar

Crust

1 ready made frozen pie crust

2 packets maple and brown sugar, sugar free oatmeal

3/4 cup flour

1/2 cup sugar

4-5 tbsps room temperature margarine

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Combine blueberries with lemon juice and 1 tsp sugar. Pour into frozen crust. In a medium bowl, combine oatmeal, sugar, flour and margarine and mix with your hands till you get a soft dough. Take the dough and flatten over the blueberries leaving some space at the edges to allow steam to escape. Pat the top with flour and bake for 30-40 minutes.

Easy Beer Bread

Recently my husband and I took an amazing trip to Seattle. While there we met a lot of wonderful people and we had some amazing food. Shabbat was spent on Mercer Island and we had great food! We ate lunch at Radio Host's Michael Medved's home and his wife Diane made the most delicious beer bread. My husband was so in love with it that I started looking for recipes when I came home. I came across another foodie blog "The Picky Apple" who had posted a simple recipe that I just made some variations too. I made it this week in lieu of challah and I hope you'll give it a try.

Beer Bread

3 cups all purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

3 tbsps sugar

1 12 ounce bottle of Guiness

8 tbsps margarine or 1 stick

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. spray a loaf pan with a misto or non stick cooking spray. Melt the butter for 45 seconds in the microwave. Combine flour, salt, baking powder, and sugar and stir together. Add the beer and stir till combined, dough will be sticky. Pour half the melted margarine in the bottom of the pan. sppon the dough in and try to smooth it out so it won't be too lumpy. Then pour the rest of the margarine on top. Place in the oven and bake for 50-60 minutes and enjoy!

Mocha Chocolate Chip Cookies

I love chocolate chip cookies especially home made ones. I wanted a cookie that was a little less traditional, and while playing in the kitchen I came up with this mocha version which really complements the sweetness and chocolate.

1 stick butter
1 oz baking chocolate chopped fine
1/2 tsp coffee (Instant is fine)
1 egg
1/2 cup Splenda blend brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated white sugar
1 cup flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
pinch of salt
1 bag Chocolate chips

Melt the butter in a measuring cup in the microwave at 45 second intervals. Once melted add in the chocolate and coffee and stir till they are melted and combined. Pour into a mixing bowl add egg, and sugars. Beat on medium speed till combined. Add flour, baking powder, and salt and beat with the mixer until it's sticky and combined. Stir in chocolate chips. Spray two non-stick cookie sheets with non-stick spray. Spray non-stick cooking spray into an ice cream scooper (cool trick the cookie dough slides out really easy) and scoop half a scoop of cookie dough onto the baking sheet and release. Repeat till done. Bake for 8-10 minutes. Cool and enjoy.

Potato Salad With Basil Lemon Mayo

Lately now that I'm not working I sit home and watch the Food Network a lot I get inspired and go play in the kitchen. Yesterday I bought fresh basil and I'm always looking for ways to play with basil beyond pesto which, while delicious is pretty limited. I also try to find ways to get my husband to eat things he doesn't normally like and that's how I came to create this recipe. It's a non-potato salad tasting, potato salad that everyone will love and it's super easy.

1 small bag of red potatoes quartered, boiled and cooled

Basil Lemon Mayonnaise

Half clove elephant garlic minced
1 shallot minced
1 handful basil coarsely chopped
3-4 tbsps low fat mayonnaise
1/2 lemon
salt & freshly ground pepper
1-2 tbsps olive oil

Combine the first four ingredients and stir together to combine. Take the lemon and squeeze it into the bowl being careful not to get any pits in. Squeeze until all the juice is squeezed out. Save the lemon half. Add 2 or 3 turns of the pepper grinder and a pinch of salt. Using the stick blender, blend the mixture together till all the garlic and shallots are totally undetectable and all you see are little flecks of basil. Add the olive oil until you achieve desired consistency. Taste to make sure you like the flavor you can add more lemon or salt and pepper. Toss the dressing with the cooled potatoes. Take the lemon half that you reserved from earlier and using a microplane or grater zest it over the potato salad. Cover in plastic wrap. Chill and serve.

Delish!