Chipotle-Rubbed Flank Steak

Nate picked out this recipe for Chipotle-Rubbed Flank Steak in the June issue of Cooking Light. I'm not usually a steak fan, but the chipotle part intrigued me and I knew it wouldn't be a huge slab of steak, so I agreed to it! We also made the side dishes suggested: couscous (just regular couscous made with vegetable broth) and spinach with toasted almonds (recipe below).

The entire meal was very straightforward and easy to make. we followed the recipe fairly closely, but changed a few things:

• We couldn't find flank steak at Outpost, so we used something similar (I can't remember what Nate picked out).


• I also couldn't find shallots so we just used part of a yellow onion we had.


• We used skim rather than 1% just because it's what we buy.


• We don't have a broiler pan and, frankly, I think we're both a bit nervous to try broiling anything. So we just cooked the steak in a skillet.

The steak was really good, and the Gorgonzola sauce paired nicely with the chipotle spice.

Here's what you do for the spinach with toasted almonds: Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add 6 oz. package baby spinach; saute 2 minutes or until spinach wilts. Add 1/8 teas. salt. Sprinkle with 3 Tbs. toasted sliced almonds.

The spinach was really good, and I liked the toasted almonds with it. However, I think I could eat the entire 6 oz. on my own! Spinach shrinks so much, that when it was cooked, there really wasn't a lot there (and it was supposed to be 4 servings!). Nate and I ate it all.

Homemade Dog Treats

I was all set to bring the three types of human baked goods to the bake sale, when I had the idea to make dog treats, too. I'd been wanting to make them for my dog, April, for a while now, so I figured this was a great time to do it.

A high school friend sent me a recipe she uses for her dog and said the recipe makes a whole bunch and dogs love them. I figured it was worth trying!

Dog Bone Recipe

• 2 cups whole wheat flour


• 1 cup flour


• 1 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese


• 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese (I used just 2 cups cheddar)


• 1/2 cup wheat germ


• 2 Tbs. minced garlic


• 3 eggs


• 1 stick butter (I used unsalted)


• 3/4 cup molasses

Preheat oven to 350*. Mix all ingredients together. Roll out the dough. Cut out using any shape cookie cutter or just cut in squares. Lay on greased baking sheet. Bake for 20 minutes.

They were very easy to make, but incredibly messy and there was no way I could have used a cookie cutter--the dough was way too sticky. I'm not sure if it's the type of molasses I used or what, but I ended up using quite a bit of extra flour. I ended up just cutting them in strips with a pizza cutter and then into small squares after I put them on the baking sheet.

I think they turned out all right, though. April sure loves them! And my friend was right--they definitely make a ton!

Indian-Spiced Rice Treats

This was the third batch of baked goodies I took to the bake sale.

I've made these once before--for an Indian-themed potluck with the ethnic dining ladies. They're super tasty and put a great spin on the typical rice krispy treat. I found the recipe from Allrecipes.com.

They're pretty straightforward and I followed the reipce exactly.

You could substitute different nuts and fruits if you wanted, but I like this combination.

Coconut Macaroons

For my second batch of cookies for the bake sale, I wanted to try making coconut macaroons. I've never made them before, but alway enjoyed eating them. I contemplated trying to make French macaroons, which I love, but they seemed a bit more complicated and I wasn't sure I wanted to try a new, slightly more difficult baked good to try to sell to strangers.

After doing some Googling, I found this very simple coconut macaroon recipe on AllRecipes.com. I followed the recipe exactly, and took some of the advice I found in the comments section: let the dough sit in the frige a bit so the cookies are easier to shape. I'm not sure what it's like if you don't chill the dough, but it was easy enough--although a bit messy--to make them into balls for baking.

I doubled the recipe so that I could maximize the amount of cookies I could bring to the bake sale!

These were really easy and really good.

Dark Chocolate Bark

When I was trying to figure out what I was all going to make for the Cookies for Kids' Cancer bake sale, I found this recipe in my Moosewood Restaurant Cooking For Health book (I've been using it a lot lately!). The recipe sounded delicious and easy enough to make and bag up.

It's a good recipe to tweak as you like it--you can add all different types of nuts and dried fruits. I had forgotten it called for orange peel, so I didn't pick one up and I think the dessert was just fine without it. Additional suggestions call for adding lemon peel instead of orange peel, using different nuts like pistachios or cashews and mixing in ground cinnamon or cayenne. Yum!

Here's what I did:

• 12 oz. 60-70% cacao dark semi-sweet or bittersweet chocolate (I think the chocolate I used was like 67%)


• 1 cup coarsely chopped toasted walnuts and hazelnuts


• 1/2 cup chopped, dried apricots and cranberries


• 1/8 teas. coarse salt

Smoothly line a 9x13-inch baking dish with foil.

Heat the chocolate over a double boiler or in an ovenproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water. Stir until just melted and smooth (don't let any water get in!). Stir in half the nuts and all the fruit, and immediately pour into prepared pan.

Spread chocolate mixture evenly. Sprinkle with salt and top with remaining nuts. Press down lightly to set nuts in chocolate.

Stick in fridge for about 30 or until firm and cool (or can let harden at room temps). Break or cut into pieces. Store in covered container at room temps or keep in fridge.

Cookies, Cookies and More Cookies!

Last Saturday, I--along with lots of other Milwaukee foodies, food bloggers, local chefs and people who just wanted to bake some goodies--helped with a bake sale to help raise money for an organization called Cookies For Kids' Cancer. You may remember me blogging about it here. Check out that link for the back story about the organization.

We had a great time with TONS of baked goods (anything you could think of, we had it!), great auction items (I won a huge assortment of Rishi teas) and a great group of people--both volunteers and those who came out to support us (thank you if you're one of them!). All together we raised about $2,100 which will be matched by Glad products. Pretty cool! Check out this link for pictures from the event. Check out some one of my Twitpics from the event here.

I came home with lots of great treats, including bourbon brownies, French macaroons, turtle bars, cupcakes, cookies and dog treats. I contributed four different types of baked goods. Check out each link for photos and recipes:

• Chocolate bark.


• Indian-spiced rice treats.


• Coconut macaroons.


• Dog treats.

All in all, it was a great day and great event! If you're interested in contributing to Cookies for Kids Cancer, visit this website. (The box below was almost full to the top with baked goods (thanks to my neighbor, Eileen, too for contributing 8 dozen-some cookies!)!

Pepper-Stuffed Portabellas

I came across a recipe for Tex-Mex Stuffed Portabellas while flipping through Moosewood Restaurant Cooking for Health last weekend. The dish sounded delicious and easy enough for a weeknight meal, so we gave it a try.

The dish is supposed to be vegetarian--and it would be excellent as a vegetarian dish--but I had some Mexican-spiced ground turkey to use up, so I threw that on top, too. I made the "filling" for this dish the night before and reheated it, along with the turkey, before stuffing the portabellas before baking. It was a great dish and you can really do a lot of different things with it.

Tex-Mex Stuffed Portabellas (serves 4, but we halved the recipe for just 2 servings)

• 1.5 cups chopped onions


• 2 garlic cloves, minced or pressed


• 2 Tbs. olive oil


• 1 canned chipotle in adobo sauce, minced (I used quite a few (maybe too many?) shakes of our chipotle powder)


• 1 yellow and 1 red bell pepper, finely chopped (2-2.5 cups)


• 1 teas. ground corinader


• 1 teas. ground cumin


• 1/2 teas. paprika (I used smoked paprika)


• 1/2 teas. salt


• 1/4 teas. ground black pepper


• 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro


• 3 fresh plum tomatoes, seeded and finely diced (about 1 cup)


• 6 oz. Monterey Jack cheese (I used pepperjack), grated (about 2 cups)


• 4 large portabellas (4-5 in. in diameter)


• minced scallions (I skipped this step)

In a skillet on medium-high heat, cook the onions and garlic in the olive oil for a couple of minutes. Add the chipotle and bell peppers and cook for 2 minutes. Add the coriander, cumin, paprika, salt and pepper and cook, stirring often, until the peppers are tender but still firm. Remove from the heat. Stir in the cilantro and tomatoes and two-thirds of the cheese.

Break off the stems of the portabellas and save them for another use or discard. Rinse the caps (gently, so they don't break--not that I broke one or anything ...), and place smooth side down in a lightly oiled baking dish large enough to hold them in a single layer. Mound each mushroom with about 1 cup of the filling. Sprinkle the remaining cheese on top. Cover the baking dish with the foil folded lengthwise to form a little tent so the foil won't stick to the cheese.

Bake in a preheated oven at 350* for 30 minutes. Remove the foil and bake until the cheese browns, 10-15 minutes. Serve topped with scallions.

We served the mushroom caps with the bulgar and butternut squash dish I made earlier in the week. I've determined the bulgar mix is good both cold and warmed up. This was a great meal, and Nate really enjoyed it, too.