Hello Hockey Cheesesteaks

Depite bitter cold temperatures Winnipeg seems to be breathing a sigh of relief now that hockey is back. This means our beloved Jets are back in action at the phone booth and the fans are louder than ever. We are not fortunate enough to have tickets to any of the games but we did watch the game this afternoon on the TV. What does any game day require? Some grub!

This is another idea I found via Pinterest (the biggest time suck EVER)! We are making an effort to eat less gluten. That's right. You heard me. You'll notice I didn't say I that we were cutting it out altogether. I just can't do that. It is too restrictive. I don't like feeling guilty every time I slip and have a little bit of bread or a gluten containing item. We are a sandwich loving house. The Boy isn't concerned about gluten, just Hubby and I are. The Boy hasn't changed a thing.

Today's snack/lunch was a Philly style cheesesteak stuffed pepper. All the Philly cheesesteak goodness, none of the bread. I found some sliced brisket in the freezer, dug out an onion, some mushrooms, and the provolone cheese. In a pinch you could use deli roast beef, or any sliced steak/roast beef you have on hand.

These were some pretty darn tasty treats to munch on while watching the First Jets game of the season, even if they did lose.

Here's how it all went down:

Gather up the following:

3 peppers
12 slices provolone cheese
1 onion
3 cloves garlic
10 or 12 mushrooms
Sliced cooked steak or roast beef (about a pound, or 454 grams)
1 tbsp oil for pan

Wash, stem, and clean out 6 peppers and cut then in half. Line each pepper with a slice of cheese.

Slice onion, mushrooms, and garlic. Sauté these until golden.

Add the beef to the pan and stir up until heated through. Divide the beefy mushroom goodness up between the 6 pepper halves. Cover each pile o' goodness with another slice of cheese.

Bake in the oven for 20 to 25 minutes until the cheese is melty and the pepper have softened slightly.

Enjoy!

Now these little gems got rave reviews and the ok to make them again! (I love it when that happens!) Today I only baked these babies for 20 minutes but I think they could have stayed in a little longer. The peppers were a little too crunchy for the taste and feel I was wanting.

Until next time, stay warm and eat well.

Canada Day Eats Part 2

Still testing out recipes for Canada Day in the Little Kitchen....Today's experiment was with beer....a truly Canadian beverage! When I was brainstorming ideas the other day, I knew beer needed to be incorporated not only as a drink but in the food as well and what better way to use the beer than to marinate some Canadian beef?

The Bison burgers were a hit but bison meat is expensive and may not be a feasible option when feeding a crowd.  One option if you want burgers is to use ground beef instead of bison.  A second option is to buy an inexpensive cut of steak, marinate it, cut it into strips, and thread them onto skewers.  Skewers are a great way to stretch meat when you need a few more servings.  I found a package of inside round marinating steaks at Costco for about $19.00. The steaks were thick cut and perfect for slicing for skewers.

Beer marinated Steak skewers

1 can or bottle of beer (a stout would go well here)

1 onion, sliced

2 cloves garlic, crushed or grated on micro-plane

 1 tsp dry mustard powder

Pepper - Fresh ground, as much as you like

1 round steak (or other marinating steak of your choosing: I used and inside round marinating steak)

a whole bunch of bamboo skewers

Trim the steaks of any visible fat or silvery skin (this stuff just means chewy steak) then place the steak into a zip top freezer bag (or other container for marinating).

This is maybe 1/4 of the steaks in the package...probably a little less than 1/4

Place in the fridge for a couple of hours, or overnight. (You can cut the steak into strips for skewers then marinate the strips. This would be good if you are planning on marinating for a short time.)

Take the steak out of the marinade, pat it dry and place the steak in the freezer to firm up while you soak the wooden skewers in water (soaking the wooden skewers helps prevent them from burning).

                                 

After 15 minutes in the freezer, the steak will be firm enough to slice thinly and neatly so take the steak out of the freezer and using your sharpest knife, slice the steak thinly (less than ½cm but not paper thin).

After slicing and letting the skewers soak for half an hour, thread the steak strips onto the skewers, sprinkle with a healthy dose of fresh ground black pepper and some salt.

BBQ until cooked through. (If you find the skewer handles are burning, place tin foil under the ends.)

We'll talk about those potato wedges another day.

Serve with your favourite steak sauce for dipping!

Until next time, stay warm and eat well.

A Canada Day Weekend With Canadian Beef!

Remember to stop to smell the flowers!!

 OK, so life gets busy sometimes and I didn't actually get to grill this fabulous steak until Canada Day, which unfortunately was after the end of the Who Rules the Grill contest. I even wrote the post last week and got all ready to grill, take photos and post... Oh well, I wound up popping this steak into the freezer.  The great part was that as the steak thawed in the fridge, it continued to soak up some tasty, tasty marinade!!

So without further ado, I give to my a little too late grilled steak sammies:

Pop quiz, what do you do when the package of Canadian beef you bought comes with 2 flank steaks? What do you do? What do you do? I will tell you what you do, you enter the Who Rules the Grill contest being hosted by the wonderful people at Canadian Beef.   The other day I made a tasty chipotle lime steak salads, they were so yummy and hit the spot after a couple of ball games.  Last night I tossed together a soya sauce based marinade and stored the flank steak in the fridge overnight.

Gingered Flank Steak

1 flank steak
1 tbsp hoisin sauce
1/4 cup low sodium soya sauce
1 tsp sesame oil
1 1/2 tsp ginger powder (you can also use fresh grated ginger)
3 green onions, roughly chopped
1 large zip top baggie

See?  Canadian beef!!!!

And a nice looking piece of Canadian beef too!!!

Place all your ingredients but the flank steak into the zip top baggie and mash it all up with your hands.

Add in the flank steak, squeeze out all the air and seal it.  Mash/mix it all up with your hands to ensure the entire steak is coated in tasty goodness.

Store it in the fridge until you get home from work.

Take the bag o'steak out of the fridge and set it aside to come to room temperature while you prep other items such as salad fixin's, onions and mushrooms! (You gotta have sauteed mushrooms and onions on your sammie!)

One neat time saving item I found at the store was this package of Texas style garlic toast....all ready to toast or grill!  SCORE!!

It came with 2 loaves of 8 slices...perfect for grilled steak sammies!!

Pre heat the BBQ and get it smokin' hot.

Also get the mushrooms and onions working in the saute pan! (A little butter, a little time, some stirring every now and then......and voila!!)

Slap your steak on the grill, reduce the heat to medium and let it cook for 5 minutes before giving it a quarter turn to the side (gets you some great grill marks!)  Cook for another 2 minutes before flipping.

Flip your steak over (using tongs) and let it cook once again for 5 minutes before giving it another quarter turn.  Cook for another 2 minutes.

Take the Flank off the grill and place on a clean platter or plate and cover with foil.  Let it rest until the garlic toast is done.

Now place  your garlic toast on the hot grill.  Make sure you watch the bread closely as it will burn quickly.

Slice the steak thinly across the grain, stack on a slice of garlic toast with mushrooms and onions.....devour.  (a slice of melty cheese also goes well....)

That's right, the boy had 2 steak sammies and beans.....

Of course I should share some of my other photos from the long weekend.  I mean whats a long weekend without going to the cabin, relaxing, and playing around with the camera??

Every Canada Day long weekend,  they release a bird that has been at the the wildlife rehabilitation centre.  In the past they have released bald eagles, golden eagles, horned owls...the list goes on.  This year they released a broad winged hawk.  The pictures of the hawk taking off didn't turn out because it flew so fast.

Hubby reading in the hammock....this really is the sweet life!

The daisy solo shot

 Pretty flowers

 Those spiders spin webs on the dock so darn quickly!!

I was so excited to find ripe strawberries in my garden when I got home!

Until next time, stay warm and eat well!

Who Rules The Grill?

I rule the grill! Today the Boy had a double header out in Sanford Manitoba.  It was a bit of a trek but for 2 games of baseball, we don't mind.  (FYI, they won the first game but lost the second game.) This morning before we left the house, I made sure to throw together a marinade for a flank steak I had just begging to be flavoured up.  The fine people behind Canadian Beef have thrown together a great contest for Canadian bloggers called 'Who Rules The Grill?'.  The contest caught my eye on Twitter and I knew I needed to think of something.  I chose a flank steak to toss on the the grill but first I had to marinate it for a while.  As I browsed through my fridge and freezer I found some chipotle peppers and limes...hmmmm think, think think.....

Chipotle Lime Grilled Flank Steak Salad

3 (or 4) chipotle peppers, chopped
1 tbsp (or so) chipotle sauce from the peppers
zest of 1 lime
juice of half a lime
1/4 cup olive oil
pinch of salt and pepper
1 flank steak, trimmed of excess fat and connective tissue
salad dressing of your choice

Chipotle and lime: the perfect combination!

In a zip top baggie, combine the peppers, sauce, lime zest, lime juice, olive oil, and salt & pepper.  Use your hands on the outside of the bag to mix it all up.

The no mess way to mix!!

 Add the steak and once again use your hands on the outside of the bag to ensure the steak gets completely covered in chipotle lime goodness.

Place the bag in the fridge to marinate for the day or overnight.

Heat up the grill and grill your fabulous flank steak for 5 - 6 minutes a side or until medium.  Remove to a plate, cover with foil and allow the steak to rest for 5 minutes.

mmmmmmmm.......

Give your steak a 1/4 turn half way through cooking to get fabulous grill marks!

 Once rested, thinly slice the steak across the grain.

Slicing across the grain ensures a nice tender steak.

 Serve on top of your favourite salad greens with your favourite fixins' and dressing.

This really was such a perfect dinner tonight. Tasty protein, lots of veggies....oh so yummy! I think next time I will add some cheese of some sort....

Until next time, stay warm and eat well!

Leftovers for Breakfast!

What to do with alll of those leftovers??  I was rooting through the fridge this morning thinking about breakfast and low and behold I find a wonderful mix of items! Hmmm....potatoes, sauteed mushrooms, creamed spinach, onion, steak, egg whites left over from the cinnamon rolls....this sounds like a breakfast in the making!  I really couldn't have planned this better, even if I had tried!

First I finely diced some of the onion to saute in some butter.

Then I added the leftover mushrooms.

Sliced the potatoes and added those to the pan.

Please, can I be in this yummy breakfast???

The leftover creamed spinached just begged to be added (and thinned with a little milk).

I had a total of 8 egg whites and 3 whole eggs beaten with a sploosh of milk (yes, sploosh is a technical mesaurement in the Little Kitchen!)





 
Pour the eggs into the pan and give it a shimmyshake to get all of that eggy goodness around.

Bake in the oven at 305F for 15 to 20 minutes.

 Top with the grated cheese of your choice and broil until melty.

An oven mitt on the handle reminds me the handle is HOT! (Safety first you know!)

Add some sliced steak to the plate and enjoy!