Ruth's on Wednesday and Moochies on Friday

I am making up for lost time on the old, go to lunch thing.   On Wednesday the General Nonviolent Felony Team went to lunch at Ruth's for Administrative Professionals Day.  It was only a couple of months late, but we wanted to get the whole team together if possible, and when one of your team members goes to France for three weeks.... I had the meatloaf burger.  It was served with fires, on a bun, with regular burger fixin's.  The meatloaf was good, and smothered with BBQ sauce.  A little too much BBQ sauce.  It took over the whole burger.  The fries are battered and crispy. I'd give the food a C+, but the location and ambiance a B-. Barely worth the $10.00.

Moochies was a quick trip with my co-blogger Mikelle.  I got the egg plant parm sandwich, potato salad and a drink (by making it a "Moochis Meal" for an extra $2.99).  The bread was perfect, the egg plant and marianna were good, but not great.  I'd give it a B.  The company was great, and the birch beer was scrumptious.  Go to Moochies.  It is one of the good ones.

Burgers in Coeur d'Alene

It has been far too long.  I am back on the blog, and ready to post, ya'll.  I was in Coeur d'Alene last week end for the Ironman.  It was AWESOME.  I am really happy with my time, I beat my first Ironman by  44 minutes.  Beautiful course, great swim.

I eat at a place called Hudson's.  They have been there and making burgers since 1907.  It was a tiny little place, with only a counter at which to sit.  The burger was one of the best I have ever come across. Cooked to perfection, the meat was the star.  The only toppings available were pickle and/or onion, and cheese, although there were three sauces on the counter in those old-school ketchup type squeeze bottles, ketchup, hot ketchup (think heavy horseradish with a bite) and spicy mustard.

If you're ever there, and you love a burger, stop in.

Fava What?

apparently it's called a fava bean.  apparently people like them.  i'm not a fan, of either the time consuming cooking or the flavor.  so these appeared in my bountiful basket.  i had no idea what they were or what to do with them.  but since mr d has been asking for more veggies with his meals, i thought i'd try the recipe that other bountiful basket participants were posting on facebook and serve them alongside a sloppy joe and corn on the cob.

Fava Beans

fava beans

olive oil

garlic, minced

Shell the fava beans and blanch for 10-15 mins.  Remove the bean from the casing and saute in olive oil and garlic until fragrant, about 5 mins.

these had kind of a bitter taste i wasn't expecting, although i'm not sure what i was expecting.  and then it dawned on me that they kind of tasted like peas, which is probably why mr d was a fan.  and was a fitting taste given their appearance as "giant pea pods."

Paleo Steak Roll Ups

mr d and i went to the crossfit regionals competition this weekend.  it was all you would expect it to be.  here is the one blurry picture i took while we there.  this is the crew setting up for the second team WOD (workout of the day).  it consisted of 21 deadlifts, followed by 21 box jumps, then repeated by 15 reps of each, then 9.  one team set a world record.  i guess it was a pretty big deal.

 

because this is a blog about food, you must be wondering why i'm mentioning the cxfit games.  well, it just so happens that i had lunch there on saturday.  at a food truck called "the paleo wagon."   now, this food truck had two lines, each line had about 20 people in it, at all times.  it was ridiculous.  the other food vendor there sold soft pretzels, soda, and pizza.  i think they had 5 customers, all weekend.  as you can probably gather from their name, the paleo wagon was selling meals that complied with the paleo diet.  if you aren't familiar with the paleo diet, google it, my friends.  but the short version is this:  eat like a caveman, i.e., meat and vegetables with limited fruits, no grains, no dairy, and obviously, no processed foods.  i wish i had a taken a picture of our lunches.  i got the scaled plate, meaning one meat, and mr d got the prescribed plate, meaning two meats.  our plates consisted of a hearty scoop of carne asada, 1/2 an avacado, 1/2 of a cucumber, 2 sweet peppers and a strawberry.  and mr d's second meat was a chicken sausage link.  mr d was really excited about his paleo lunch, and long story short, it inspired me to make a paleo approved dinner.  enter the steak roll up. 

 

the recipe came from here, which includes a balsamic glaze to serve over the steak.  the glaze looks and sounds delicious, but i was hungry by the time i'd gotten the steak in the pan and decided to forego the sauce and eat the roll ups as is.  they were really good.  i would definitely make them again, either with steak or with chicken.  and i'll have to try the sauce out.

 

 

Steak Roll Ups

1 1/2-2 lb sirloin or flank steak

salt and pepper

worcestershire sauce

olive oil

1 glove garlic, minced

2 carrots, matchsticked

1 red bell pepper, matchsticked

4 green onions, sliced

4 asparagus spears, matchsticked

 

Prepare the steak by slicing into thin strips. (i butterflied mine, then cut into 8 strips.)  Season steak with salt, pepper, and worcestershire and let marinate for 30 mins.  While the steak is marinating, heat olive oil in a medium pan and cook the garlic for 1 min.  Add the remaining veggies and saute for 2-3 minutes.  Set the veggies aside.  When the steak is done marinating, place a handful of veggies on each strip of steak and roll them up.  Secure with a toothpick.  Cook the steak roll ups in the same pan you cooked the veggies in until the desired doneness.  (i cooked them about 7 mins on each side.  they probably didn't need to be cooked that long, but raw meat makes me nervous.)  Serve with more veggies, or with rice if you're not into the whole paleo thing.



Sloppy Phil

what happens when a sloppy joe and a philly cheesesteak have a baby?  the sloppy phil.  what a delicious concept i came across on foodgawker, which linked me over here, to the dainty chef.  as you can see, there isn't anything dainty about this meal.  it was spilling off the bun in all its glory.  i thought these were yummy.  mr d was not that impressed.  but i think he was judging them unfairly based on my "misrepresentation."  when he asked what we were having for dinner, i said "sloppy philly cheesesteaks."  he took a couple of bites and then asked, with a puzzled look on his face, if it was ground beef.  i replied in the affirmative, to which, he disappointedly said, "but you said they were cheesesteaks."  so he was under the impression the meat was steak, rather than ground beef, so i don't think the sloppy phil got a fair shake.  hey, it's not my fault sloppy phil got his meat from his father's side.

 

Sloppy Philly Cheesesteak

1 Tbsp olive oil

1 lb ground beef

1 medium onion, chopped

1 green pepper, chopped

2 Tbsp steak sauce

1 c beef broth

buns

provolone cheese, sliced

 

Heat oil in a medium skillet.  Add beef and cook 5-6 minutes until brown.  Add onions and peppers and cook 3-4 minutes, until veggies are tender.  Stir in steak sauce and broth.  Bring to a boil, and cook an additional 5 minutes, until sauce thickens.  Serve on a toasted bun with a slice of provolone cheese.

 



i served the sloppy phil with some roasted new potatoes and leeks.  i chopped up the potatoes and leeks and tossed with some olive oil and a dry onion soup mix.  baked in the oven for 40 mins, stirring and rotating every 10.  with the exception of the potatoes, this was a quick meal that would be perfect to repeat on a busy weeknight. 

Pizza Casserole

i kept seeing this recipe popping up all over the facebook and the pinterest for a pizza casserole that looked delicious and nutritionally wasn't that bad.  but when i'd click on the links, it would just pull up the picture and the recipe on a page, not on any particular website, if that makes sense.  so i have no idea where to attribute this most fabulous dinner to.  did you catch that?  fabulous!  it was so good!  mr d helped himself to seconds.  seriously, the flavor on this pizza casserole was so amazing.  the original recipe i saw calls for olives and mushrooms, but i don't like mushrooms, and mr d doesn't like olives.  so i decided to switch out those ingredients for the ingredients we like on our pizza:  green peppers, jalapenos, and red onion.

 

Pizza Casserole

16 oz package rotini noodles

1 lb ground italian sausage

24 oz jar spaghetti sauce

1 green pepper, diced

1/2 red onion, diced

1 jalapeno, diced

16 oz container cottage cheese

1 1/2 c mozzarella cheese, shredded

pepperoni slices

 

Preheat oven to 350.  Cook the noodles al dente according to package directions.  In a skillet, cook sausage until evenly browned, add cooked noodles and spaghetti sauce.  Put meat mixture into a 9 x 13 casserole dish sprayed with cooking spray.  In a small bowl, combine green pepper, onion, jalapeno, cottage cheese and mozzarella cheese.  Layer on top of meat mixture.  Top casserole with pepperoni slices.  Bake for 25 mins, until bubbly and lightly browned.

 

of course i used whole wheat noodles, non-fat cottage cheese and low-fat mozzarella cheese, and it was so good.  when i make it again, i'd like to try making it even more healthy by using chicken sausage or maybe just ground turkey, with some additional spices to add some of the flavor i'd be missing from the spicy italian sausage.

 

Denver-ish Omelette

you know those nights when you didn't plan on making dinner and you're not really in the mood to cook, but you also want to make a better choice than eating out?  on nights like that, our go to meal is a denver-ish omelette.  denver-ish, because i'm not really sure what the ingredients have to be for an omelette to be considered denver, and because this is generally cooked as an uplanned meal, i just use what we have on hand.  sometimes we have green pepper.  sometimes we have jalapeno.  sometimes we have ham.  sometimes we miraculously have all 3 at the same time.  and we always have cheese and onion.  and of course we always eggs.  the first time i ever made an omelette, i watched a couple of youtube videos on how to make the perfect omelette.  it's all about tipping the pan and lifting the cooked part of the egg up and letting the uncooked egg run underneath so that it can cook.  if that doens't make sense, jump on over to youtube.

 

Denver-ish Omelette

 3 egg whites

1 whole egg

splash of milk

cheese

veggies and meats of your choice, chopped

 

sautee veggies in a small skillet until tender.  (for this omelette, i used 1/2 a green pepper and 1/2 an onion).  in a small bowl, whisk together eggs and milk until frothy.  pour the egg mixture in a medium pan sprayed with cooking spray.  as the omelette cooks, push the cooked edges into the middle, and tilt the pan so the uncooked egg runs underneath.  repeat until the egg is cooked thru.  add cheese to entire omelette, then place veggies and meats on 1/2.  fold over and serve.

 

 

it never looks that appetizing, but as a quick and healthy meal, it tastes amazing!