Recipes for the week….

Recipe #1 was a new I tried this week while recipe #2 is a new one I found this today that I would like to try.

My wife (A) and I bought a couple of large bins of salad….Well with that in mind this week when we made our menu for the week we wanted to use the salad as much as possible….I simply suggested a bean salad…With a puzzled look she asked what I was talking about.  So here is what we did…..

What you need: Mixed green organic salad, three different beans (black beans, kidney beans & white beans), shredded Cheddarcheese, tortilla and some Catalina dressing. 

Well the Tuesday night I decided to give it a try.  I drained the beans all together in a strainer.  I mixed them up and rinsed them off.  I went ahead and took a couple tortillas and baked them into bowl shapes in the oven we have some  tortilla bowl baking dishes.  In my new bowls I added salad and cheese.  I cover the top of the salad with the beans….

(A) was very sceptical about this salad but in she ended up loving it and mentioned she wanted to add this the normal meal rotation….I have to admit that it was damn good and easy to make….

 Ok so the new recipe that I just stumbled into but it sounds good is for Garlic Parmesan Green Beans.  I found this on Organic Valley Farms web page who seems to have a lot of good recipes.

Prep Time: 0:10Total Time: 0:20Servings: 4
Ingredients:
3 tablespoons Organic Valley Salted Butter
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 cloves fresh garlic (peeled and minced – add more if you desire)
4 cups green beans (cut into pieces – fresh or frozen)
sea salt and black pepper (to taste)fresh lemon juice (to taste)
1/2 cup Organic Valley Shredded Parmesan Cheese (or to taste)
Instructions:
In a large skillet over medium heat, melt butter with extra virgin olive oil. Add fresh minced garlic and saute until lightly browned, stirring frequently (2-3 minutes).
Add green beans, and toss to coat. Season with sea salt and pepper, and add a splash of fresh lemon juice. Saute until green beans are desired tenderness, about 8-10 minutes.Transfer to serving bowl and toss with shredded Parmesan cheese. Adjust spices if needed, and serve with your favorite baked tofu, chicken or fish.
Nutrition Information:
214 Calories, 14g Fat (60.8% calories from fat), 13g Protein, 8g Carbohydrate, 4g Dietary Fiber, 22mg Cholesterol, 378mg Sodium.

©2008 Organic Valley http://www.organicvalley.coop

 Doesn’t it sound great…..I love that it is so high in protein with low carbs it is….

Perhaps I will try it this weekend….I did get a new charcoal BBQ this past week that I plan on trying out ASAP…

part 2 Wine of Week

My wife and I really enjoy sharing a bottle of wine together at least once a week or so.  It has actually turned in somewhat of “our time” where we take time off from the world just to talk and have a couple glasses of wine.  My wife likes sweet wines so the majority of the wines we drink fall in that category.  Hence the majority of the wines I will review will fall in that category.  I think I will create my own scoring system for the wine rather then the typically used system. 

With this being said I think I will start with the Columbia Winery’s 2005 Gewürztraminer.  I was in 8^th Street Wine Company the other day and the 05’got recommended to me.  It got a 90 rating from Wine Enthusiast Magazine this year.  You match that with it’s $8.99 price and it is a smoking good deal. 

So I popped a bottle the other night and enjoyed.  It was very smooth tasting and smelled great.  It didn’t give me that taste bud explosion that I do get from a few fruity Gewürztraminers.  Over all it wasn’t the best Gewürztraminer I have ever had but it was in my top 3.  If you’re looking for a sweet wine that everyone will enjoy at a party this just might be the one for you.  On a scale of 1-5 I would give it about a 4.0. 

Here is a link to the winery’s write up on the wine and what Wine Enthusiast had to say about it.

http://www.columbiawinery.com/img/pdf/COL2005Gewt_internet.pdf

90 Columbia Winery 2005 Gewürztraminer ( Columbia Valley); $8. Another spectacular effort, though they’ve bumped up the price significantly. This is beautifully varietal, mixing floral, batth powder, apple and grapefruit components in both the nose and the mouth. There is an elegant intensity that powers the wine through an exceptionally long, brilliant finish; the residual sweetness keeps the alcohol down to 11.5% without making the wine either soft or sugary. 14,500 cases produced. —P.G.  Wine Enthusiast Magazine.

Meal of the week-

All right lets talk about some pinwheel steak.  Here in Boise we have a cool store called
Boise Co-op http://www.boisecoop.com.  They have a huge wine selection, great meat department and plenty of organic products not to mention a great beer selection.  In their meat department they have a few items already prepared and ready for you to take home and cook.  One dish they typically have is the Pinwheel Steak.  This is where I fell in love with it.  Since then I have seen it at other meat departments such as Fred Meyers and even Costco’s but I also think it is easy enough to fix myself.  So here is what you need.  I grabbed this off some cooking site a while ago and have modified almost every time I try it.    

1 1/2 lb. top round steak
1 (10 oz.) pkg. frozen spinach
1/4 c. Parmesan cheese
4 oz. cream cheese
4 slices bacon, cooked
2 spring onions, chopped
1 clove garlic, chopped

So spend a few moments thinning your steak and tenderizing it, your shooting for 1/4 inch thick.  You know pound the crap out of it.  Make a few medium deep slices in the meat.  I like to sprinkle meat tenderizer and run some Worchester Sauce on the meat here as well. Thaw out the Spinach and drain the water from it.  Mix together your cream cheese, spinach chopped onions, and chopped garlic and parmesan cheese.  I have also added parsley flakes in as well just for color. Spread this mixture across your steak.  Leave the edges less covered or bare.   Cook your bacon and lay it across the spread.  Roll the steak from on end to the other and use a couple toothpicks to hold the roll. Place it in a pan with a little oil in the bottom (not much) and cover with a lid.  Cook on one side for about 5 minutes and then flip and cook for another 4-5 minutes. 

It is really juicy and the taste usually burst out of it.  My wife and I served this dish once when we hosted 8 guest and it went really well since we where able to cook all of the steaks at once. 

Please read the next post for wine of the week.  I figured I would split the two.  Should be up in a couple hours.