Siesta

I cooked a good dinner tonight, which just proves that having a plan means we can eat well - even on a Wednesday.


We ate Mexican for Cinco de Mayo, a holiday we've never celebrated before, but we brought home some flour tortillas from Arizona (as well as some Mexican cane sugar Coca Cola) back at Christmas and it was about time we ate them!


I made these steak fajitas:

steak fajitas with peppers

Prep: 1 hour 

Marinate: 2 to 4 hours 

Cook: 6 minutes 

ingredients

• 12  ounces boneless beef skirt steak or flank steak

•   Marinade:

• 1/3  cup cooking oil
• 1/3  cup lime juice
• 2  fresh jalapeño peppers, seeded and chopped
• 3  Tbsp. sliced green onions (2)
• 2  Tbsp. snipped fresh cilantro
• 1/4  tsp. salt
• 2  cloves garlic, minced
• 8  8-inch flour tortillas
• 1  Tbsp. cooking oil
• 1  medium onion, thinly sliced and separated into rings
• 1  medium red or green sweet pepper, cut into thin strips
• 3/4  cup chopped tomato (1 medium)

•   Purchased Guacamole (optional)
•   Salsa (optional)
•   Dairy sour cream (optional)

directions

1. Trim fat from meat. Partially freeze meat for about 30 minutes. Thinly slice across the grain into bite-size strips. Place strips in a plastic bag set in a deep bowl.

2. Meanwhile, for marinade, in a small mixing bowl, combine the 1/3 cup cooking oil, lime juice, jalapeño peppers, green onions, cilantro, salt, and garlic. Pour marinade over beef strips in bag. Close bag tightly; turn to coat beef strips. Marinate in the refrigerator for 2 to 4 hours, turning bag occasionally.

3. Wrap tortillas tightly in foil. Heat in a 350 degrees F oven about 10 minutes or until heated through.

4. Meanwhile, drain beef strips; discard marinade. In a large skillet heat the 1 tablespoon cooking oil over medium-high heat. Add onion and sweet pepper. Cook and stir about 3 minutes or until vegetables are crisp-tender. Remove vegetables from skillet.

5. Add beef to the hot skillet. Cook and stir for 2 to 3 minutes or until done. Drain well. Return all vegetables to skillet. Stir in tomato. Cook and stir for 1 to 2 minutes or until heated through.

6. To serve, fill warm tortillas with beef-vegetable mixture. If desired, top with guacamole, salsa, and sour cream. Roll up tortillas. Makes 4 servings.

Make-Ahead Directions: Prepare the filling as directed. Cover and chill for up to 24 hours.

nutrition facts

• Calories 479, Total Fat (g) 19, Saturated Fat (g) 4, Cholesterol (mg) 40, Sodium (mg) 801, Carbohydrate (g) 54, Fiber (g) 1, Protein (g) 23, Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet

And we served them with this salsa, which must be making the popularity rounds because I got the recipe from 2 different people in the last week:

avocado-feta salsa

Makes: 12 (1/4 cup) servings

Prep: 20 minutes 

Chill: 2 hours 

ingredients

• 2  plum tomatoes, chopped
• 1  avocado, halved, seeded, peeled, and chopped
• 1/4  cup finely chopped red onion
• 1  clove garlic, minced
• 1  Tbsp. snipped fresh parsley
• 1  Tbsp. snipped fresh oregano
• 1  Tbsp. olive oil
• 1  Tbsp. red or white wine vinegar
• 4  oz. feta cheese, coarsely crumbled

•   Pita chips or tortilla chips

directions

1. In a medium bowl combine tomatoes, avocado, onion, garlic, parsley, oregano, oil, and vinegar. Stir gently to mix. Gently stir in feta cheese. Cover and chill for 2 hours or up to 6 hours. Serve salsa with pita or tortilla chips. Makes 12 (1/4 cup) servings.

nutrition facts

• Servings Per Recipe 12 (1/4 cup) servings Calories 63, Total Fat (g) 5, Saturated Fat (g) 2, Monounsaturated Fat (g) 3, Polyunsaturated Fat (g) 0, Cholesterol (mg) 8, Sodium (mg) 106, Carbohydrate (g) 3, Total Sugar (g) 1, Fiber (g) 1, Protein (g) 2, Vitamin C (DV%) 7, Calcium (DV%) 5, Iron (DV%) 1, Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet

I haven't really used Better Homes and Gardens for recipes before, but the food was DYNAMITE and I will visit again when I want to try something new.

For dessert we had Mexican Brownies (from Family Fun Magazine), which aren't even my favourite brownies so why have I eaten 3 squares?

Mexican Brownies

3 oz unsweetened chocolate squares

1/2 c butter

Melt together, then cool 15 minutes

3 eggs whisked till foamy

1 c sugar

3/4 c brown sugar

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

Whisk together till well combined, then add in cooled chocolate mixture till thoroughly combined.

3/4 c flour

1/2 t baking powder

1/4 t salt

1/2 t cinnamon

Mix, then stir into wet ingredients

Fold in 1 c chopped pecans

Bake 350 x 20-25 minutes in a 9x13 pan.

Right now I am having a modern siesta, which involves vegg-ing in front of my laptop.  It's probably not as rejuvenating as a real siesta, but somehow it is the path of least resistance.

Other thoughts that have been on my mind following 2-weekends-in-a-row of continuing education courses:

1. Omega-3, people!  Reduce the inflammation in your body! (flossing helps, to)
2. Change Theory is pretty much the repentance process.
3. And the most fascinating dental information I've heard in a long time:  stem cells can be found in the pulp chambers of teeth, and they're being used to grow organs!  So maybe instead of throwing away our wisdom teeth (or baby teeth if you catch them at just the right stage of wiggly-ness) we should bank them here.  How's that for a non-controversial stem cell source?

And with today being Cinco de Mayo and the fact that my nephew is going to learn Spanish this summer in order to teach the gospel in Paraguay for a couple of years, I'll say good night:

Buenas noches.