Herbert Rubbed Flank Steak

Finally, a meal without a blonde moment! Today I made Herb Rubbed Flank Steak with asparagus. Whenever I hear the word herb it reminds me of my brother. Every year we celebrate passover with family and we have a short service before we eat. During the service everyone must read different sections of the book. It was my brothers turn to read and he says. "Why do we eat bitter herbs?", but instead of saying "urb" he pronounces it "hurb". Coincidentally, our grandfathers name is Herb and we will never let my brother forget that slip up. Back to dinner...

Herb Flank Steak

Ingredients

2 tbs fresh thyme

2 tbs fresh oregano

2-3tbs olive oil

pinch of salt

pinch of pepper

1 clove garlic- minced

1 1/2 lb. flank steak- trimmed

1/4 cup red wine

1/4 cup beef broth

Chop thyme and oregano and place in a small bowl. Add the next 3 ingredients and set aside.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

In a large pan brown flank steak (about 1 min per side)

Add the wine and beef broth and cook for 1 minute

Put herb mixture over the top of the steak and place in the oven.

Cook in the oven for 10 minutes.

Let steak rest for 10 minutes on a cutting board. Cut steak very thin and on a diagonal against the grain.

I pour the left over juice in a sauce pan and let it reduce while the steak is resting. I also add about a tablespoon of flour to thicken the sauce.

*Make sure the steak is about room temperature before you brown it.

*Let the steak rest or all the juices will not redistribute and will be all over your cutting board.

Jalapenos

I absolutely love spicy food, especially jalapenos, I eat them with everything. At Taco Bell I get Mexican pizza with jalapenos, I put them in burritos, on top of pizza, on hamburgers and I eat them in ice cream! I know that not everyone is as crazy as I am about jalapenos, but if you ever want to cook with them there are a few rules you should follow!

For dinner tonight I am making Black Bean Burgers with Mango Salsa. This is a great recipe and it is very easy to make, but it can be dangerous. You see, last time I made this dish I nearly burned my eyes out! This recipe calls for 1 jalapeno, so I cut the pepper in half and scrapped out the membrane and seeds so it would not be too spicy. I then cut it up into tiny pieces and mixed it into my black bean burgers. I then went and washed my hands with hot water and soap. As we were about to sit down to our black bean burgers my nose started burning and a few minutes later my eyes were burning so badly that they felt like they were on fire. I ran to the sink and stuck my face under the spout. Apparently, all the jalapeno did not wash away from my hands and the residual was now in my nose and both eyes. It burned my eyes the whole night, it was absolutely terrible! I have now learned that every time you cut a hot pepper you MUST wear gloves!!!

Here is the Black bean burger recipe for you to try. If you are not crazy about jalapenos then you can always leave them out. Also this is a vegetarian recipe and the product taste nothing like a burger it tastes like black beans. So if your expecting a juicy burger this is not the right recipe for you. This is a flavorful, healthy black bean patty topped with mango salsa. Yummy!

Black Bean Burger with Mango Salsa

Ingredients

2 cans black beans

1/2 cup cilantro

2 tsp cumin

1 tsp dried oregano

1/4 cup Panko bread crumbs

2 egg whites

3/4 cup monterey jack cheese (shredded)

1 jalapeno (membrane and seeds removed-dices into tiny pieces)

2 mangos

1 avocado

1/4 cup chopped cilantro

Juice of 1 lime

pinch of salt

pinch of pepper

1 shallot chopped

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

To make burgers:

Drain black beans and rinse in a colander. Put beans in a large bowl and mash with a potato masher. Add in the rest of the ingredients from first list and mix together.

Line a cookie sheet with tin foil and spray with olive oil or canola oil.

Form patties from the mix- you should be able to make about 6 small burgers or 4 large burgers.

Cook in the oven at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Turn the burgers over half way through.

To make mango salsa:

Cut the avocado and mango into small cubes. To cube these- cut the fruit's flesh while it is in the skin. (picture shown below) Then use a spoon to remove the flesh.

Add lime, salt, pepper, shallot, cilantro and mix!

To put the burgers together I use whole-wheat hamburger buns and toast them in the oven. I then add lettuce, mango salsa, crunchy onions, shredded monterey jack cheese and extra jalapenos.

Happy Cooking!

Mushroom Risotto with Mascarpone Cheese

For dinner tonight I made mushroom risotto. Typically risotto is looked at as a complicated dish to make, but this recipe is very easy! It is also lighter in fat and calories than many other risottos. I urge everyone to try this recipe!

Mushroom Risotto with Mascarpone

Ingredients

2 small packages dried porcini mushrooms

1 can beef broth

1 cup arborio rice

2 garlic cloves minced

3/4 cup shallots finely chopped

1/2 cup dry white wine (use a good wine!)

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

1/2 cup parmesan cheese

1 tbs fresh thyme (if you don't have fresh- use 1 tsp dry thyme because it is stronger)

mascarpone cheese

extra thyme leaves for garnish

Boil 2 cups of water in a small pot. Once water is at a boil turn off heat and add the dried porcini mushroom. Let stand for 30 minutes.

Remove mushrooms from liquid. Add 1(14 oz can) of beef broth to the mushroom water and bring to a simmer.

Chop mushrooms into small pieces and set aside for later.

Spray a large frying pan with olive oil or canola oil. Add the garlic, shallots and rice and cook until shallots are tender and rice is lightly browned. (About 5 minutes)

Make sure flame is on medium-high heat.

Add 1/2 cup of wine, stir consistently until most of the wine is absorbed.

Add 1 cup of broth and stir until absorbed (about 5 minutes)

Keep adding broth 1/2 cup at a time until all liquid has been used.

If rice is still not tender you can add water or more beef broth in the same fashion until the rice is tender . The process usually takes me about 45 minutes for rice to become tender.

Once rice is tender add in salt, pepper, chopped thyme leaves, parmesan cheese, and mushrooms.

Serve immediately. This recipe makes 4 servings.

Garnish with mascarpone cheese and thyme leaves.

Happy Cooking!

Nectarine Problem

At my house we have a small nectarine tree in the backyard. Every other year our tree grows good sized nectarines, but this year it has grown millions of tiny nectarines...many of them are so small you can barely get one good bite out of them. So here is my problem...

The nectarines on my tree have all decided to ripen at one time and since they are so good I did not want them to go to waste. I spent about half an hour picking two bowls full of these little fruit and had no idea what to do with them. I decided I would make a nectarine pie. It sounded easy enough, but I did not think this idea completely through until it was too late! First, I had to peel the skin off of the nectarines which was a huge challenge to start off with. I sat and cut a tiny X with a knife on each nectarine then I threw them in boiling water for 20 seconds. I then had to sit there and peel about 150 of these tiny nectarines. It took me about an hour to get all of the little suckers peeled. Then I realized there is a pit inside each and every one of them. I then had to sit for another hour carefully cutting the flesh of the fruit away from the pit. This was not an easy task...the nectarines were so small and slippery that I nearly cut a finger off several times. So after about 2 and 1/2 hours I was finally ready to make my pie...

I went to my fridge to get a pillsbury pie crust out, but I could not find any! I didn't realize I had forgotten to take it out of the freezer to thaw! Because I am impatient I thought it would be alright to defrost the pie crust in the microwave...WRONG! Never do this! I microwaved the pie crust on defrost mode for about 30 seconds and when I took it out it had turned to liquid. Blonde Moment! The box clearly states that you should not microwave the pie crusts! Needless to say I had to throw away that crust. Luckily Pillsbury crusts come in a package of two. I let the crust sit out for about an hour and then finally I was ready to assemble my pie. Here is the recipe I made up!

Nectarine Pie

Ingredients

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup flour

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp nutmeg

1 lb nectarines- about 8 large nectarines (peaches also work)

1 Pillsbury pie crust (our make your own)

Cut a small X on the bottom of each nectarine and put in boiling water for 20-30 seconds. Allow to cool and the peel should easily slip off. Cut the nectarines into small chunks and place in a large bowl. Mix in all of the ingredients, stirring gently.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

On a tin foil lined cookie sheet place the unrolled pillsbury pie crust. Add the nectarine mixture to the center of the crust leaving about 1 1/2 to 2 inches around the sides. Fold the crust onto the nectarine mixture being careful not to press down too hard.

Spray canola oil or brush butter onto the visible crust so it will brown.

Bake in the oven for 30-45 minutes or until crust is golden brown in color and nectarine mixture is not runny.

Enjoy!

The pie turned out amazing. Fresh nectarines are the best. I do not want to discourage anyone from making this pie because of my story. Remember that I had very unusual sized nectarines and I can assure you it will not take you 3 hours to make! I would say the prep time is about 30 minutes at most...you have to wait for the water to boil.

Happy Cooking!

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Why I Created This Blog...

My name is Jessica and I am a blonde. I would never say blondes are dumb and the people who do are just jealous, but I will say I have had my fair share of "blonde moments". Unfortunately, these "blonde moments" will never be forgotten by my family and friends and I have been the butt of many jokes. A few of my remarks have been, "How many One-A-Day vitamins am I supposed to take?" and " What time does 24 Hour Fitness close?" I'm sure you can understand why I have been the center of many blonde jokes.

I have always loved to cook, but regrettably my blondness has also followed me to the kitchen. Many of my recipes have been successful while others have lead to disaster. This is the reason I have created this blog. In a previous cooking experiences I tried to make pumpkin bread...

I absolutely love this recipe! I obtained this recipe from my kindergarten classroom when we made pumpkin bread as a class for the thanksgiving holiday. We mixed all the ingredients together and decorated our coffee cans to look like turkeys. The kitchen lady, Sheila, baked all of our breads in the oven and they came out perfectly moist and delicious. About 15 years later I decided to make this pumpkin bread by myself for our Thanksgiving Feast...this is where the blonde moments come in. Who knew I would be able to mess up a recipe I could make in kindergarten as a 5 year old! I followed the recipe mixing all the ingredients together and the batter looked and smelled delicious. I poured the batter into two bread pans and put them into the oven to bake. The house started to smell of pumpkin and spices and I could not wait to have a piece! Finally they were done and I took them out of the oven to cool...They looked so amazing. Being the impatient person that I am I took the bread out of the pans before they were cooled. The breads looked great and smelled unbelievable. I went to cut into the pumpkin bread and batter stared to seep out from where I made the first cut. I thought that was kind of strange so I picked up the loaf to see what the problem was...as I picked it up the loaf cracked in half and batter started pouring out of the middle. It was as if I had just cracked an egg and the yolk and whites ran all over the cutting board. My twin brothers came in and started yelling "What did you do?" I checked back over my recipe to see what the problem was...maybe it wasn't finished cooking, but as I looked at the recipe I could now see two more ingredients that I had missed before...baking soda...baking powder. How in the world could I have left the most important ingredients out of my bread!

Now, you must realize that I wrote this recipe on a piece of paper when I was 5 years old, so the recipe was not very easy to read and because of this my pumpkin bread was ruined and had to be thrown away. Needless to say I made another batch, this time making sure to add the baking soda and powder and it turned out delightful.

Here is my kindergarten pumpkin bread recipe for you to enjoy...just make sure you remember to use all of the ingredients!

Pumpkin Bread Recipe

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees

Ingredients

1 cup vegetable oil

1 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp nutmeg

4 eggs

1 cup canned pumpkin

2/3 cup water

2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp baking powder

Mix all of the above ingredients together in a large bowl. Slowly add in 3 cups of flour and 3 cups of sugar. Make sure there are no lumps!

Grease 2 bread pans with shorting or butter. Split batter between the two pans.

Bake in the oven for 60 minutes at 350 degrees...Enjoy!