This has to be a first, two posts in a row where Tom actually ate with me. Don't worry, I won't have to change my blog name any time soon, he is still not going to try 90% of what I make, I just happened to get lucky picking two beef dishes. BUT I actually used bison for this meal, and he liked it. If you have not cooked with bison I highly recommend it. It has all the flavor of beef with less fat and calories. The recipe came from a Rachael Ray cookbook.
You will need: Some mushrooms, ground meat, arugula, blue cheese, garlic, onion, tomato, worcestershire sauce, broth, and some bread.
Chop up your garlic.
Chop up your onion. I am using onion and shallot, because that is what I had!
Slice up your tomato.
Get your meat, onion and worcestershire together in a bowl, or a cute Pyrex dish.
Combine and make into patties. These are huge, but they shrink down when you cook them. Season them with salt and pepper and drizzle with a little bit of olive oil.
Crumble your blue cheese if it is not already in crumble form.
Now we can cook! Get two pans on the stove, one with a little butter and olive oil.
Get your burgers down in one, cook for five minutes on each side.
While those cook get your mushrooms in the pan. Don't touch them for a few minutes then give them a stir.
Add in the onions and garlic and a little salt and pepper. Check those burgers!
Add in the broth or stock, bring it to a boil and let it simmer for about 2 minutes.
Right about now you want to start toasting the bread.
Stir in the blue cheese and you are ready to get this thing on a plate!
Get some arugula and tomato down on the bread and then top with the burger and the mushroom and cheese mixture.
This was so fabulous. I can't even blame the dog for this blurry picture. I think I was just so hungry and wanting to eat this that I couldn't get a good photo. Trust me, it was delicious and you want to try this!

Quick Kofte

When I first came across this recipe in my Cooking Light Quick Cooking cookbook I didn't even know what a Kofte was. So I checked out wikipedia and learned the following:

"Kofte is a Middle Eastern and South Asian meatball or meatloaf.
In the simplest form, koftas consist of balls of minced or ground meat—usually beef or lamb—mixed with spices and/or onions. The vegetarian varieties, like lauki kofta and shahi aloo kofta, are popular in India."

Sounds simple and delicious to me. Guess who else thought the same, my husband! Yes, this meal was shared with him and he had seconds!






You will need some pita bread, allspice, cinnamon, cumin, red pepper, tomato paste, a tomato, (oops missed the photo shoot) garlic, bread crumbs, ground meat of your choice, onion, yogurt and an egg.

OR you can use flax seed meal mixed with water instead of an egg. I have just discovered this little trick and it works great! Eggs are on the husbands NO WAY NEVER list so he was excited to see that I found an alternative. You can see him lurking in the picture above, but he is not inspecting the ingredients, he is actually on the phone with my nephew helping him study for his spelling test. Because he is totally awesome like that :)

OK lets get cooking. Preheat your broiler and lets go!


I first mixed my flax and water as it needs a couple of minutes to combine.


Chopping the onion is really the only prep!


Combine everything but the pita, yogurt and tomato.


Form them into patties on a pan sprayed with cooking spray and get them in the broiler. Flip them after about 4 minutes and then cook another 4. While these cook slice up your tomato. I missed getting photos of this because I was busy opening windows to get the smoke out of my kitchen.

I have never broiled meat this way, but it was a smoky endeavor! And I should have used a more substantial pan instead of my cheap $5 cookie sheet.


But they turned out delicious, and the best thing about the $5 pan is I can just throw it out and start over. But I was able to clean this up pretty easily.


Line the inside of the pita with the yogurt, stuff a patty in there and top with tomato. Seriously this was so delicious. The spices in the meat are not over powering at all, it is just enough to make you stop and wonder what that yummy flavor is. As I said earlier, my husband, Tom, had two of these and had the leftovers the next day. I apologize the photo is not so great, the table kept shaking...

Earthquake, you ask??


Nope, hungry Boston Terrier wants to give this a try :)

I hope you all have a great weekend!

German Meatballs

Did you know today is National Pickle Day? I didn't either, but my Food Network calendar alerted me to this great holiday. This recipe actually has pickle relish in the sauce. Sound weird? Well, it was actually very delicious.


The recipe is from an old Cooking for 2 cookbook I picked up at a thrift store.


You will need some lemon, bread crumbs, beef broth, worcestershire sauce, eggs, ground meat, flour, pickle relish, parsley, onion powder and some noodles to serve.


Lets get this German party started! Beat up one egg.


Combine the first 8 ingredients listed in the recipe. Just use your hands, its the easiest way to go.


Form the mixture into meat balls. Mine are on a cute Corelle plate, of course.


Put them in a pan with the beef broth. Layers of flavor, the only way to go!


Cover and simmer these guys for about 30 minutes. Meanwhile, get some water boiling for your noodles.


So this looks TOTALLY gross, but you just have to skim off all that nasty fat and you will be good to go. Get the balls out of the pan and start removing fat.


Still looking pretty darn disgusting, but I promise it gets better.


Combine the flour with cold water...


Gradually pour it into the simmering broth...


Add in the worcestershire sauce and the pickle relish and stir stir stir until it thickens. Drain your noodles and get ready to eat!


Get the noodles in a bowl and top with the meatballs, sauce and a little parsley. This was so good, the ultimate comfort food and a great way to celebrate National Pickle Day!

Picante Roast Beef by Robin Miller

You won't believe this but I am not making chicken thighs! I am actually making a quick and easy roast beef dish that will warm you up as I know most of the country and some parts of the world are freezing. This is a quick meal you can make after a long day at work. It comes from Robin Miller of the Food Network. I cut this recipe in half.

2 teaspoons olive oil
1/2 cup diced onions
2 to 3 cloves garlic, minced
12 ounces sliced roast beef, sliced into strips
1 (14-ounce) can diced tomatoes
1 (4-ounce) can minced green chiles
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1 teaspoon ground cumin
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro leaves
Salt and ground black pepper

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onion and garlic and saute 3 minutes, until soft. Add roast beef slices and saute 3 to 5 minutes, until browned on all sides, stirring frequently. Add tomatoes, jalapenos, lime juice, and cumin and stir to combine. Bring to a simmer and cook 5 minutes, to heat through and reduce slightly. Remove from heat and stir in cilantro. Season, to taste, with salt and black pepper.




We need some ingredients to start out. Grab some sliced roast beef, lime juice (fresh is best), onion, olive oil, green chiles (or jalapenos if you like it hot), canned tomatoes, cumin, garlic and cilantro (or parsley if you don't like cilantro like me).




Chop the roast beef into strips.




Dice your onion and garlic.




Combine the tomatoes with the cumin, lime juice and the green chiles. I did this in my awesome little Pyrex mixing bowl.




Store the leftovers in cute little Pyrex containers. You could use these on some nachos later or in some chili.

Once you are all prepped you can cook. This will be done in no time at all.




Get some oil in a pan and drop in the onion and garlic. Cook for just a couple of minutes until the onions have softened.




Drop in the roast beef and cook this for 3-5 minutes. You want to get it browned all over so stir it around.




Stir in the tomato mixture and let this simmer for 5 minutes.

While this simmers I made some of my new favorite rice.




This is from Trader Joes and is quick and easy. I know its not going to be as delicious as making it myself, but sometimes I want rice and I want it now!




Can't get much easier than that. You could also serve this beef dish on rolls if you prefer.




Once the simmering is through, remove it from the heat and stir in the herbs. You are ready to eat!




Talk about fast, filling and pretty low in fat. This would probably be pretty good with some roasted turkey also, if you are not a red meat fan. Enjoy and stay warm!