Asian Steak and Noodle Salad

January 26, 2013 by · 7 Comments

I am trying to give you all some flavorful and healthy recipes this month – because I know everyone is trying to be good right now:-). This is a salad that I could eat once a week. It is an adapted recipe from Pioneer Woman and Iowa Girl Eats and possibly Epicurious.

I made a very similar recipe last year and I could have sworn that it was from Epicurious. However when I went to dig up the recipe I could not for the life of me find it! I knew it had flank steak, noodles and spinach. It was also Asian flavored. But for whatever reason I couldn’t find the darn recipe. So, I searched through some of my favorite blogs and found two recipes – one here and the other here.

I think what I love most about this recipe is that it is a noodle and green leaf salad. I get my pasta and my salad all in one meal! The sweet/salty soy dressing and marinated flank steak is just perfect and somewhat addicting – especially when you kick up the heat a few notches with the sriracha – YUM!

You can serve this with all of the ingredients cold or you can serve it while the steak and noodles are still slightly warm. This wilts the veggies a bit which I love.

As I am writing I am thinking about the different combinations you could do with this. You could swap out the flank steak for chicken or even tofu. You could swap out the green onions for some fried onions or even some thinly sliced red onions. I might also like this with some cashews or water chestnuts. Wow, I am getting hungry and I need to stop thinking about this salad.

Seriously, you need to try this one – sooo good!

Asian Steak and Noodle Salad
 
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Ingredients
  • 1 Asian Flank Steak Recipe – Prepared
  • Dressing:
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 2 tablespoons soy sauce
  • 1 tablespoon teaspoon honey
  • 1 Tablespoon lime juice
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 2 teaspoons fresh ginger, minced
  • Salad
  • ½ bag of baby spinach – washed
  • 12 oz angel hair pasta
  • red or yellow pepper – sliced into thin 2 inch strips
  • 3 green onions sliced thin (white and green parts)
  • Chopped Cilantro
  • handful of sunflower seeds
  • Sriracha

Instructions
  1. Cook flank steak according to directions here. Slice into thin strips.
  2. Combine dressing ingredients and set aside.
  3. Cook pasta according to directions on box.
  4. Slice peppers and green onion. Chop cilantro.
  5. To put salad together place spinach in the bottom of your salad bowl and then add pepper and green onions. Place pasta and steak on top of your vegetables. sprinkle with cilantro, sunflower seeds a sriracha if desired. Add dressing and toss to coat evenly.
  6. Enjoy!

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Baked Shrimp with Orzo and Feta

January 15, 2013 by · 4 Comments

Baked Shrimp with Orzo and Feta

This is a GREAT recipe.

We had it on a rainy Saturday night when we couldn’t grill (yes we are still grilling in January), but it is certainly easy enough to prepare on a weekday night.  Once you cook the pasta, everything bakes together in a foil package. Easy peasy!

The entire family of critics loved it and the flavor is amazing.    Okay, so one child picked out the peppers and the other child almost passed when we made her try a cherry tomato, but otherwise it was a hit.  Jim particularly loved it as I knew he would.  There isn’t much to not like about this one.

A friend at work told me about this recipe and it comes from Cooking Light.  Another score because it is pretty light.  To make it even more healthy you could use some whole wheat pasta or maybe even some brown rice or quinoa?  You could also change-up the veggies as much as you would like.  I added the peppers, but I also thought about adding some zucchini.

The recipe calls for a foil bag, but I didn’t have any and wasn’t about to run to the store.  I just used foil and made my own tent.  The important thing is to make sure no steam escapes while it bakes.  I doubled up on the foil and that did the trick.

What you have when it finishes cooking are the wonderful flavors of basil, lemon and feta on top of the shrimp, pasta and veggies….so, so, so good!

Folks, if you are looking for a different dish to add to your weekend OR weekday meal rotation try this one out.  It will be a keeper, I am sure!

Enjoy!

Baked Shrimp with Orzo and Feta
 
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Ingredients
  • 1 regular-size foil oven bag ( made my own – just make sure no steam can escape)
  • Cooking spray
  • ½ cup uncooked orzo
  • 2 teaspoons olive oil, divided
  • 1 cup diced vegetables (I used cherry tomatoes and yellow peppers)
  • ¾ cup sliced green onions
  • ½ cup (2 ounces) crumbled feta cheese
  • ½ teaspoon grated lemon rind
  • 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • ¼ teaspoon black pepper
  • ¾ pound large shrimp, peeled and deveined
  • ¼ cup chopped fresh basil

Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 450°.
  2. Coat inside of oven bag with cooking spray. Place the bag on a large shallow baking pan.
  3. Cook the pasta in boiling water 5 minutes; drain.
  4. Place the pasta in a large bowl. Stir in 1 teaspoon oil and next 7 ingredients (1 teaspoon oil through pepper). Place the orzo mixture in prepared oven bag. Combine shrimp and basil. Arrange shrimp mixture on orzo mixture. Seal bag tightly.
  5. Bake at 450° for 25 minutes or until the shrimp are done. Carefully cut bag open and drizzle with remaining teaspoon of olive oil.

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Chili Lime Baked Sweet Potato Fries

January 8, 2013 by · 4 Comments

Chili Lime Sweet Potato Fries

Happy New Year! I am slow getting back from the holidays because I have been sick since the day after Christmas. I am one of those people that had flu-like symptoms, but I didn’t actually have the flu. I had ear infections, sinus infections, stomach bug, cough, cold, fever chills, headache – good times.  I feel much better now except one ear is still clogged up which is incredibly annoying.  I will take this over some of the other symptoms I had.

I did manage to get back to the gym yesterday and today – yippee.  I wasn’t really up for a whole lot, but I managed to do 40 and 30 minutes on the elliptical which is more than I thought I would do.  I honestly didn’t feel like going back but I told myself I could take it easy and once I got going it wasn’t too bad.  That is a good tactic by the way.  Whenever I don’t feel like going to the gym I tell myself I can take it easy that night.  That makes it easier to get there and then I usually find that I have lots more energy once I get there after about 10-15 minutes.  The key is getting there even when you don’t feel like it.  I can tell my body is still a little bit sick (or recovering), because I am not usually a sweaty person, but I sweat my butt off both days.  Hopefully I am flushing all of the junk out of my system!

I’m  also on the bandwagon of trying to eat as much healthy food as possible after Christmas.  My goal is to pack as many fruits and veggies (and other super-type foods) into my diet as possible.  Portion control is my second food related strategy.  I figure those two tactics along with getting to the gym four days a week will help me shed a few extra pounds this month.

My sister-in-law actually made sweet potato fries over the holidays and I couldn’t wait to get home to recreate my own version. I have to say, making a baked version at home almost tastes better than the fried sweet potatoes I have tried in restaurants. I feel like baking them retains some of the sweetness of the fries that frying might destroy? I also don’t like to overcook them.  Anyways – these were really good and if you have never made sweet potato fries at home you should definitely try these. Food like this makes it easy to eat healthy!

We used organic sweet potatoes and it might just be me, but I have found that organic sweet potatoes taste sooo much better than non-organic.  They seem to be a brighter color and they are a lot sweeter (which makes for a great fry.)   We got these from Trader Joe’s, but I have had them from Whole Foods and Fresh Market and they are sooooo good.

Enjoy!

Chili Lime Sweet Potato Fries
 
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Ingredients
  • 2 organic sweet potatoes
  • 1 tablespoon of olive oil (enough to coat)
  • 1 teaspoon chili powder
  • 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lime juice
  • Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
  2. Peel sweet potatoes and slice into fries. Place on a sheet pan and gently toss with the olive oil, chili powder and lime juice. Spread fries out on pan in an even layer.
  3. Bake for 25-30 minutes until crispy stirring once or twice. Sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste.
  4. Enjoy!

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