Grilled flank steak with chimichurri

What the heck is chimichurri? First of all, it is so good you may never eat ketchup or steak sauce on your steak again. It is a sauce made from garlic, herbs, olive oil and vinegar common from Argentina all the way north to Nicaragua. Lots of variations, as you can imagine, but this versions comes from Rachel Ray--minus about half the olive oil. You won't miss it.

Flank steak with chimichurri

• Handful of parsley
• Leaves from 4 stems fresh oregano
• Leaves from 5 sprigs of sage
• Leaves from 6 stems fresh thyme
• 2 garlic cloves, minced or crushed
• 1/2 purple onion, finely chopped
• 2-3 Tablespoons of red wine vinegar
• 2-3 Tablespoons of olive oil

Chop the herbs finely with a big, sharp knife (see Greek turkey burgers post). Just keep piling the herbs up and chopping them and again until they are all mixed up and chopped and too small to tell which herb is what. Mix the herbs with the onions and garlic and add vinegar and olive oil. You can make it ahead of time, but it doesn't require much time for the flavors to blend. You really don't have to measure the oil and vinegar--just pour a little in there until it looks right. Do not get out a measuring spoon for this!

• 1-1.5 pound flank steak -- you can use almost any boneless cut of steak, but flank steak is really lean without being dry. Skirt steak is more traditional but has a lot more fat.

Season as you like, but Rachel Ray recommends Montreal steak seasoning and it works. Drizzle with just a little olive oil and rub it in to the meat; then sprinkle on your seasoning. Cook on the grill or I use the grill pan on my range. Don't overcook it--you have to figure out how long to cook on each side depending on how hot your grill is. You can also use a meat thermometer to get to 160 degrees for medium. If you cook it more than this, it will be tough and taste like cardboard. After the steak is cooked, let it rest--that means let it sit on the cutting board for a few minutes before slicing against the grain. Serve the steak with the chimichurri.

Nathan made sweet potato fries to go with our steak, but that is his recipe. Maybe I will post that sometime, but I will have to find out how he makes them--so good and my boys eat them up. We also had fresh corn on the cob. Mmmmm...sounds yummy, right? Well, don't just sit there drooling, get up and cook something!

Pan-seared talapia with asparagus

This was so good--I have made this before and I thought of it this afternoon. It is really tasty and very healthy, but it tastes fairly decadent.

• Talapia--Fresh fish is the best, but if you live in East Texas or any other land-locked area of the US, I give you permission to use frozen fish (gasp!) There are some very decent frozen talapia filets that are individually wrapped. These filets are just the right size (3-5 oz) for a healthy serving of fish.
• Half lemon
• Olive oil

Spray olive oil in large, hot skillet. Salt and pepper the fillets and sear in the olive oil--don't overcook! Squeeze the lemon half over the fish while it is cooking. You only need to cook for 2-3 minutes per side. When done, place fillets on a real plate (not a paper one) and cover with foil or another plate to keep warm.

• 1 medium shallot--thinly sliced
• 3-4 cloves garlic--thinly sliced or minced
• 1 pat butter
• 1/4 cup chicken broth
• 1/4 cup white wine
• 1 tsp thyme

Spray the pan with olive oil again and add just a pat of butter. Saute the shallots and garlic together until soft. Then pour about 1/4 cup of chicken broth and 1/4 cup of white wine in to deglaze the pan. (Deglaze--don't you just love that word--sounds so fancy! Actually Add the thyme. You really don't have to measure any of this. Just put a few glugs of chicken broth and a few glugs of wine, then add just sprinkle in some dried thyme or, better yet, the leaves from several sprigs of fresh thyme. Let it simmer for 5-10 minutes to thicken slightly. Pour the sauce over the fish and sprinkle with the slivered almonds.

• Fresh
• Half lemon

Salt and pepper the asparagus and spray with olive oil spray. I like to cook them on a grill pan on the stove top, but you could also use a wok or another large skillet. Salt and pepper the asparagus and squeeze the lemon over when almost done cooking. Cook 10 - 12 minutes turning with tongs every few minutes.

What about the kids? My boys actually love the fish with just a little sauce--just no shallots on the plate! I have to make them eat an asparagus, but I usually make some broccoli along for them as well. Sending the kids camping with Grammy and Papi also solves the problem!

Steamed chile relleno

A healthy chile relleno? Seriously? That is not really the point of chile rellenos! But this is actually one of our favorite dinners. Nathan loves this. This is not a Tex-Mex relleno, but more traditional. The first time I had this kind of chile relleno was in Guadalajara with my dad and sister. Also similar to the chile rellenos at Z-Tejas in Austin (mmmmm....Z-Tejas!)

Sorry...I'm back. I had to stop and daydream about Z-Tejas for a minute.

So actually, before you stop reading, I will tell you that this is NOT the healthiest dish that I make. But much healthier than the typical so here it goes.

Sunni's Chile Rellenos

• Poblano peppers -- you have to soften these to stuff them. Either blanch or roast them. More fun to roast them--just stick a fork in the stem end and hold them directly over the flame on a gas stove or gas grill. (Maybe why my pyromaniac husband loves this recipe --one way to get him to help with dinner!) If you are making more than 2 you may just want to throw them in a pot of boiling water for a few minutes to soften them. Then while they are hot put them in a glass baking dish (just big enough to hold all your peppers) and put a glass lid or saran wrap over them. Set aside to let cool

• Chicken breast--season chicken with season salt, pepper and garlic powder and cook wih a little onion in a skillet with a little olive oil or use leftover grilled or rotisserie chicken. Cut into small bite-sized pieces
• Cheese --cheddar, monterrey jack or blend
• Dried fruit-- apricots, raisins, dried cranberries (some or all)
• Nuts--pecans, walnuts, pine nuts (some or all)

Mix chicken, cheese, fruit and nuts together in a bowl (Hint: don't worry about mixing just the right amount. Make a little more than you need and freeze your mixture in a freezer baggie. Then next time you want chile rellenos you can just grab the mix out of the freezer to stuff your peppers and it saves a lot of time)

After peppers have cooled slightly and steamed a little in the dish, you can cut the stem out with a sharp knife--then just reach in a take out any seeds that are left--you can also rinse them inside and out to help get out all the seeds--then scoop in your meat and cheese mixture (OK, I know the nut and fruit thing sounds a little weird, but it tastes SO GOOD all mixed up with the cheese--oh, I cannot even tell you! I suppose you could just leave out the fruit and nuts, but I do not know why you would!) Also I have used fat free cheese, and it is not bad.

After your chiles are stuffed, put them back in the baking dish and and cover with the lid or the saran wrap. Then just pop them in the microwave for 4-5 minutes. Steamed, not fried., and really yummy!

• Sauce--our favorite sauce is just canned verde sauce (Herdez brand--from the Mexican section at the store) mixed with light sour cream or, better yet, Greek yogurt. Just mix them together to the desired consistency and warm it up slightly in the microwave and serve it over the relleno.

You can eat this with beans and rice or just by itself.

What am I going to feed the kids? Probably not this. Tonight, my kids ate cheese quesadillas--they are not big fans of peppers. But they can also eat some of the grilled chicken and they like to dip their chicken and quesadillas in light sour cream. This recipe has a little spice, but not really spicy. Nevertheless, Seth told me tonight that he would never try chile rellenos--oh well, more for me!