What's For Dinner?

Before our neighbors roped me into this thing called triathlon, I used to be really "into" cooking. I think my husband probably liked my old hobby better. I still have a great love for eating and feeding others but just don't have the time or desire to spend an entire day preparing lavish meals. On top of that, I have given up wheat and dairy. Not to mention, my older son is allergic to everything on the planet.

I thought it might be fun to share the way I cook now....very different from before. And since all of my 5 readers are triathletes, I thought they might enjoy some suggestions for "training friendly eating". I make up my own recipes (all very simple) and I don't like to take more than 30 minutes to prepare anything. For the most part, I don't.

Here's what we ate tonight: Filet mignon, grilled onions, grilled red potatoes and broccoli with roasted pine nuts. My darling husband burnt the potatoes on the grill a bit but they were still good. I added a little ketchup to dip the potatoes in. Notice there's already a bite missing.

• Before I go into the recipe for this, if you are interested.....there are a handful of ingredients that I try to always have stocked:

• olive oil
• balsamic vinegar
• cooking sherry
• fresh limes
• fresh lemons
• kosher salt
• pepper grinder (fresh ground IS better)
  
• white & brown rice

First I started with the pine nuts for the broccoli. You can find these in with the nuts at the grocery store. Un-roasted, they look like this and only take a few minutes to roast.

In a frying pan, turn burner on to medium heat and stir constantly. They roast quickly so don't walk away or stop stirring.....believe me, I've turned these beautiful nuts into charcoal bits on more than one occasion.
When done, they should look like this:

Potatoes..... I bought red potatoes and sliced them in about 1 inch slices. Marinade ingredients:

• 6-8 red potatoes
  
• 1/2 cup Olive oil
• 1 1/2 tbsp dijon mustard
• 1 tbsp worcestershire sauce
• 5 shakes of tobasco sauce
• 3-4 cloves of minced cloves of garlic (or 1 1/2 tbsp pre-minced garlic)
• fresh or dried herbs (oregano, thyme, rosemary)
• kosher salt & fresh ground pepper to taste

The grocery store was out of fresh rosemary so I just used some dried thyme I had in my spice rack. Place sliced potatoes in a glass baking dish. whisk marinade ingredients in a large measuring cup and pour over potatoes. Place potatoes on grill the same time the steaks go on. These should cook for about 12 mintues.

They should have come off the grill when they looked like the below photo. They taste good when they're a little crispy on the edges......


Now, onto the onions. I have come to the conclusion that ANYTHING marinated in balsamic vinegar and honey, grilled......is GOOD. When coming up with marinades, especially for the grill, I like to have an acid (vinegar, lime/lemon juice...) and either an oil or sugar or both. Sugar and the grill are a good mix because it caramelizes and you can't go wrong there.

I took a vidalia sweet onion, sliced it in 1 inch slices, poured some balsamic vinegar over it and drizzled honey on top. These grilled for about 6-8 minutes. I like them still a little crunchy. I think overcooked vegetables are a tragedy. A bite of steak mixed with a bite of onions is tasty.

The broccoli:

• 4 bunches of broccoli (about 5-6 cups cut up)
• 1-2 tbsp olive oil
• 1/4 cup cooking sherry
• 1/3 cup roasted pine nuts.

Heat frying pan on medium heat. Add oil, sherry and garlic until fragrant. Add broccoli and stir to cover. Stir often until broccoli turns bright green. Do not overcook. As you turn off heat, stir in pine nuts.

As far as steak goes, I eat beef at least once a week. I like a tenderloin steak because it is very tender and very lean. Grill as you prefer. I like mine medium and that takes approx 12 mintues total.

I place some fresh ground pepper and kosher salt on the plate next to the steak and dip each bite in the mixture. Again, a VERY simple meal. This is pretty much the way we eat every night. We grill throughout the winter. It's a great way to add flavor to many things without adding sauces and fat. More to come......