The kitchen remodel hasn't killed date night. Just the blogging about them. But here I am, ready to share tonight's menu.
Let's start at the beginning.
Cocktails and Appetizers
We love our Manhattans. They were the signature drink at our wedding. They are the signature drink in our home as well. Really, we do have a "House" Manhattan. Traditionally a Manhattan is made with Rye Whisky, Sweet Vermouth, a dash or so of bitters an garnished with a cherry. You will find them widely made with Bourbon instead.
What do we do at the Saxes? We go half and half. The specific "brands" if you will vary and the results vary as well. The current mix we have is really, I mean REALLY good.
Larceny small batch bourbon, ang High West rye.
Along with our cocktails, we'll be having the absolute easiest appetizer in the world. It's good thing, because dinner was kind of taxing. Mentally mostly, but we'll get there in a minute. Are you ready for it?
Chicken salad stuffed into Tostotos Scoops.
I told you, this was easy-peasy. It's Marriano's rotisserie chicken salad stuffed into Tostitos Scoops. Yum!
Dinner
It's not finished, so I can't post any pictures. Josh requested Beef Stroganoff. I've never eaten it and certainly have never made it. And I am still trying to do Weight Watchers so a creamy, beefy dish seemed to be pushing it. Plus he's working so far away that I've gotten into a crock pot kind of a place for date night so we're not eating at 9:00. A
I found a Weight Watchers, crock pot, beef stroganoff recipe.
I know!
Pinterest is a wonderful think.
I did do a little more research online, and doctored the recipe a little, and plugged it all into the WW recipe builder and came up with a recipe. If it meets Josh's approval, maybe I'll post the recipe later.
Dessert
This is a real winner. I found a recipe for lemon cupcakes. Easy recipe. Box of lemon cake mix, tub of Greek lemon yoghurt, and a cup of water.
I can't leave well enough alone, can I? I amped up the lemon flavor. I added the zest of a lemon to the cake mix and its juice to the water. (I kept the liquid to 1 cup.)
To top the cupcakes, I candied some Meyer lemon slices. Josh never gets anything frosted these days.
Not only had I never made beef stroganoff, I'm not entirely sure that I had ever even tasted it.
But husband loves beef stroganoff and I love husband, so when a recipe for "Reduced-Fat Beef Stroganoff" showed up in my email I decided to give it some thought.
Which I did. For several weeks.
And then I found one of the less familiar to me ingredients (meat tenderizer) and I bought it.
Finally, it seeme time to try it. Last night was after all Date Night.
Here is the recipe (courtesy of Cooks Country):
Flank
steak has a beefier flavor than mild tenderloin; a little meat
tenderizer transformed the thin slices of tough flank steak in a matter
of minutes.
Portobello mushrooms cut into slices and roasted with cooking spray
provided a low-calorie substitute that allowed us to eliminate some of
the meat in our Reduced-Fat Beef Stroganoff. To cut calories in the
cream sauce, fat-free yogurt proved the best alternative to sour cream,
but it curdled instantly when we added it to the base. Stirring egg
white into the yogurt solved the problem.
Traditional recipes have 561 calories, 26 grams of fat, and 12 grams
of saturated fat per serving (1 cup stroganoff and 1 cup cooked
yolk-free egg noodles). Our changes brought the numbers down to 344
calories, 7 grams of fat, and 2 grams of saturated fat.
Serves 6
Serve stroganoff with 6 cups cooked yolk-free egg noodles (you'll need one 1-pound package of dried noodles).
Ingredients
1smallflank steak (1 pound), trimmed of excess fat
1. PREPARE MEAT Adjust
oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 425 degrees. Following
Step by Step photo at left, cut steak lengthwise into 3-inch-wide
strips, then cut each strip crosswise into 1/4-inch-thick slices. Toss
meat and tenderizer together in medium bowl, cover, and refrigerate 15
to 30 minutes.
2. ROAST MUSHROOMS
Meanwhile, spray rimmed baking sheet lightly with cooking spray. Place
mushrooms on prepared baking sheet, spray lightly with cooking spray,
and sprinkle with 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Roast,
stirring once, until golden brown, about 15 minutes; set aside.
3. SEAR STEAK Pat steak
dry with paper towels. Heat 1 teaspoon oil in large nonstick skillet
over medium-high heat until just smoking. Cook half of steak, without
moving it, until browned around edges, 1 to 2 minutes. Toss steak and
cook until no longer pink, about 30 seconds. Transfer to clean medium
bowl. Repeat with additional 1 teaspoon oil and remaining steak.
4. MAKE SAUCE Add onion,
remaining oil, and 1/4 teaspoon salt to now-empty skillet and cook over
medium heat until browned, 6 to 8 minutes. Stir in roasted mushrooms,
flour, and tomato paste and cook until paste begins to darken, about 2
minutes. Add broth, wine, and mustard and bring to boil. Reduce heat to
medium-low and simmer until sauce is slightly thickened, about 5
minutes.
5. FINISH Whisk yogurt
and egg white in small bowl until smooth. Stir steak into sauce, along
with any accumulated juices, and cook until beef is heated through,
about 1 minute. Off heat, add yogurt mixture and parsley. Season with
salt and pepper. Serve.
Changes/mistakes I made:
I'm not sure I had enough portobello mushroom. I think it was okay in the end.
I inadvertently bought fat free VANILLA yogurt, not plain. Thankfully I caught that before I added it to the sauce and had some reduced fat sour cream to us instead. Danger averted!
All in all, I received an A on last night's dinner. (Josh then modified the grade to an A-, but bumped it back to an A for all my effort.)
Cocktail was some thing called a Delmarva.
2 oz Rye Whiskey
.5 oz Amaretto
.5 oz dry vermouth
.25 oz lime juice
This was an interesting choice because classically whiskey is paired with lemon juice (not lime) and sweet vermouth (not dry). Again, it seemed to work.
Appetizers were Alexia cheddar bites and Alexia mushroom bites. When do little fried nuggets of anything not please?
Dinner tonight is a frozen pizza. Finally Digiorno made a pizza that was literally made for us: half pepperoni, half cheese. Woohoo! I don't have to move the pepperonis from my portion to Josh's.
Our best friends are joining us for dinner and Chuck (the 2-hour series finale :-( ) tomorrow. I already have a pasta casserole made that we will eat for dinner along with a garden salad. I also have a variety of "grazing foods" to serve. My girlfriend LOVES stuffed mushrooms, so I will make this recipe:
Ingredients
3 slices firm white sandwich bread
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
20 large (2 to 2 1/2 inches in diameter) white mushrooms (1 lb)
Tear bread into pieces and pulse to coarse crumbs in a
food processor. Transfer to a bowl and toss with oil, 1/4 teaspoon salt,
and 1/8 teaspoon pepper. Spread in a shallow baking pan and bake in
middle of oven until golden, 6 to 8 minutes, then transfer to a bowl.
Pull stems from mushroom caps (to create space for
stuffing) and finely chop stems. Put mushroom caps, stemmed sides down,
in a lightly oiled large shallow baking pan and bake in middle of oven
until mushrooms exude liquid, about 10 minutes, then remove from oven.
Turn mushroom caps over, then mound mushroom filling in
mushroom caps, pressing gently (there will be some filling left over).
Bake in middle of oven until mushrooms are tender and stuffing is golden
brown, about 20 minutes.
