Celebrate St. Patrick’s Day: Guinness-Braised Steak with Horseradish Mashed Potatoes

 

In honor of St. Patrick’s Day, try this comfort food recipe that actually has only 400 calories and  13.1 grams of fat. I worked on a recipe development job a year ago: “Cooking with Beer”, and I was amazed with the beer flavoring. Beer can add such a great flavor to many recipes, especially beef. This recipe is ideal for this time of year while there’s still a chill in the air. Also, the mashed potatoes are delicious with the beef or on their own with a touch of horseradish. Enjoy for a Sunday night dinner or on St. Patrick’s Day.

Also, if you missed my television spot yesterday with my daughter, Leigh, on WBRC Fox 6 News in Birmingham, take a look at the link below:

link: ttp://www.myfoxal.com/dpp/gda_publish/20090315Weekend_Cooking_Healthy_Break

 

Guinness-Braised Steak with Horseradish Mashed Potatoes

Prep: 25 minutes

Cook: 1 hour, 20 minutes

Yield: 6 servings 

Ingredients

STEAK:

1 1/2  pounds  boneless chuck steak, trimmed

1/2  teaspoon  freshly ground black pepper

1/2  teaspoon  salt

2  teaspoons  olive oil

1 1/2  cups  finely chopped onion

1/2  cup  chopped carrot

1/2  cup  fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth, divided

1  teaspoon  dark brown sugar

1  teaspoon  chopped fresh rosemary

1  (8-ounce) package presliced mushrooms

1  garlic clove, minced

2  bay leaves

1  (12-ounce) bottle Guinness Stout

POTATOES:

2  pounds  peeled baking potatoes, quartered

2  tablespoons  butter

1/2  cup  fat-free milk

1/4  cup  finely chopped green onions

1/4  cup  reduced-fat sour cream

2  tablespoons  prepared horseradish

1/2  teaspoon  salt

1/2  teaspoon  freshly ground black pepper

Preparation

 To prepare steak:

1. Sprinkle steak with 1/2 teaspoon pepper and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Heat oil in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add steak; cook 5 minutes on each side or until browned. Remove steak from pan; set aside. Add 1 1/2 cups onion, chopped carrot, 2 tablespoons broth, and sugar. Cover, reduce heat to medium, and cook 10 minutes. Stir in rosemary, mushrooms, and garlic. Cover and cook 2 minutes. Add bay leaves, stout, remaining broth, and steak; bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 1 hour and 30 minutes or until steak is tender.

To prepare potatoes:

1. Place potatoes in a large saucepan; cover with water. Bring to a boil; simmer 20 minutes or until potatoes are tender; drain. Return potatoes to pan. Add butter; beat with a mixer at medium speed just until smooth. Stir in remaining ingredients. Keep warm.

2. Remove steak from pan; keep warm. Discard bay leaves. Increase heat to medium-high; cook 5 minutes or until slightly thickened. Spoon stout mixture over steak. Serve with potatoes.

Low Budget Dinner: Sausage Mushroom Pizza

Instead of using pizza crust, why not try pita bread? This recipe is great topped with Italian sausage, green peppers and mushrooms, but feel free to use your own favorite toppings. These pizzas can also be grilled easily. Grill over medium heat 7 minutes or until cheese is melted and crust is lightly browned. Not only are these pizzas delicious, but they are economical and child-friendly. 

 

Mushroom Pita Pizzas

Prep time: 10 minutes

Cook time: 10 minutes

Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients

3/4 lb. spicy Italian sausage

1 cup marinara sauce

4 (6-inch) pita bread rounds

1 cup sliced fresh mushrooms

1 cup diced green bell pepper

11/3 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

Preparation 

1. Brown sausage in a medium pan over medium heat 5 minutes or until meat crumbles; drain, if needed

2. Spread each pita round with 1/4 cup marinara sauce. Top evenly with sausage, mushrooms, green pepper and cheese.

3. Bake at 350F 15 minutes or until pita is browned and cheese is melted.

Oh This Salad so Good! Spinach-Turkey Salad

This salad is so simple and so delicious! The combination of fresh spinach, basil, chopped pine nuts, turkey and Parmesan create an incredible healthy, fresh, main-dish salad. I served this salad for dinner, and it disappeared faster than I could blink. Serve it with your favorite vinaigrette or just a drizzle of red wine vinegar and olive oil. It has so many great flavors already, so it doesn’t need a lot of dressing. Welcome in spring with clean eating and this fresh salad.

 

Spinach-Turkey Salad

Prep: 15 minutes

Cook: 3 minutes

Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients

1 (5-ounce) package fresh baby spinach

11/2 cups chopped fresh basil

1/3 cup pine nuts, toasted

1/2 pound sliced deli turkey (I used cracked pepper turkey)

1/4 cup freshly shaved Parmesan cheese

Vinegar and oil or vinaigrette

Preparation

1. Combine spinach, basil and pine nuts in a large salad bowl. Add turkey and cheese. Drizzle with dressing, tossing gently.

Chicken Scaloppine with Broccoli

I developed this recipe for Cooking Light a few years ago for their “20 minute meals” column. Using chicken cutlets saves a lot of cooking time. With only 318 calories and 7 grams of fat, this chicken and broccoli combination is light and flavorful. This recipe used broccoli rabe, which has 6- to 9-inch stalks and clusters of tiny broccoli-like buds. It can be found in the produce sections usually from fall through spring, but if you can’t find broccoli rabe, feel free to use regular broccoli.

 

Chicken Scaloppine

Prep: 10 minutes

Cook: 10 minutes

Yield: 4 servings 

Ingredients

1 tablespoon  olive oil

1/3  cup  Italian-seasoned breadcrumbs

1/4  teaspoon black pepper

4  (6-ounce) skinless, boneless chicken breast cutlets

1/2  cup  dry white wine

1/2  cup  fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth

3  tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1 tablespoon butter

1  pound  broccoli rabe (rapini), cut into 3-inch pieces

2  tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

2  tablespoons capers, rinsed and drained

4  lemon slices (optional)

Preparation

1. Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat.

2. Combine breadcrumbs and pepper in a shallow dish; dredge chicken in breadcrumb mixture. Add chicken to pan; cook 3 minutes on each side or until done. Remove from pan; keep warm.

3. Add wine, broth, juice, and butter to pan, scraping pan to loosen browned bits. Stir in broccoli rabe; cover and cook 3 minutes or until broccoli rabe is tender. Stir in parsley and capers. Serve chicken over broccoli rabe mixture. Garnish with lemon slices, if desired.

Dinner in Under 20 Minutes: Five-Spice Pork

Five-spice powder is a spice used often in Chinese cooking, but it’s a mixture of cinnamon, cloves, fennel seed, star anise and szechuan peppercorns. It is now commonly found in all grocery stores in the spice section and yields lots of unique but delicious flavors. If you don’t eat pork, this recipe works great with thinly sliced chicken breasts. Serve with rice, Asian noodles or steamed broccoli and a salad for a complete weeknight meal.

 

Five-Spice Pork

Prep:  5 minutes

Cook: 10 minutes

Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 tablespoons dark brown sugar

1/4 cup low-sodium soy sauce

1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon Chinese five spice powder

2 tablespoons honey

11/2 pounds thinly sliced boneless pork loin chops

Ingredients

1. Whisk together first 5 ingredients in a medium bowl; pour over pork. Marinate 30 minutes to 1 hour, if desired. Cook in a large lightly greased saute pan over medium-high heat 3 minutes on each side or until desired degree of doneness.

Quick and Easy-Tomato Basil Pizza

It’s pizza night at my house, so I thought I would share this recipe. With only 240 calories and 9 grams of fat, you can’t go wrong. Feel free to add cooked chicken or shrimp on this pizza. And if you want a shortcut, purchase jarred pesto in the grocery store. I love using Mama Mary’s crust or Boboli, which work great on busy weeknights (which is always at my house with 3 kids, especially during baseball season).

 

Tomato-Basil Pizza

Prep: 15 minutes

cook: 12 minutes

Yield: 8 servings

Ingredients

FOR THE PESTO:

4  cups basil leaves

2  garlic cloves

1/4  cup  fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth

1  tablespoon grated fresh Parmesan cheese

1  tablespoon olive oil

FOR THE PIZZA:

1  (1-pound) pizza crust (such as Boboli or Mama Marys)

3  cups  chopped seeded tomato (about 2 pounds)

3  garlic cloves, thinly sliced

1  cup  (4 ounces) shredded mozzarella cheese

1/4  cup  thinly sliced basil leaves

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 475°.

2. To prepare pesto, place 4 cups basil leaves and 2 garlic cloves in a food processor, and pulse 5 times or until coarsely chopped. With processor on, add broth, Parmesan, and oil through food chute; process until well-blended.

3. To prepare pizza, place pizza crust on a baking sheet. Spread pesto over crust, leaving a 1/2-inch border; top with the tomato, garlic slices, and mozzarella. Bake at 475° for 12 minutes or until the cheese melts. Sprinkle with 1/4 cup basil. Cut the pizza into 8 wedges.

Light and Healthy Oven-Fried Chicken

Who doesn’t love fried chicken? Developing a good oven-fried chicken recipe is not an easy task, but I am very happy with this version. Using nonfat buttermilk and egg whites works perfectly with the mixture of flour and cornmeal. If you want to add herbs, you can combine dried seasonings or finely chopped fresh herbs into the flour mixture. Also, if you want to speed up the cooking process a bit, purchase chicken cutlets or chicken tenders which are smaller and thinner. This is a family-favorite that’s great anytime of the year.

 

Oven-Fried Chicken

Prep: 10 minutes

Cook: 40 minutes

Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients

1  cup  nonfat buttermilk

2  large egg whites, beaten

1  cup all-purpose flour

1/3  cup cornmeal

1  teaspoon kosher salt, divided

3/4  teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1/4  teaspoon ground red pepper

3  chicken breast halves, skinned (about 11/4 pounds)

3  chicken drumsticks, skinned (about 3/4 pound)

2 tablespoons  canola oil

Cooking spray

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 425°.

2. Cover a large baking sheet with parchment paper. Combine buttermilk and egg whites in a shallow dish; stir well with a whisk. Combine flour, cornmeal, 1/2 teaspoon salt, black pepper, garlic powder, and red pepper in a separate shallow dish; stir well. Sprinkle chicken evenly with remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt. Dip chicken in buttermilk mixture; dredge in flour mixture.

3. Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken to pan; cook 4 minutes on each side or until lightly browned. Place chicken on prepared baking sheet; lightly coat chicken with cooking spray. Bake at 425° for 30 minutes or until chicken is done.