day 37, recipe 37: Steak & Potato Salad (Healthy Choice Recipe!!)

Mmmmm steak, potatoes, salad. Superb. However, most of the time that we dish up this meal, it's so far from healthy. Adding a little greens to your plate in hopes of lightening up your sour cream loaded baked potato just isn't quite cutting it. Here's a supper salad that will satisfy all the cravings and only has 390 calories per serving- now there's a reason not to feel guilty : )
Recipe courtesy of Light & Healthy 2010

Dressing

3 T              red wine vinegar
3 T              water
1                 green onion, sliced
2 T              extra virgin olive oil
1 T              honey
1 T              whole grain mustard
1                  garlic clove, minced
1/2 t             fresh thyme
                   salt & pepper, to taste


Salad
1 lb               boneless top sirlion steak
1 T               canola oil
1 lb               red potatoes (about 3 medium), cut into wedges
3                  romaine lettuce hearts, torn into bite sized pieces
1/3 C            thinly sliced red onion
1 C               matchstick carrots (my addition)
1/4 C            part skim mozzarella, shredded (my addition)
1 T               Keg steak spice
1 T               paprika

Whisk the dressing ingredients together in a small bowl and set aside. Best to do this step first so the dressing gets really well flavored!

In a small skillet, heat the canola oil over medium heat & toss in potatoes. Season with salt, pepper, steak spice & paprika. Cover and cook for approx 10 minutes until potatoes are crispy on the outside but tender on the inside.

Meanwhile, grill your steak to your liking. Medium rare works best for this salad, so about 125 degrees F or 10 minutes. Let stand for 2 minutes and slice into thin strips.

Assemble your salad by combining lettuce, carrots, onion and cheese. Toss and then layer the steak strips and potatoes over top. Stir the salad dressing a few times & pour overtop. Serve immediately.

Day 24, Bonus Recipe: Zesty Vinaigrette

Happy Friday! I love salad. All forms & all types of salads ('cept for that bagged stuff- keep it away!). This is by far my FAVE salad dressing. I make it from scratch. I know that the recipe came from my mom, but all I rememeber is the pepperconi juice and honey so I make it off the top of my head. You can double, triple etc to suit your needs- you can also store it in a jar in the fridge for up to 2 weeks! If you chose to increase the recipe, remember the 3 to 1 oil to vinegar ratio. Heck, knowing that ratio- it's not hard to come up with your own vinaigrette!

6 T             extra virgin olive oil
2 T             red wine vinegar
1 T             pickled pepperconi brine
2 t              lemon juice
1 t              honey
                 crushed bay leaf, oregano, salt & pepper to taste

Best served over a greek salad, but I've used it on chefs salads, tomato/cucumber salads and once even as a marinade! It has a certain twang about it that makes you want to eat up all those veggies. Seriously!

Day 21, Recipe 21: Spicy Broccoli Mango Salad

This was AWESOME. I found a bunch of recipes for salads with the two main ingredients but alot of them called for mandarin oranges (yuck) so I'll say that this is very loosely based on a Betty Crocker recipe, but I changed so many things I'm dubbing it an original.
Also, call me crazy- but sauteed crushed walnuts kind of simulate bacon, no joke. 

Spicy Walnut Topping

1 C            coarsely chopped walnuts
2 T            vegetable oil
1/4 C          crushed red pepper flakes

Heat oil in a skillet and toss walnuts with red pepper flakes until coated & heated, about 5-6 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside to cool.

Salad
1 head          fresh broccoli, cut into pieces
1                  mango, peeled and sliced into cubes
1/2               red onion, chopped

In a bowl, combine ingredients. Toss with dressing and serve immediately, topped with spicy walnut pieces. I made this in the early afternoon and tossed it into the fridge for a few hours so I made the walnuts last minute & added them right before serving.

Dressing

1/4 C             plain yogurt
3/4 C             low fat mayo-type salad dressing (you know the stuff)
3 T                apple cider vinegar
                     splash of orange juice
1/8 t               salt

Mix all ingredients together & pour overtop salad. Seriously- so good & healthy to boot!