Eat Skinny Be Skinny: How to Make a Tasty Steak
PIN IT!There’s nothing more satisfying than a big, juicy steak. I’m not much of a red meat eater, but when I do venture into cow territory, I go right to the steaks. No need to mess with ground beef or ribs, when I’m craving something hearty, it’s going to be satisfied with a steak. Before you go off with your “steak isn’t that healthy” dietribe, let me squash that misconception right now. Steak doesn’t have to be unhealthy or fatty, especially if you know what the labels mean. I buy 90/10 lean steak, which means it’s 90% lean and 10% fat, because you need a little fat on a good piece of meat! It still tastes the same as the regular kind, just with less of the gross fat you end up cutting off anyway!
Now that you know steak can fit into your diet, let’s chat about how to cook it. Unless you live in the wonderful parts of the world that see sun 95% of the time with warm temperatures year round, grilling isn’t always going to be possible. That doesn’t mean you have to put your steak dinners and kabobs on the back burner until summer, all you need is an oven, and last time I checked, those come equipped in most apartments, condos and homes! Broiling a steak is easy and the outcome is just as delicious as if you grilled it!
How to Grill a Damn Good Steak:
- Locate your broiler on your oven, which is the bottom part of the oven that pulls out like a drawer. [See below]
- Grease your broiler pan with non stick cooking oil and preheat your oven to the “broil” setting. If your oven doesn’t have that setting, heat your oven to 400 degrees.
- Then follow the instructions below for an easy and delicious steak with a marinade.
Red Wine Marinated Steak
What You’ll Need:
- 1/2 cup dry red wine
- 2 tbsp. steak seasoning
- 2 chopped garlic cloves
- 1 pound of lean steak, loin roast or filet mignon
How to Make It:
- Mix the wine, garlic and seasoning together in a Ziploc bag or a Tupperware with a lid. Place steak into the marinade, shake, and refrigerate for 25 minutes.
- Once steak is done marinading, place on the greased broiler pan.
- Broiling time differs on how many pounds of steak you have. For 1.8 pounds, each steak needed to be broiled from 11-16 minutes on each side for a medium rare turnout. Steaks a pound or less can be cooked for as little as 5 minutes on each side. Easiest way to check is cut through the middle to see the red-ness! A pink color indicates medium-rare, however, any purple coloring means it needs a few more minutes.
I’m a meat and potatoes kind of girl, so I served up this delicious piece of steak with lightened mashed potatoes and some mixed vegetables!
Nutritional Information per steak: 400 calories, 15 grams of fat, 35 grams of protein and 5 grams of fiber.
Eat Skinny Be Skinny Dinner: Ratatouille
This is one of my favorite animated movies! Anytime I hear ratatouille I think of the rat. Oh pop culture!
Ever since I first saw this lovely animated feature, I knew Ratatouille was something I wanted to one day master, however, due to my limited culinary expertise at the time, I knew it wasn’t going to be then. I put the thought in the back of my mind and went on my merry way. Since my cooking skills are now that of a celebrity chef (I kid, I kid) I decided it may be time to tackle this French favorite. Not to mention, my doting fiancée was also requesting that I make it. I purchased all of the ingredients [including eggplant, which is still on my weirded out list] and whipped up a cheesy batch! Although it didn’t turn out as pretty as some of the photos you see, it tasted fantastic. And that’s what matters most about food, right?
Ratatouille
What You’ll Need:
- 3 plum tomatoes, sliced up
- 3 garlic gloves, chopped
- 1 eggplant, chopped
- 1 bell pepper, sliced
- 1 cup of mushrooms, sliced
- 1 zucchini, thinly sliced
- 2 tablespoons of olive oil
- 2 tablespoons Parmesan, grated
- Salt to taste
How to Make It:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Use one tbsp. of oil and grease a casserole dish. Set aside.
- In a medium sauce pan, place other 1 tbsp of oil and garlic gloves. Cook until just browned. Once garlic is heated, add chopped eggplant and cook until soft, usually about 8-10 minutes.
- Once eggplant is cooked, layer into the bottom of the casserole dish. Sprinkle with cheese then layer on remaining vegetables, sprinkling cheese and light salt between each layer.
- Bake for 45 minutes and enjoy!
Nutritional Information per 1 cup: 151 calories, 11 grams of fat, 4 grams of protein and 6 grams of fiber.
Sweet and Savory Sundays: Light Cream Cheese Frosting
I was extremely excited and motivated to bake a cake tonight. I had a fabulously delicious concoction in my head and I couldn’t WAIT to try it out. Well, as I gathered my ingredients I noticed I was missing two essential ones; butter and eggs. I could have gone to the store but it’s about 15 degrees outside and I’m in my pjs. So it had to be plan B. I was craving something sweet and these cravings must not go unsatisfied. So after I scoured my fridge and pantry, I found the proper ingredients to whip up another delicious and light dessert; cream cheese frosting! Now, I’ve been known to eat frosting alone and this is delicious enough to dig right in with a spoon, but I had a better idea. Instead of spoon feeding myself, I dipped some fresh strawberries in it! The tangy and creamy texture of the frosting with the juicy and sweet taste of the strawberry make for one delectable and healthy dessert!
Light Cream Cheese Frosting with Fresh Strawberries
What You’ll Need:
- 8 oz of light cream cheese
- 1 tsp. of vanilla
- 1 cup of powdered sugar
- Fresh strawberries
How to Make It:
- Mix cream cheese, sugar and vanilla together.
- Dip strawberries into the frosting and enjoy!
Nutritional Information per strawberry: 100 calories, 5 grams of fat, 4 grams of protein and 1 gram of fiber.
Sweet and Savory Sundays: Buttermilk Biscuits
This is usually how I spend my Sundays! [Picture via]
Happy Sunday! I’m not usually enthusiastic about Sunday because it means Monday is only hours away and I’m forced to go to work. Boo. I’m still holding out to the hope that someone out there will invent a plantable money tree and my life will be a permanent weekend! That, or I just win a large sum of money. Either or would be fabulous. However, after a fantastic night of sleep, I woke up this morning with more pep in my step than normal. Because of this extra jolt, I find it no better time than to introduce my new weekly feature, Sweet and Savory Sundays! I came up with this a long time ago and kind of forgot about until I discovered the note with the title in my iPhone. My Sundays usually consist of lots of cooking and baking, so the title fits this relaxing day perfectly! This new feature will also push me to write more because each Sunday I’ll feature a sweet recipe AND a savory recipe, a perfect way to get your salty and sweet tooth satisfied! Because I’m doing my sweet thang later today, I whipped up a savory and easy batch of home-made buttermilk biscuits for the breakfast in bed tray I made my hunny. Note: If you don’t like buttermilk, I suggest swapping for regular milk. The buttermilk flavor gives these biscuits a distinct tart flavor. For more savory flavor, sprinkle in some cheddar cheese!
Buttermilk Biscuits
What You’ll Need:
- 5 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons baking powder
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 3 ounces fat free cream cheese
- 4 tablespoons butter
- 2 cups buttermilk
- 2 tablespoons low-fat milk
How To Make Them:
- Preheat oven to 400°F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper or coat it with cooking spray.
- Stir together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large bowl.
- Cut in cream cheese and butter with two table knives until pea-sized lumps form. Stir buttermilk in and form dough into a ball.
- Flour surface and roll dough out.
- Using a circle cookie cutter, cut out small biscuits and place on greased cookie sheets.
- Brush milk on tops. Bake for 13 minutes or until brown.
I reccomend eating these with a little butter and jam or honey for added sweetness!
Nutritional Information per biscuit: 150 calories, 3 grams of fat, 5.5 grams of protein and 2 grams of fiber.
Eat Skinny Be Skinny Vegetarian: Tomato Stuffed Mushrooms
I’ve been seriously craving mushrooms lately. I know, a weird/strange/awkward craving to have. But lately, I just have wanted nothing more than a big bowl of sauteed mushrooms or a grilled portobello burger. As a pretty heavy carnivore and certified sweet tooth, to crave nothing but mushrooms for a week was a bit bizarre. To satisfy my temporary fungus addiction, I decided to re-try the stuffed portobello cap route. As you may remember, we had a bit of a mishap with our first attempt that is still lingering at the bottom of our stove. Elliot was weary of this due to the horror of a mess the first batch made, but I’m happy to report that these did not spill and burn into our RENTED stove. They turned out absolutely, freaking to-die-for. I’m really happy I only made 2 for each of us b/c I would have probably eaten about 45 more.
Mediterranean Stuffed Mushroom Caps
