Recipe Contest: Spanish-Style Steak & Eggs

By posting this recipe I am entering a recipe contest sponsored by The Beef Checkoff and New York Beef Council, and am eligible to win prizes associated with the contest. I was not compensated for my time.

After reading about an upcoming recipe contest in a monthly New York State Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (NYSAND) email newsletter, I decided to start brainstorming what I might want to submit. The contest is open to dietitians, diet techs, dietetic student interns and members of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics in the Northeast. The parameters were such that the recipe had to include a 4-oz lean cut of beef and 2 servings of fruit or vegetables, either in the dish or on the side. Starting Nov 14, you can vote for my recipe at http://www.nutritioulicious.com/. Voting ends Nov. 20.

Red meat still seems to get a bad wrap in the health arena, and it’s truly unfortunate and not true! Beef is an excellent source of vitamins and minerals, including iron, vitamin B12 and zinc. The majority of beef cuts are lean, and a 3-ounce serving provides 25 grams of protein. As a dietitian, I recommend 20-30 grams protein per meal to help maintain a healthy weight and promote satiety.

I wanted to come up with something truly unique, and reached out to the hubby for help. He immediately suggested I include a spicy pepper sauce we had on a trip to Spain a few years ago. I ran with it, incorporating another food item we found all over the place in Spain: the tortilla, which is like an omelet with potatoes. It’s topped with an incredibly flavorful pepper sauce, called ‘Mojo Picon,’ that goes well with just about anything. We’ve eaten the tortilla for breakfast and dinner, and liked it equally well.

Spanish-Style Steak and Eggs

Serves 4

Mojo Picon Sauce:

4 jarred roasted red peppers
1 slice stale bread
3-4 cloves garlic
1/4 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp red pepper flakes
1/2 tsp coarse salt
1/2 cup olive oil
1/4 cup water
1 tsp Spanish sherry vinegar

Put all sauce ingredients into a blender or food processor, pulse until smooth. Makes approximately 2 cups; store in the refrigerator in an air-tight glass jar for up to 10 days.

Tortilla:

1 lb flank steak, cooked and sliced into bite-sized pieces
2 russet potatoes, cut into bite-sized pieces and roasted or steamed
1 red bell pepper, diced
1/2 cup onion, diced
4 handfuls spinach leaves
8 eggs, beaten with a whisk

Pre-heat oven broiler. Heat a large non-stick skillet or cast-iron skillet over medium heat. Add chopped peppers and onions, sauté until soft. Add cut-up potatoes and spinach,sauté until greens are wilted. Add cooked meat to skillet, and cook just until heated through. Turn heat to medium-low and pour eggs into skillet but do not stir. Cook until edges begin to solidify; when the middle of the omelet is still runny, place skillet under broiler for 3-5 minutes. Slide omelet out of pan and onto a plate, cut into four wedges and top with Mojo Picon Sauce.

Check out the other contest entries here!

Donut Taste-Off

This past weekend, Andrew and I did a donut ‘taste-off’ with the Nyes (minus Mrs. Nye, who had to go to church early that morning), something we’d been talking about for quite awhile. Mr. Nye has always raved about the peanut donuts at our local Tops, and–of course–Paula’s is a sensation for sure. I’d been excited about this event since we started planning it.

We decided to include both Dunkin’ Donuts and Tim Hortons as ‘controls’ of sorts, as well as Tops and Paula’s, and threw in two more ‘dark horses’ for good measure: Donut Kraze, a tiny 24-hour donut & coffee place Andrew and I discovered and hit-up every once in awhile when we’re in Buffalo, and Eileen’s, a West Seneca bakery the Nyes like that makes excellent birthday cakes.

Donuts to be taste-tested included peanut and plain glazed, as peanut donuts are the Nyes’ favorite, and glazed are Andrews.’ He’s a picky one, that man. We ended up with five total for each flavor category, as Tim’s didn’t have a peanut donut and Tops didn’t have a glazed.

Mrs. Nye prepped some of the donuts before she left so we could have a psuedo-blind tasting:

I facilitated the tasting, beginning with peanut. I cut one donut from each location into small pieces and any extra was lined up on a platter in the order in which it was presented in case people wanted more of a particular one. We each scored the donuts as we liked (Professor Adam used letter grades, I used a scale from 1-10 and gave each a range with comments).

Andrew tallied up all the scores–can’t you just see the steam coming out of his ears??

Here are the results, ranked from BEST to WORST:

Peanut: Donut Kraze, Eileen’s, Paula’s, Tops, Dunkin’ Donuts.

Glazed: Donut Kraze, Eileen’s, Tim Horton’s, Paula’s, Dunkin’ Donuts.

Boy, aren’t we glad we included both Donut Kraze and Eileen’s! In reviewing my personal notes on the peanut donuts (I didn’t really participate in the glazed testing, as I don’t really like them anyway and didn’t want to waste the calories.), I liked Eileen’s the best, followed by Donut Kraze, which I noted to have a ‘peanut butter’ flavor, followed by Paula’s, which had a hint of cinnamon.

We also got to taste a couple other offerings from these places, including French Crullers from Dunkin’ and Tim’s (both of which were awful–way too much glaze), Paula’s red velvet (my personal favorite–basically a red velvet cake in the shape of a donut) and a cinnamon ‘bun.’ I also love sour cream donuts, and I can only assume our winning locations would be the best places to get them.

Thankfully, we pawned off all the leftovers on family members after church, so I wasn’t plagued by donuts all week, praise God. Also, neither of our winning locations (Donut Kraze and Eileen’s) are in East Aurora, nor are they even places we drive by very often, so there isn’t really a danger of starting a habit of stopping for donuts.

Now, if only I could find that adorable donut-shaped pillow I saw in the window at the Toy Loft in town a few weeks ago…

Buffalo Chicken over Sweet Potatoes

I’m not exaggerating when I say that this combo is one of the best I’ve ever had. It checks all the nutrient boxes (carb, fat, protein) while packing a ton of flavor into a healthy punch. It feels indulgent, but isn’t.

I was inspired by a Facebook photo of a friend’s takeout meal from a downtown restaurant: buffalo chicken over roasted sweet potatoes. I wondered by she was having it on sweet potatoes instead of a bun–was she gluten-free or paleo, or did the restaurant just serve it that way. We may never know. But, more importantly, why hadn’t I thought of that?

I’d purchased a container of blue cheese as a post-Whole30 indulgence (only to be put back on an elimination diet by my doctor for unrelated reasons–grrr), and decided to go ahead and use-up the container by adding it to this dish. In all honesty, it doesn’t need the blue cheese, whether you use the included mayo-based dressing or not…it’s THAT flavorful.

(Excuse the poor photo–snapped while eating lunch at my desk at the hospital.)

I adapted a recipe from Well Fed 2, by Melissa Joulwan. She includes a recipe for Buffalo Chicken Salad that begins with cooking chicken breasts, but I went with a pre-cooked rotisserie chicken from the grocery store for convenience.

Here’s what I did:

1 rotisserie chicken, breasts only, shredded

2-4 oz blue cheese crumbles

4 small sweet potatoes, halved

1/4 C hot sauce (any brand)

2 T butter or ghee

Dressing: mix together 1/4 C homemade mayo, 1/2 T cider vinegar, 1 tsp chopped garlic, 1 T chives, 1/8 tsp paprika

Roast sweet potatoes cut-side down on a foil-lined baking sheet for approx 45 minutes, or until soft. Let cool.
Melt 2 T butter (or ghee, if you’re paleo) and mix with 1/4 C hot sauce in a bowl. Add shredded chicken and stir to coat.
Place 2 sweet potato halves cut-side up in a container (or on a plate) and top with 1/4 of the buffalo chicken mixture.
Top each with some blue cheese and a drizzle of your homemade dressing.
Enjoy!