Cilantro Lime Fiesta!

Maybe you haven't already heard, so I'll say it again, I wouldn't want you to be uninformed.....I lost 3.2 lbs for a total of 15 lbs since I began this journey! Yea! So happy.  Thanks for all your support, it sounds silly but having you read my blog has spurred me on, I am fully encouraged by you to do well.  Thanks from the bottom of my heart, I am praying for continued success and God's protection over my endeavor to be healthy.

For dinner tonight I am using my new cookbook, Jillian Michael's "Master Your Metabolism Cookbook".  When I read the book by the same name I LOVED all her recipes and so I was happy she followed it up with a full cookbook.  Now yesterday for lunch I made a quiche recipe and I gotta say I wasn't thrilled with how it turned out.  So I spared you the details of that one! Tonight however was a different story, I started with a steak recipe and made up a side dish that was to die for and carried the same flavors throughout the meal, check this out...

Grilled Skirt Steak with Chimichurri Sauce

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup chopped red onion
• 3 garlic cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 1/2 cup packed cilantro leaves (the italics indicate I swapped cilantro for parsley because I a.) had it on hand, b.) it became the premise for my meal and c.) the only other time I have made chimichurri it also used cilantro so I figured it would be OK!)
• 2 tablespoons packed fresh oregano leaves
• 1/4 cup extra- virgin olive oil
• 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 pound skirt steak
• Olive oil spray, for the grill

Preparation

In the work bowl of a food processor, place the onion, garlic, and red pepper flakes. Pulse until finely chopped. Add the cilantro and oregano leaves, and pulse until the herbs are coarsely chopped. Add the olive oil, vinegar, and salt and pepper.

Place the skirt steak in a shallow pan and pour 1/3 cup of the chimichurri sauce over it. Turn to coat well. Cover and refrigerate, preferably for at least four hours and up to overnight. Cover and refrigerate the remaining sauce.

If using a gas or charcoal grill, spray the grill with olive oil and prepare a medium-hot grill. If using a grill pan, spray it with olive oil and heat over medium-high heat.

Grill the steak for four to five minutes per side for medium-rare. Let stand on a cutting board for 5 to 10 minutes. Thinly slice the steak and divide among four plates. Top each serving with one generous teaspoon of chimichurri sauce and serve.

9 pts

So then I made a big batch of:

 Grilled Veges (broccoli and peppers)

I thought what if I carry the flavor through the other dishes and I seasoned them olive oil, balsamic vinegar, garlic salt, Mrs Dash's Fiesta Lime Seasoning, Mrs Dash's Steak Grilling Blend and fresh cilantro

Then I had a bag of Yoder's mashed potatoes, you may be thinking how disgusting.  Really they aren't like fake potato flakes which I used to use back in the day (yikes) They actually are pretty good but when I heat them they are usually a little dry so I end up adding some milk to them.  But then I thought, hmmmm cilantro lime fiesta mashed potatoes and I started adding a little of this and a little of that and I came out with, no joke, the most DE-LISH potatoes (which was a relief because half way through I thought oh no what if these are disgusting, SO not.  The only trouble was limiting my self to a 1/2 cup serving!) If the yoders thing freaks you out, go ahead and waste a whole bunch of time peeling and boiling potatoes but your result probably won't be much different, I'm just saying...

Cilantro Lime Fiesta Mashed Potatoes (an Amanda Travis original)

A 32 oz bag of Yoder's Mashed Potatoes

1/2 cup finely shredded Mexican cheese

1/4 cup fresh cilantro chopped

1/4 cup scallions diced

1/2 cup Stonyfield low fat organic plain yogurt

4 Tbsp low fat milk

1 Tbsp lime juice

Garlic salt and Mrs Dash's Fiesta Lime seasoning and Mrs. Dash's Steak Grilling Blend

Warm all ingredients together on the stove.  1/2 cup is 5 pts but SOOOO worth 5 pts.  They were really really good. 

So that is what was for dinner tonight.  I took cilantro and ran with it, I figure 15# deserves a fiesta, and it was great!  Hope you all are enjoying the nice weather and have something to celebrate yourself today, tis the season for fresh cooking!