Sunday is a great day for comfort food

Who says comfort food has to be bad for you?  Nothing like comfort food on a sleepy Sunday afternoon.  Normally I wouldn't be up for working on a hot kitchen when it is 87 degrees outside but today I was in the mood to cook and with our little window air conditioner chugging away to the kitchen I went.  Now you may have already heard about our upcoming menu items.  I had to start with the item that spoils the fastest and that is apparently asparagus, I was told that can only be in your fridge 2-3 days tops.  Crazy. That's always the trickiest thing for me, I like to plan out enough meals to last a few weeks but you have to cook non-stop to get them all made before any of the food goes bad.  Challenging.  So today's menu was crazy good but before I get to that I must share a few things.

After the thrill of the 5k died down I got right into the business of training for another one.  I couldn't let myself have any sort of "break" because knowing me that would have stretched out for weeks with all sorts of excuses and I wanted to keep my momentum going.  I want to stick with this thing.  I want to become a runner.  To feel like I can actually say that with confidence.  So I am doing the couch to 5k program, I just finished Week 1 and I hope to be ready for a 5k by September.  If you are on the verge of a similar decision I beckon you to do it and we can run together in a 5k. Take the plunge, it feels great, you won't be sorry!

Another piece of business, weight.  My scale is on the fritz which really sort of infuriates me because I spent a bunch of money to get a nice one and it lasted, what, 2 months?  I am crossing my fingers that Bed Bath and Beyond takes it back because not weighing in leaves me less motivated, especially in the food area.  I have been so bad for the last few weeks.  Now that I am home for a few weeks and cooking again I am a reformed woman.  Two days of counting everything that went in my mouth feels good, back to normal.  OK so what went in to my mouth today...

The theme of today is Herbs, Butter and Carbs! Herbs (in particular Rosemary, Basil and Tarragon) make me feel so happy.  I all but started whistling as I was clipping them out of my herb pot and washing, plucking, and dicing them. And butter.  Oh man, butter.  Real butter is SO good, even my pastor went on a tangent about butter in his sermon today.  I use either light or whipped butter these days but if you use your butter the right way, a little goes a long way and it is oh so good.  My family and I often do our Julia Child voice and call out "I love butter!" as demonstrated by Ms. Meryl Streep in Julie and Julia.  So true, Julia, so true.  Oh and carbs.  I made this meal and realized that I had three major carb items.  But really I don't care.  I ate enough of each to be delightedly happy but not add up to outrageous points and I have never claimed to be a supporter of the Atkins diet, bring on the carbs. 

First things first, the protein. 

Marinated Flank Steak with Roasted Red Pepper and Herb Butter

First the flank, once upon a time there was a lady named Molly, she was a nice sweet young mother who went through life living a rather normal existence.  And then one day she made an interesting mix of six ingredients on meat and her whole life changed forever.  See, she gave this recipe to her friend who in turn shared it with her family and friends and this mixture became forever immortalized as Molly's Marinade.  And what happened to Molly? As far as I know she is still living her normal life out in Seattle but now she is forevermore known as "the Molly of Molly's Marinade."  Seriously life-changing stuff.  Now these 6 ingredients are relatively ordinary but when thrown together on literally ANY type of meat, poultry or fish they become EXTRA-ordinary.  Please keep these in your cupboard or fridge at ALL times, you never know when you want to marinate something.  Do it now.  And don't thank me, thank the genius Molly.  Thank you Molly, wherever you are, you are eating some yummy food I am sure.

Put your flank in a Ziploc bag, add these 6 ingredients in approximately equal amounts :
1. Olive Oil
2. A1 steak sauce
3. Soy sauce
4. Teriyaki sauce
5. Worcestershire sauce
6. Minced garlic
(Now seriously go marinade something)
Grill until desired doneness, for medium rare for about 10-12 min, my husband reports he initially does about 1 min on each side to sear it and then does less than 5 min on each side after that.  Slice in long thin strips with the grain of meat. 1 pt per ounce of flank steak you desire to eat.  This is my absolute favorite steak cut in the world, I never ate steak much until my parents starting cooking flank a lot when I was young. If you haven't tried it before please do, it's so yummy!

For Roasted Red Pepper and Herb butter
Mix:
1 stick of butter softened
1 roasted red pepper peeled and sliced
2 tbsp fresh chopped basil
1 tbsp chopped tarragon
1 tbsp fresh chopped rosemary
1/2 tsp balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp fresh chopped chives
1 tbsp minced garlic
Add to a food processor and pulse until well blended. Serve 1 tbsp topping on each serving of flank steak for 1 additional pt.

OK so we are just getting started. First side dish is:

Garlic-Herb Grilled Corn

 This was fun and yummy and I got it from weight watchers so it's is very official.  We had never grilled corn before and when my husband dropped a little of the steak marinade on the corn they burst into flames momentarily, pretty exciting stuff. 

6 medium ears of corn, still in their husks

3 sprays of cooking spray

1 Tbsp butter

1 Tbsp olive oil

1/2 Tbsp fresh chopped basil

1/2 Tbsp fresh chopped rosemary

1/2 Tbsp fresh chopped tarragon

1 tsp minced garlic

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp ground black pepper

- In a large pot filled with cold water, add unshucked ears of corn; soak for 10 minutes.

- Preheat grill

- Remove corn from pot; pull back husks (be careful to leave husk attached to corn) and remove as much of silk as possible. Coat kernels with cooking spray; cover corn with husks again.

- Grill corn, turning every few minutes, until husks are blackened and charred and corn is tender (about 15 to 20 minutes)

- Meanwhile, melt butter in a small dish, stir in oil, herbs, garlic, pepper and salt.

- To serve, pull back husks to expose corn and use husks as handles.  Place on serving platter and brush butter mixture over corn. Yields 1 ear per serving, 4 pts per serving.  (First carb, very worth it, nothing says summer like corn on the cob!)

Then I roasted asparagus and potatoes using all the same flavors as the other recipes.

Roasted Asparagus

1 lb asparagus

1 Tbsp olive oil

1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar

Salt, pepper, minced garlic and fresh herbs to taste

Roast in 400 deg oven 20 min, 4 servings 1 pt each

Roasted Fingerling Potatoes

I do not know if you have seen these before but I love these little beauties. Meijers carries little bags of them made by Green Giant. I have two daughters and I jump at the chance to awe and delight my little girls by serving them purple food.

I mean really, with girls, you can imagine the excitement cutting into a potato and seeing that purple gorgeousness!

1 lb potatoes

2 Tbsp olive oil

1 Tbsp minced garlic

Salt, pepper, and fresh herbs to taste

Roast in 400 deg oven, 30-40 min, 6 servings 2 pt each

And just because I was carb happy I made these too (don't worry I didn't have a full serving of everything!)

Herb Butter Dinner Rolls

Take 16  Rhodes Frozen Dinner Rolls and let rise per bag instructions (takes 3-5 hrs), take 2 rolls each and roll into 3 balls and put in each compartment of a muffin tin sprayed with cooking spray.  Makes 8 rolls. Bake per instructions (about 30 min at 350).  Repeat butter from corn recipe above and brush on warm rolls. Rolls are 6 pts each but oh so worth it. 

OK so you are thinking, she must be done now, right.  Wait we haven't had our dessert yet.  Thank you hungry girl.  What is more of a comfort food than apple pie right? I admittedly have never made an apple pie by myself.  Then hungry girl put this recipe on her show and I thought, hey I can handle that. 

Awesome Apple Pie-lets

Ingredients:
1 tbsp Splenda

1 tbsp. granulated sugar
2 tsp. cornstarch
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. vanilla extract
1/8 tsp. salt
3 cups peeled and chopped apples (preferably Fuji)
6 large square egg roll wrappers (found in the refrigerated section of the supermarket with the other Asian items)
18 sprays non-stick cooking spray

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a medium unheated pot, combine Splenda, sugar, cornstarch, cinnamon, vanilla extract, and salt with 1/2 cup cold water. Mix until the ingredients dissolve. Add apples and stir. Bring to medium-high heat on the stove and, stirring frequently, cook for 7 - 10 minutes, until apples are softened.

Remove the pot from heat and very lightly mash the apples in the pot with a potato masher or a spatula. (You don't want applesauce. It should remain chunky.) Return to low heat on the stove, and cook for 1 - 2 additional minutes, stirring often, until the mixture is thick and gooey. Remove from heat and set aside. This is your pie filling.

Prepare a large baking sheet by lining it with foil and/or spraying it with nonstick spray. Set aside.

Lay two egg roll wrappers flat on a dry surface. Set out a small dish of water. Dip your finger into the water, and run it along all of the wrapper edges. (Repeat as needed while preparing your pockets, as it will help seal them.) Starting 1/2 inch from the bottom, place about 1/3 cup pie filling along the bottom half of each wrapper, leaving a 1/2-inch border on the sides. Fold the top half of each wrapper over the filling, so that the top edge meets the bottom and the filling is encased with a border on three sides. Dab each border with water, and fold each inward about 1/4 inch to lightly seal. Press firmly along the borders with the prongs of a fork to seal completely. Carefully transfer to the baking sheet. Spray the top of each pocket with 3 sprays of butter. Repeat this process twice with remaining wrappers and filling, leaving you with 6 pie-lets.

Bake in the oven for 15 - 18 minutes, until edges begin to brown. Allow to cool for 5 minutes before digging in!

MAKES 6 SERVINGS, 3 pts each, add a little a la mode for extra pts. 

And if you don't know about these little beauties:

I love these things. They make wonton size too. You can obviously make egg rolls or wontons with them.  You can also make your own stuffed pasta. You can make cannolis or pies or blintzes (as I am going to do later).  Remarkable little things, it seems you can get just about anything these days. Especially at Meijers! Their website has lots of cool and yummy sounding recipe ideas, check it out: http://www.nasoya.com/index.html

So that's it, crazy comfort food right? It was a good day, Sunday's always are.  Sunday's are nice and relaxing in the summer, my husband is actually sitting next to me watching a movie, that is unheard of during the school year.  I am soaking up every second of summer.  I hope you are too! Now to get that scale replaced and stay on track this week...