The Glade 4.0

I've more or less always cooked off the top of my head rather than use a recipe. Possibly from having to come up with meals without having ingredients for any particular recipes. Sometimes it turns out really well (cream of mushroom soup, lemon juice and pepper make a sauce that goes great on just about anything and my sister swears is good just as soup) and sometimes not so much (never use salad dressing to season soup, even if it's a great marinade and don't mix fish and sage leaves). Recently I've had the chance to really expiriment with making different kinds of dinners. It's been fun and I'm sorta learning through trial and error. So long as we can at least eat the errors or go get burgers. But yesterday I think I made my new favorite recipe.

I visited the Fresh Market with the intention of finding some veggies and experimenting with whatever I came up with - after getting meat from Kroger because it's much much cheaper.

So I ended up with:
Asparagus
Green bell peppers
Red bell peppers
Orange bell peppers
Yellow bell peppers
Mushrooms
Turkey bacon
Iron skillet steak
Non-butter

I already had fresh sage and rosemary at home, along with spinach noodles that we'd picked up over the weekend. I figured with all of that I could make something really tasty and at least moderately healthy.

So I started out boiling the noodles and chopped asparagus separately. And put the steak on low with some rosemary tucked up under it and California seasoned pepper sprinkled on top. I added a tiny bit of water and non-butter into the pan so it wouldn't get dry. Then I started sauteing the mushrooms and peppers together. At this point I still had no clue where the dinner was going. I figured I could add the veggies into the pasta and get a nice side, but had no clue if I was going to do anything to make the meat extra yummy. But around the time the pasta finished I figured I could put the mushroom/peppers on the steak and the asparagus with the noodles. So I added a little bit of salt lick BBQ to the peppers/mushrooms and then some water to make a tin sauce and let it simmer while I finished the rest. I drained the noodles and asparagus and mixed them up with non-butter and parmesan. The steak turned out to be done right on time (yay for happy accidents!). I cut it into thin strips and topped it with the sauce/veggies and we had the pasta on the side.

Actually, it was really good. Especially for something I made up as I went along. I only wish I'd put the pot of pasta on the counter instead of back on the stove. We lost a decent serving of it because it burned to the bottom after I set it down. But there's enough of the veggies left that didn't get cooked that I'll need to figure out something good to do with them, though the asparagus might just go into more of that pasta. And I put the bacon away for later. Maybe I'll make a healthier version of bacon/macaroni and cheese sometime soon. Or omelets for breakfast over the weekend.

Anyone got ideas on what to do with asparagus, bell peppers, sage and mushrooms? Salad? Stir fry?

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Eh, the color of the photo didn't turn out well...it was just a quick snap on my iPhone, and the meat's more cooked than the photo suggests, but here's a good idea:



Was de-lish.

1 lb Asparagus, trimmed and fibrous stalks peeled (i didnt bother to peel when I made it)
1 large red bell pepper, seeded and cut into 1/2 strips
1 lemon
1 tsp olive oil
1/2 tsp salt (i use Nu-Salt salt sub.)
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper (i did this one by guestimation)

Preheat oven to 400. Spray a baking sheet with nonstick spray

In large bowl, combine asparagus and red pepper. Spray with nonstick spray. Squeeze in 1 tbs lemon juice from lemon, then add oil, salt, and crushed red pepper. Toss well to coat

Arrange veggies on baking sheet. bake until tender, shaking the sheet occasionally, about 15-18 minutes. Transfer veggies into bowl, add about 1 tsp lemon zest and toss.

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That looks and sounds delicious Phe!

Experimenting with foods is a great deal of fun and sometimes you can come up with something sensational!

I had some leftover red and green bell peppers and some homegrown zucchini and green onions in the fridge, so I picked up some mushrooms and sauteed the bunch with garlic then splashed them with low sodium soy sauce and sesame oil for supper tonight. Served them over some thinly sliced tri-tip roast...nomnomnom!

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"Said I never had much use for one, never said I didn't know how to use one!"~ Matthew Quigley

"nothing like a little meow in bed at night" ~ Bruskey

"I gotta float my stick same as you" Hondo Lane

"Fill your hand you son of a *****!"

With roast you say? Hmmmm...

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I want your place mats.

Aren't they neat? My older sis and her husband gave them to us. They're made from recycled magazine pages.

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Today's dinner was whiting topped with the left over bell peppers and tuscan seasoning and baked wrapped in foil. Nice and tender and juicy, even though I'm not a huge fan of that particular fish.

Soon I hope to make loaf of meat (pans and recipe are back at the house, though). Tomorrow I plan on the bacon mac and cheese.

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Phe! You overcooked the beef!

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Are those placemats sushi mats?

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