“We do our best to eat a balanced vegetarian diet, even going vegan about five days a week. But…nothing stands in the way of Steak Night.”
Growing up, it seemed like we ate a lot of red meat. My mom professed a dislike for “touching” chicken so it seemed we had a lot of steaks, roasts, meat sauces. A weekly staple was a plate of sizzling sirloins, sometimes singed, on the ubiquitous suburban gas grill rounded out with a baked potato and generous spoonful of Stouffer’s Spinach Soufflé. Meanwhile, my husband grew up in the United States of Chicken. Or so it seems. Most of his beloved childhood recipes call for the stuff. Chicken and rice casserole , Chicken French, Cornell Chicken.
So, when we moved in together more than a decade ago, despite being in meat-mad Texas, we landed somewhere in the middle, and threw some turkey, pork chops and vegetarian dishes into the mix. And then, last year, the day after the SuperBowl we took the plunge into the Crazy Sexy Diet – a 21-day vegan cleanse. Those 21 days changed our eating habits forever. We started eating avocados for breakfast, almond butter for lunch and chickpeas for dinner. And we felt amazing.
So here we are, about a year later, and I can honestly say that [when I am not pregnant] we we strive for five — vegan days of the week, that is — and sort of throw caution to the wind on weekends if we choose — depending on if we’re on a WeightWatchers kick or not. It’s funny, as I’m remembering that year after college, I recall how we killed ourselves doing the Body for Life regimen and every Sunday we went to this most incredible Tex-Mex place called La Suprema to celebrate the weekly “free day” from our diet. The “free day” concept never left us and I can say it’s the backbone of our weekly eating strategy. Thus, despite our vegan tendency, we have wholly embraced steak night. Even going so far as to establish a two-years running, standing weekly dinner date with another couple that we call the “Meat Up.” This is basically shorthand for BYO meat to the grill on the patio and we each whip up a side or two and dessert. Over time, our grocery store sirloins and QVC mail-order filets have been replaced by local, humane, free-range farmers market bison, usually in the form of nicely marbled rib-eyes.
All that said, and before I become unpregnant and re-adopt my vegan ways, I present to you: steak, two ways. Or, I should say, two recipes for steak with super easy, oh-MY-god-come-here-I-want-to-punch-you-in-the-goddamn-face-this-is-so-effing-delicious sauces that make my tastebuds jump for joy. Note: You’ll rarely get an original recipe out of me, but you will get some pointed to some stellar staples.
With both of these, pretty much any cut will work or you can follow the recipes to the letter.
1. Southwestern Pistachio Crusted Steak with Roasted Poblano Chili Sauce
Merry meat to you all!
I eat little if any tofu. That induecls the fake meats that many love to have as a main staple to their diet that is soy based.I eat pretty much what I have always eaten, but make it without the meat. Sounds difficult? It isn’t.Something like a stuffed bell pepper is usually stuffed with meat. I instead go for rice and veggies with a tomato base sauce over it.Soups are no problem. Vegetable soups are easy. Go just with the veggies or add grains such as barley to them to add more nutritional value to them. There are also tomato based soups.A baked potato is not just a side dish. You can add all sorts of things on top of it. Broccoli, sauteed veggies of all sorts bell peppers, carrots, zucchini, onions, cilantro, parsley only limited by your imagination or personal tastes. You can even bake them ahead of time which saves on wasted energy and have them ready for you when you get home from work or school to be warmed up.I even have a traditional Italian sauce that is carrot based for pasta dishes. Vareity is not a problem.Kabobs that have veggies, mushrooms that you like on them a total treat that I have never had any to refuse.Mushrooms are fabulous, the variety is more than many people know. Stuff them, broil them, add them to other things. With the things that they have found out recently about capers, you might want to think about adding them to your salad or other dishes.Cold salads with pasta, grains, or just the veggies another wonderful experience for the palate.The things that you can do with a rice dish again only limited by your personal taste. You can go from main dish to dessert with this versitile grain.Baked apples, fruit salads, or just plain fruit a healthy addition to a balanced diet.Whole grain breads of different variety of grains is something else that I would suggest. Pumpernickle, rye, sour dough are great. Something as simple as switching over to a pita bread can bring variety to something that you may not have considered.You can juice, you can make fruit smoothies for quick fixes and treats. My suggestion is always for people to go with what they eat now and see how they can adapt and adjust what they already know and like to fit within a healthy diet. Reason that I suggest this is because you already have most if not all of what you need on hand and the outlay of money is not going to be a big bite out of the budget.If such is more than you can handle, or you just are not convident enough to do such I strongly suggest talking to a good dietician/nutritionist and getting their helpful insights. They not only will help you to know if what you are eating is meeting all your dietary needs, they can help you with formating a grocery list to make sure that you get all the things that you will need to have a healthy diet.Last but not least know that spices are your best friend. Learning about them and how to best use them in cooking is something that is going to make what you eat either something that you really enjoy or something that you just do and make do with. When you get comfortable, start trying new things. Add to what you already know. I suggest going to the library and getting cookbooks to see if the cookbook is something that you want to invest your hard earned money in buying. If it is filled with ingredients that are hard to find, foods that you really are not suited to your personal taste matters not if everyone else loves it.There are websites but I have found that many of the sites will rave about some dish that many times comes from an ethnic taste that you might not be familiar with and ingredients that are not easy to find. So make sure when searching such sites on the web that they are things that you can find easy or at least order.Again, can’t say it enough. At first, I would suggest going with what you know. Helps to keep the budget down. Add the ingredients that you think that you might need as you need them easier than a massive outlay of monies on things all at once.