Adobo Steaks

We don't eat a lot of steak.  I think Hubs would eat more if HE planned the menu though.  He does rave when I make steak.  Well, I just marinate it, HE actually gets to grill it! 

This marinade was awesome! Spicy and garlicky! 

I take my whole can of chipotles with adobo sauce and puree the whole thing. I just use a few tablespoons for this marinade.  Then the rest can stay in the refrigerator for something else. 

Adobo Steaks Marinade Recipe

1 lime, juiced

1 tablespoon minced garlic

1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon ground cumin
2 tablespoons finely chopped canned chipotle peppers in adobo sauce
Adobo sauce from canned chipotle peppers to taste
4 (8 ounce) beef sirloin steaks
Salt and pepper to taste


1.In a small bowl, mix the lime juice, garlic, oregano, and cumin. Stir in chipotle peppers, and season to taste with adobo sauce. (I puree my chipotles and adobo together and just use a few tablespoons)
2.Pierce the meat on both sides with a sharp knife, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and place in a glass dish. Pour lime and chipotle sauce over meat, and turn to coat. Cover, and marinate in the refrigerator for 1 to 2 hours.
3.Preheat grill for high heat.
4.Lightly brush grill grate with oil. Place steaks on the grill, and discard marinade. Grill steaks for 6 minutes per side, or to desired doneness.
One Year Ago...

Chicken Tagine in the Slow Cooker

This is linked with:

No Whine Wednesday at Food on the Table
Let's Do Brunch at My Sweet and Savory
Works for me Wednesday at We are THAT Family
Real Food Wednesdays at Kelly the Kitchen Kop
What's on your Plate? at Good Cheap Eats
What's on the Menu at Dining with Debbie
Made it on Monday at Lark's Country Heart
My Best Recipes at This Chick Cooks
The Mommy Club at Crystal and Co.
Weekend Wrapup Party at Tatertots and Jello





Calories calculated from calorieking.com. Some numbers are approximate and rounded.

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Baked BBQ Onion Rings

I pretty much ate this whole plate of onion rings.  Well, I could have at least. I was nice and shared a few with the family.  I'm quite sure that I had the most though. 

The original recipe calls for Panko breadcrumbs and these might have crisped up more than the regular breadcrumbs.  They weren't quite as crispy as I would have liked, but hey, for a baked onion ring they were pretty awesome. 

The barbecue flavoring was incredible.

Baked BBQ Onion Rings Recipe

Adapted from Very Culinary



1 cup barbecue sauce of your choice

2 large eggs, lightly beaten

1/4 cup flour

2 cups bread crumbs (I used 1/2 regular and 1/2 whole grain)

2 - 3 medium to large onions, sliced into 1/2 in. rings



Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Place two baking sheets in the oven and let those preheat too.



In a medium bowl, mix together barbeque sauce, eggs and flour.  Place bread crumbs in a separate bowl.



Dip onion slices in the bbq mixture, shake excess off and then dunk on all sides into the bread crumbs.  I use one hand for the bbq dipping and then the other hand for throwing the crumbs on the onion, this seems to be the neatest way.  Lay flat on a plate or a cool surface while waiting for the hot trays. 



Remove hot baking sheets from the oven and spray lightly with cooking spray.  Move coated onions to hot baking sheets and spray the coated onions lightly with cooking spray. 



Bake for about 8 minutes, then use tongs or a fork to turn each onion ring and bake for an additional 4 - 6 minutes, watch closely so they don't burn!





One Year Ago...

Ice Cream in a Baggie



This is linked with:Calories calculated from calorieking.com. Some numbers are approximate and rounded.



$5 Dinner Challenge at $5 Dinners

My Meatless Monday at My Sweet and Savory

Mouthwatering Mondays at A Southern Fairytale

Your Recipe, My Kitchen at Frugal Antics of a Harried Homemaker

Just another Meatless Monday at What's for Dinner, Mom?

Midnight Maniac Meatless Monday at Midnight Maniac

Made By You Mondays at Skip to my Lou

Mangia Mondays at Delightfully Dowling

Tuesday at the Table at All The Small Stuff

Tasty Tuesday at Balancing Beauty and Bedlam

Hearth & Soul at Mom's Sunday Cafe

Tasty Tidbits at Permanent Posies

The Mommy Club at Crystal & Co.

My Best Recipes at This Chick Cooks

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Twist of Taste with Vineet Bhatia

I have seen a gazillion trailers for this show and finally managed to catch a few episodes of it and find it quite interesting..... Not only is it about food, but also a travelogue of sorts....

Michelin Star Chef Vineet Bhatia from Australia travels to 13 Indians cities, samples the local delights and then works on creating a twist to the dishes to create something new ...  This is being telecast on the ‘Twist of Taste with Vineet Bhatia’ show on Sunday's at 9pm on FOX History & Traveller. 

Last night watched the Twist of Taste with Vineet Bhatia in chennai and LOVED it... 

  Vineet & Rashima Bhatia

While in Chennai, he visited ---

Murugan Idli Shop for some yummy Dosa and South Indian fares.... 

Grand Sweets and Snacks in Spur Tank Road where they tried Mysore Pak, Coconut laddoo, and Payasam

and finally, Rashima devoured a glass of Hot South Indian Filter Kaapi in Sangeetha Apoorva Restaurant...

Vineet then went on to add a bit of twist to the taste by creating Indian Uttapam, serving it as a Lasagne- layered with potato curry, topped with a coconut chutney served alongwith a martini glass - a scoop of Curry leaf ice cream topped with Hot sambar,

He also recreated Curd rice, serving it with Baby potatos+ Okra curry and Pineapple in coconut milk around it... 

Finally, for dessert, Vineet served Payasam ice cream, & a frozen dessert that had South indian coffee+ almonds in an ice cream...

Looking fwd to the next episode!!

Image courtesy- Livemint

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Menu Plan Monday ~ August 29 - September 4, 2011

Monday: Beef & Bean Taco Bake with ground turkey



Tuesday: Quesadillas and Mexican Corn Dip



Wednesday: Burgers and Baked Apple Chips



Thursday:  Chicken Pasta Salad



Friday: Leftovers



Saturday: Minnesota State Fair - fried food on a stick!



Sunday:  Special Day Assembly - out to eat w/friends



This is linked with Menu Plan Monday at I'm an Organized Junkie



One Year Ago...

Taco Corn Bread Casserole

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A Little Jar of Lavender

Straight from the garden, a sweetly-scented gift from my two youngest sons.

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Saravana Bhavan, NSC Bose Road, Chennai

We waited and waited... We were tired and hungry.. We had been walking for nearly 2hours and all of us had been up at 5am!! 

And then finally, a good 25mins later the plate of Pongal & Vadai with Sambar & chutney landed on our table... I dug my spoon into the pongal, blew on it and took a mouthful to realise it was COLD... Sigh.... Now i am double sure that i Still dont like Saravana Bhavan............ 

The only thing we look forward to in the morning is HOT breakfast.... and we were the only people in the hotel- about 30 of us, some in the AC rooms and a few of us outside...

 

We had finished our walk around the Mint street and part of the package was breakfast at Saravana Bhavan on NSC Bose Road, adj to the High Court. 

And then, a friend ordered a plate of mini idlies dunked in sambar, which looked good, but not sure if that was ok... The Poori & potato curry did look quite appealing...

But must give it to them- The Coffee was good- Not too sweet, not too chikkaryish, but just right!!! 

The hotel did have a good feel to it, it was an age old building with the ceiling in true Madras ceiling style, with beams running the length of the ceiling and across as well. There was long stemmed fans buzzing away.... 

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Solar Panels

 image courtesy of www.techvert.com

 In early June, 18 solar panels were installed on the roof of our house (a 3 kilowatt system).

Over the past few days I have noticed with much excitement that we are generating more electricity than we are using every day, and it's still late winter.  We currently have the old-fashioned type of meter with a dial that spins backwards when we produce more than we use - a fantastic sight!

In September, ETSA (our state's electricity infrastructure provider), will (finally, after more than 3 months) install a smart meter that will mean that we are paid extra for any electricity that we return to the grid.

From now on, in spring and autumn when the days are relatively long and almost always sunny, I am pretty sure we will have no electricity bills, and may even make a profit.  The same is true for summer, although I expect that during heatwaves the air conditioner will probably use up most of the solar power produced.

In the long term, with electricity prices rising exponentially, I believe the solar panels will prove to have been a very wise investment, especially as we were able to benefit from Government rebates that reduced the cost considerably.  The benefit for the environment will be significant too, of course, in a brown-coal dependent state like South Australia.

Since having solar panels installed, I have become much more aware of which appliances use a lot of power, and am trying to restrict their use.  I am much more conscious, for example, of only using the oven when several things are cooking, and not just to heat one item.

Do you have solar panels?  How have your electricity bills been affected?

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