Menu Plan Monday

I ran out of energy this week and gave into frozen foods and take out to get us by at the end of the week. At least we are through that. Time to move on.  :-)

This week's menu is simple home cookin'. Got some family favs in there to keep everyone happy.


Family Menu

M - Greek chicken burgers and mac 'n' cheese

T - meatloaf, mashed potatoes and corn

W- chicken 'n' dumplings

H - penne w/ red sauce

F - taco braid and Spanish rice* - new recipe - didn't make it the last time

A - southwestern macaroni


My Low Carb Menu

M - Greek chicken burger and broccoli salad

T - cabbage and kielbasa

W - chicken minestrone soup

H - pizza gondolas* and side salad - new recipe

F - taco burger and sauteed brussel sprouts

A - omelet


Check out some other great menus at Menu Plan Monday!

Mexican Pasta Skillet + Low Carb Fish Taco Salad

I love it when our nightly dinner recipe turns out to be something that my family really likes, plus I'm able to make it low carb for me with just a few adjustments.

The original recipe for this Mexican Pasta Skillet comes from Betty Crocker. I left out the corn, used ground turkey instead of ground beef and added a low carb taco spice blend to my recipe makeover. I reserved 1/4 C. of the sauce mixture for my fish taco salad. Then I added cooked elbow macaroni to the remaining sauce for my family.

My recipe makeover looks like this:

Tami's Mexican Pasta Skillet

1 lb ground turkey
16 oz salsa - I used "hot"
16 oz tomato sauce
1 1/2 C. water
1 lb. cooked elbow macaroni
1/2 C. shredded mexi blend cheese
low carb taco seasoning blend* - recipe below

Brown turkey; drain off grease, if necessary. Return turkey to skillet.

Stir in low carb taco seasoning blend, salsa, tomato sauce and water.

Reduce heat and cook for 10 minutes. Stir in cooked elbow macaroni and heat through.

Sprinkle the shredded cheese on top of the pasta. Cover with a lid to allow the cheese time to melt - 2 minutes.

Serve with warm bread and a side salad.

Low Carb Taco Seasoning

1 t. chili powder
3/4 t. paprika
3/4 t. cumin
1/2 t. onion powder
1/2 t. salt
3/8 t. garlic powder
pinch cayenne

I doubled this amount for the recipe above.

I cannot take credit for creating this great spice blend. You can see the original recipe here.


Now for my low carb fish taco salad........

Last night we had Red Pepper & Parmesan Talapia. If you are fond of fish - and even if you are not - you should try this recipe. It's delicious. I also sprinkled a little cajun spice on the fish to give it a little "kick".

There was one piece of fish left over from last night so I decided to add it to my salad. Win-Win-Win! It's low carb...it's delicious....I used up the leftovers instead of throwing them out.

Tami's Low Carb Fish Taco Salad

1 - 1 1/2 C. Italian salad mixed greens
1 piece of leftover red pepper & parmesan talapia
1/3 piece of an English cucumber, roughly chopped
1/4 C. taco meat sauce from mexican pasta skillet recipe (above)
2 TBSP sour cream
2 TBSP shredded mexi blend cheese

Layer in order:

greens
cucumber
fish
taco meat sauce
sour cream
cheese

This new twist on salad will be added to my list of favorites! The recipe makes a big salad that could easily have been divided into 2 salads if you wanted to serve another vegetable with it. I couldn't finish the whole thing by myself.

Menu Plan Monday

Not a good weekend for us....  my daughter's class is still passing around strep throat, my son is sick and today I woke up with a stomach virus. UGH  None the less, life goes on.....

I wasn't really motivated when I put this menu together. I'm going to rely on some family favorites and a couple of easy new recipes to get us through the week. 

I hope that everyone's week has started on a better note than mine. Happy Cooking!


My Low Carb Menu

M - beef soup

T- red pepper & parmesan talapia, turnip greens & cucumber salad

W - taco salad

H - pork soulvaki (frozen in marinade in freezer), broccoli & cauliflower & salad

F - roasted chicken, brussel sprouts & veggie stix w/ dip

A - Greek turkey burger & a Greek salad

S - sloppy joe stuffed pepper


Family Menu

M - beef noodle soup - elbow mac instead of tortellini

T - red pepper & parmesan talapia, jasmine rice, green beans & cucumber salad

W - Mexican taco skillet* - new recipe

H - pork soulvaki (frozen in marinade in freezer), Greek potatoes, broccoli & salad

F - roasted chicken, egg noodles & gravy, southwest egg rolls* - new recipe

A - Greek turkey burgers, fries & Greek salad

S - spaghetti & meatballs


Check out Menu Plan Monday for lots of great menu ideas from all over the world.

Shamrock Ice Cream Sandwiches

A perfect way to end your St. Patrick's Day meal is with these scrumptious ice cream sandwiches. These Shamrock shaped treats are sure to please all of the little Lads and Lassies at your St. Patrick's Day table!

What You Need
Sugar cookie
dough - either store bought or your own recipe*
Medium to Large Shamrock cookie cutter
Green paste food coloring
Toothpick
A Pair of Latex gloves (protects from getting green hands!)
Flour
Rolling pin
Cookie sheets
Mint Chocolate Chip, Pistachio or Vanilla ice cream (tinted green), softened slightly


What You Do

**My favorite sugar cookie recipe is below

If making homemade cookies, mix and leave finished dough in a non-porous bowl. If using store bought dough, unwrap and add to a non-porous bowl.

Put on your gloves. This next step can get a little bit messy.

Using a toothpick, dip it into the green food coloring, removing a tiny bit of food coloring. Add it to the cookie dough.

NOTE: A very little bit of this food coloring goes A LONG way to adding color to the dough. To be safe, start out using just a little and continue adding a little bit at a time until you reach the desired color.

Use your hands to mix the color into the dough. This process might take a few minutes but with continued mixing, the color will evenly spread throughout dough.

If the dough becomes too sticky, add a small amount of flour (approx. 1/4 cup) to the dough and mix together thoroughly.

Continue these steps until the desired color and consistency is reached.

Next, lightly flour the table where you are going to be rolling out the dough, to prevent the dough from sticking. Roll out the dough to 1/4 - 1/2 inch thickness.

Cut out the Shamrocks (2 for each sandwich) and place on an ungreased cookie sheet, making sure to leave enough room between the cookies so they don't bake together. Bake at 350 degrees F for 10 - 12 minutes or until the edges of the cookies are light golden brown. Cool completely before making ice cream sandwiches.

TO ASSEMBLE ICE CREAM SANDWICHES

Holding the bottom side of one cookie, spread the softened ice cream, nice and thick, onto the cookie. Top with second cookie. Fill in any uneven spots around the cookie. Smooth out rough edges with your finger to give a nice, smooth look.

Place onto a cookie sheet or plate, then back into the freezer. Freeze until solid.

Once frozen, you can serve as dessert or each sandwich can be individually wrapped in plastic wrap and kept in the freezer.

Tami's Old Fashioned Sour Cream Cookies

1/2 cup shortening (part butter or margarine)
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
2 2/3 cup flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. nutmeg (optional) I leave it out for white cookies
1/2 cup sour cream

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

Mix shortening, sugar, egg, & vanilla thoroughly. Blend dry ingredients. Add to sugar mixture alternately with sour cream.

Divide dough, roll out on a well-floured board. Cut with cookie cutters (metal cookie cutters w/ open tops are the easiest) You can make these as thick as you want... the thicker, the chewier.

Place cookies on lightly greased baking sheets. Sprinkle with sugar unless you are going to ice them. Bake 7-8 minutes or until very lightly browned around the edges. Makes 3-4 dozen but I never get this many because I make mine thicker.

If you use the nutmeg in them, you don't even need the icing but it will give your cookies a slight off-white appearance if they are left un-iced.

If you like chewy cookies, roll them out a little thicker. If you like thin crispy cookies, roll a kind of thin but not real thin or you wont be able to remove to them from cookie pan.

This dough is very easy to work with too! I always double it because I like the thicker cookies.

Greek Turkey Meatballs

I love, love, love, Greek food. I have a favorite Pork Soulvaki recipe that I turn to over and over again. Now I've found a second favorite recipe, Greek style meatballs, a recipe that I'm sure I will use over and over again.

Although the original recipes uses ground chicken, I used ground turkey. These meatballs are full of flavor and would be delicious made into burgers, as well. I didn't make the tzaziki sauce to go along with the meatballs but I know that it would be a delicious sauce on them.

These little gems are low carb, too! I can't wait to make this recipe into burgers and try them on an oopsie roll! (another recipe that I still haven't tried yet.)

Another excellent point was that my son and my husband thought that they were delicious. No way was my 6 yr. old going to try them but I'm thrilled that the other two liked them.

Here is the original recipe with any of my changes in bold next to it.

Spanikopita Chicken Meatballs
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 onion, grated
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 box frozen chopped spinach, defrosted (I used 1/2 of a 750 g bag of Europe's Best) (I used 1/2 of a 12 oz bag of frozen spinach - no specific brand...whatever happened to be on sale that week. )
3/4 cup crumbled feta cheese (optional) (I left it out but I'm going to try it next time)
1 lb ground chicken (I used 1 lb. ground turkey)
1 tbsp grill seasoning

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Defrost the spinach in the microwave, then place in a kitchen towel and squeeze to remove all the excess water. Place in a large mixing bowl with the rest of the ingredients and mix really well. I didn't use feta because it made the recipe more expensive and I knew my husband and I wouldn't miss it. I've tried it with and without and both are delicious. If you too want to cut costs, don't worry...it's totally amazing without.

Roll into about 18 (1 1/2 inch) meatballs (I made 15 golf ball-sized meatballs) and place on a cookie sheet. Drizzle with a little bit more olive oil and place in oven and bake for about 12 minutes, turn over and bake for another 10-14 minutes or until the meatballs are golden brown and cooked all the way thro.

**my notes**  This recipe would be great to make mini meatballs for soup or to make into burgers for oopsie rolls or low carb tortillas...or just plain on a plate with all of the fixins. Freeze any leftovers. 

Low Carb Chocolate Cheesecake

After reading how some of my fellow low carbing friends eat cheesecake for breakfast, I was determined to find a recipe for a low carb chocolate cheesecake that would serve as dessert for Valentine's Day and as breakfast, too. Debbie, who I met from FamilyCorner.com, posted this low carb cheesecake recipe for me. It sounded great so I decided to add some cocoa to it to see if the chocolate taste would come through enough to satisfy my cravings.

It worked just fine.

Here is the original recipe with my changes printed below it:

Low Carb Cheesecake
3 packages (1 and 1/2 lbs) cream cheese, room temperature
4 eggs, room temperature
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 tsp lemon juice
1 1/3 cups worth of artificial sweetener
1/4 cup sour cream

Crust
1 cup almond meal
2 tbsp melted butter
2 tbsp artificial sweetener


Heat oven to 375 F.Combine ingredients for crust, and press into the bottom of a springform pan. Bake for 8-10 minutes, till fragrant and beginning to brown. Raise oven heat to 400 degrees, or lower to 350 degrees if you're using a water bath (see below).Put cream cheese in mixing bowl, and beat till fluffy. Add other ingredients, scraping the bowl and beaters each time (this is very important), fully incorporating each ingredient. When all ingredients are combine, scrap one more time, beat one more minute, and pour mixture into pan over crust.

Instructions for water bath: Wrap the bottom and sides of the springform pan in foil, put it in a baking pan and pour boiling water around the sides. Bake at 350 for 60 to 90 minutes, checking often. When the cake is firm to touch but slightly soft in the center, or the center reaches 155 degress, remove from oven.

Instructions for non water bath: For this method, you start the cake at a high temperature, and it slowly drops. If you have stoneware, bricks, etc, this allows it to happen at a slower rate, and I get better results in less time. Put the cheesecake on a sheet pan in case of drippage. After putting the cheesecake in the oven at 400 degrees, turn the oven down to 200. Bake for 60 to 90 minutes, checking often after an hour. When the cake is firm to touch but slightly soft in the center, or the center reaches 155 degrees, remove from oven.
Chill completely. Top with fruit.Makes 16 servings.

With regular cream cheese, each servings has 1.5 grams carbohydrate, 5 grams protein, and 174 calories.

My changes/additions: 

I added 4 TBSP cocoa to it to make it chocolate.

I made it in a 10" spring form pan to make the slices bigger but not as tall. For a regular cheesecake, you would probably want to use an 8" pan.

I used the non-water bake method to bake this. It took just 60 minutes to bake.

Also, this cheesecake is not really sweet, especially with the cocoa added to it. I like it this way but if you like it on the sweeter side, I would suggest adding another 1/3 c. of sugar substitute to it. The texture is firm, yet creamy. The almond crust is a nice treat but I bet that this could be made without it if you chill the cheesecake really well before slicing it.

Make sure to keep scraping the bow (including the bottom of the bowl), as suggested. After a lot of beating, I still had a few white spots in my cheesecake -- I didn't mind it at all. The next time I will add the cocoa in 1 TBSP at a time and then mix it well afterward.

I sliced it into 8 pieces instead of 16 because I'm going to eat most of it for breakfast and with the low carb count (you have to add in the carb count for the cocoa), I figured that it was ok for the bigger pieces. lol! (Don't you just love my reasoning?)

 

 

My husband liked this, too. He had some Cool Whip on his.

I stored the slices in a plastic container in-between layers of waxed paper. Make sure to use a lid that will seal tightly. Cheesecake can also be frozen.

Enjoy! 

Menu Plan Monday - My Low Carb + Family Dinner Menu

Here we are on another dreary Monday. If you are like me, you're ready for spring! I can't wait to see the sun shining brightly, to hear the birds chirping and to see the flower buds peaking out from the dirt.

I'm trying two new recipes this week. Other than that, I'm planning meals from the food that I have in our freezer. Hopefully I can keep my grocery shopping for the week to a minimal.


My Low Carb Menu

M - Greek style turkey meatballs* w/ sauteed green beans - new recipe

T- turkey ham & cheese omelet

W- steak salad

H- baked chicken, salad & a veggie to be determined

F- pizza bowl

A - Chinese 5-spice chicken w/ faux rice* and broccoli - new recipe


Family Menu

M - chicken noodle soup

T - scalloped potatoes & turkey ham

W - steak salads

H - baked chicken, rice & gravy, and a veggie to be determined

F - baked ziti 

A - Chinese 5-spice chicken stir fry* w/ Jasmine rice - new recipe

To see more great menus, check out Menu Plan Monday!

Welcome to the Cookie Carnival's New Home!

I'm happy to announce that the Cookie Carnival has found a new home here at Tami's Kitchen Table Talk!

Let's get baking again!  Please take a minute to review the FAQs below as there have been some changes in the emailing information that you will need to participate.

I look forward to meeting and talking with all of the Cookie Carnival regulars, as well as, the newbies that will be joining in on the fun!

I am going to offer a cookie for February for those who would like to bake it with me. Be on the lookout sometime today for an email from me containing that recipe. (Kate was kind enough to pass along the current email list)

I realize that there's only a couple of weeks left to bake this one, so please don't feel pressured into baking it if you don't have the time. We'll start March off with different cookie. 

If you have any questions or comments, don't hesitate to email me: yinzerfan@gmail.com  

I'm always open to suggestions. This is my first time hosting an event like this so please bear with me if I make mistakes along the way. 

If you've made it this far through this post, I hope that I've peaked your interest enough to join us in baking some wonderful cookies!

Thanks, Kate, for having the faith in me to pass along the reigns! I hope that you will join us whenever you are able to!

Hugs,
Tami


Cookie Carnival FAQs

HOW do I join up?

Send an email to yinzerfan{AT}gmail{DOT}com, please put "cookie carnival" in the subject line. and I'll email you the recipe of the month.

When do you post the round-up?
Good question. Whenever I can get to it! I ask for the links and photos to be sent to me by a certain date (usually the last or second to last day of the month) my intention is to get the post up in the following day or 2.

How will I know the round-up is up?
I will send you an email with the link.

What do I have to do to be included in the round-up?
Easy. Just send me an email by the appointed date including a link to your post (not to your blog, but a direct link to your post). that's all!

Will you post a photo of my cookies?

YES! In order to have a photo up as part of the round-up, all you have to do is attach one to your email that includes the link to your post. Your photo MUST meet the following criteria in order to be posted:

A. it must be titled with your blog name. example: tamiskitchentabletalk.jpg
B. it must be no larger than a width of 205.

If your photo meets these criteria, I'll post it. Please understand that it's very time consuming to put the round-up together. This will ensure that I can do the work more quickly!

When/how will I find out the new recipe for the month?
I will email it to you sometime in the first week of the month.

Do I have to participate every month?

NO! This blog event is open in that way. You can participate or not. It's up to you! Just make sure you get me a link to your post when you DO participate, so we can all see how you did! Ilove to have people participate as much as possible, but we're all busy, so we do what we can!

How do I opt out?

Just send me an email telling me to remove you from the list.

Can I submit a recipe for consideration?
Heck yeah! Just email me the recipe and I'll toss it in the pot. Sometimes I'll decide a recipe by a vote as well.

Sound like fun? I hope so! Let the cookie baking and mouth watering begin!



**New**

I've had a few people email me to ask "Can I join the Cookie Carnival without having a blog?"

YES!  You can join the Cookie Carnival if you follow these rules:

Please email me to let me know that you would like to join. I will add you to the email list so that you will start receiving the recipes each month. At this time please let me know that you will be participating via email.

1. You must email me one picture of your cookies - no bigger than 50 x 50, please.

2. Please include a sentence or two about yourself - ex: your name and where you live

3. Please include a comment about the cookies - good or bad or just a thought pertaining to the cookies.

4. Please let me know if you followed the recipe as written or if you made changes - and if you did, what changes did you make? I will post those changes, too.

Red Pepper & Parmesan Talapia - Low Carb, Too!

This was another great dish that my whole family really liked. All of the ingredients are low carb, too!

If you're not found of fish, I suggest giving this a try. It has a very mellow flavor and the Parmesan cheese adds a nice crunch around the edges.

Red Pepper & Parmesan Talapia
taken from the Taste of Home Busy
Family Recipes 2010 magazine

I doubled this recipe

¼ cup egg substitute
½ cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
½ to 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
½ teaspoon pepper
4 tilapia fillets (6 oz. each) - The fillets I used weren't 6 oz. each, they were smaller

Place egg substitute in a shallow bowl. In another shallow bowl, combine the cheese, Italian seasoning, pepper flakes and pepper. Dip fillets in egg substitute, then cheese mixture.

Place in a 15-in. x 10-in. x 1-in. baking pan coated with cooking spray. -- Do not skip this step or the cheese will stick to the pan. 

Bake at 425° for 10-15 minutes or until fish flakes easily with a fork.

Shown here with a side of sauteed squash w/ roasted red peppers. YUM!

Delish and only 1 carb per serving!

Atkins Spicy Baked Chicken

My whole family enjoyed this new chicken recipe. I found this recipe here on the Atkins website. The overall taste was pretty good, although it was a little salty for me. The next time I will leave out the salt altogether. The changes that I made are next to the ingredients in bold. 

 Spicy Baked Chicken
serves 4

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons canola oil
2 teaspoons paprika
1 teaspoon dried thyme - I omitted it because I didn't have it on hand
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon dried cumin
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon salt - I would omit next time
1/2 teaspoon pepper - I used Montreal steak seasoning
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
6 chicken legs with thighs, rinsed and patted dry - I used 9 bone-in thighs

Directions:

Heat oven to 350F.

In a small bowl, mix oil and spices.

Rub chicken legs with spice mixture; arrange on a baking sheet.

Refrigerate 30 minutes.

Bake chicken 40 to 45 minutes or until cooked through. My chicken was still a bit frozen even after thawing overnight in the frig. I didn't refrigerate the chicken before baking it. It took about 10 minutes longer than the suggested time to bake.

Net Carbs: 1.0 grams
Fiber: 1.0 grams
Protein: 46.0 grams
Fat: 37.5 grams
Calories: 535

This recipe is a definite keeper. I had mashed fauxtatoes to go along with it.

Menu Plan Monday - Family and Low Carb Menus

Last week's menu worked out fine until the end of the week. My husband and I were in a car wreck on Thursday morning. (we're ok, the car wasn't) We spent the entire day focusing on what to do with the car ..etc. That meant that Thursday's dinner was take out. On Friday, we had plans to take our kids to Monkey Joe's so we ate dinner out and then headed to MJ's. On Saturday, we managed to get a meal in at home...yay! For the Super Bowl, let's just say that I was a little irked with my husband. I cooked my meal at home, the rest of the family ate food from McDonald's.

So, you might see some repeats for recipes that I haven't tried, in the coming weeks. I've managed to stick to low carb meals. My weigh-in this morning showed another 2.5 lb loss! The total is now 14 lbs since 1/11/10! If the rain ever stops here, I would love to start walking. I'm finding it so hard to get motivated to exercise in my house.


My Low Carb Menu

S- steamed cabbage & kielbasa

M - Atkins spicy chicken*, faux mashed potatoes, salad - new recipe

T -talapia*, squash, salad -new recipe

W- beef veggie soup* - new recipe - changed to chicken soup from leftovers in freezer

H - chef salad

F - portobello mushroom burger* w/ rutabaga fries - new recipe

S - taco zucchini lasagna* - new recipe


Family Menu

S - Mc D's

M - chicken, pasta & sauce

T - talapia*, mac n cheese, salad - new recipe

W - beef veggie soup* - new recipe - changed to chicken noodle soup from leftovers in freezer

H - rigatoni bake

F - portobello mushroom burgers w/ fries

A - taco braid *, Spanish rice - new recipe


Be sure to stop back often this week because I will be posting the new recipes as I make them.

If you've found my blog through Menu Plan Monday, please let me know. I've been meeting so many wonderful cooks from there!  See for yourself -- Menu Plan Monday.

To my new low carb friends, I hope that we continue down the losing path in the weeks to come!

Stuffed Burgers - Low Carb, too!

My son's favorite meal is a cheeseburger. He was so happy when I told him that I would be adding it to our menu this week because I can eat them, too. My husband and daughter are ok with eating cheeseburgers as long as it's only once in a while.

I decided to stuff all of the toppings into the burgers so we didn't have a mess with everything falling off of them when we were eating. I find it to be a pain when toppings fall all over the place and you don't get to eat them with the burger.

I pan fried these because it's been raining and very windy here for the last two days - not good for grilling.

Stuffed Burgers
makes 6 - 8 burgers

2 lbs 80% ground beef
3/4 C. chopped mushrooms
3/4 C. shredded cheddar cheese
2 TBSP Montreal steak seasoning
2 tsp garlic powder
2 tsp onion powder

I divided the 2 lbs of meat into 6 burger. If you like smaller burgers, you can easily divide it into 8.

Mix the steak seasoning, garlic powder and onion powder into the meat. Be careful not to over mix or it will make the meat tough. 

Divide each burger into 2 pieces.

Divide the mushrooms and cheese evenly among the burgers, laying the toppings on one of the two pieces of each burger.

 

Place the second half of the burger on top of the cheese. Pinch the edges together all the way around the burger to seal. Pan fry until cooked to your liking.

The family had fries with their burgers. I had a side of sauteed kale with mine. (above photo)

Marinated Flank Steak with Peppers & Onions - It's Low Carb, too!

Yesteraday, while shopping at Bloom, I found a really nice flank steak that had been reduced to a great price. Now, I'm not one to buy reduced priced beef unless it looks absolutely perfect with no brown spots on it - even if the expiration date is ok. This flank steak looked fresh, plus the expiration date was still 4 days away. I knew that I was going to marinate it and cook it today so I went ahead and bought it. I'm glad that I did. It was delicious.

I searched for a low carb marinade that both my family & I would like. I didn't find anything right away but I did find this recipe and I knew that it would be easy enough for me to make some changes so that it would be low carb.

I enjoyed the steak and peppers with a side salad and 4 small pieces of avocado.  My family enjoyed it in soft tacos, along with some cheese. I served rice and green beans on the side for them.

My version of the recipe is posted below. If you would like to see the original version, click on the link above.

Marinated Flank Steak 

1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 1/2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce - I omitted it. You won't miss it.
1 tablespoon grainy brown mustard
2 TBSP minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon Montreal steak seasoning
1 TBSP cumin
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1 1/2 pounds flank steak

In a medium bowl, mix the oil, soy sauce, vinegar, lemon juice, mustard, garlic, Montreal steak seasoning, cumin and red pepper flakes. Place meat in gallon size Ziploc bag. Pour marinade over the steak, turning meat to coat thoroughly. Cover, and refrigerate for 6 hours. << Marinate this long to really allow the marinade to sink in.

Slice peppers & onions into thin strips.

Preheat a wok on medium - high heat. Add peppers & onions to the wok. Pour in 1/4 C. water. Cover with a lid and allow the peppers to cook until fork tender but remove them while they still have some crunch. Remove to a warm plate. Cover and set aside.

Remove the steak from the marinade. Slice steak, against the grain, into thin slices. (using an electric knife makes this job really easy.)  Discard marinade.

Cook 5 - 8 pieces of steak at one time. Do not crowd the meat. It will take only 20 -30 seconds to cook one side of this meat. Flip the meat over and cook for another 20 -30 seconds. Remove it to a warm plate. Cover. Finish cooking the rest of the meat.

Fill soft tortillas with the steak, peppers & onions, along with your favorite toppings.

or

Serve with a side salad and some fresh avocado to keep the carbs low.

Menu Plan Monday - Low Carb & Family Menus

My kids had a snow day from school today due to icy roads and my husband is sick, so I'm not getting much done on the computer. While I have a minute, I want to post my menus for the week.

If anyone has suggestions for low carb snacks and quick meal ideas, I'd love to see them!

My Low Carb Menu

M - cheeseburger w/ steamed cabbage (changed cabbage to kale to use what was in frig)
T - fresh green beans cooked with mushrooms and turkey ham
W -flank steak w/ peppers & onions, side salad, slices of avocado
H - skillet chicken florentine* - new recipe
F - kielbasa (if a can find some that is fairly low carb) & cabbage.
A - chef salad
Sun - Superbowl - going out to dinner with my daughter while my
husband and son watch the game.


Family Menu

M - cheeseburgers with spicy mac 'n' cheese
T - pasta & red sauce
W - flank steak soft tacos, rice and green beans
H - grilled chicken, chicken rice, cottage cheese & cukes w/ vinegar
F - hot dogs w/ fries
A - chef salads
Sun - Superbowl - menu to be determined


Don't forget to check out some other great menu plans at Menu Plan Mondays!