Sunday Steak & Asparagus Dinner

We are quite simple with most of our meals. I tend to focus on the main dish, usually meat or fish, and the side, if any is usually quite simple. The one exception to that might be for Sunday dinners. This dinner is simple and delicious because it starts with a nice piece of meat and a simple steamed vegetable.

The meat I chose for today is a thin-cut ribeye steak I found quite by mistake, while shopping for other items at one of my favorite supermarkets. My wife (a.k.a. "Turkey") likes hers thin and will request her steak "butterflied" when eating out. But since I discovered sous vide cooking, she loves steaks at home. Why? Because sous vide cooking (French for 'under vacuum') cooks it perfectly without overcooking! It is almost impossible to do! You select a temperature you want to cook it to (today I chose 145℉ or Medium), and the time one wants to cook for and DONE! 

ADDENDUM: This post was started and the meal eaten BEFORE i was diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes, but is in fact low-carb and a meal I will go back to  regularly!

Earl Cooks Low-Carb Philly Cheese Steak Skillet

Tonight I wanted a Steak. In fact, a cheese steak. But as you may know, I am now on a low carb diet due to a recent diagnosis of type 2 diabetes, so NO BREAD! But I had a plan. I knew I had some steak strips and a what Trader Joe's calls a "Melange a Trois" - 3 peppers - red, yellow & green, sliced and ready to use in whatever dish one wants, and I wanted a CHEESE STEAK! 

The only other pantry ingredients I needed were half an onion and shredded cheddar cheese, both items I always have on hand! I sauteed everything in my cast iron skillet and topped it with the cheese and let the residual heat and steam melt it when I covered it.

 This was great on several levels. It tasted just like a cheese steak...except I didn't have any mushrooms on hand, but it was very good without. It was all from products I had on hand (and will keep on hand), and was LOW CARB! As my wife would say "it's a keeper"!

Earl Cooks Low Carb - Steak & Chips

My new jouney with Type 2 is leading me down new paths, carb-less paths mostly. I am supposed to lose weight of course, but Karbs are Killers (see what I did there)?

For my first low carb I had some Thin Cut Ribeye Steaks that I bought to celebrate Father's Day. Turns out that steak is good for me! High in Protein with NO carbs. I just had to figure out what to eat with it, since potatoes are out. Earlier in the day, Daughter #2 and I went shopping, and she pointed out that when she was on her Keto Diet, she liked the Terra Chips, and was buying them still! I bought a bag for me and at first, thought I had made a mistake, but every bite got better and better! I decided to add something fresh to the plate, a tasty tomato medley. I love these and will eat them with many dishes.
...So meal 1 was quite a success in my opinion. Next comes Breakfast!

Earl Cooks Mother's Day Dinner for the Mother of My Girls

Are you my mother? No. But the mother of if my girls and the best woman I have ever known.

I started the meal with a sous-vide steakc which I then pan seared in my 12" cast iron skillet, seasoned with Chicago steak seasoning, salt & pepper.

AfterI seared off the steak, I removed it to rest and then place some

finely diced new potatoes to absorb the seasoning and beefy flavor from the steaks. Once that is well on it's way, I add some artichoke hearts to the skillet, just to heat them through. There w have it Steak & Potatoes & Artichoke Hearts.

My Gal (a.k.a.:"Turkey") is a meat and potatoes kinda girl, but she loves veggies and salads too! Love You!

Earl Cooks Ribeye Steak & Eggs

Ribeye Steak with Perfectly Cooked Runny Eggs

As anyone who has seen this blog knows, I love breakfast. I love the basics like toast & eggs & bacon or sausage. I like french toast, waffles & pancakes and, of course, biscuits and gravy...and don't forget PO-TA-TOES. Hash browns, O'Brien, and hash. One thing I don't eat often is STEAK & EGGS. Probably because I rarely have steak around in the morning, but today I DO! My wife left me a bit of her rib eye, just enough for a great breakfast. I started by adding the steak to a heated pan with pan spray to coat. I only need to heat it through since I cooked it previously. Now remove the steak to a plate while the eggs cook. Two large eggs in the preheated pan will cook real fast. When the whites are set, gently scoot the eggs to one side of the pan and place the previously cooked steak next to the eggs to warm a bit. Now, slide them onto a plate and enjoy a great breakfast!

Results & Conclusions:
Cooking the steak fresh would have been better, but would be a bunch of work and time, both of which make this a great way to start your day!

Earl Cooks Valentine's Day Steak for his "Turkey" 💖

I wanted to do something a bit special for Valentine's Day for "Turkey" (that's my wife). Some time ago we discovered how much more we enjoy steaks cooked at home if they are cooked correctly, which almost always means "Sous Vide" which is in a water bath bringing it to the perfect doneness and finishing it in a cast iron skillet to give it a seasoned crust that makes a perfect compliment to the nicely tender inside. But I need to do something RESTAURANT quality if it was going to pass the muster on Valentine's Day. I have a plan. 

My plan would start with flowers and grow from there. These can't be just any flowers because "Turkey" likes bright and colorful and playful. I found the perfect tiny bouquet.




 Next, I had on hand something just for a romantic evening. A set of fluted stemware and some bubbly (sparkling white grape juice). "Turkey" doesn't much care for grape juice, but it's the thought that counts...right?

Time for the first 2 "courses". We have recently been loving arugula as a base for salads. It has a mild, peppery taste reminiscent of watercress. To that we added bacon and bright, multicolored cherry tomatoes topped with our favorite dressings ("Turkey" likes Cilantro Lime Ranch, and I like Blue Cheese). I followed that with steamed artichoke hearts (Get it? Hearts on Valentine's), and melted butter. These came frozen from Trader Joe's and are about as close to fresh as you can get. No preservatives. This left us somewhat full and now it was time for...

 ...That's right—BASKETBALL! The Utah Jazz were playing their last game before the All-Star break and had won 10 in a row! We had to see if they could make it to 11! My perfectly cooked steaks would have to wait. Fortunately, we had eaten enough to hold us through. (A good portion of the game anyway). To set your minds at ease, the Jazz pulled it out at the last minute. Now, Back to the food... 

This is my newest kitchen toy, an immersion circulator for cooking sous vide. It works by heating and circulating the water for perfect cooking. Just seal the food in vacuum sealed bags then set it and forget it! It will cook to the right temp. and keep it there for however long you want. 

The steaks turned out great! The top left shows the steak after sous vide and seasoning with Montreal Steak Seasoning. The next is after turning and the third shows a new trick I taught myself. Since the steaks were the same size and shape, I clamped them together with my tongs, locked the tongs and cooked the fat off of the edge. Clamped, they balanced nicely together.

I don't usually cook dessert and Valentine's was no exception. Fortunately, We each thoughtfully provide one another with dessert...Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, although mine, on top, was themed and almost double in size. Thanks "Turkey"!

Earl Cooks Steak, Potatoes & Carrots for Grandboy & His Girl

Since they are mostly grown, I don't get to cook for my Grandboys very often and have NEVER had the opportunity to cook for one of their girlfriends, but I got the chance and jumped at it. I didn't start by knowing the girlfriend would be coming, but I had an idea she might, and hoped it he would invite her along. My grandboy loves steak so I thought that would be good for him, so steak, mashed potatoes, and glazed carrots sounded good, even though my grandboy avoids vegetables in all forms.

I wanted to  sous vide the steaks, so I started by seasoning the steaks on both sides with what today is my favorite seasoning, McCormick's Montreal Steak seasoning in a convenient grinder. That done, I vacuum sealed each steak individually, and placed them in the Sous Vide bath and set the temperature.

Now the carrots. After pealing and trimming 4 medium-sized carrots I cut them into equal sticks and placed them onto my grill pan which I coated with olive oil. To the carrots I added maple syrup, salt and butter and placed them into a preheated 300℉ oven to roast for 30 minutes. I started them low to not over cook them. I then turned them up to 325℉ to finish. They cooked for about 30-45 minutes.

For the potatoes, I went with an old friend, Idahoan mashed potatoes in a pouch. I combined 2 of my favorites, Apple-wood Bacon and Four Cheese. To this I added more bacon, and I cooked them, replacing half of the water with whole milk for extra creaminess.

Back to the steaks. Following the sous vide bath, I removed the steaks and placed them on the cutting board. I re-applied my seasoning and heated my 12" cast iron pan on HIGH until it was very hot and then switched it to MED-HIGH, applying olive oil to the pan. I placed all 3 steaks in the pan to sear for just a couple of minutes on each side. I removed them and they had a great crust and I applied a simple butter made from room temperature butter, Parmesan cheese, Worcestershire sauce and black pepper.

Everything seemed perfect until learning my grandboy's girlfriend is allergic to carrots! He had forgotten to let me know.

We ate my wife's (a.k.a. "Turkey's") Sour Orange Pie, and that recipe is found on an earlier post, the link to which is located below:
"Turkey's" Sour Orange Pie 

The whole meal was terrific, if I do say so myself. We played games and watched Harry Potter making it an almost perfect evening! Grandkids are God's reward for raising your own kids to adulthood!

Earl Over Eats at Texas Roadhouse's Early Dine

It has been a very long time since we visited the Texas Roadhouse Restaurant nears us, but I don't know why. We have been there for celebrations and simple casual dining for 2 reasons...their food has always been good and they have an early-bird deal that rocks! My wife a.k.a. "Turkey" has had a couple of extra days off this week and it seemed appropriate to treat her to a night out, a vacation-y thing to do, and I didn't feel like cooking!
Two of the things they are known for are their free peanuts and rolls. When they seated us, the peanuts were waiting and the rolls came immediately. There was no waiting to be seated or to take our order when we arrived. The atmosphere is pleasant, though the music is a bit loud for my taste.
We both ordered from their Early Dine for $8.99 Menu. "Turkey" ordered their 6 oz. Sirloin Steak Dinner and I opted for the Country Fried Sirloin Dinner. My wife's was almost exactly as pictured with the house salad and baked sweet potato. Mine was covered with country gravy (they do have a brown gravy option but why?). I also had the sweet potato and had mashed potatoes with the same creamy gravy. "Turkey" ordered her steak with no pink and it was still tender. Her salad was ample enough to share, and a small amount of salad was fine with me. The sweet potatoes were piping hot, too hot in fact, to eat right away, but perfect for melting the butter and brown sugar. The nice thing about how hot it was is that it stayed hot throughout the meal! My country fried steak was great, tender inside and crispy out. Their breading was just right!

Conclusion:
I said I over ate because I had 6 rolls, mashed potatoes, sweet potato, my steak, 2 bites of my wife's steak, ⅓ of a side salad and some peanuts (though not much room for them), and a drink.
I would rate our experience as:
Overall ⭐⭐⭐⭐½ out of 5⭐
Service ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Price 💲💲 (It's good a value)

We will be going back often! That's the best recommendation we could make!

Earl Cooks Bone-In New York Strip Steak

Bone-In New York Strip Steak with Applewood Smoked
Bacon Mashed Potatoes with Cheddar Cheese

One of the great benefits of the holiday season is all of the food! Turkeys, Hams, Holiday Roasts, Cheeses, Nuts and many others cover the pages of the grocery store ads at prices that seam almost reasonable. But it's the holiday and what kind of holiday would it be if we didn't overspend a little on those we love...foods that is. In pursuit of this goal, I asked my wife a.k.a. "Turkey" if she would prefer a holiday roast or steaks. Without hesitation, she said "steaks!" Our butcher (the meat department at the chain grocery store) was offering a good deal on New York Strip Steaks so I bought too many!

In my effort to never do anything the same way twice and make cooking more challenging I thought I would try a new approach to cooking these bone-in New York strips.
—I began by preheating my cast iron skillet in my oven set to 450℉
—I then seasoned my steaks using just ONE type of seasoning, McCormick's®  Grill Mates® Montreal Steak Seasoning on both sides. I should mention here that I allowed them to come to almost room temperature out of the fridge.
— When my pan was hot I removed it from the oven and turned the oven setting DOWN to 250℉. I placed my seasoned steaks into the hot pan and returned the pan to the oven. The steaks seared just a bit, but I was not searing this right now. That comes later.
—After 30 minutes have passed, turn the steaks over and reduce the heat to 225℉,
—After the hour has passed, remove the pan from the oven and remove the steaks from the pan for just a moment.
—Crank the heat up under your cast iron skillet as high as you dare. Drizzle some olive oil in and return the steaks to the skillet.
—Sear the steaks on both sides to establish a nice crust. Turn as needed with tongs. Yes, you can turn them more than once, but you may not need to. The searing takes about 5 minutes or 2½ minutes per side. I might mention here that "Turkey" like her meat WELL done. Most of you may not, but take that into consideration.

I prepared some mashed potatoes to accompany our steaks and topped both with a generous pat of butter and fresh cracked pepper. These steaks were just shy of  1 pound and I ate the whole thing, plus my potatoes. Turkey had her leftovers for lunch the next day. All told, it was a success and our butcher did a fine job with the meat😁.