Beef and Sun-dried Tomato Pita Pizza

Dinner tonight was originally planned as a grill-out meal, but the rain kept us inside. This is the rainy-day-no-grill version.

This recipe has been adapted from Bobby Flay's recipe featured in The Athlete's Palate Cookbook.

Prep time: 20 minutes + 4 hours marinating time
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Makes 8 servings

Ingredients.

• 8 whole wheat pitas
• 1 beef tenderloin (8 ounces)
• 1 head garlic + 2 cloves garlic, smashed
• 1/2 cup + 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 cup cooked white beans (I used a mixture of navy beans and pinto beans)
• 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon fresh thyme (I used about a teaspoon of dried, ground thyme)
• Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
• 6 sun-dried tomatoes in oil, drained and julienned
• 4 roasted shallots, thinly sliced*
• 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
• 1 teaspoon honey

*I didn't realize that the shallots were supposed to be roasted until I got to the point where I was supposed to mix them with the tomatoes (that'll teach you to read the recipe all the way through first...). I preheated the oven to 425 degrees F, coated the peeled shallots in a little olive oil, and laid them on a roasting pan. Then I popped them into the oven for about 20 minutes (while the steak was in the pan) and sliced them when they were out and slightly cooled. It was kind of tricky-let's just say they didn't want to slice nicely. Also, this was a lot of shallots, and I'd definitely use less next time.


Directions.

• Marinate the beef with the head of garlic in 1/2 cup of the olive oil for 4 hours or overnight. Place the tenderloin in a large frying pan and cook on medium-high heat on both sides for about 6 minutes (each side), or less if you'd like the beef more rare. Let the tenderloin rest for a few minutes, then thinly slice.
• Puree the beans, 2 tablespoons of the olive oil, 2 remaining garlic cloves, lemon juice, and thyme in a food processor until smooth. Season with salt and pepper to taste if necessary. Mix together the tomatoes, shallots, remaining tablespoon of olive oil, vinegar, and honey.
• Place the pitas in the oven on a low temperature for a few minutes before serving. This will allow them to warm up and toast slightly without burning.
• Spread each pita with a thin layer of bean puree, sliced beef, and tomato chutney. Serve immediately.

The pizza was very flavorful, even though we didn't grill the beef. The lemon and sun dried tomatoes provided almost a tangy taste, while the honey helped make things sweet. A word to the wise, don't eat this one on a first date. We ate a while ago but I still feel like I have garlic breath.

Our portions were filling, but this meal would be good paired with a spinach salad if you were craving something green.

Per Serving: 460 Calories          16 G Protein          48 G Carbohydrates          24 G Fat

A Healthy(er) Quiche

Spinach-Mushroom Quiche

Tonight's recipe is another one from Rachel Ray's Everyday Magazine (the same September 2009 issue). Tracey Seaman is credited for the recipe. 

The magazine claims that "Change is good". This quiche is better for you for a few reasons...
"Replace a butter-based pastry crust with one made of shredded potatoes to slash calories and saturated fat"
"Go heavy on vegetable filling, instead of bacon and cheese, to load up on nutrients, including fiber"
"Add extra egg whites and use fewer yolks than a traditional quiche for more lean protein"



Hey look. It's Isaac making a crazy face.

This recipe claims that per serving, there are 352 Calories, 6 grams of saturated fat, 5 grams of fiber, and 18 grams of protein.

Serves:4        Prep: 45 minutes            Bake: 25 minutes

Ingredients.

• 2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil
• 4 yellow-fleshed potatoes, such as Yukon gold (about 12 ounces)
• 1/2 cup finely chopped onion
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• salt and pepper
• Two 5-ounce containers baby spinach
• 8 ounces mushrooms, sliced
• 3 ounces Swiss cheese, shredded
• 2 large eggs plus 2 large egg whites
• 2/3 cup milk

Directions.

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Grease a 9-inch glass pie dish* with 1 teaspoon olive oil. Using a food processor fitted with a shredding attachment**, shred the potatoes; transfer to a large bowl and stir in the onion, cornstarch, 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper.
2. In a large skillet, heat 1 tablespoon olive oil over medium heat. Add the potato mixture, flattening it into a 10-inch layer, and cook until the bottom is golden, about 10 minutes. Loosen, then invert onto the pie dish and mold into a crust. Bake about 20 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, preheat the skillet over high heat. Add the spinach and 1/4 cup water and cook, stirring until wilted; drain. Squeeze out any excess water. Chop the spinach.
4. In the same skillet, heat the remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil over medium heat. Add the mushrooms and cook, stirring occasionally, until browned, about 6 minutes. Add the spinach; season with salt. Spoon half of the spinach mixture into the cooked crust, add the cheese, then top with the remaining spinach mixture.
5. In a bowl, whisk together the eggs, egg whites, milk, 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Pour into the pie dish and bake until set, 20 to 25 minutes.

*We don't own a glass pie dish (who knows why), so we used a small rectangular Pyrex dish. It didn't look as nice but it cooked just the same.
**We also don't own a food processor, so Isaac grated the potatoes with our stand-up hand grater-it wasn't that time consuming.

This meal was light and savory. You could really taste the egg and potatoes, and it wasn't overwhelmed by cheese or other spices.
Hopefully I'll own a pie dish before we make it again.
The only thing tonight's breakfast-for-dinner meal was missing was a tall glass of O.J.!

If you don't have orange juice, drink the next-best thing-chocolate milk! Pay no attention to the glass.

Black Bean Burgers

Tonight Isaac cooked up some simple black bean burgers.

The original recipe is for six servings...we went ahead and made all six so we could have leftovers for lunch.

We ate our "burgers" with cheese, lettuce, and tomato on top. Next time we'll try them with avocado or guacamole, and maybe a little bit of salsa.

Since we were sticking to a quick recipe tonight, we made some Alexia brand sweet potato waffle fries to go along with our entree. They were delicious and went really well with the flavors of the burger.

The original recipe can be found at http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/recipes/2565

Ingredients:

1 (15-ounce) can no-salt-added black beans, rinsed and drained
1 egg
1/2 yellow onion, finely chopped (it's a lot of onion, you may want to add less)

1 cup whole wheat bread crumbs
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder or granules
Salt and pepper to taste
Hot sauce to taste
1 to 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive or canola oil
6 potato rolls (you could use whole wheat hamburger buns instead)
Lettuce (however you like it)

Tomato (thinly sliced)

Monterrey Jack Cheese (slices)

Instructions:

Put beans in a large bowl and mash well with a fork. Add egg, yellow onion, bread crumbs, oregano, basil, garlic powder, salt, pepper and hot sauce. Mix well to combine then shape into 6 patties.

Heat griddle to 375 degrees F and coat with cooking spray OR heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Arrange patties in a single layer (working in batches, if needed) and cook, flipping once, until golden brown on both sides and cooked through, about 10 minutes total. Place cheese on patties while they're still on the griddle to allow for melting time. Transfer to buns, top with lettuce, tomatoes and serve.

Per serving: 290 calories (70 from fat), 7g total fat, 1g saturated fat, 35mg cholesterol, 450mg sodium, 47g total carbohydrate (10g dietary fiber, 7g sugar), 12g protein

*This does NOT include the cheese!

This recipe has been Abe-approved.