Roasted Garlic Pods with a KC Strip

So keeping with my style I decided to try my luck at a dish I had at my favorite restaurant out in St Louis called Prime 1000. This is a simple, inexpensive and yet amazingly tasty way to really fancy up a plain old steak!

Now for those of you who are not huge garlic lovers let me just tell ya....try this and you may change your mind! Roasting the garlic really changes the flavor versus the fresh chopped and minced garlic you are used to eating! Its very subtle without any harsh bit or crunch that is typically associated with garlic.

Ingredients:

1-2 pods of garlic per steak (dependant on how big the pods are and how much you want)

However many steaks you want. I used a nice KC Strip but it will work on any.

Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Thyme

Preperation:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Cut about 1/2" off the pointed side of the garlic pod to expose the garlic cloves underneath. They should look like this....

Place pods into a muffin tin with cut side facing up and generously apply olive oil making sure it makes its way down into the pod itself. (if you don't have a muffin tin just make some "cups" out of foil.)

Sprinkle some Thyme over the top of them and then cover with foil.

Insert into oven for 35-45 minutes or until the garlic is starting to kinda caramelize and brown around the edges like it looks here.

At about the 30 minute mark take out your steak and cook it for about 6 minutes per side over a medium fire grill. (for med rare)

To serve just place the pod directly on the top of the steaks and there ya have it, a classy looking out of the ordinary steak dish with an amazing taste and gourmet presentation. Now I didn't take photo's of it but the other thing I really enjoy with this dish is to make some hollandaise sauce to drizzle over it as well. The creamy hint of lemon mixed with that roasted garlic sets it off to even a higher level!

Anyways, as I always I hope this helps you make something a little fancier than normal for yourself or your family and I hope you enjoy!

-Ryan

It's a Bean Kind of Sunday

Chickpea Curry

Ingredients
1 can chickpeas
1 C plain greek yogurt
1 T garlic powder
2 T curry paste

Directions
Combine all ingredients and allow to heat until soft. Serve on brown rice.

Nutrition (4 servings)
Cal: 181; Fat: 6.4g; Sodium: 434mg; Carbs: 21.3g; Fiber: 4.6g; Protein:  11.4g


Thai-style Chickpeas

Ingredients
1 can chickpeas
1 can diced tomatoes
1/2 C peanut butter

Directions
Combine all ingredients and cook on low for 20 minutes. Serve on brown rice or tofu noodles.

Nutrition (4 servings)
Cal: 326; Fat: 17.8g; Sodium: 1,111mg; Carbs: 34.1; Fiber: 7.3; Protein:  14g


Southwest Style Beans and Corn

Ingredients
1 can black beans
1 can corn
1 can diced tomatoes
1/2 C BBQ sauce

Directions
Combine all ingredients and cook on low for 10 minutes. Allow to cool and serve on spinach leaves.

Nutrition (4 servings)
Cal: 245; Fat: 0.4; Sodium: 1,494mg (rinse beans, corn, and drain tomatoes to reduce); Carbs: 51g; Fiber: 6.1g; Protein: 10.6g

The BEST Turkey Meatballs Ever!

And they're Paleo safe!

Ingredients
1 container of ground turkey
3 egg whites
1/4 C coconut flour
1 red onion, chopped
2 T paprika
1 T dried basil
1 T oregano
1 T garlic
Salt to taste

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 375°F
2. Spray a muffin pan with nonstick spray
3. Mix all ingredients together
4. Divide mixture into 24 large balls (or you can make small meatballs as well)
5. Cook for 35 minutes

Nutrition (24 servings)
Cals: 72.8; Fat: 3.4g; Sodium: 236.4mg; Carbs: 0.8g; Fiber: 0.4g; Protein: 9.8g

Some good, some bad, but always delicious!

Have a guest recipe from a friend of mine tonight, along with a few paleo-ish recipes as well. Enjoy. As always, appreciate the feedback!

• Greek yogurt & avocado dip
• Buffalo chicken dip
• Homemade enchilada sauce
• Brussels Sprouts & bacon
• Sun-Dried Tomato Marinade (or dressing)
• Shrimp Salad

Greek Yogurt & Avocado Dip

This was something that I came up with on the fly to bring over to a friend's house. DH & I were at Target and I saw this little container of what said "Avocado & Greek Yogurt Dip." I take a look on the back and amongst all of the processed crap, the ingredients listed were actually fairly simple so decided to recreate it with my own little twist.

Ingredients

1 C greek yogurt, plain

2 avocado's

1 C sun-dried tomatoes

1 T lemon juice

1 t garlic powder

Salt & pepper to taste

Directions

1. In a food processor, pulse sun-dried tomatoes to cut them up into chunks. Remove from food processor and place into bowl.

2. In the same food processor, place greek yogurt, avocados, lemon juice, and garlic powder and process until smooth.

3. Stir in greek yogurt mixture with sun-dried tomatoes.

4. Enjoy with some pita bites.

Nutrition (8 servings)

Cal: 195; Fat: 14.1g; Sodium: 29.5mg; Carbs: 14.2g; Fiber: 4.5g; Protein: 5.3g

Buffalo Chicken Dip

A friend made this dip for all of us on Saturday night. HUGE hit. Credit goes to Frank Redhot!

Ingredients

8oz softened cream cheese

1/2 C blue cheese or ranch dressing

1/2 C hot sauce (Franks RedHot or Buffalo)

1/2 C crumbled blue cheese or shredded mozzarella

2-12.5oz cans of shredded chicken

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350°C

2. Please cream cheese into deep baking dish and stir until smooth

3. Mix in salad dressing, Frank's hot sauce, and cheese. Then, stir in chicken.

4. Bake for 20 minutes.

Nutrition (1/16 of recipe)

Cal: 144; Fat: 11.2g; Protein: 7.8g

Homemade Enchilada Sauce

This was adapted from the Everyday Paleo cookbook. I highly recommend this cookbook. Easy recipes & tons of pictures!!

Ingredients

1 medium onion, chopped

2 T oil (coconut oil)

4 large tomatoes, pureed in food processor

2 T minced garlic

1/2 t cumin

1/2 t dried oregano

1/2 t salt

Directions

1. Saute the onion in the oil until limp.

2. Add the tomato puree, garlic, chili powder, cumin, oregano, and salt. Mix well and allow to simmer for 20 minutes, stirring often.

3. Pour the sauce intot he food processor and process until smooth.

[I poured this over tilapia filets and baked it int he oven at 375° for 12 minutes]

Nutrition (3 tilapia filet's worth)

Cal: 137; Fat: 9.8g; Sodium: 405mg; Carb: 12.9g; Fiber: 2.7g; Protein: 2.3g

Brussels Sprouts & Bacon

(that's also chicken marinated in the sun-dried tomato marinade)

Another one adapted from the Everyday Paleo cookbook. This one is YUMMMMO!

Ingredients

4 bacon strips

1 lb brussels sprouts

1 t garlic powder

1 T dried basil

1 t ghee

Salt & pepper to taste

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350°

2. Dice bacon and cook in a skillet until crispy

3. Steam* the brussels sprouts for 4 minutes, cut off stem, and quarter

4. Toss the brussels sprouts with bacon, bacon grease, garlic powder, basil, ghee, and salt & pepper

5. Bake for 30 minutes, stirring half way through the cooking time

*To steam in microwave: place brussels sprouts into a bowl and cover sprouts with approx. 1/4C water. Cover with plastic wrap with one corner open. Microwave on high for 4 minutes.

Nutrition (2 servings)

Cals: 184; Fat: 9.7g; Sodium: 263mg; Carbs: 17.2g; Fiber: 6.1g; Protein: 10.1g

Sun-Dried Tomato Marinade

And yet another one from Everyday Paleo

Ingredients

1 C sun-dried tomatoes

1/4 C extra-virgin olive oil

1 T capers

1 t lemon juice

1 T garlic

1 T dried rosemary

Salt & pepper to taste

Directions

1. Combine all ingredients in a food process until smooth.

**Can be used as a salad dressing or marinade**

Nutrition (4 servings-- if you were to eat this and not use it as a marinade)

Cals: 336; Fat: 29.1g; Sodium: 94.6mg; Carbs: 19.3; Fiber: 3.5g; Protein: 3.2g

Shrimp Salad

Sorry that I don't have any pictures of this one, but trust me when I say it's delicious & worth it! And yet, another one from Everyday Paleo!

Ingredients

8oz cooked shrimp

1 small cucumber, diced

1/2 medium red onion

1 T dried dill

1 t garlic powder

1 T spicy brown mustard

3 T EVOO

2 T lemon juice

Salt & pepper to taste

Directions

1. In a large bowl, combine cucumbers and onion.

2. Cut the shrimp into halves or thirds and add to bowl.

3. Add the dill, garlic, mustard, EVOO, lemon juice, salt, and pepper and mix well

4. Serve with diced tomatoe & diced avocado.

Nutrition (4 servings... does not include tomato & avocado)

Cals: 169; Fat: 11.3g; Sodium: 176mg; Carb: 4.3g; Fiber: 0.9g; Protein: 12.7g

Until next week!!!

Bacon Wrapped Filet Mignon with a Marsala Wine Sauce

This has gotten to be easily one of my favorite sauces. It is extremely versatile and we have found if you add some heavy cream to it to lighten it up a bit it compliments pork and chicken well too.

Prep Time: 10 min | Cook Time: 15 min | Servings: 4 servings | Difficulty: -- Ingredients: 3 tablespoons olive oil 1/4 cup Shallots, diced 1 tablespoon garlic, chopped 1/2 pound mushrooms, sliced 3 tablespoons flour 1/2 cup Marsala wine 1 1/2 cups beef stock Salt and pepper, to taste Preparation: Add olive oil to heavy hot saucepan.  Add shallots, garlic, mushrooms, saute until mushrooms are tender. Add flour and cook about 1 minute Add Beef Stock Add Marsala Wine Cook till it thickens a bit and flavors have blended Prepare your steak as you normally would and serve poured over the top or on the side to dip. For a tasty side we took a few asparagus spear and wrapped them with prosciutto and threw them on the grill with the steaks.

Sweet Treats

I didn't only cook sweets this weekend, but these were the only things I took pictures of. :S

Oh well, tomorrow is Valentine's Day & here are 2 SUPER easy, SUPER fast treats for your sweet!

No Bake Chocolate Cookies
Ingredients
1/2 C Butter
2 C Sugar
1/2 C Milk
4 Tbsp Cocoa
1/2 C Peanut Butter
3- 3 1/2 C Quick cooking Oats
2 tsp. Vanilla

Directions
1. Add butter, sugar, milk, and cocoa into a saucepan. Bring to a rolling boil, and boil for 1 minute.
2. Stir in the next peanut butter, oats, and vanilla.
3. Drop mixture onto wax/foil paper. Let cool until set.

S'More Krisie Treats
Ingredients
1 box Golden Grahams
1 10oz package of mini marshmallows
1 stick of butter
1 package of semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions
1. Melt butter and marshmallows in a saucepan
2. Spray a 9x13 (or if you like thicker, 9x9) glass dish with cooking spray
3. Add melted marshmallows into bowl of cereal and stir.
4. Add in chocolate chips and stir LIGHTLY (you don't want the chips to melt!!)
5. Pat mixture into glass dish and pat down with spatula sprayed with cooking spray.
6. Allow to set for 5-10 minutes before devouring!

Roast Kansas City Strip Loin with Garlic-Herb Crust

Hey everyone, I'm Ryan! I am a pro photographer by trade but I also LOVE spending time in the kitchen and trying out new recipes. I just figured that given my love for both the camera and the cutting board that I would have some fun with it and this seemed to be the perfect avenue!

Un-like my counterpart on here I will likely just post a recipe at a time versus a whole meal. I wish I had the patience to make a full meal from scratch like she does but I generally chimp out with few sides and if any they are pretty quick ones.


To start off with I figured I would post up one of my all time favorite steak dishes. This dish is a bit pricey to buy everything for and yields about 10 servings so I mainly make it on holidays or dinner parties.

Ingredients 

• 4 garlic cloves
• 8 fresh sage leaves
• 4 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves
• 4 teaspoons olive oil
• 4 teaspoons salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground black pepper

• 1 4 to 5 pound boneless beef loin KC Strip roast(Or New York strip depending on where you are), fat trimmed to 1/4 inch

Preparation

With machine running, drop garlic into processor; blend until finely chopped. Add sage, thyme, oil, salt and pepper; process until paste forms.

Pat meat dry with paper towels. Rub meat all over with herb paste. Cover; chill at least 3 hours. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Keep refrigerated.)

Preheat oven to 450°F. Place meat, fat side up, on rack in roasting pan. Roast meat 15 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 350°F. Roast meat until instant-read thermometer inserted into thickest part of meat registers 130°F for medium-rare, about 35 minutes (or 140°F for medium, about 40 minutes).

 Remove from oven; let stand 20 minutes. Cut crosswise into 1/3-inch-thick slices. Arrange slices on platter.

Just look at that succulent herb crust! The flavor permeates the meat all the way through and makes it just mouth watering delicious! 

Well, thats all for this go around but stay tuned for some good ones!! 

-Ryan