Yummy Yummy Yummy I Got Food in my Tummy!

After a few months in college, I have really started to miss some real meals. I eat very well, but I was sick of microwaving all my food, and I wanted some nice big sandwiches and things with lots of veggies :) When I went shopping yesterday, I got all fresh foods! Nothing frozen. I was so excited. When I got home I immediately organized all my vegetables, and chopped parts of them up for easy food making. While I was doing this, I realized I could make some fresh picco de gallo-- so I went at it.

First, I chopped Onions, Cilantro, Tomatoes, and Green Peppers

I used to work at taco time when where we would make our own recipe. I pretty much used this same recipe, however, I didn't have chili powder or anything to give it a kick, so I actually put a little medium salsa (pureed) in it. Probably like a quarter cup, not much at all, just enough to coat all the vegetables.

Then I added really finely chopped jalapenos, and that was it! :)



YUM!

Then today, I made some steak!

First, I melted butter, mixed with vegetable oil, added Mrs. Dash's Garlic Herbs and Spices mix, and finely chopped a clove of Garlic.



I used this mix to sear the meat (which was a 1/3 of a Rib Eye Roast, for those of you who care)

To sear, I placed my oil mixture in the pan on High, and placed the meat in once it looked hot. I seared each side for about 2 minutes. One problem I ran into was that my garlic burned in the frying pan. The meat got so much flavor from it that I would hate to omit it during this process. I ended up just kinda shaking it off the meat before I put it in the oven so it would look nice. Anyone have suggestions on how to fix this problem for next time? I dont really know what I am doing.

Then I put it in the oven (Broil on High worked very well) about five minutes on each side. I then turned the oven off and let it stay in there while I finished making my mashed potatoes and gravy so it would stay warm. I think this probably ended up cooking for the equivalent of about 2 minutes on High. When I got it out, it was Medium Well, and ABSOLUTELY perfect.

Here was the final product! It turned out SOOOO delicious. I personally wanted to cut up my steak into small pieces for presentation sake, but it looked beautiful as one piece as well. It was soooo juicy. It was Eric's idea to sear it, and I think that is what kept it so flavorful. This was really easy, and the meat itself was pretty cheap. I got about a pound of it at the grocery store for 5 dollars, and that is enough for 3 meals for me. Awesome!

Tomorrow is Sunday so Roomie #4 is making dinner (Chicken Tortilla Soup! Yummmm :D ) and monday, I am making a Quesadilla for dinner. I am excited :)

Can't leave without saying a quick thing about my grocery shopping. I was trying really hard to stick to a budget, so as I crossed things off the list, I wrote the price and at the end of my shopping I totalled it up. I was a few bucks under so I decided to "reward" myself. How did I do this? I allowed myself to buy two types of cheeses. Haven't been this happy in a while. :) haha