The week is almost over.. well not really but I still find that this week has flown by. Have you ever had a 3 mile long to-do-list and it feels like you’ll never see the end of it? That is exactly how I feel!  But no need to fret, or that’s at least what I keep telling myself.  To help with our busy lives, I decided to share with you an excellent quick meal that was actually very YUMMY.

This quick but tasty meal consisted of left over brown rice,  left over carrots, thin sirloin beef (on sale) and BEET GREENS (a new ingredient for me).  This was super fast to make and was packed with flavor. I loved it.  In addition to all the flavor, it is fairly healthy at the same time.

Ingredients

• 1 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1 Cup cooked brown rice
• 3/4 Cup mushrooms (chopped)
• 3 Cups beet greens
• 2 Small sirloin beef pieces
• 3/4 Cup chopped carrots (cooked)
• 2 Tbsp. barbecue sauce
• Salt and pepper

Method

1. Preheat saute pan, then add olive oil.
2. Prepare beef (trim fat and flavor with salt and pepper).
3. Sear beef on both sides; cook until desired done-ness and remove from pan.
4. Add mushrooms, cooked carrots and rice and begin to stir fry; 4 minutes.
5. Cut beef into smaller pieces and add back into pan.
6. Add barbecue sauce and beet greens; continue cooking for 3 minutes (until beet greens wilt).
7. Remove from heat and plate.
8. ENJOY!

Zesty Tip: When working with cheaper cuts of beef, I like to keep them in bigger pieces.  From there, I usually cook them very quickly on high heat and always cut them against the grain to ensure tenderness.  Another trick is to slightly under cook the meat as well.

Question of the day: What is your favorite green vegetable?

I hope you have a great Thursday and I look forward to seeing you tomorrow.

Take care

zesty

Here we have a zesty dish that in the past 12 months - I would rank as one of my favorites.  I ate this bowl of basil beef pesto fettucine in literally 4 minutes.  How is that for indigestion issues?

Every flavor was so amazing.  The dish is comprised of everything I love - basil, beef, pesto, carrots and whole wheat pasta.  Can one really go wrong?  I will let you answer that.

As for the technique for making the sauce, I chose the braising method.  I did this for a couple of reasons.  First, I had a chunk of roast beef saved from a previous meal that was sitting idle in the fridge.  I wanted to revive it and make it moist and tender again.  Secondly, I chose a sturdy carrot to go in the sauce.   To mitigate the issue of a soggy carrot, I cut the carrots quite large on the bias and added them in last to the braising liquid.

The addition of the pesto was easy as I had some left overs from the other day when I made a nice sized batch.  This stuff is sooooooo good.

Ingredients

• 2 Cups whole wheat fettucine
• 1/2 Cup pesto
• 1 Tbsp. olive oil
• 2 Carrots (chopped)
• 1/4 Beef stock
• 1/4 Water
• 1 1/2 Cups cooked beef (chopped)
• 1 Garlic clove (chopped)
• Fresh parmesan cheese
• Salt and pepper

Method

1. Cook pasta according to directions.
2. Preheat saucepan to medium heat and sear the beef (about 3 minutes).



3. Add chopped garlic and cook for another couple of minutes.
4. Toss in carrot and stir; cook for 5 minutes.
5. Add stock and water, turn the temperature up to high and bring to a boil;  Do not put the lid on.
6. Let the liquid reduce to a thick consistency.
7. Add pesto and stir until warmed through.



8. Drain pasta and add to sauce; toss together.
9. ENJOY!

Zesty Tip: Before adding the braising liquid, as I always say, sear the beef before hand in a little olive oil and lock in the flavors.

This dish will work equally well with chicken or pork.  To convert this recipe into a vegetarian dish, you could add tofu or simply bulk up on the veggies and be happy.

Question of the day: What is your favorite dish involving pesto?

I hope you have a great day and I look forward to all the exciting feedback and comments.

Take care

zesty

Happy Thursday!  This week is flying by and I am loving it!  Today I want to share with you somewhat of a “thought up dish” in a way to incorporate beef as well as the “finger type” food at the same time.

I chose the mushroom beef pastry as it seemed like something that would be easy to eat and relatively easy to prepare.  I created the filling the night before and then just warmed it through in a skillet before filling the pastry.  I chose to use pre-made puff pastry and cut the slices relatively small so the pastries were manageable without the use of a fork and knife.

These were a really big hit with the group as I served them warm and let them dollop their own sour cream.  Find the skinny on how to make these tantalizing beef mushroom pastries below.

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Happy Tuesday!  I wanted to share with everyone an amazing roast beef that I cooked the other day.  Talk about tender!  When I got home and walked in the kitchen I was smiling from ear to ear - can you really beat the slow cooker for beef?  I braised this piece of meat for 10 hours on low in the slow cooker while at the office.  I prepped the meat around 7:00am just after breakfast and set the dial to low and let it go…

To go alongside the beef, I cooked some jasmine rice with roasted tomatoes and mushrooms.

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Happy Friday!  Wow - what a week.  As of 12:03am this morning I made it home.  I had some problems getting internet connection at the airports today so I am putting this post together on very little fuel.

I have been wanting to post this beef barley stew for a couple of weeks now but I keep forgetting.  That is until now.  With the recent stint of cold weather this wholesome comforting dish will make you warm from the inside out.

This recipe is compliments of my mom.  It is really an easy dish to make with either fresh stew meat or left over meat from a roast.
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