Philly Cheese Steak Sandwich… sort of!

This dish might not rank extremely high on the health scale but I still,I think it was a pretty healthy alternative to a classic sandwich.

You see, the weather has finally been summer like this week-end, so we sort of kicked off summer by firing up the BBQ.

While I don’t eat much beef anymore, there is one thing that I will always enjoy and indulge in once in a while, and that is a nice, big, juicy ribsteak cooked on the BBQ. It’s always been and always will be one of my guilty pleasures.  Seeing that I like my steaks cooked Pittsburgh style (charred on the outside while still raw on the inside), I always have to have the butcher custom cut me a couple of really thick steaks, which, of course, always end up weighing well over a pound.

There was a time when I was able to eat the whole thing, with a side of potato and salad. No more! There is no way I could go through that entire piece of meat, so I always end up with quite a decent chunk of leftover steak to use in such a sandwich.

Not a bad way to use leftover steak, if you ask me! Although it does lack a bit in the veggie department, I admit…

This one was pretty easy to make.

Ingredients for one sandwich

• 175g  leftover steak
• 4 mushrooms, sliced and cooked
• 20g goat cheese, crumbled
• 20g blue cheese, crumbled
• 1 tbsp whole grain mustard
• 1 whole grain sandwich loaf

Instructions

1. Coat skillet with cooking spray and heat over medium high heat. Cook mushrooms until nice and golden brown, about 5 minutes.
2. Cut loaf in half lenthtwise and toast lightly in toaster.
3. Cut the leftover steak in very thin slices.
4. When bread is ready, spread mustard on bottom half.
5. Mound steak, top with mushrooms and goat cheese and blue cheese crumbles.
6. Put in the oven on broil (do not top sandwich just yet, keep top piece on the side) for about 5 minutes, just to soften cheese and heat meat slightly.
7. Take out of the oven and put top slice in place.

Bad Girl, Stupid Bath Tub, oh, and some sort of a chicken sandwich!

I have a confession to make. I have been a very bad girl tonight! Very bad girl! I skipped exercise night. Voluntarily!! Out of my own free will!

Those who know me know that I NEVER skip exercise night, unless I have a VERY good reason. Tonight? I didn’t even have A reason, let alone a good one… I was just feeling blah, you know… BLAH!

So… I was actually changing into my exercising clothes when I had a vision: Me, in a bath! OOOOOOH, a bath. It had been well over a year since I’d last taken a bath! I could already feel the warm jets of water and air bubbles massaging my skin. Instantly, my body and mind went into relaxation mode and I KNEW I had no choice, I had to go for it!

I get upstairs, get the water going then bring all my stuff, you know, all the stuff you need when you take a bath: shampoo, conditioner, soap, bubble bath, cup of green tea…

I get in the tub and anxiously wait for the water level to get high enough for me to get the jets going… water level is rising, rising… soon, so soon, it will happen. Finally, after what seems like forever, oooh, bliss, the magic moment is finally here… I press the power button…

NOTHING! NOTHING! The damn thing is broken and refuses to throw water and air bubbles at me. Does it not understand that I have just skipped exercise night to lose myself in it?

ARGH!ARGH!ARGH!ARGH!ARGH!ARGH!ARGH!ARGH!ARGH!

Oh well, I ended up staying like 20 minutes in a bubbless tub… I never stay much longer than that anyway. I hate it when my skin gets all wrinkley.

Now what? My stupid bath is over, I didn’t exercise, so I don’t even get to have an evening snack. Somehow, I feel robbed and frustrated. I think I will have a nice cup of warm unsweetened soy milk with a teaspoon of honey in it. There. That ought to make me feel better. Although with my luck, the milk will probably have gone bad!

Oh, and this is what I had for supper tonight. A super quick chicken sandwich made from leftover cooked chicken. Huge sandwich. And I didn’t even work it out. *sigh*  There’s always tomorrow…

These are the ingredients that I used:

• 1 cooked chicken breast, diced
• ½ Red Delicious Apple, diced (I ate the other half too!)
• 20g blue cheese, crumbled
• 20g toasted walnuts, chopped
• 2 tbsp low fat sour cream
• Pinch of salt and pepper

Just mix everything together and throw it between two slices of good, toasted whole grain bread (or a super cute triangular bread like the one I got!) with a few green leaves and a handful of alfalfa sprouts.

Red Pear, Blue Cheese and Walnut Pizza

I saw my brother last Friday and he gave me the most awesome birthday present : this absolutely gorgeous olive oil and this superb white wine vinegar.

The timing was absolutely perfect, for I had pizza on the menu for the week-end, which I was planning on topping with a handful of arugula slightly dressed with… olive oil, lemon zest and vinegar!

Another fairly good timing was my stumbling upon this recipe. I was happy with my usual pizza dough, but not ecstatic. I mean it was good, but a little too doughy for my taste. I wanted something with a little more crisp and crunch. Now this new one really delivers! While not perfect as is, it’s still a major improvement! Now I have a serious base to work with.

It does require a little bit of work, well, no, not work… prep and thinking ahead of time. I had to get that one started when I got home in the middle of the night on Saturday. I had my mind set on giving it a try that week-end and it was the only way this was going to happen… I refused to wait for the next pizza.

Thank goodness it doesn’t take that long to get the dough started. Not being familiar with the recipe, however, resulted in a lot of questioning and hesitation. For instance, I expected the soaker to be a lot looser than it actually is. But alas, both the soaker and the biga looked exactly the same when done. The only way I could think of to be certain I would be able to tell them apart the next day was to remember that I had put the biga in a bigga’ bowl. Yeah, I know…  go easy on me, please… middle of the night, remember?

Also, the recipe doesn’t say to let the dough rise after forming the tight little balls. I thought it very odd and decided to let mine rise for about an hour and a half, and I am sure it could’ve used another half hour.

All this work resulted in a light and crispy pizza dough. I was fairly impressed, especially since it’s made entirely from whole wheat flour and doesn’t call for the addition of gluten flour.

As for the toppings I chose to use? Oh my YUM! Even better than the apple version I did not so long ago. This was by far my ultimate favourite pizza ever! (I know, I know, I say that every time…) The addition of arugula, with the hint of lemon and the freshly grated nutmeg. OH! I can’t even find the words. Don’t they say a picture is worth a thousand of those? Well, here goes…

For each pizza, you will need:

• ¼ Whole wheat pizza crust recipe
• ½ tsp olive oil
• Sprinkle Himalayan rock salt
• Generous sprinkle freshly cracked black pepper
• Generous sprinkle freshly grated nutmeg

• 50g mozzarella, grated
• 1-2 red pears, thinly sliced (a mandolin comes in handy)
• 20g blue cheese, crumbled
• 30g walnuts, chopped

• Handful arugula
• ½ tsp olive oil
• ⅛ tsp white wine vinegar
• Pinch lemon zest
• Pinch Himalayan rock salt
• Pinch freshly cracked black pepper

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 500F.
• Brush the dough with olive oil, sprinkle salt, pepper and nutmeg.
• Top with mozzarella cheese, red pear slices, half the blue cheese and half the walnuts then cook in the oven for about 10 minutes.
• Meanwhile, mix the oil, vinegar, lemon zest, salt an pepper. Whisk until combined.
• As soon as your pizza comes out of the oven, sprinkle the rest of the chopped walnuts and blue cheese crumbles. Mix the arugula with the dressing, toss to combine and mound in the center of your pizza.