Tri-tip Steak Soup

It's no secret to my friends that I LOVE Tri-tip. It's an amazing cut of beef that is a luscious steak dinner one night and transforms into so many different things the next that it is really a frugal cooks' dream.  Here's what I did with our left over tri-tip last night!

 I made soup. It was really good and even the kids raved. What I love about soup is that you can pretty much use any veggies you have on hand.  I just try to "cook a rainbow" of veggies, so an orange, a green, a white, a red, etc. Other options would be asparagus, zucchini, yellow squash, sweet potato, parsnip, turnips, beets. . .The choices are endless!  If you don't have potatoes throw in some rice for the starch instead.

Here is what's in the bowl above:

Tri-tip Steak Soup

• 1 pound of Grilled Tri-tip cut into bite sized cubes.
• 4 med. potatoes peeled and cubed
• 3 large carrots peeled and cubed
• 1 14 oz can of diced tomatoes
• 1 can of green beans (or a cup of fresh or frozen green beans)
• 1/2 cup sliced mushrooms
• 1 med onion diced
• 2 T minced garlic
• 1 14 oz can of tomato sauce
• 4 cups of veg. stock (or 2c veg and 2c beef broth)
• 2 T butter or olive oil
• 2T red wine (or if you don't use alcohol just use some of the broth or stock) for deglazing
• 2 T prime rib seasoning (rosemary, black pepper, salt, paprika, garlic)
• 1 T kosher salt
• 1T Steak Sauce -- THIS is what I think makes it taste like "steak soup"
• 2T brown gravy mix (to help thicken up the broth)
• Fresh ground black pepper

Directions:

• Heat butter or oil in a stock pot over medium heat. 
• Saute Onion until translucent then add the garlic to caramelize. 
• Deglaze the pan with the wine or some of the stock.
• Pour in the tomato sauce, stocks, seasonings, and steak sauce. Bring to a boil
• Add in the carrots and simmer for 5 minutes, then add the potatoes.
• Cook at a slow boil for 15 minutes and then add the soft veggies (tomatoes, green beans, mushrooms etc).
• Ladle out 1/4 cup of the broth and whisk it with the gravy mix, then stir back into the pot.
• Cook until the potatoes and carrots are fork tender.
• IF you want to use rice instead of potatoes I recommend cooking the rice first and adding it in the last 5 minutes of cooking or you will loose all of your broth to the rice!

Serve with a big slice of buttered crusty bread and enjoy!!

Easy Tri Tip Fajitas with Cilantro-Lime Rice

Fajitas

1 onion
1 bell pepper (I like red or orange better than green!)
Grilled Tri-tip sliced into thin strips
1 pkg Fajitas seasoning
2 T olive oil


In a large frying pan heat the oil over medium heat.
Slice the onion and pepper into strips

Sauté the onion and pepper stirring occasionally, but letting them caramelize slightly before each time you stir.
Remove to a dish and cover with foil.
Add the meat and heat through. Add seasoning mixed per package directions. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and return veggies to the pan and toss to cover.

Serve over rice or in warm flour tortillas. 

Cilantro-Lime Rice

1 cup rice 
1/4 cup chopped fresh Cilantro
zest and juice of 2 small limes
2 cups of chicken or vegetable broth
1/4 cup of water

Cook the rice with the lime zest, juice, broth, and water using your normal method for rice.
Add the cilantro and stir and let stand for 5 minutes before serving.

Top with lettuce, cheese, pico, sour cream, guac, what ever you like!

Grilled Tri-Tip

Marinade

1/4 cup veg oil (I use Canola for it's high smoke point since I'm grilling)

2 T Worchester Sauce

1T lemon juice

1t ground black pepper

1t kosher salt

1/2t red pepper flakes

3-4 cloves of garlic minced

4-5 green onion chopped fine

Whisk all ingredients together.

Marinade meat for at least 30 minutes, over night is even better.

Tri-tip is a cut that likes to be cooked hot and fast and on the rare side.

So temp it at 155 and let it rest to 160.

6-7 minutes per side at 500 degrees under the broiler if you aren't grilling outside should do it.

Let it rest for at least 10 minutes before slicing.

Slice thin across the grain of the meat on a bias for the best tenderness.

I recommend making more than one at a time since there are many wonderful ways to use the left overs!

My first homemade cheese....

So I decided I would make manicotti for dinner tonight (easy, not super cheap, but totally yummy) and then decided what the heck I'll make the ricotta myself!

So I searched the interwebs and found a great little "how to" for whole milk ricotta post. I did have amazing success with this, but I was a tiny bit unsure of the "lemony" flavor, so I went looking and found this post that suggested regular white vinegar instead for a more neutral flavor.

The procedure is of course the same. Ratio of milk to acid is also the same:

1cup of whole milk (I have an awesome source for unpasteurized milk so that is what I used.)
to
1T acid (lemon juice or distilled white vinegar)
to
1/4t salt (I prefer kosher)

Mix salt and milk in a heavy bottom sauce pan and bring to just below a boil. I think about 180 is perfect as any hotter and you risk scorching the milk. And having been a barista I know just how nasty scorch milk tastes and smells.

When the milk is at temp, at the acid and gently mix it in then STOP STIRRING! I made the mistake of stirring too hard the first batch and my curds never formed.  Set the pan off the heat and walk away for about 5-10 minutes to let the curds form.

Pour the whole thing into a strainer lined with a double layer of cheese cloth and let it drain over a bowl.
The longer you drain the more dense and dry the curds will be. (if you have a shallow ladle you can spoon out the majority of the curds and reduce the amount of draining necessary.)

Here's a picture of the curds draining:

The batch I made with lemon juice I mixed with some dill, salt, pepper, and garlic and put in an omelet for breakfast!

I have to say I was amazed at how well it melted and how yummy this was! Super creamy a bit tart/tangy from the lemon and just cheesy enough to complement the eggs perfectly. Of course I had to add couple of shots of hot sauce for "garnish".

The 2nd batch (made with the vinegar) I mixed with an egg, some cream, Italian seasoning, and sausage and stuffed in the manicotti.  Hopefully the kids will enjoy it for dinner tonight!

Frugal cooking--Request for recipe submissions!!!

Hello dear readers!! I have a HUGE favor to ask of you.  I'm trying to get out of a cooking rut AND save money. Both things are hard but possible, doing them together are causing me to pull out hair.

So in an effort to not go bald and accomplish the above goals I'm turning to you! Please please please send me your "meals on the cheap" recipe ideas.  My hope is to try to get our food bill for all our meals for 5 people to under $400 a month.  And I'm trying to stay with WHOLE FOODS. The parameters of the recipes are simple:

• Limited pre-made food as ingredients. I'd like to stay away from boxed/canned/jarred stuff.
• No BEANS. I don't eat them or like fixing them.
• Limited casseroles. The kids are NOT big fans. 
• If your recipe has an unusual ingredient PLEASE give me an idea of where to find it.

Don't limit yourself to main dishes!! I'd love to see some side dish ideas and ways of preparing traditional sides that are original but cheap!

My plan is to try out EVERYTHING you guys send me that fits the parameters and then post both the recipe (giving you credit of course and linking to where ever on the net you want me to in that credit) and the family's reactions to it here on my blog.

You can email me here, post on my Facebook page here if we are friends, "tweet" me a link to your own recipe blog here, or post the recipe or link in the comments below.

Please include:

• The recipe!!! (duh!)
• An estimate on how many people it feeds and how long it takes to prep.
• Your name or the name you want to go by in my blog.
• Where you found the recipe if it isn't your own personal creation or one you have significantly modified from the original. (have to give credit where credit is due!)
• A link to your own blog if you wish me to link back to you in my review post.
• Any other information your little heart desires me to know!

I'll make a button soon for you to put on your blog if you want.

Thank you!!!!!

Keeping lunches fun and cheap! Peaches glorious peaches!

In an effort to lower our food budget and still get healthy foods into my kids I have been doing a lot of freezing and canning this year. We've grown quite a bit, harvested a lot, and I've gotten pretty lucky finding deals on produce both at farmers markets and local produce from our nearby grocery stores.

Recently I found Organic Maryhill peaches (from Washington State) on a one day special at our local store for only $0.98 a pound! So I bought $10 worth!
But what to do with all of those peaches?? My first idea was to make my own fruit cups for the kids to take for their lunches. So here's how I did that:

First I washed the peaches by soaking them for a few minutes in a veggie/fruit wash and cold water.

Next I gathered all the supplies I would need: muffin tins, muffin papers (heavy waxed ones), honey, sugar, cinnamon sticks, and a large pot of water on to boil.

I lined the tins with the papers:

 Next I set to simmer 2 cups of water, 1 cup of honey, one cup of organic sugar, and 1 cinnamon stick to make a simple syrup.  After the sugar and honey have dissolved turn off the heat and let it cool while doing the next steps.

In order to peel the peaches quickly I used this time honored technique. a.) cut x's in the bottom of all the peaches, b.) drop them in the pot of boiling water, c.) pull them out when the skin of the peach starts to curl up at the x (about 30 seconds), d.) drop into ice water to cool, e.) then the peel will come right off.

Next up chop up the peaches into bite sized chunks and toss with some citric acid, lemon juice, lemon crystals to help keep them from browning. 

Fill up the muffin cups about 2/3rds of the way with the chopped peaches.

Next pour in cooled simple syrup until the fruit in the cup is just covered. This helps prevent freezer burn and keeps the peaches looking pretty! (totally optional, but a nice touch)

After both trays are filled I put them in the freezer stacking them with a cookie sheet inverted over the top of the bottom tray that they didn't nest.

Here's a picture of one of the trays frozen:

Next I used a butter knife between the paper and the tin in order to pop out each of the cups. 

Finally I put the cups in a zip top freezer bag and squeezed out as much of the air as I could, and put the whole thing back in the freezer. 

The peach cups are now ready to go into my kids lunch boxes. The average price for a store bought fruit cup of peaches made with hfcs is about $0.85 each. I used about 4 lbs of peaches (at $0.98/pound) to make 24 cups here, that comes out to around $0.17 per cup!! And they are made with healthier sugars and a much lower amount.