Beer Braised Beef

Five ingredients, into the Crock Pot, forget about it for the rest of the day. Enough said. I don't drink beer at all, but the beer here just serves as a good meat tenderizer. So if you don't like beer like me, don't be scared off by this recipe.

BEER-BRAISED BEEF

Recipe Notes

This recipe is great over buttermilk mashed potatoes.

Nutritional Information (per serving - serves 4)

265 calories - 8 g. fat - 25.5 g. protein - 20.4 g. carbohydrates - 1.5 g. fiber

Ingredients

• 1 c. chopped onion
• 1 lb. boneless top round steak, trimmed
• 4.5 oz. can Italian petite diced tomatoes, undrained
• 1/2 c. light beer
• 2 tbsp. molasses
• Salt & pepper to taste

Instructions

1. Brown steak in a skillet over medium-high heat, approximately 3 minutes per side. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

2. Layer onion in the bottom of a 3-4 qt. slow cooker. Add steak atop onions. Pour tomatoes and beer over steak.

3. Cover and cook on LOW for 8 hours or until steak is very tender.

4. Shred steak with two forks in the slow cooker. Stir in molasses and a pinch of salt.

5. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

Seared Scallops with Farmer's Market Salad

Somehow the scallops in the Cooking Light illustration looked much browner than mine turned out, but these were still very tasty! Normally I won't go near scallops because they are so expensive, but Central Market had them on sale for about $8.00 off per pound, so I bit the bullet and got some. Corey enjoyed this too, so it is guy-friendly.

SEARED SCALLOPS WITH FARMER'S MARKET SALAD

Recipe Notes

I used frozen corn instead of fresh and it was still delicious. If you want to use frozen corn, just microwave per package directions prior to adding to the skillet.

Nutritional Information (per serving - serves 4)

251 calories - 5.7 g. fat - 31.6 g. protein - 19.4 g. carbohydrate - 3.3 g. fiber

Ingredients

• 2 c. chopped tomato
• 1 c. chopped fresh basil
• 1 tbsp. canola oil
• 1-1/2 lb. sea scallops (Cooking Light suggests dry-packed for better browning)
• 2 c. fresh corn kernels
  

Instructions

1. Heat a large cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat. Add canola oil, stirring to coat.

2. Pat scallops dry with a paper towel. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Add scallops to pan and cook approximately 2 minutes per side until browned.

3. Remove scallops from pan and keep warm.

4. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add corn to pan. Saute for 2 minutes or until lightly browned.

5. Add tomatoes, basil, and a pinch of salt and pepper to corn. Toss gently.

6. Serve scallops over corn and tomato salad.

BBQ Pork Chops with Lemon

My siblings and I used to fight over the pork chops with the most lemon slices when I was a kid. My husband thinks we are really weird. These are easy to put together when you are short on time for dinner.

BBQ Pork Chops with Lemon

Recipe Notes

My mom says that she always cooked these at 300 degrees for two hours. The actual recipe calls for 350 degrees for 45 minutes. Since I don't typically have that much time between work and babies, I use the higher temp, lower cooking time option. This recipe is from the Southern Living Meats Cookbook (1975).

Ingredients

• 6 pork chops, cut 1 in. thick
• Salt & pepper to taste
• 6 lemon slices
• 1/2 c. ketchup
• 1/2 c. water
• 2 tbsp. brown sugar

Instructions

1. Brown the pork chops in a skillet and season with salt and pepper.

2. In a glass, oven-safe dish, place lemon slices on top of each pork chop.

3. Combine ketchup, water, and brown sugar in a bowl (whisk until brown sugar has dissolved).

4. Pour sauce over pork chops and cover tightly.

5. Bake for 45 minutes at 350 degrees.

Ham & Cheese Turnovers

Super-easy weeknight meal!

HAM & CHEESE TURNOVERS

Recipe Notes

I had to reduce the baking time by 4-5 minutes in my oven. I also used just 1/2 piece Swiss cheese per turnover due to size.

Ingredients

• 1 lb. package of refrigerated pizza dough
• 8 oz. deli ham, thinly sliced
• 4 oz. Swiss cheese, thinly sliced
• 1/2 yellow onion, cut into thin rings

Instructions

1. Heat oven to 400 degrees.

2. Roll pizza dough into 14-in. circle. Cut into eight triangles.

3. Stack one piece of ham, Swiss, and onion on the bottom of each triangle. Roll dough up around filling. Note: some of the filling will stick out on the ends.

4. Transfer the rolls to a parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake until golden and crisp, about 20 minutes. (In my oven, this was closer to 15 minutes.)