Recipe Box: Girls’ Night In: Dinner and a Movie

This past Saturday, I held a girls’ night in with dinner, wine and a movie.  Below are my recipes:

Vietnamese Beef

Ingredients:

• 2 10 oz. sirloin steaks
• 2 tbsp fresh peeled ginger, crushed
• 4 tbsp low-sodium soy sauce
• 1/4 tsp. canola oil
• 6 garlic cloves, crushed

Directions:

1. Cut the meat into 1/2-inch thick cubes
2. In a small bowl, mix together the soy sauce and ginger.  Put the meat into a dish and pour the mixture over it
3. Cover and put it in the refrigerator for 30 minutes
4. To cook, heat the skillet over medium heat, place oil and garlic
5. Remove the meat from the marinade and drain
6. Once the garlic has started to brown, about 3 minutes, add the meat and cook over very high heat, mixing rapidly for 10-15 seconds

Herbed Veggie Skillet

Ingredients:

• 2 tsp canola oil
• 8 oz. zucchini, sliced
• 1/4 cup onion, sliced
• 1/4 cup green bell pepper, diced
• 3/4 cup frozen whole kernel corn
• 1/3 cup tomato, diced
• 2 tbsp water
• 1/8 tsp dried basil
• 1/8 tsp dried marjoram
• 1/8 tsp oregano

Directions:

1. In a large skillet, heat the oil over medium-high heat, swirling to coat the bottom
2. Cook the zucchini, onion and bell pepper until limp
3. Add the remaining ingredients
4. Cook, covered, for 5 minutes until the zucchini is tender

Sweet Potato Fries

Ingredients:

• 1 large sweet potato per every two people
• Canola oil
• Chili powder

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees
2. Line baking sheet with parchment
3. Cut potatoes into long sticks
4. Toss the sticks in a bowl with the pil
5. Place the sticks on the parchment paper and bake for 10 minutes
6. Turn the sticks over and cook until you reach desired crispiness
7. Drain and sprinkle with chili powder (if desired)

White-Chocolate Caramel Corn with Cashews

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup of kernels, popped
• 1 1/2 cups roughly chopped cashews
• 1 stick plus 2 tbsp unsalted butter
• 1/3 cup light corn syrup
• 1 1/4 cups packed light brown sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp coarse salt, divided
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 5 oz. white chocolate, chopped (I used Ghiradelli’s)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 250 degrees
2. Place popcorn and cashews in a large heat-proof bowl.
3. Melt butter in a saucepan, over medium heat.  Stir in corn syrup, sugar and 1/2 tsp salt, and cook until sugar dissolves.
4. Raise heat to high and bring to a boil – do not stir.  Boil about 2 minutes or the entire pan is bubbling.
5. Remove from heat and add in baking soda
6. Pour caramel over popcorn mixture and mix thoroughly
7. Transfer to 2 rimmed baking sheets, spreading in a single layer.  Bake 45 minutes.
8. Test doneness by removing a piece and letting it cool for a minute. If crispy, it’s done
9. Remove from oven and sprinkle with remaining salt and let cool completely
10. Melt the chocolate in a heat-proof bowl for about 1 minute and 15 seconds in the microwave – stir the chocolate and drizzle it over the popcorn.
11. Either serve right away or place in the fridge for 30 minutes to cool completely and let chocolate set.

Tagged as: beef recipes, caramel popcorn recipes, sweet potato fries recipes, veggie recipes, vietnamese beef dukan diet