Author: Brent Schrader

Mushroom & Steak Wrap

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While visiting my parents in Virginia and taking advantage of the farmer’s market in their town, we needed to do something for lunch.  My parents are supportive of our eating habits, but haven’t decided it’s time for them to take on the same dietary approach.  Growing up in the midwest, I can totally appreciate that after 50+ years of eating a certain way without any pressing health issues they aren’t convinced what we are doing is necessary or right for them.  They usually will eat what we make, and like it, so that’s one fewer meal full of grain and dairy.  We ended up with thinly cut NY strip, even though we were looking for sandwich steaks–the strip was on sale and they didn’t have the other.  Either way, this was a great lunch that was filling and finished in under 15 minutes.

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Hearty Stovetop Chili

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It may come as a surprise, but Heather and I are huge fans of chili.  Even in the peak of summer, it’s likely that we have plans to make chili, are making chili, or are eating leftover chili.  Our recipe has always relied on cooking up the meat, onions, and peppers in a skillet, transferring that to a crock pot with salsa and diced tomatoes, and then cooking it overnight or all day.  While this makes a great chili, we wanted to attempt something in one pot, and done in under an hour.  This worked out quite well, and I think this may be my preferred method of making chili.  We also experimented with a faux-corn bread, which is so close to being ready.  We will link to it as soon as it’s perfected.

Gulai Kerbau (Spiced Bison)

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We worked on this recipe partially out of our love for curry and other similar cuisines, but also because we had 2 lbs of bison stew meat in the freezer that was ripe for cooking.  This stew looked especially inviting, and we are pleased with the results.  It’s worth mentioning that bison is much leaner than the meat that would typically be used in this dish (lamb), so if you don’t have bison, you might add a little time to the whole process.

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Langostino Bisque

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This recipe came about as we were trying to figure out what type of seafood we would have for the week.  Typically we will get our seafood from Costco, but this time their salmon was less than desirable, and most of the other seafood was either ridiculously expensive or farmed.  The only wild caught option we could find was langostino.  After enlisting Siri, we found out what a langostino is.  The “squat lobster”, as it is nicknamed, really does look a bit like a tiny lobster.  After cooking with it, I would say that it meets the requirement for a lobster-like taste and consistency (not as buttery) for a fraction of the cost.  Some food purists don’t like how the langostino is used as a lobster impostor in some fast food campaigns, e.g. lobster bites, but there were no smoke and mirrors here.

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Prosciutto-Wrapped Beet Sticks

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This was a dish we came up with after having picked up some MASSIVE beets from the farmers market in Culpeper, Virginia when visiting my parents.  They were about to go bad, and we were about to leave town, so we needed something that would be a fun and easy vehicle to cook them.  For whatever reason, prosciutto came into my mind (because it’s like fancy bacon), and this was born.  This used about half of our beet supply, with the other half going into a mason jar for pickled beet sticks.

This is super easy to do, and took maybe 20 minutes total prep and cook time.  Good as a finger food or to put on a plate with a main dish, as you can see above.

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