#4EvrLove @ForeverRomance romantic recipes, part 2

By the way, both this recipe and the last one are meant to serve 2. Also, a bonus about this recipe is that it’s relatively light, so even after stuffing yourselves silly you won’t be too sluggish to get a little, uh, romantic enjoy! Happy Valentine’s Day!

Sesame Crusted Ahi Tuna with Sauteed Spinach

1 lb sushi grade ahi tuna

1 T soy sauce (plus more for dipping)

1 T Sesame oil

3 T toasted sesame seeds

1 T vegetable or olive oil

1 lb fresh baby spinach

2 cloves garlic, cut into thin slices

soy sauce

1 T olive oil

To prepare tuna:

Combine soy sauce and sesame oil, and coat tuna with the mixture.  Spread the sesame seeds on a plate and turn the tuna in them to create an even coating.  In a cast iron or grill pan, heat vegetable oil over high heat.  Cook tuna, 1-2 minutes per side, set aside on a plate to rest.

To prepare the spinach:

In a sautee pan, heat olive oil over medium-low heat.  Add garlic and cook until garlic is tender and just starting to brown, 3-5 minutes. It’s really important not to let the garlic burn!  Add spinach to pan and stir until it’s coated with the olive oil.  Cook until spinach is cooked down, about 5 minutes.  Season with soy sauce to taste.

To serve, pile the spinach on two plates and cut the tuna into thin slices. Be sure to cut against the grain of the fish, or the slices will be chewy. I like to serve mine with soy sauce and wasabi on the side to dip, just like sushi.

#4EvrLove Recipes to Melt a Man’s Heart

When my editor first asked me to join @Foreverromance’s Valentine’s day Twitter party and talk about romantic recipes, I immediately went to my husband.  I love to cook, and when he and I were first dating, I took the whole “the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach” seriously.  These are his 2 top picks for what we like to call “courting recipes.”

Grilled Flank Steak with Grilled Vegetable Salsa

Note – if you don’t want to mess with the grill, this can easily be done on the stovetop on a grill pan, or using your oven’s broiler

1 lb Flank steak

2 tsp each salt, pepper, and cumin

1 red onion, cut into eighths

4 firm fleshed tomatoes, (i.e. Romas) cut in half

1-2 jalepenos, depending on how much heat you like

3 cloves garlic, peeled

1 avocado, cut into chunks

olive oil

Juice of 1-2 limes

salt, pepper, and cumin to taste

1 hour before you grill,season steak liberally with salt, pepper, and cumin.  Let it rest at room temperature for an hour before cooking. Coat grill or pan with olive oil, heat to high, and grill steak to desired doneness.  Let the steak rest for 10 minutes before cutting.

To prepare the salsa:

toss vegetables will in olive oil to coat.  Using a vegetable grill pan, or under your broiler, grill or broil vegetables until they are just starting to char, about 10 minutes.  If desired, remove seeds from the jalapeños before chopping.  Chop all the vegetables roughly – you want this to be a big, chunky salsa, and add the avocado.  Season with lime juice, salt and cumin, and serve with the thinly sliced steak. Serve tortillas on the side, and voila, you’ve got steak tacos!

Cooking from My Box: Green Chile Chicken Soup

After spending a lot of time in New Mexico over the past few years, I’ve developed a serious love for green chiles.  And while I love the traditional pork based green chile stew, it’s kind of labor intensive, not to mention pork shoulder is not the world’s leanest cut of meat.  Recently I’ve tweaked my traditional chicken soup recipe to incorporate this new favorite ingredient.  This has become one of my favorite ways to use extra roast chicken and it’s been a great addition to the family menu as we’ve all suffered from various ailments this winter. I find the potatoes are a nice change from noodles for your starch, and they have the advantage of not turning to mush if you have leftovers.  If you are fortunate enough to have access to roasted hatch green chiles from New Mexico, that’s awesome. Otherwise you can use canned – Trader Joe’s sells canned hatch chiles. Either way, it’s a great way to warm up a cold winter’s night!

Ingredients

1 medium onion, diced

4 carrots, diced

4 ribs celery, diced

1 tsp salt

1 tsp pepper

2 tsp dried oregano, preferably Mexican

1 T chile powder

1 tsp cumin

2 cloves garlic, minced

4 medium size red or other waxy potatoes, cut into bite size chunks (you want roughly 2 cups of potatoes)

1 quart chicken broth

1 7 oz can roasted diced green chiles, or 4 roasted hatch chiles, peeled and diced

2 cups roasted chicken, shredded or chopped into bite size pieces

1 T Olive oil

sour cream, avocado,  lime wedges and shredded cheese to garnish

Directions:

In a dutch oven or large pot, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add onions, carrots, celery, and salt, cook until vegetables are soft, about 8 minutes.  Add pepper, oregano, chile powder, cumin, and garlic. Stir until fragrant, about 30 seconds.  Add potatoes, stir to coat with spices. Add chicken broth to pot. Bring to a broth to a boil then lower to a simmer and cover, cooking until potatoes are tender, 15-2o minutes.  Stir in green chiles and chicken, simmer until heated through and green chile flavor permeates soup, about 5 minutes.  Taste for seasoning and add salt and pepper if necessary.  Garnish with sour cream, cheese, avocado and lime if desired.

And the Winners Are: Jane and Ashley!

The winners of the Resolutions contest are Jane and Ashley. email me with your snail mail addy’s. Books will go out tomorrow, and I’ll figure out the iTunes deal as quickly as I can

Ciao!

LAST CHANCE TO WIN!

Hey everyone, today is your last chance to comment or tweet me with your #resolutions progress. 2 random commenters will be chosen to win an ARC of RUN FROM FEAR and a copy of the iTunes playlist that helped inspire me as I wrote.

As for my resolutions (eating more mindfully and lowering the volume on my inner critic), I would give myself a B- on both. While for the most part I’ve made a point to put everything I want to eat on a plate and actually sit down at the table to eat it, I still catch myself picking things off my boys’ plates and walking around the house with food in my hand. And yesterday there was a bit of a cheeto incident at the park…
My inner critic has taken a back seat, but I can’t decide if it’s because I’ve brought her back down to a manageable level, or because I’m just don’t care as much about certain things right now. Hmmm. things to ponder.

Don’t Forget to Send Me Your #Resolutions Tweets

It’s the last week to comment here or tweet me #resolutions to let me know what your New Years resolutions are this year and if what progress you’re making.  Mine were (are) to eat more mindfully, which is a lot harder that it seems like it should be. But just this past Sunday I had half a sandwich in one hand and was digging through basket of clean laundry with the other looking for socks for my son.  That being said, I have to say I now eat 75% of my meals at home from a plate or bowl and sitting down in a chair.  Trust me, this is a huge improvement.

My other resolution was (is) to get a ball gag for my inner critic.  I haven’t managed to fully silence her, but the the volume has been turned down.  When I beat myself up about work or start thinking that my WIP is such a pile of crap that I should just throw it out and start all over, I remind myself that I have written over 10 published works, and no matter how frustrating the process is or how much trouble I have figuring out my plots and characters, I somehow manage to pull it together.   There’s no reason to believe I won’t this time as well.

And if I’m feeling a little bloated, a little wrinkly and noticing that my arms are starting to resemble a couple of easter hams, I remind myself that a)I don’t have  sports illustrated swimsuit issue cover shoot coming up b) my husband is still pretty psyched when he catches me in the shower c) my body is strong and healthy and capable of walking for miles and lifting 40 and 60 pound boys to give them bear hugs and fish kisses, and d) I’m fueling said body with delicious, healthy, mindfully consumed food that I really enjoy, and unless I cut back on that, I’m never going to have anything approaching a six pack.

Frankly, I’d rather have my camembert.

Hope you are all doing well with your own resolutions, and those of you who’ve fallen off the wagon, tell your inner critic to shut the f$%^ up and get back on the wagon!