BIG DAVE'S BEEF MACHACA

This is the best thing I have ever made with a chuck roast, hands down.  My kids love it so much, when I tell them we're having machaca for dinner they both say "YESSS!"  And of course, since it's served in tortillas, they love to customize it with favorite cheeses, veggies, salsas, etc.  Make it as spicy as you like, even make it in the crock pot after searing it, up until you have to shred it and put it back in the pot until it's almost dry.   Trust me, you've GOT to taste this!

Marinade:

¼ cup Worcestershire sauce

Juice of two limes

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp chili powder

½ tsp salt

½ tsp black pepper

½ cup vegetable oil or olive oil

Machaca:

2-3 lb Chuck Roast or Skirt Steak, trimmed and cut into ¼ lb portions.

1 Large Texas Sweet Onion (yellow onion) diced

½ green bell pepper diced

4 cloves of garlic, minced or pressed

1 Fresh Jalapeno Pepper, minced

1 14oz can diced tomatoes or tomatoes with green chilies

¼ cup beef broth

1 Tb dried oregano

1 Tb ground cumin

1 teaspoon hot pepper sauce such as Tabasco

salt and pepper to taste

Vegetable oil for searing the beef



PreparationFor the marinade, combine all the ingredients in a bowl then whisk them to form an emulsion. Add the beef making sure every piece is evenly coated. Cover and refrigerate.

Marinate the beef overnight in a bowl in the refrigerator. Before preparing, drain thoroughly and allow meat to come up to room temperature for about 30 minutes.

In a large soup pot, heat a few tablespoons of oil over medium-high heat until very hot. Sear the beef a few pieces at a time to develop a rich brown color on all sides as well as on the bottom of the pan. Do this in several batches if the pot is too crowded.

When all the beef is browned nicely and removed from the pan, add the onions, peppers, and garlic to the hot pan. Sauté for a few minutes then add the remaining ingredients to the pan along with the beef. Bring to a boil, scraping the browned bits off the bottom of the pan. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer slowly for about 2 hours. The meat should be very tender and should easily fall apart when pricked with a fork.

Remove from heat, remove meat to a cutting board and shred with a pair of forks. Return to the pot and bring to a simmer, uncovered. Reduce the liquid until very thick, almost dry. At this point, adjust the seasoning with salt, pepper, and whatever additional heat you want to add if any.

Serve with tortillas, cheese, salsa, lettuce and guacamole for a great beef taco. Portion and freeze the remaining machaca in zip lock bags for later use.

Mocha-Pecan Mud Pie


Prep: 15 min.; Bake: 10 min.; Freeze: 8 hrs., 10 min.


Round out your meal with a slice of decadent ice-cream pie. This dessert is so rich, your guests will never know it was lightened.
Yield: Makes 9 servings

1/2 cup chopped pecans

Vegetable cooking spray

1 teaspoon sugar

1 pint light coffee ice cream, softened

1 pint light chocolate ice cream, softened

1 cup coarsely chopped reduced-fat cream-filled chocolate sandwich cookies, divided (about 10 cookies)

1 (6-ounce) ready-made chocolate crumb piecrust

2 tablespoons light chocolate syrup
Place pecans in a single layer on a baking sheet coated with cooking spray; sprinkle evenly with sugar.

Bake at 350° for 8 to 10 minutes or until lightly toasted. Cool.

Stir together ice cream, 3/4 cup cookie chunks, and 1/3 cup pecans; spoon into piecrust. Freeze 10 minutes. Press remaining cookie chunks and pecans evenly on top. Cover with plastic wrap, and freeze 8 hours. Drizzle individual slices evenly with chocolate syrup.
Note: For testing purposes only, we used Keebler Chocolate Ready Crust, Häagen-Dazs Light Coffee Ice Cream, and Häagen-Dazs Light Dutch Chocolate Ice Cream.


CALORIES 327 (39% from fat); FAT 14.5g (sat 4.4g,mono 3.6g,poly 1.8g); IRON 1.3mg; CHOLESTEROL 2mg; CALCIUM 41mg; CARBOHYDRATE 45.8g; SODIUM 190mg; PROTEIN 5.4g; FIBER 1.9g


Southern Living, DECEMBER 2005

Vanilla-Roasted Strawberries

Yield: 4 servings (serving size: 6 strawberries and 2 tablespoons sauce)

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise

24 strawberries, tops removed

2 tablespoons light brown sugar

3 tablespoons dry red wine

1 1/2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

1 tablespoon chilled unsalted butter, cut into small pieces



Preheat oven to 400°.



Melt 2 tablespoons butter in a 9-inch baking pan in oven. Scrape seeds from vanilla bean into melted butter; combine. Place strawberries, cut sides down, in pan; sprinkle with sugar. Tuck vanilla halves between berries in bottom of pan. Bake at 400° for 10 minutes or until berries are soft. Cool 20 minutes.



Remove berries from pan, and transfer pan juices to a small skillet. Add wine and vinegar to pan; bring to a simmer over medium heat. Remove from heat; whisk in chilled butter. Drizzle sauce over berries. Serve immediately.



CALORIES 135 (51% from fat); FAT 7.7g (sat 4.8g,mono 2.2g,poly 0.3g); IRON 0.8mg; CHOLESTEROL 21mg; CALCIUM 25mg; CARBOHYDRATE 16.7g; SODIUM 5mg; PROTEIN 0.9g; FIBER 3g



Cooking Light, JUNE 2002

My sister and her kids are coming for a visit for a few days and of course, I've got to break out the BIG GUNS in the kitchen!  But, there are two problems: it's gotta be something all 5 kids will eat (hers and mine), AND three of the nights they're here we'll have softball and baseball, so it'll have to be relatively to fix when we get home. 

While I can't promise everything will be on the table by 7:30, I'll do my best to try!  But here's some things I'll be making while they're here!


Barbecued Cowboy Steaks

Big Dave's Beef Machaca (a HUGE favorite in my house)

Buttermilk Brined Pork Chops (another fantastic and QUICK dish)

Cream Cheese Green Chile Chicken Enchiladas (the name says it all, and it says FABULOUS)

Penne with Parmesan Cream and Prosciutto

I also thought of a few sides, some will be quick and out of the freezer, others will be these:

twice baked potatoes

grilled new potatoes with parmesan and herbs

garlic monkey bread

zucchini oven chips

Then, of course, we HAVE to have sundaes for dessert, so we'll be making homemade ice cream.  But my sister and I will be having that homemade ice cream with Vanilla Roasted Strawberries (a new recipe I found that I will post).  They looked so pretty in the picture I just HAD to try them, lol!  I'll let you know how they turn out!

Oh, and another recipe I need to post, Mocha Pecan Mud Pie.  I told my sister about it and she said "ooooooohhhhh...."  I think anything coffee and ice ceam will make her happy, lol! 

Most of these recipes are from my favorite web site, Myrecipes.com, with my own twist added. 

It's amazing how excited I get when company comes...I don't know what is more fun: entertaining my guests or entertaining our stomachs with the food we cook when they're here!

Malaysian Chicken Pizza

I'll be the first to admit I was in NO mood to cook tonight.  Even though I had done most of the prep work earlier in the day.  I had such a busy day yesterday coaching Lauren's softball tournament that the last thing I wanted to do today was get out of the massage chair!  But I made this tonight and all four of us were very glad I did!  I kid pleaser for sure!!  I did julienne some baby carrots and topped the pizza with it before baking, just to add some more veggies to the dish.  I also cut up the chicken, put it in a bowl and marinated it in salt, pepper, olive oil, soy sauce, and ginger, then refrigerated for several hours.


Malaysian Chicken Pizza

Yield: 6 servings

3/4 cup rice vinegar

1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1/4 cup low-sodium soy sauce

3 tablespoons water

1 tablespoon minced peeled fresh ginger

2 tablespoons chunky peanut butter

1/2 to 3/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper

4 garlic cloves, minced

Cooking spray

1/2 pound skinless, boneless chicken breasts, cut into bite-sized pieces

1/2 cup (2 ounces) shredded reduced-fat, reduced-sodium Swiss cheese (such as Alpine Lace)

1/4 cup (1 ounce) shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese

1 (12-inch) Basic Pizza Crust

1/4 cup chopped green onions



Preheat oven to 500°.

Combine first 8 ingredients in a bowl; stir well with a whisk.

Heat a nonstick skillet coated with cooking spray over medium heat. Add chicken, and sauté 2 minutes. Remove chicken from pan.

Pour rice vinegar mixture into pan, and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Cook mixture 6 minutes or until slightly thickened. Return chicken to pan; cook 1 minute or until chicken is done. (Mixture will be consistency of thick syrup.)

Sprinkle cheeses over prepared crust, leaving a 1/2-inch border, and top with chicken mixture. Bake at 500° for 12 minutes on bottom rack in oven. Sprinkle with green onions. Place pizza on a cutting board; let stand 5 minutes.