Healthy Thai Steak Tacos

This is Jared, my husband. He does not get a lot of face time on the blog, but truthfully he has created some of the best recipes on here.

Check out this recipe that he created: Philly Cheese-Steak Pizza.

Since Jared loves steak but we are both trying to eat more healthy foods, this recipe from How Sweet It Is immediately caught my eye. When I saw that it included mangoes (Jared's favorite fruit), I knew I had to make it.

Don't be intimidated by the ingredient list, these are quite easy to whip up. And you won't even miss the cheese or sour cream that are the usual unhealthy additions to tacos.

Healthy Thai Beef Tacos
serves 3-4
printable recipe

1 1/2 pounds flank steak
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper

marinade
3/4 cup light (canned) coconut milk
1 tablespoon sesame oil
4 garlic cloves, minced or pressed
2 teaspoons freshly grated ginger
2 tablespoons brown sugar
3 tablespoons freshly chopped cilantro
1/3 cup sweet chili sauce

quick mango salsa
1/2 mango, chopped
1 shallot, diced
1 jalapeno, diced
2 tablespoons freshly chopped cilantro
a sprinkle each of sugar, salt & pepper

tacos
1 teaspoon canola oil
8-10 corn tortillas
1/2 cup sweet chili sauce
1/4 cup peanuts, chopped
green leaf or romaine lettuce + fresh cilantro for topping

Sprinkle flank steak with salt and pepper. Combine coconut milk, sesame oil, chili sauce, garlic, ginger, sugar and cilantro in a bowl and whisk. Add flank steak to a ziplock bag or a shallow baking dish and pour marinade overtop. Refrigerate and let sit for 6-24 hours.

When ready to prepare, remove steak from fridge and let sit for 20-30 minutes. In a bowl, combine mango, shallot, jalapeno, salt, sugar and pepper, mix thoroughly, then set aside.

Heat a large oven-safe skillet (like cast iron) over high heat. At the same time, preheat the broiler in your oven. (You can also grill the steak if you wish.) Using a pastry brush, brush oil onto the skillet so there is only a very thin layer. Remove steak from marinade with kitchen tongs, placing in the skillet. Sear on both sides for 2-3 minutes.

Remove skillet and place is the oven directly under the broiler. Cook for 2-3 minutes, then flip and cook for 2-3 minutes more. This resulted in medium-rare meat for us, so cook for longer if you like your steak cooked more. Our steak was about an inch thick.

Remove skillet from oven, and place steak on a cutting board to rest for 15-20 minutes.

At this time, assemble your tortillas (warm them if desired), salsa, extra chili sauce for drizzling and cilantro. After the steak has rested, slice it into thin strips.

Assemble tacos as desired and eat! So flavorful and satisfying. My pictures really don't do this meal justice, I highly recommend checking out Jessica's blog at How Sweet Eats for some amazing pictures and more delicious recipes!

What fruit are you loving this summer? I can't seem to get enough of the cherries this year!

Chicken-Fried Steak

Continuing on in the theme of Pioneer Woman recipes, we made Chicken-Fried Steak last night for dinner.

My husband declared it "comfort food at its finest" and two of us practically licked our plates clean. It was very very good, although not something which I will be able to justify the calories for again for at least awhile.

I was surprised how easy it was to make however! We served the Chicken-Fried Steak with mashed potatoes and steamed asparagus. The great thing about this recipe is that you can adjust it to serve as many or as few people as you like, but here are instructions for feeding four.

printable recipe
Chicken-Fried Steak

4 cube steaks
1 egg
1/2 cup milk, plus 2 cups for gravy
1 1/2 cups flour, plus about 1/3 cup for gravy
1 tsp seasoned salt
1/2 tsp paprika
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
3/4 tsp black pepper
1/2 cup canola oil for frying

Place the steaks on a plate and season with salt and pepper.

Whisk the egg and 1/2 cup milk together in a bowl. In another bowl, mix 1 1/2 cups flour with the seasoned salt, paprika, cayenne pepper, and black pepper. Set out an extra clean plate.

Dip the steaks in the egg/milk mixture, dredge in flour, dip again in egg/milk, then dredge again in flour. Set on clean plate.

Heat the oil in a large skillet or heavy-bottomed pot over medium-high heat. When a little flour sprinkled in the oil sizzles, fry steaks up to 3 at a time. Cook on one side until the edges start to look golden brown, about 2 1/2 minutes.

Turn over and cook for an additional 2 or 3 minutes, until the other side is golden.

Remove to a paper towel-lined plate and keep warm. Now is the fun part- making the gravy!

Pour the grease into a clean bowl. Without cleaning the pan, return it to the stove over medium-low heat. Add 1/4 cup grease back to the pan. Allow the grease to heat up. Sprinkle 1/3 cup flour evenly over the grease.

Using a whisk, mix the flour and grease, which will create a golden brown paste. Whisking frequently, allow the roux to heat up and darken slightly.

Whisking constantly, pour in 2 cups milk.

Allow gravy to cook and thicken for 5 to 10 minutes, whisking frequently. Add more milk if needed, and season heavily with salt and pepper. Don't forget the seasoning step, or else your gravy won't taste good at all.

Serve over the Chicken-Fried Steak and mashed potatoes. Enjoy!

Seared Steak and Arugula Salad

This is one of the first meals that my husband made for me after we were married several years ago and it is still one of my favorites. The bitterness of the arugula makes the dressing taste almost sweet and the warm meat and peppers on top of the cold, crisp greens provide a great contrast in texture.

Plus it just looks fancy, don't you think?

This recipe is adapted from one by Giada on foodnetwork.com.

Seared Steak and Arugula Salad

printable recipe 

serves 4

• 1 lb steak (we recommend 2 petite sirloins, although I believe the original recipe called for rib-eye steak, so that would work too)
• salt and pepper (or Montreal Steak Seasoning)
• 1/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp olive oil, divided
• 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
• 10 oz package salad greens, arugula is the best, but any bitter salad mix would work
• 1 red pepper
• 1/2 cup shredded parmesan cheese

*Please note that we halved this recipe since we were just making salads for two people, so we used half of a pepper and only 1 petite sirloin in the pictures.

Cut red pepper in half and roast the halves, either on the grill on high or in the oven at 400F, about 10 minutes either way or until the pepper starts to blacken.

Cut the red pepper into chunks and set aside.

Season the steak generously with salt and pepper. We have alternately used Montreal Steak Seasoning, which tastes great too.

In a skillet, heat up a couple Tbsp of olive oil over medium to medium-high heat. Place steak in skillet and sear for several minutes on each side to desired temp. 

For medium rare, we cooked it for about 3 minutes per side on medium-high heat. If you prefer a more well-done steak, decrease the heat and cook longer on each side.

Place the steak on a plate, cover with foil and let rest 5-10 minutes.

Pour the grease from the skillet into a bowl along with 1/4 cup each of olive oil and balsamic vinegar and whisk together.

Slice steak against the grain in thin slices.

Wash and dry the arugula or greens.

Place a generous portion of the greens on each plate.

Arrange steak slices and red pepper on top of greens and sprinkle with parmesan cheese.

Pour the oil and vinegar mix on top. Enjoy!

This recipe is featured in Menu Plan 6.