Day 3 - Success with Steak

After day 2, I really needed a win and was super excited to see that steak was on the calendar for day 3. My family loves steak. My kids love steak; my husband loves steak; I love steak. So I went into dinner on day 3 with a fair amount of confidence, which is pretty amazing considering the epic bomb that was chipotle cauliflower mac & cheese on day 2.

Needless to say, I was right. Day 3 - Southwest Flank Steak with Fresh Tomatillo Salsa- was a HUGE hit in our house. Now, I was pretty confident about the steak but not so much about the tomatillo salsa that was called for in the recipe. The tart tomatillos were a new veggie in our house and we do not tend to like sauces or toppings on our steaks. But as I've said in the previous two posts and will continue to be a broken record about, this month is about trying new things so away I went with the salsa topping.

The recipe was an Eating Well recipe (notice a theme) and can be found here. I made two small changes to the recipe. First, the grocery store was out of jalapenos so I substituted a serrano pepper instead. And second, my husband is one of those people who thinks cilantro tastes like soap so I omitted it from the salsa.

The first step in the recipe calls for making the tomatillo salsa. I had never husked tomatillos before and was super surprised by how sticky they were under the husks. A good washing was necessary but after that, it was pretty straight forward. I rough chopped the tomatillos, seeded and diced the serrano pepper (I only used 3/4 of the pepper and no seeds so I wouldn't turn off my kiddos who don't all love spicy), added both to the food processor along with some salt and garlic. Pressed on and let it do it's think. In all, the salsa took about four minutes to make from start to finish.

Leaving the salsa to the side, I next mixed up the quick spice blend for the steak. Once complete, I scored the steak in giant Xs so it wouldn't curly to much when cooking. Then the spices where sprinkled on both sides. Steak was ready for the grill.

Since I live in Georgia, we can pretty much grill year round. Unless it's raining. So I warmed up the grill and put the steak on at medium heat. Flipping at the nine minute mark, the steak was looking beautiful and smelling great. After 17 minutes, I checked the steak's temperature, a perfect 125/medium rare, and off it came to rest for a few minutes.

While the steak rested, I did pull together two things that weren't on the calendar for the night - a quick Caesar salad and some boxed noodles. I needed a win after day 2 and I figured no matter what, my kids would eat the noodles. And I wanted a little more green on the plate, so I quick chopped some romaine heart we had left over from a meal this past weekend and tossed with some homemade salad dressing leftover from the same meal.

After about six minutes of the steak resting (that's how long the salad and noodles needed to come together), I topped the steak with the salsa and sprinkled on some Monterey Jack cheese. I was super happy with the finished product and after sampling a quick bite, I thought day 3 was going to go well.

Out of the six of us, four of us joined the clean plate club with only Ashlynn leaving a few bites of steak and Parker not quite finishing all of his noodles. The steak was devoured and everyone even raved about the salsa. My husband, who requested the salsa be on the side before I served up the meal (I reminded him that this month was about trying new things so the salsa would be going on top), commented several times how much he LOVED the salsa and asked that I keep the extra so he could use it with chips in the coming few days.

Clean Plate Club!

Highs:

• Everyone gobbled up the protein on the plate which is a very rare event at the house!

• We tried tomatillos for the first time and after the positive feedback, I'm going to figure out more recipes I can make to incorporate them.

• Bennett ate his food without complaining! THIS IS MAJOR!!

Lows:

• The recipe alone, which is just the steak and salsa, would not have been enough to fill up everyone's tummy so additional side dishes were needed.

The Scores

• Bennett: 5

• Lucas: 5

• Parker: 4 (because of the salad and noodles, not the steak)

• Joel: 5

• Allison: 5

• Ashlynn: 4 (she refused to eat the salad)

I've mentioned in the two previous days that the recipes had come together fairly quickly. However, nothing has been quite as quick and painless as this recipe. The longest part of the meal was getting everything out of the cabinets to get started. So, if you are looking for a fast and tasty weeknight dinner for your family, this is the one for you. After the kids reviews, this is going to go into our regular rotation because of it's tasty flavor and quick cook time.