I’ve never been one for having a huge celebration on
Valentine’s day, just because I love my boy every day and make sure he knows
it! We don’t go out for a meal on
Valentine’s Day either, just because the food everywhere suddenly becomes very
over priced and I think it takes more time, effort and consideration making a
meal at home- it’s more of a loving gesture than just booking a table! One of my favourite dinners is steak and
chips, which I usually tend to have if I’m eating in a pub. I cook it quite often as well, but make a
healthier version with sweet potato wedges instead of chips, then take out the
onion rings and other yummy bits that make a pub steak a real treat for when I’m
out.
Steak and sweet potato wedges dinner for
two.
Ingredients:
2 steaks
(mine were rib-eye and I ALWAYS buy my steak from Aldi- it’s cheaper than the
other supermarkets and isn’t pumped full of extra water)
A small box
of mushrooms
Frozen petit
pois
Several
sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into wedges (go for the usual wedge shape/
size!)
Olive oil
Freshly
ground sea salt and black pepper
Method:
1.
Start
with the wedges, so preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius. Put your wedges into a colander and drizzle
with olive oil and sea salt and black pepper.
Give the wedges a good shake, ensuring the all have a little oil and
seasoning coating them- any excess will drain out of the bottom of your
colander. Place the wedges onto a baking
tray and put into the oven for about 45 minutes until the wedges are
crisp. You will need to turn them a few
times during cooking so that they cook evenly.
2.
Get your steaks out of the fridge to allow them
t warm up to room temperature. Rub some
ground sea salt and black pepper onto both sides of each stead and set aside
ready for cooking.
3.
For your sides- fry the mushrooms in a little
olive oil and set aside ready for reheating.
If you’re making garlic mayo, crush 2 cloves of garlic (or more to suit
your taste) and mix with some mayo. The
petit pois can also be cooked in boiling water at this point too and left to be
reheated when the wedges and steaks are ready.
4.
Once your wedges are almost done, it’s time to
cook your steaks. Put some olive oil in
a pan and use some kitchen paper to grease the pan and soak up the excess
oil. Fry your steaks according to
taste. I like mine to be very bloody and
rare, so will fry it for about 4 minutes on each side. Obviously well done and medium rare need a
little longer. I tend to turn the steak
over every few minutes and cut into it once or twice to check the colour. Once your steak is done, set aside on a plate
and cover with foil to let the meat rest- this makes it even more tender
apparently!
5.
Enjoy your steak dinner!
Pancakes
Pancakes
really aren’t that bad as an occasional treat, plus making them with whole wheat
flour makes them even better.
Ingredients:
100g plain
flour (or whole meal for the healthy option)
250ml milk
(semi-skimmed or lactose free works fine)
1 egg
A pinch of
salt
Toppings: I prefer to keep mine healthy, but a bit of a
treat as well. Greek yoghurt with
blueberries and strawberries is nice.
For something sweeter, I like banana and maple syrup (which is an
unrefined sugar and better than the nasty white stuff). If you have to go for sugar, try dark muscovado
sugar with a little lemon juice. For a
chocolate fix, melt some dark chocolate for your pancake or for a taste of Thailand,
serve your pancake with coconut milk.
Method:
Mix all of
your ingredients together and fry the bad boys!
Melt a little butter in a non-stick pan, again using a piece of kitchen
paper to ‘grease’ the pan and remove any excess melted butter.
Once one
side of the pancake is done, you’ll find that you can get a fish slice under it
quite easily to flip it over and cook the other side. Serve with your choice of healthy toppings.
Happy Eating!
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