Sunday, January 17, 2010

Steak Tacos with Cucumber Salsa

This is the cookbook a fellow blogger suggested I buy. Great suggestion!
You may not know this about me, but I alter recipes. I take the main recipe and then make it what I want or adjust based on ingredients I can find. Today I altered. I started making the "Cucumber- Avocado Salsa". I bought some unripe avocado so I picked it back out and I replaced it with some tomatoes. It came out more like a cucumber pico de gallo which is pretty delicious. I used my Christmas gift (pictured below) to chop the veggies. It worked awesome and everything was the same size.

Here is my cucumber salsa:
English cucumber
3 roma tomatoes
1/2 red onion
1 1/2 handfuls of chopped cilantro (these are precise measurements)
2 jalapenos (optional)
juice of 2 limes
bit of ground sea salt

The main recipe called for 1 1/4 pounds of top sirloin. It was supposed to be rubbed with crushed garlic, cinnamon, crushed red pepper flakes, salt and pepper. Um....cinnamon? Sounds weird to me so I changed it. I used this seasoning my husband buys, crushed garlic (2 cloves) and a bit of salt.


I cooked it on med-high heat for 5 minutes on each side (it came out medium). I let it rest for 5 minutes before slicing.


The recipe called for corn tortillas. I would have used those but I love these carb balance flour tortillas and they are only 80 calories each. They are so soft and tasty. No need for any others.

The tacos are assembled with shredded red cabbage, cilantro and the cucumber salsa. A serving is 2 tacos and 1/3 cup of cucumber salsa. It is supposed yield 6 servings. Each serving is about 400 calories. I added a little low-fat shredded cheese and light sour cream (a few additional calories)
Hubby's Verdict: I think it killed him for me to cook meat in a pan. He is the king of the grill and he probably could have done it way better. He ate all of his but I think he was really hungry. He did really like the salsa.
My Verdict: It was okay. It was good and I will eat the leftovers but hubby could have done the meat better. The salsa was pretty awesome. I will make that again and perhaps eat the leftover with the red cabbage and some grilled chicken as nachos tomorrow.
Hope you all are eating and feeling well. I am exhausted from the weekend. Glad I am off tomorrow. I am off to read some blogs!

9 comments:

Lori Lynn said...

I love cucumber's, so I may have to try that recipe!

Christine said...

well heck, grilling the meat would keep it pretty low cal and probably up the taste factor.
I would do it that way next time.
That looks good to me.

Linda Pressman said...

I am totally addicted to those tortillas even though they cost so much more than regular ones! My husband's always making fun of me because when I use my points calculator they come out to zero and he says, "You're eating something. It can't be zero!" Of course, that's true.

Miz said...

are you married to my husband?
Im not sure he could handle the pan'age either.
he'd have to fire up the gas grill and pretend.

Mrs. S. said...

I have this cookbook and have eaten this one. I think its a nice fresh change, but definitely better in summer.

Julia said...

Wow, this is great!

I have been eying up these "choppers' and wondered if they really work. I guess they do!

I am hoping to make my own salsa soon. :)

Mmmm. . . tacos!

Julia
http://jewliagoulia.blogspot.com

Alison said...

Love that cookbook, and surprisingly the cinnamon is good, it makes a nice savoury spice as well as sweet.
Call me crazy but rain or snow I will grill a piece of meat like that, living in Seattle it's usually rain but I have done it in the snow :P Your cucumber salsa looks really good. My favourite go to recipe in that cookbook is the sloppy joes, 5 points, hearty and soooo yummy (from scratch!)

M said...

OMG! This looks double yummy! Ill die if you say you can make pico de gallo!

wildfluffysheep said...

i think it looks well yummy!