You Can't Have Any Pudding If You Don't Eat Your Meat....and Greens!

Hi, y'all! My name is Erin, and I am Carrie's college friend. We traveled the world together in 1996 and ate up all the food the world had to offer. Now we are both working stiffs, and despite my southern roots, I have settled far away from the land of Memphis in the very cold town of Chicago, Illinois. My husband, Dave, and I have a very busy lifestyle (we usually don't get home until 8 or 9 at night), so we have to make food that is healthy, quick and most importantly--TASTLICIOUS.

Lately, we have been doing what my aunt calls a "Big Salad" once a week. Last week, I did one of our favorites: Sizzlin' Steak Salad with Gorgonzola and Walnuts. This is an easy one that I replicated from various Chi-town eateries, and I love it because you can choose what meat/cheese/veg you want to use. It's personalized eating at its best.

The first step is to pick a nice lean cut of meat and an abundance of your choice of salad veg. We like flank steak, but you could use really anything you want. For seasoning, I slather the beef slab in olive oil (ala Carrie's Caribbean Pork Loin) then we rub it all over with salt and pepper and/or one of our favorite meat seasonings, Jim Baldridge's. Now, Jim Baldridge (as you can see from this photo and his ten gallon hat) is truly a man's man so you KNOW he is gonna make a mean batch 'o meat!

Next, I browned the meat on the stove top (for approximately 1-3 minutes each side, depending on thickness) in a pan that can also go in the oven.

After the browning, I popped the sizzling concoction in the oven on 380 degrees until the meat got to the desired doneness. We like our steak medium, so we left it in for 15 minutes or so.

My dad gave me this recipe for meat, and we use it all the time for all manner of meat because it sears in the flavor on the stove and then cooks the inside in the oven without losing all the tasty beef juices or blackening the outside of the meat.

For the salad, D and I like very different things so we each made our own. Mine had greens, broccoli, shallots, and yellow bell pepper (see below); his consisted of greens and raisins. And of course both had the tasty gorgonzola and walnuts (toasted in the oven or toaster oven for 5 minutes or so). For dressing, Newman's Own Light Balsamic Vinagrette is especially good with this meat/cheese combo. The result was a pretty and tasty meal for both of us!!

We watched: The Up Series documentary (one of the best of all time--so check it before you wreck it!)

We drank: Beer. Lots of it.

For "Pudding": We layered an 8 ounce glass with light Cool-Whip, Reduced Fat 'Nilla Wafers, banana slices and Sugar Free Jello Vanilla Puddin'.