Getting ready for Denver and a very good main meal salad recipe

 Some pretty wildflowers that I forgot the name of.  Sorry, Al.  Notice the bee!

We leave tomorrow for Bob's first week of radiation treatment.  It is such a beautiful day out today I hate to be spending it inside cleaning and doing laundry, packing and getting food ready to go!  I have to get a lot more humming bird feeders going too!  They will need 5 days worth of drink or else have to depend on the wild flowers which are still real abundant up here.  I have gathered up a lot of unread magazines, my knitting (a pair of really cool socks that have a real tricky pattern so it takes a lot of time to do a round), my Kindle with a lot of unread books on it, my swimming suit, my computer and my walking shoes.  I'm hoping that will be enough stuff to keep me entertained for the week!

Of course I'll have to check out the hotel's free shuttle service at least once to get downtown to the 17th street mall!  I'll be spending some time lining up other free entertainment and maybe even a Rockies game or two for both of us to do if Bob feels OK during the 7 weeks we will be there.  This first week will be the trial run for us and then we will know a lot better what we can or can't do!  I expect I will be spending most of my time this week by the pool.  I hope the hot spell of 90+ degree weather will end before tomorrow.  But then, I do like hot weather and I sure can use some exercise in the pool!

Today's recipe is a really easy but excellent tasting one that I got off of atkins.com/recipes.  It is called Grilled Steak Over Salad and is delicious on a hot summer evening.  I have had to adjust it a little due to the unavailability of some ingredients.  I will give the true recipe and just tell you what I did differently.  Although it is an Atkins recipe, it is really good for everyone!

GRILLED STEAK OVER SALAD

Ingredients:

Steak:

 4 rib eye steaks (about 8-10 ounces each)  I used what I had and not that much each for us.  I think I used 1 big T-bone.

3 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil

 2 Tbsp. lemon zest (2 lemons)

1 tsp. garlic, chopped

1 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. freshly ground pepper

Salad:

3 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil 

2 Tbsp. Dijon mustard

2 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice (1 lemon)

Salt and freshly ground pepper

5 cups mesclun salad mix ( made my own with what I had or you could get what ever mix you like best)

*3/4 Cup fennel root, thinly sliced (I have never found this at any store I've shopped at, but I want to try it sometime!)

*Fennel has a mild licorice flavor.  It is crisp and refreshing when raw, and mild and sweet when cooked.  If you cannot find fennel substitute thinly sliced celery if you wish (or not--I don't).

Directions:

1.  In a small bowl, combine oil, zest, garlic, salt and pepper.  Rub over steaks and marinate for as long as possible 12-24 hours ( I've done it for maybe 4 hours at times and it is still good)

2.  Prepare grill or heat broiler to high.  Grill steaks for 8-10 minutes for rare, 12-14 minutes for medium doneness turning once.

3.  While steaks are grilling, combine mustard and lemon juice in a large bowl.  Whisk in oil and season to taste with salt and pepper.  Add greens and fennel and toss to coat.

4.  Slice steaks across grain.  Divide salad onto 4 plates and top with steak slices.

Enjoy with homemade cheese biscuits (well, from Bisquick box) or Crispy Breadsticks (see my recipe below).

Crispy Breadsticks

Ingredients:

1 Cup Bisquick or other baking mix

1/4 cup cornmeal or all purpose flour (I like the cornmeal)

1/4 tsp. salt 

About 1/4 Cup milk or water ( I had to add about 1 more Tablespoon to the dough because it was too crumbly)

Sesame or poppy seeds if desired

Directions:

1.  Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Lightly grease a baking sheet.

2.  In a medium bowl combine baking mix, cornmeal or flour, and salt.  Add milk or water to form a dough.  Knead about 12 times, until dough is smooth.

3.  Divide dough into 6 balls. Shape into pencil-like strands about 1/2 inch diameter and about 8-10 inches long.  Roll in sesame or poppy seeds if desired.  I think brushing with garlic butter would be good too.  

4.  Bake about 20 minutes until brown and crisp.  For extra crispness turn off oven and leave breadsticks in oven 5-10 minutes longer.  Makes 6 breadsticks.  I would double that recipe because I LOVE them!

 Fresh out of the oven.  I made them while I was writing this!

I am not giving illustrated steps for these recipes because they are way easy and take less time to make than to do the pictures!  Besides I ran out of steaks so can't make the salad tonight!  So instead I'll put up some pictures I took one day when I went up to the Luck Penny headgate.

Click on the picture to make it bigger.  Hit the back button to come back to the blog.

 The headgate.  I love how the trees are reflected in the pool of water!

 Painted cup

The 4 wheeler up at the headgate. (Right behind the back tire.)

Rambling roses just a little past their prime.

Beaver Creek coming down from the falls just before it comes to the headgate.

 Another nice reflection in the quiet water before the headgate.