Skirt Steak With Pepitas Sauce and Warm Tortillas

Today's recipe is from the May issue of Real Simple

Makes 4 servings

Hands-on Time: 0hr 20m

This recipe is: Quick & Easy

Ingredients

• 1 1/2   pounds skirt steak
• kosher salt and black pepper
• 8  6-inch flour tortillas
• 1/2  red onion, finely chopped
• 1/2  cup   fresh cilantro
• 1/4  cup   pepitas
• 2   tablespoons   extra-virgin olive oil
• 2   tablespoons   fresh lime juice

Directions

1. Heat broiler. Season the steak with 1/2 teaspoon each salt and pepper and place on a rimmed broilerproof baking sheet. Broil to the desired doneness, 3 to 4 minutes per side for medium-rare. Let rest at least 5 minutes before slicing.
2. Warm the tortillas according to the package directions.
3. Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, combine the onion, cilantro, pepitas, oil, lime juice, and 1/4 teaspoon each salt and pepper. Serve with the steak and tortillas.

Nutrition Per Serving

Calories   622 ;   Calories From Fat   46% ;   Protein   46g ;   Carbohydrate   37g ;   Sugar   2g ;   Fiber   3g ;   Fat   32g ;   Sat Fat   9g ;   Calcium   111mg ;   Iron   8mg ;   Sodium   965mg ;   Cholesterol   97mg

Real Simple, May 2009

Mom's Night Out: Cake Class

My Mother's Day present...very exciting. Chocolate cake...it's been a long time. (I'm excited to try to make bread from scratch this week too)

Here's my cake after a lot of frosting :-) I know the little boards underneath aren't cute...but you've got to use something to transfer it around.  Here it's sitting on the turn table....quite handy when you're decorating.

In Class tonight we worked on lettering, stars and dots....which all sounds simple enough but it makes your hand hurt like no other. I choose to do the stars on the edge of the cake which looks more like a flower border when you stick them close together. I chose to work with the same color frosting so that I might minize the look of any errors!

Okay - so my lettering is not that great....but practice makes perfect.  It's a lot more difficult off the practice card when you can't trace the letters and are free-handing!

Sooooooo I've only had 1 major blunder so far and I thought you'd appreciate this:

For the frosting instead of buying regular cubed vegetable flavor I bought cubed butter flavor...doesn't that sound more reasonable? (At least it does in this non-cook's head) Granted I didn't have the sheet right in front of me AND there are all those mystery ingredients including flavoring options, vanilla, butter, etc. Needless to say my pale yellow cake stood out in class. I did end up cutting the butter flavor with vanilla flavoring and I think it's pretty good! A happy accident at least this time around.

Mom's Night Out: Perhaps I'm meant to bake out of a box...

So I went to my first cake decorating class last night and it was, well, a bit overwhelming.  I don't think it helped that it was the longest I'd ever left CC (3 hours) which wouldn't be bad if he a) took a bottle or b) didn't nurse before bed time.  The instructor, who has been teaching for 3+ years seems friendly enough but also was putting out the "stressed vibe" and that was hard to not pick up on.  I also didn't know what to expect as far as homework:

Next Week:

Bake your cake, fill and frost it (all from scratch she says or what will you be learning? RIGHT)

3 different batches of frosting (stiff, med, thin)

20 parchment frosting cones

and organize, bring in all products.

Ummmm what? I think I might need a class where I just show up and make pretty frosting flowers.  She did say that she had one student go to safeway before classes and buy a cake and scrape off the frosting.... Hmmmm :-)

When she was making the frosting she was very meticulous and talked about working without distractions because otherwise your designs will melt. She has 3 kids and tells them they aren't allowed in the kitchen while she preps...I think I'll try that. No CC, you're not allowed in here! Mom is busy....concentrating. Plus I had no idea the mysterious products it takes to make this stuff from scratch...see below... + meringe powder which they were out of. I'm trying just to buy the basics and hopefully if I continue this quest I'll buy more in the future if I need it. I just have to get that meringe stuff and some cake cardboard base thingys for next class.  Trying to keep it budget friendly, no fun fancy tool caddys or cake caddys or fabulous mixers (that I've wanted forever but still) for me. Hopefully my girlfriend Erin will buy her mixer and her mom and I will be able to use it too.  

Yes, Erin and her mom Millie (who I lived with for 6 months in college) are both taking the class thank god...otherwise I think I might have left crying.

Did I mention that they only had course books in Spanish? It might as well be in German for as much as my conversational Spanish helps me in this bad boy....
Shouldn't be a problem you said? Maybe you could translate these instructions for me!

I thought a good goal would be a cake for Charlie's baptism in a couple of weeks...but now I'm thinking his Sept. birthday is a better goal....we're only having immediate family anyway :-)

Our Weekend

Well... I'm glad that the weather hasn't been as bad as the forecast (at least so far, hold up weather, I still have to go to costco!)

Yesterday we celebrated 8 months with CC and went out to breakfast. Why is it that any breakfast that I didn't cook tastes 4x better? Mmmm....I think I want breakfast for lunch again.  We then took a couple of laps downtown to explore the art festival where local artists bring their wares to sell on the sidewalk.  I love these little "festivals" especially when I can explore what other photographers are doing. I picked up a couple of cards and when I get some time to myself I'm planning to check out their websites.

The little man is doing well though it's getting tougher to go out as he wants to crawl/explore all over.  I finally got smart and bought some BPA free tupperware so I can pre-pack rice cereal and a puree, bib, etc (spoon stays in the little sassy tupperware, love it!) so that I don't have to scramble when we are ready to leave.  Ahhh the baby scramble... it's impossible to remember everything EVERY time unless it's pre packed.  (That's also why I leave the cheater bag in the care, extra diapers, wipes, blanket and extra onesie and sweatpants) :-)

Better sign off before the little man wakes up and I've got nothing done! (besides blogging!)

Rain, Rain, Go Away...

I know we need the rain and no, I have not forgotten my farm town roots, but I can't help it, I loathe the rain.  I loathe the rain even more with a baby in tow as I either stay inside all day or take tremendous care to bundle him accordingly so that no tiny drops reach his tiny limbs.  I am longing for the promise of late spring - the warmth - the freedom.  Lately, what has constituted a good day has been getting out for a hike or extended walk, especially on the weekend.  Fresh Air/Free/Exercise/Entertainment/Discover new places... can't beat that.  Looks like this weekend might be super crap....arrrg.

Overall CC is doing well - he's more mobile every day and is now consistently pulling himself up on his knees and a few times lately to his feet. He's eating  lots of solid purees with little fuss and is learning to express himself in new grunts/octaves all the time :-) Still no teeth, but that's okay with me.

We're celebrating 8 months tomorrow.

This Week so far...

This week we've had a bit more on the social calendar than usual...

Tuesday CC and I met my cousin and her little girl at the SF Academy of Sciences. LOVED, LOVED seeing my favorite fellow mom and exploring new ideas/animals/architecture.  As I was rushing to get out the door I forgot my camera and my jacket so needless to say I was bummed and cold (at least while outside).

A couple of my favorite things were the penguin feeding where afterwards the kiddos really responded to the penguins swimming right up to their noses, the crazy looking albino alligator, and the nightlight fish (their eyes light up like fireflies in the depths of the ocean....also where Charlie fell asleep, no coincidence I'm sure!)

The 4 Story Rain Forest exhibit is pretty cool too and hello - is hot and humid like the real thing! I loved watching a butterfly land right on Charlie and seeing him just look down like it was no big thang.

Watch the penguins live here on their penguin cam

Yesterday I went back to the high school where I taught after almost a year. I did get nervous about any possible confrontations with a range of characters but it went off without a hitch. I was glad to visit and I knew in my heart I was over the teaching tangle because it no longer felt like "my work"...just a place I used to know....my girlfriends' work. I was surprising unemotional and even caught a glimpse in passing of my old room which looks completely different. (Of course it wouldn't be as cute/cool as the way I arranged it!) It wasn't until my girlfriend and I went downtown and ran into a former student that my heart felt a big surge. She was a student in turmoil, talented but extremely insecure, rocky home and heartbroken. Her life has turned around, she just got accepted to the school paper and I was so proud that I couldn't help the tears. I'm proud of the work I used to do and the relationships I built but my life is headed in a new direction and I feel good about it.

Mom Time

Mom Time - It's difficult to find when your baby is still breastfeeding...I swear the next one will take a bottle....arrrrg. Yesterday I got out for lunch with my girlfriend Erin and it's amazing what a little time out can do for you...especially when you indulge in a yummy margarita :-)  We had so much fun and I was gone for 2 hours without a peep from the boys which is the longest I've been out without them. I got home to find CC asleep - but not as I had left him. He had woken up from his nap (too early) Jose had fed him in his high chair and put him back to sleep without having to call me....talk about sexy :-) LOL

I'm signing up for a new cake decorating class in May and I'm hoping it will be a good "regular" night out for me in the evenings. I'll post pics of the products - whether they be rookie masterpieces or disasters. Lord knows I can't cook but I can sort of bake :-) My cousins have been doing this for awhile so they would whoop my bootie.