Thai-doctored ramen noodles, steak salad, spicy fruit salad

Tonight I was feeling like a "carbo load" so I went to Food City and bought some packages of chicken top ramen (5/$1.00), some carrots and cilantro. I cut a carrot on the bias in long pieces and added it to a soup pan with boiling water and then added a handful of water chestnuts. They've been in my pantry for awhile, hopefully they're still okay. I'm of the opinion that canned foods last quite awhile, but these may have been pushing it. We'll see. I digress. To the boiling water I added a "brick" of ramen from the package and let it boil for 3 minutes. I added 1/3 of the seasoning packet, since it is way too salty for this kitchen wench. Then I added 3 dried basil leaves (thank you Aunt Char), some cilantro leaves and a dash of pico de gallo (sazonador) which is a chili powder. You will find it in the produce section at Food City.

This soup turned out really good. It could have used some protein. I have a skirt steak in the fridge so I might pan fry it tomorrow, make another batch of Thai-doctored ramen and add a few pieces.

This week I'm also going to make a steak salad with the same skirt steak (it is about 3/4 of a pound so it should feed me 3 times). I use romaine lettuce, dried cranberries, whole almonds (or sliced when I have them) and make a red wine vinaigrette with Trader Joe's California Estate Olive oil and dijon mustard to make it all come together. I like my skirt steak medium rare and I usually let it rest 5 minutes before slicing it on the bias so the juices don't run out all over my cutting board. This way the meat stays juicy.

Also I bough some fruit tonight at the market, Food City had good looking pears, mangoes and bananas. Sometimes I like to put all of these fruits together along with a splash of lime juice and then put chili powder on top. Cucumber is good on this too. I know, sounds weird, but you have got to try this summer fruit salad. It's a little spicy, juicy and delicious!

Happy Eating.