Thai Beef Salad

Thai Beef Salad is one of our favorite salads! Definitely a treat in our house, because sadly, the girls won't/can't eat it because it is too spicy. But, as far as salads go, the flavor in this salad is truly outstanding! I know some people can't get with the idea of using fish sauce in a recipe. And I'll admit, it takes some getting used to. But, if you want that "authentic" flavor, you must use fish sauce. Otherwise, you are missing out!

I'm not sure what made me go searching for a beef salad, but I'm glad I found this recipe. I adapted this Thai Beef Salad recipe from Martha Stewart's website. Here's the original if you are interested. My version is below! Enjoy!

THAI BEEF SALAD

Dressing:
6 tablespoons fresh lime juice (about 3 limes)
2 1/2 tablespoons Thai fish sauce
1 fresh serrano pepper, seeded and finely chopped
1 teaspoon sugar
Handful of cilantro, stems removed, finely chopped

Salad:
4 scallions, thinly sliced on the diagonal
1/2 med red onion, thinly sliced into rings
1/2 cucumber, peeled, thinly sliced
5 cups mixed salad greens (or fresh spinach)

Steak:
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon sesame oil (optional - if you don't have sesame oil, just use 2 tbsp of olive oil)
1 boneless sirloin steak (1 1/2 pounds)
1/2 teaspoon coarse kosher salt
Freshly ground pepper

Topping:
1/2 cup peanuts, coarsely chopped

Directions:
Prepare salad dressing, set aside. Prepare salad ingredients - greens, cucumber, green onions and red onions - place in salad bowl and toss.

Heat oil in non-stick skillet. Season steak with freshly ground pepper and coarse salt and pan fry in skillet until desired doneness. (I like ours medium.) Remove steak from pan, and let rest for 5 minutes. This ensures that the steak juices remain in the meat, rather than on the plate when you slice it up. When cooled, slice the steak into thin bite sized slices.

Top salad with sliced meat, peanuts and dressing.

Long Lost Friends

At Kyla's soccer game on Saturday, she was pushed down by a little boy on the other team. Immediately, the little boy went over the Kyla, helped her up off the ground and asked her if she was okay.

Turns out, that little boy was a former teammate from last year and he even remembered her first name. His name is Alexander.


During half-time I noticed the two of them talking and I couldn't resist snapping a few pictures of them as they caught up with one another... Wonder what they were talking about?

Thank you Alexander for being such a gentleman on the field!

Stuff heard 'round the house!

Yesterday, I was talking to Randy about how I thought Kyla had a very dynamic personality and how I've noticed how other kids are drawn to her.

During that conversation, Elisan asked "what does dynamic personality mean?" And in our reply to her we said that Kyla had a lot of friends and that all of the kids liked her, etc., and Elisan said, "Yeah! She's cute, smart and has a good vocabulary."

Randy and I both chuckled and then he said, "Yes, because a good vocabulary is important to most people."

Make this salad!

This salad is so yummy! A great combination of flavors too!

Citrus Salad with Bacon & Red Onion
(from the Kraft Food & Family Magazine)

• 8 cups mixed greens (for those who shop at HEB... I buy the bulk salad greens rather than buy the pre-packaged greens. Much cheaper too!)
• 1 orange, peeled, sliced into bite-sized pieces
• 1/3 cup of dried cranberries (I got mine on the bulk bin aisle at HEB -bought what I needed, rather than an entire package on the dried fruit aisle)
• 1/3 cup red onion rings, thinly sliced
• 3 slices cooked crispy bacon, crumbled
• Balsamic Vinegarette (the recipe called for Kraft dressing, but I made my own version at home)

The Golden Apple

This Texas girl tries her very first Honeycrisp Apple.
Some things are better demonstrated than wrote about.

(p.s.) I just got dissed by my friend for making a video about trying an apple.

Eeek!

37 scares me...

Transformation nearly complete!

About 3 - 4 years ago, I made the terrible mistake of painting Elisan's bedroom Barbie pink. What looked like a nice muted pale pink on the paint strip was actually the worst color known to man. And, ask anyone... my favorite color is pink and even I HATED it! But, because I refused to re-paint a perfectly painted room again, I kept the putrid pink in E's room for way too long.



Mix in the fact that Elisan had mix-matched furniture... well, her room looked like the Clampett's had moved in.

I had finally had enough and I decided to begin scouring Craigslist for used bedroom furniture. But, after many, many weeks of not finding what I wanted I began to lose hope. Until one miraculous day I walked into the Salvation Army and there it was. A bedroom set fit for an 8 year old.

The furniture set came with an amoire, desk and nightstand. It is Lexington brand and is solid wood. It is in nearly perfect condition. I am not afraid to say either that we paid less than $300.00 for all of it. All I needed to do now was paint E's room.

Elisan picked the color she wanted... and I went one shade lighter. I knew better than to go brighter, since the pink that was in her room was very bright. I must say, the color looks phenomenal too! I am very pleased with this color and it reminds me of "Tiffany" blue.

I have some more decor projects I am working on and hopefully I will be sharing those soon. I'll also be on the lookout for a desk chair. In addition, I'm contemplating what to do about a headboard. I'm thinking of upholstering a headboard with a nice coordinating fabric, but I haven't decided yet.

But, until then, here's Elisan's room as it looks today.