Steak

Whether your family craves Italian, Tex-Mex, or Asian food tonight, this simple standby with its triple combination of meat and seafood and its choice of marinades will come to your rescue.

This recipe is a great one to make on a Sunday night. Not only will you have a great dinner, you’ll have leftovers (unless, of course, you have a large family, in which case I suggest you make two at the same time) to slice thinly for use as deli meat or to cube for use in salads. It’ll have a lot less sodium and less processing than most deli meats you’d buy at your grocery store, and it’s much less expensive. Though I always love the flavor an outdoor grill provides, as a second option, this dish can be prepared under a broiler for 4 to 5 minutes per side for medium-rare, or longer until desired doneness is reached.

This London broil really couldn’t be easier, especially if you buy the meat already trimmed. If your grocery store sells it with a big layer of fat, save time by asking the butcher to trim it for you while you shop. They don’t charge for this service at most major grocery stores (though they don’t decrease the price to reflect the new weight, either). Though I always love the flavor an outdoor grill provides, as a second option, this dish can be prepared under a broiler for 4 to 5 minutes per side for medium-rare, or until the desired doneness is reached.

Gina: This is Pat’s “feel like a king” dish, and if you are married to a meat-and-potatoes man like I am, this dish will make him feel—you guessed it, girl—like a king. The secret to this sauce is two ingredients: bacon and beer. There isn’t a man anywhere in Memphis who would turn up his nose at a steak lacquered with both of those. We like to serve this steak sliced on the diagonal, with plenty of extra sauce on the side. When Pat takes a bite of this and gives me one of his sly winks, honey, I know it’s a slam dunk!

Chinese food has always been a favorite of mine—and apparently of just about everyone else in America. Even in the smallest towns, there is almost always a Chinese restaurant. The balance of sweet/sour/spicy flavors—and the fact that it’s already cut up into easy-to-eat bite-size pieces—might be part of it. Making restaurant-style Chinese food healthy means getting rid of the sugar first, and then the fat. Using a large nonstick pan over high heat reduces the fat. A good low-fat, sugar-free Asian stir-fry sauce does the rest.

If you are looking to save a few bucks and a little time, you can buy 2 pounds of pepper steak strips and cut that into bite-size pieces. The beef won’t be quite as tender but the flavor will be great.

A Cobb salad is usually a big mound of lettuce topped with strips of chopped chicken, bacon, avocado, tomatoes, hard-boiled egg, and blue cheese. I love it, but I’ve noticed that once I mix it up and start eating, my fork is busy fishing around the lettuce trying to catch all the chicken and bacon. So, I decided to hold the lettuce. I did, however, add some watercress, but that’s for its great peppery flavor!

Thai-style food made with ingredients available in any grocery store. If you’re not into beef, try it with pork or chicken, instead.