This is a sponsored post.

***Be sure to scroll down for the awesome giveaway!***

I was recently approached by The Motherhood for an opportunity to get together with a few local bloggers as part of the “Fabulous Summer of Flavor” challenge and cook a meal together using Lawry’s products. Unfortunately, as is the life of busy moms and bloggers, we were unable to find a date that worked for all of us. So, we did the next best thing and had ourselves a virtual potluck. That’s the beauty of social media and blogging; we can get together without actually getting together!

Our challenge was to collectively create a meal that fit the theme of “On the Go” and included the following Lawry’s products: Seasoned Salt, Balsamic Herb Marinade, and Seasoned Salt Marinade. Our Orlando team came up with an appetizer, main entree, and side dish that take about 40 minutes to prepare; not bad for a healthy, easy, and fast meal! Plus, the entree requires only THREE ingredients! After you check out these super simple recipes, be sure to scroll down for the chance to win some Lawry’s products, so that you too can create this quick and easy dinner!

Appetizer: Crostini with white bean spread, arugula and prosciutto

by Leigh of ThemeParkMom.com and me! (ModernMami™.com)
(Makes 20-30 appetizers, depending on size of your baguette)
Prep time: 10 minutes or less

INGREDIENTS
1 baguette, sliced into 1/2-inch thick slices
1 can cannelini beans (or other white bean, such as Great Northern)
2 T. extra virgin olive oil
1/2 tsp. Lawry’s Seasoned Salt
1/4 tsp. black pepper
Baby arugula (about 1/2 cup)
Thinly-sliced prosciutto (about 1/4 pound)

1. Toast your bread slices on both sides. This can be done in an oven, or the Florida summer method, which doesn’t require heating up the oven: Heat a dry skillet over medium high heat. Add bread slices and toast for about 30 seconds per side. Watch closely so they don’t burn.
2.  Make the white bean spread. Drain the liquid from the can of beans. Add to a food processor and puree. Add olive oil, Lawry’s Seasoned Salt and pepper and process until well blended.
3. Assemble the crostini. Spread about 2 tsp. of the bean spread on each baguette. Top with 3-4 pieces of baby arugula and a small slice of the prosciutto.

Main Entree: Balsamic Pineapple Salmon

by Amanda of The Mamma Mia Blog and Angie of A Whole Lot of Nothing
Serves: 4
Prep time: 10 minutes, plus marinade time
Cook time: 30 minutes

INGREDIENTS
(4) 4 oz. salmon fillets
Lawry’s Balsamic Herb Marinade
2 cups pineapple chunks

1. Marinade salmon fillet with Lawry’s Balsamic Herb Marinade (no less than 30 minutes)
2. Place salmon in baking dish
3. Cover salmon with pineapples
4. Bake at 350 degrees for 1/2 hour or until salmon flakes
5. Remove from oven
6. Drizzle with Lawry’s Balsamic Herb Marinade

Side Dish: Sauteed Asparagus

by Jen of The Suburban Mom and Jessica of The Unemployed Mom
Prep & cook time: 7 minutes

INGREDIENTS
Olive Oil
Lemon
Asparagus
Lawry’s Seasoned Salt
Grated Parmesan Cheese

1. Heat olive oil in saute pan (after cleaning asparagus).
2. Place asparagus in pan and then squeeze lemon juice on top.
3. Top with lemon zest and a few dashes of Lawry’s Seasoned Salt.
4. Turn the asparagus while cooking until desired tenderness.
5. Remove from pan then sprinkle fresh parmesan cheese, lemon zest and Lawry’s Seasoned Salt on top prior to serving.

ModernMami™.com Reader Giveaway

Enter for your chance to win a package of the following Lawry’s products: 16 oz Seasoned Salt, Balsamic Herb Marinade, Seasoned Salt Marinade.

How to Enter

Required entry: If you’d like to enter this contest, simply leave a comment below telling us how Lawry’s products can help you create an on-the-go meal.

Extra entries (optional):

Each of the following will count as 1 extra entry. You’ll need to leave a separate comment for each entry.

1. Follow @modernmami on twitter.
2. Tweet the following: Enter to win #lawrys products for your on-the-go meal from @modernmami! http://bit.ly/lawrysdinner #foodie #giveaway #contest #recipes
3. Receive post updates by subscribing to our RSS feed. You can do so either via email or through a RSS reader. Leave a comment saying you did so or are already a subscriber.
4. Subscribe on friendfeed and leave a comment with your friendfeed ID.
5. Like ModernMami™.com on Facebook.
6. Write a blog post on your own blog sharing the details of this contest. Be sure to include a link back to this post. Leave a comment with your post link.

All entries must be in by Monday, August 22, 2011 at 11:59 pm EST. You must be 18 or older and have a valid U.S. address to enter. Remember to leave a separate comment for each entry. The winner will be chosen using Random.org and will be notified via email. (Please be sure to provide a valid email address with your entry.) Winner will have 48 hours to respond and claim prize, otherwise a new winner will be chosen.

Disclosure: I was compensated for participating in this challenge and working with Lawry’s and The Motherhood.

Photo credits: Amanda Keefer, Leigh Caldwell, and Jessica Kirby

Late last year, General Mills launched its first Spanish-language application for the iPad, providing more than 900 Latin-inspired recipes completely in Spanish. The app, Qué Rica Vida Recetario, is free and includes a variety of recipes, from appetizers to desserts. The Qué Rica Vida brand is General Mills’ Hispanic marketing platform, providing a Spanish-language web site and free magazine for consumers. You may remember I mentioned Qué Rica Vida last year after our introduction to the brand and highlighted them as a brand that gets it when it comes to marketing to Latinas and engaging Latina bloggers. Since their launch event in Miami, they have continued to support our digital Latina community and have been both personal sponsors to many bloggers, including myself, as well as conference and event sponsors; they sponsored both the Blogalicious 2010 conference and the ­¡Parranda! party I co-hosted during the conference.

The recipes provided in the app are all in Spanish, but you can find many of the same recipes in English on the Qué Rica Vida web site. What I like about the app is that you can search not just by category, but also by ingredient. The app also provides a conversion tool in case you need to figure out how to go from pounds to ounces or cups, etc. A fun aspect is that you can share each recipe via Facebook directly from the app, which is good for sharing with your friends and especially good for food bloggers to share with their communities. I’ve been playing around with the app for a few months now and wanted to share with you a few recipes that are quick and easy to make. This is important to me, because though I enjoy cooking, I don’t necessarily want to be in the kitchen for hours cooking just one meal. I grew up eating rice nearly every day, but I equally love pasta dishes. It helps that I find pasta dishes are just as easy and fast to cook as rice.

The following are a few pasta recipes from the Qué Rica Vida Recetario app that will give you a break from the traditional spaghetti meal. For the English versions, just click on each recipe’s name and choose to view it in English.

Espagueti con Pollo en Salsa de Chile Poblano (Spaghetti and Chicken in Poblano Sauce)

Ingredientes:

Modo de preparación:

Pasta Ramen con Carne y Verduras (Ramen Stir Fry)

Ingredientes:

Modo de preparación:

Fideos con Chipotle (Vermicelli with Chipotle Sauce)

Ingredientes:

Modo de preparación:

Do you have staple dishes that you often cook because they are quick to make?

Disclosure: Qué Rica Vida sponsored me to attend the Blogalicious 2010 conference.

All recipes courtesy of General Mills/Qué Rica Vida. © 2011 ®/™ General Mills

This is a sponsored post.

When I think of tasty food, I immediately think of the Puerto Rican food I grew up eating. It equals comfort food for me. Of course, I eat other types of food as well, but the food from Puerto Rico that I know and love is first on my list. It’s also the food I know how to cook without needing a recipe. I have my mom to thank for teaching me; thanks mami!

A favorite meal of mine is carne guisada (or carne guisa as we Puerto Ricans sometimes say). It’s basically a beef stew, with different flavors than the American beef stew known to most. Puerto Rican carne guisada is normally served with white rice and is definitely a meal that hits home. The great thing about this meal is that it is inexpensive. Even when adding beans and plantains as I did, you still get a meal with a cost per serving of about $1.90!

Luckily, here in Orlando (as I’m sure is the case in other cities with a high population of Caribbean folks) I’m able to find all the ingredients I need at my local Walmart. This is convenient for me since I can do all of my grocery and household shopping in one stop, without the need for special stops at the local bodega, as my mom used to do when we first moved here.

I’m going to share with you the recipe for each item in the meal I cooked: carne guisada, white rice, red beans, amarillos/platanos maduros (fried ripe plantains), and tostones (fried green plantains). Both the carne guisada and the red beans use sofrito as a base. To see pictures and links for the basic ingredients used in Puerto Rican sofrito, click on over and read 5 Must-Have Ingredients for Cooking Puerto Rican Food. As with previous recipes I’ve posted, I apologize for the lack in detail with the ingredients and the steps, but it is true to how I and everyone in my family cooks. We do not measure and just go along pouring items into the pot.

Puerto Rican Carne Guisada/Guisa (Beef Stew)

Ingredients:

• Beef stew meat
• Adobo
• Meat Tenderizer
• Cooking Oil
• Sazón
• Tomato Sauce
• Tomato Paste
• Sofrito or Recaito
• Olives (use the Spanish salad olives with pimientos)
• 4 medium potatoes, peeled and cubed
• 4 medium carrots, peeled and sliced or cubed

Steps:

1. Clean the stew meat and cut, if necessary, into smaller chunks. Add the meat to a large pot along with enough water to completely cover the meat. Season the mix with adobo and meat tenderizer. Cook uncovered on low-medium heat for about 40 minutes or until the meat is tender, stirring occasionally.
2. Add a serving-spoon’s worth of cooking oil. Not a tablespoon, but the bigger spoon one uses to stir a pot.
3. Add 1 packet of sazón.
4. Add 2 tablespoons of tomato sauce.
5. Add 1 tablespoon of tomato paste.
6. Add 1 tablespoon of sofrito or recaito.
7. Add 5-6 olives with a teaspoon of the vinegar from the olives.
8. Add potatoes and carrots.
9. Cover and cook on medium heat for about 20-25 minutes until the potatoes and carrots are tender. Stir occasionally.
10. Raise heat to medium-high for about 10 minutes to let the sauce thicken a bit, again stirring occasionally.

Arroz Blanco (White Rice) in a Rice Cooker

Ingredients:

• Rice (about 1 handful per person) – Note that this is plain, non-instant white rice.
• Cooking Oil
• Salt

Steps:

1. Put rice into your rice cooker’s pot and clean the rice. If you’re not familiar with how to clean rice, it just means that you run it under water a couple of times and pick out the dark grains, pebbles, etc. To do this:
   • Fill pot with water and press rice with your hands.
   • Pick out anything that’s not a rice grain.
   • Pour out water, being careful not to lose any of the rice.
   • Repeat a few times until water pours out clear.
2. Add water to the pot until the water sits just above the rice. (I’ve heard that normally it is a 2-1 ratio: for every cup of rice, you add 2 cups of water. I’ve never cooked it this way, as I don’t measure when I cook.)
3. Add a serving-spoon’s worth of cooking oil. Not a tablespoon, but the bigger spoon one uses to stir a pot.
4. Season with salt.
5. Stir.
6. Taste the water. If you feel it needs more seasoning, you can add a little more salt to your liking.
7. Cover and set the rice cooker to cook.

There will be no need to stir the rice while it cooks, though you certainly can do so once about mid-way through. Your arroz should be done in about 30 minutes or so. You will know it’s done when you taste the rice and it’s neither mushy nor tough.

Habichuelas Rojas (Stewed Red Beans)

Ingredients:

• 1 can of red kidney beans
• Cooking Oil
• Sazón
• Tomato Sauce
• Tomato Paste
• Sofrito or Recaito
• Olives (use the Spanish salad olives with pimientos)

Steps:

1. Drain and rinse beans from the can and pour into a medium saucepan.
2. Using the same bean can, fill to top and add to saucepan.
3. Add ½ a serving-spoon’s worth of cooking oil. Not a tablespoon, but the bigger spoon one uses to stir a pot.
4. Add 1 packet of sazón.
5. Add 2 tablespoons of tomato sauce.
6. Add 1 tablespoon of tomato paste.
7. Add 1 tablespoon of sofrito or recaito.
8. Add 5-6 olives with a teaspoon of the vinegar from the olives.
9. Cover and bring to a boil.
10. Once boiling, reduce heat to low-medium and simmer for about 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
11. Sauce should thicken a bit while cooking.

Amarillos/Platanos Maduros (Fried Ripe Plantains)

You can make amarillos, or maduros as other cultures call them, one of two ways. You can buy ripe plantains, peel, cut, and fry them yourself. Or, you can take a shortcut by buying them already peeled and cut in the frozen section. I’ve done both and normally prefer to buy fresh plantains, but opted for the shortcut version this time around. It really is as simple as opening the packet and either deep or pan-frying them in vegetable oil. A modern twist is to bake them in the oven, if you wish.

Tostones (Fried Green Plantains)

Similar to the amarillos, you can either make tostones from fresh green plantains or buy them frozen. I used to make tostones fresh, but with the busy lifestyle we lead, buying them frozen saves a lot of time.

To make them fresh:

• Peel the green plantain.
• Cut into thick slices.
• Soak the slices in salted water.
• Fry the slices until half-done. Deep frying works great, but you can also pan-fry them.
• Remove from oil and press into a flat circle. You can use a tostonera if you have one, or you can use the bottom of a bowl.
• Re-fry the tostones until golden brown.
• Remove from oil and place on paper towels to absorb the oil. Sprinkle salt on top for seasoning.

To cook frozen tostones:

• Open the packet and either deep-fry or pan-fry in vegetable oil.
• Remove from oil and place on paper towels to absorb the oil. Sprinkle salt on top for seasoning.

If you try this meal with your family, I would love to hear how you/they liked it! What are some favorite meals in your home?

Disclosure:  As a member of the Walmart Moms program, I was compensated for this post. As always, all opinions are my own.

Eggs are a great way to get dinner on the table quickly. They’re fast to cook, inexpensive, and a good way to feed a hungry bunch.

Tortilla Española is the Spanish version of an egg and potato omelette. Despite its name, the only similarity to corn and flour tortillas is its circular shape. Tortilla Española can be eaten as a dinner, or smaller pieces can be served as “tapas” (snacks).

Francisca y Antonio, circa 1920s

My grandmother Francisca from Spain cooked this dish often. My mother remembers:

My mom used a chunk of ‘unto’ with a fork stuck in to grease the pan . There were 7 to feed and not mucho dinero, but we always ate till we were full–no one ever went hungry. My mother must have been a good money manager.  I remember grandpa making $25 a week forever!

My mom, one of the hungry 7, learned how to cook this and passed the recipe down to me.  This recipe is relatively fast but you’ll need some cooking time for the potatoes.  Some modern tips to speed things up: chop the onions and potatoes the night before, and keep the potatoes submerged in cold water in the fridge, then drain before cooking.  You can also cook the entire tortilla ahead of time and it will heat up nicely in the microwave.

Tortilla Española is typically thick – I prefer to keep mine thin so I use a larger pan.  You can control the thickness by the size of the pan – the smaller the pan, the thicker it will be.

Francisca’s Tortilla Española Recipe (Spanish Egg and Potato Omelette)

Ingredients

• 4 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1 onion, thinly chopped
• 3 potatoes, peeled, thinly sliced, and halved
• 4 to 6 eggs
• Sea salt to taste

Directions

• Use a good pan that won’t stick
• You’ll need a plate that is bigger than the pan to do the “flipping”
• Heat  olive oil
• Add 1 large onion chopped. Cook on medium/high until translucent.
• Add sliced/halved potatoes
• Cook potatoes until tender but not falling apart
• Beat 4-6 eggs and add sea salt
• Pour eggs over cooked potatoes
• Cover and cook slowly for 5-10 minutes until set
• Flip over with spatula OR use the better method —> Cover pan completely with a large plate. Turn pan upside down so eggs are on plate. Slide eggs back into pan. Try to not break the omelette
• Brown other side

Does your family have any recipes that have been passed down from one generation to another?

All photos courtesy of Micaela Vega.

I am very fond of rice. Fond doesn’t even cover it. I’m actually quite in love with rice. You ask me what the ultimate comfort food is and I’ll quickly tell you rice and beans. I grew up eating rice on a daily basis, practically. There were days my mami made vegetables (of the root kind) instead of rice. Or days she made spaghetti (though, even then she served it with white rice on the side, but that’s another story). But, overall, most days out of my childhood were spent eating rice for dinner. I’m sure if you ask most Puerto Ricans, they too will tell you that they have a special place in their hearts for arroz y habichuelas.

Rice can be served in so many different ways. You can have white rice alone, white rice with a variety of beans (served on top of the rice, not on the side), and yellow rice. Yellow rice is when you really get a variety since you can add just about anything into yellow rice: beans, vegetables, meat, etc. But, perhaps the most well-known Puerto Rican rice is arroz con gandules (rice with pigeon peas). Traditionally served for Noche Buena, arroz con gandules is also a big hit for a family get-together or just for your everyday weeknight dinner. (Side note: In Trinidad, where my husband is from, they call it Rice and Peas. I’m lucky he loves it as much as I do.)

Being a busy working mom with not as much time to dedicate to cooking, I’m known for cooking Puerto Rican food in non-traditional ways and using shortcuts. See my post on planning a weekly dinner menu – using shortcuts. My number one favorite appliance in my house is my rice cooker. I must kiss the person who invented a rice cooker. It cooks my Puerto Rican rice just the same as my mom’s iron pot – well almost the same – unfortunately, it doesn’t make any pegao. But, otherwise, it tastes the same and requires a lot less maintenance to cook.

Photo by yasmapaz & ace_heart

How to Make Puerto Rican Arroz con Gandules in a Rice Cooker (Rice with Pigeon Peas)

Ingredients:

• Rice (about 1 handful per person) – Note that this is plain, non-instant white rice.
• Cooking Oil
• Sazón
• Tomato Sauce
• Tomato Paste
• Sofrito or Recaito
• Olives (use the Spanish salad olives with pimientos)
• 1 can of Gandules (Pigeon Peas)*

To see pictures and links for these ingredients, see 5 Must-Have Ingredients for Cooking Puerto Rican Food

Steps:

1. Put rice into your rice cooker’s pot and clean the rice. If you’re not familiar with how to clean rice, it just means that you run it under water a couple of times and pick out the dark grains, pebbles, etc. To do this:
   • Fill pot with water and press rice with your hands.
   • Pick out anything that’s not a rice grain.
   • Pour out water, being careful not to lose any of the rice.
   • Repeat a few times until water pours out clear.
2. Add water to the pot until the water sits just above the rice. (I’ve heard that normally it is a 2-1 ratio: for every cup of rice, you add 2 cups of water. I’ve never cooked it this way, as I don’t measure when I cook.)
3. Add a serving-spoon’s worth of cooking oil. Not a tablespoon, but the bigger spoon one uses to stir a pot.
4. Add 1 packet of sazón.
5. Add 2 tablespoons of tomato sauce.
6. Add 1 tablespoon of tomato paste.
7. Add 1 tablespoon of sofrito or recaito.
8. Add 5-6 olives with a teaspoon of the vinegar from the olives.
9. Add 1 can of washed and drained gandules.
10. Stir.
11. Taste the water. If you feel it needs more seasoning, you can add a little of either salt or Adobo to your liking.
12. Cover and set the rice cooker to cook.

There will be no need to stir the rice while it cooks, though you certainly can do so once about mid-way through. Your arroz should be done in about 30 minutes or so. You will know it’s done when you taste the rice and it’s neither mushy nor tough.

*The beauty of this recipe? You can swap out that can of gandules and make many other varieties of yellow rice.

• Rice with corn (arroz con maíz): Use 1 can of drained corn instead.
• Rice with beans (arroz con habichuelas): Use 1 can of washed and drained beans – any color.
• Rice with vegetables (arroz con vegetales): Use 1 can of drained mixed vegetables.
• Rice with chicken (arroz con pollo): Add cubed, cooked, grilled chicken. (Traditional arroz con pollo would use chicken on a bone and would cook the chicken first in the same pot before adding the rice and other ingredients. But, this will give you a decent version.)

I hope you enjoy this simple and easy recipe for traditional Puerto Rican rice using a rice cooker. I have found it to be much easier than cooking it in a regular pot and it tastes just the same. It allows for me to do other things (i.e., play with my daughter after work/school) without worrying about getting up every few minutes to stir and watch the rice.

Do you have a favorite shortcut for cooking rice? If you try this recipe, please come back and let us know how you liked it!

Photo by Penny (pengrin™)

Earlier this year, I wrote about how my family is comprised of meat lovers. In that post, I shared a story from when my husband and I were newlyweds and I made the mistake of serving him dinner with no meat. The recipe I included in that post was for Bistec Encebollado (Puerto Rican Cubed Steak), which has been a popular recipe, but I felt it got a little lost in the post due to the giveaway I held at that time. So, I decided to share the recipe with you again.

As I shared before, we often ate beef growing up in a Puerto Rican house. From carne molida to bistec encebollado to barbecuing steaks at parties, many meals I grew up eating – and some of my favorites – involve beef. One of my all time favorites is bistec encebollado.

Image from CSU Meat Sciences

The key to making bistec encebollado is that you have to use cubed steak. If you can’t find it pre-packaged, just ask the butcher to run a piece of beef through the machine and it’ll come out cubed for you. Then, you really only need some onions and the basic ingredients for making sofrito – a staple when cooking Puerto Rican food.

Image from Puerto Rican Recipes Online

Bistec Encebollado Recipe {Puerto Rican Cubed Steak with Onions}

Ingredients

• Cubed Steak
• Onions
• Cooking Oil
• Adobo
• Meat Tenderizer
• Black Pepper

Cooking the Steak

1. Season el bistec with adobo, black pepper, and meat tenderizer.
2. Cut your onions into nice ring slices.
3. Using a large covered pan, heat a bit of cooking oil.
4. Put your steaks in and drizzle a little water under to help create steam.
5. Cover the pan and cook on low-medium heat.
6. When the steak is tender and nearly done, add your onions on top of the steaks.
7. The steak will cook slowly on low heat and the onions will wilt creating a perfect combination of steak and onions.
8. I highly suggest you serve over white rice and red beans with a side of tostones. Heaven!

I apologize for the lack in detail with the ingredients and the steps, but it is true to how I and everyone in my family cooks. We do not measure and just go along pouring items into the pot.

Have you ever had bistec encebollado before? If you try this recipe, I’d love to hear how it turns out!

As a working mother, I need shortcuts wherever I can get them.

Dinner is often a challenge for us busy moms, and this holds true for me as well.

I work 8 hours a day outside the home, which leaves a small window in the evening for me to pick up baby girl, spend some time with her (don’t forget time with the husband also!), and cook dinner. Some days I wish dinner was just sitting there waiting for me; I mean, I get hungry too!

So, I take shortcuts. I try my best to plan ahead, both by planning a monthly menu and by cooking ahead if I can.

This week has been a particularly good week for us when it comes to dinner. I’ve actually stuck with our planned menu and have not ordered out.

Sample One Week Dinner Menu

Now, I don’t pretend that this is the healthiest menu, but we are eating and the food is home-made. I’m not spending money on take-out and it’s manageable for our busy schedule. It works.

1. Sunday: Turkey Chili – I cooked this in my new slow cooker and didn’t have to do much with it once it was started, which allowed for me to work on other things around the house.
2. Monday: Ground Beef & White Rice – I was off on Monday for the MLK holiday, so I was able to cook from scratch. The ground beef is cooked with tomato sauce/paste (think of picadillo) and I made extra meat for later in the week. The white rice I cooked in a rice cooker, but you could easily take your own shortcut by using Minute Rice. And if you wanted to be extra healthy, you could substitute with brown rice. (There’s shortcuts for brown rice too!)
3. Tuesday: Leftovers - I had a dental appointment after work on Tuesday, so I got home later than normal. Luckily, we had plenty of chili and some white rice leftover. Voila! Dinner served.
4. Wednesday: Tacos with Knorr Rice Sides pack – I used the extra ground beef I cooked on Monday to make tacos. All I had to do was chop up some lettuce and tomatoes, warm up the tortillas, and assemble. I made a pack of Knorr Rice Sides Chicken as a side dish.
5. Thursday: Chicken Fettucine Alfredo – Sounds fancy, huh? This dish is *full* of shortcuts. I buy a bag of chicken cutlets, which don’t really require defrosting. I use a box of Fettucine pasta and a can of Ragu Classic Alfredo sauce. (What, you thought I made my own?) Since, the chicken doesn’t need defrosting, I just put it in the pan as soon as I get home. I usually add a can of peas & carrots to the chicken when I add the alfredo sauce. Serve over the fettucine.
6. Friday: Hot dogs & Fries – Fridays are our slack days. So, we normally eat something very easy. This week, we’ll be making some hot dogs and baking some fries in the oven.
7. Saturday: Pork Chops with Yellow Rice – Since it’s Saturday, I should theoretically have more time to cook. You can cook pork chops however you’d like: in the oven, on the stove or on the grill. Yellow rice is one of my favorites. It’s easy to cook and you can add whatever you like to it, making for many delicious variations. I’ll be making rice with corn this week, but sometimes I use beans or other vegetables. Shortcuts for yellow rice can be found via Goya, if you’d like.

You can see that the recurring theme is to use shortcuts to create quick and easy meals for your family.

How do you manage your weekly dinner menu as a busy mom?

[top photo source]

Picadillo Image via Wikipedia

Calendar Image via SugarcubeDesign

Disclosure: This post is part of a “I Heart Beef” campaign with TheMotherhood.com on behalf of The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association. I will receive compensation for sharing my memories with you, but my opinions are mine. In fact, I have always loved beef.

We are what you would call meat lovers. That is to say that we could never be vegetarians. The word itself is one that would get you looks of “Are you crazy?” in our family. Now that’s not to say there’s anything wrong with being a vegetarian (Seinfeld anyone?), it’s just that we are carnivorous by nature.

Join me in a flashback real quick…

We had only been married a few months. Times were tough, of course, as is normal for a young couple just starting out. We were living off of rice, beans, and PB & J sandwiches. (How’s that for multicultural?) Since meat was the biggest expense on our grocery bill at the time, I began to make it last as long as I could. One day, after a tiring day at work, I came home and decided not to cook any meat that night. I remember my mami would sometimes make a great meal out of just yellow rice, beans, and a big salad. I opted to do the same.

A proud new wife, I set a plate of my home-cooked dinner in front of my husband and said “Buen provecho!” as I sat down across from him. He looked down at his plate, looked back up at me and said, “Where’s the meat?”

I can still remember that day. We laugh about it now, of course, but believe me that every meal since then has had some sort of meat in it. As I said…meat lovers.

Image from Wikipedia

And, though we’re equal opportunity meat lovers, this post will be all about the beef. We often ate beef growing up in a Puerto Rican house. From carne molida to bistec encebollado to barbecuing steaks at parties, many meals I grew up eating – and some of my favorites – involve beef. One of my all time favorites is bistec encebollado. I wish I had a nice video showing you how to make it, but I didn’t have time to make one right now (Note to self: Make video in the future!). So, I’m going to give you the basic recipe.

Image from CSU Meat Sciences

The key to making bistec encebollado is that you have to use cubed steak. If you can’t find it pre-packaged, just ask the butcher to run a piece of beef through the machine and it’ll come out cubed for you. Then, you really only need some onions and the basic ingredients for making sofrito – a staple when cooking Puerto Rican food.

Image from Puerto Rican Recipes Online

Recipe for Bistec Encebollado – Puerto Rican Cubed Steak with Onions

Ingredients

• Cubed Steak
• Onions
• Cooking Oil
• Adobo
• Meat Tenderizer
• Black Pepper

Cooking the Steak

1. Season el bistec with adobo, black pepper, and meat tenderizer.
2. Cut your onions into nice ring slices.
3. Using a large covered pan, heat a bit of cooking oil.
4. Put your steaks in and drizzle a little water under to help create steam.
5. Cover the pan and cook on low-medium heat.
6. When the steak is tender and nearly done, add your onions on top of the steaks.
7. The steak will cook slowly on low heat and the onions will wilt creating a perfect combination of steak and onions.
8. I highly suggest you serve over white rice and red beans with a side of tostones. Heaven!

I apologize for the lack in detail with the ingredients and the steps, but it is true to how I and everyone in my family cooks. We do not measure and just go along pouring items into the pot.

If you want to get some more ideas for cooking with beef, check out Beef It’s What’s for Dinner, which has many recipes, videos, and information for buying, cooking, and handling beef. February is actually “I Heart Beef” month so have fun looking up fun ideas for dinner this week; they even have a Quick Meals section with simple recipes fit for any busy parent.

Now, let’s get on to the contest.

Giveaway

One of you will win a $100 Omaha Steaks gift card!

How to Enter

If you’d like to enter this contest for a $100 Omaha Steaks gift card, simply leave a comment below and share your favorite memories of making everyday occasions special with beef and let me know your favorite recipe from the Beef It’s What’s for Dinner site.

For extra entries:

1. Tweet about this contest with a link back to this post and include @modernmami in your tweet. You must leave a separate comment with a link to your tweet for your entry to count.
2. Follow @BeefForDinner on twitter and tweet them with a recipe you like from their site.
3. Become a fan of ModernMami.com on Facebook and leave a comment with your Facebook name.
4. Become a fan of Beef It’s What’s for Dinner on Facebook.
5. Subscribe to this blog via email and leave a comment with the email you used to subscribe. (You can use the email field to do this instead of putting your email in the comment if you prefer.)
6. Subscribe on friendfeed and leave a comment with your friendfeed ID.
7. Write a blog post on your own blog sharing with your readers something you found helpful on the Beef It’s What’s for Dinner site. Make sure to link back to this contest page in your post. Leave a comment with your post link.

All entries must be in by Sunday, February 28 at 11:59 pm EST. Make sure to leave a separate comment for each entry. The winner will be chosen using Random.org and will be notified via email. (Please be sure to provide a valid email address with your entry.)