Fajita Frittata

Personal Observations:
I LOVE this dish! My only reservation is the quantity of servings for an egg dish and for one person. Some people can handle the smell of microwaved eggs. I'm not one of them.

I cut the recipe in half and use a cast iron skillet for cooking, storing the left overs in foil for warming in the oven later.

Gidget's Rating: 5 stars

Sweet 'n' Spicy Pork Chops

Personal Observations: Another one I deviated from, but only in cooking method. I really don't like to broil stuff, only because the clean up is a pain. So...I cooked it in a skillet and it turned out okay. My only problem was the grittiness of the brown sugar mixture because it couldn't fully melt despite using a lid on the skillet and turning up the heat. However, it was still tasty enough for me to warrant additional attempts -- maybe in the oven this time.

Gidget's Rating: 5 stars

Italian Beef Stew

Ingredients:

3/4 lb. beef cube steak, cubed
1 c. water
1 can (8 oz.) tomato sauce
1 small potato, peeled and cubed
1/2 c. sliced fresh carrot
1/2 small onion, cut into thin wedges
1/2 small sweet red pepper, chopped
1 t. onion soup mix
1/2 t. Italian seasoning
1/4 t. garlic powder
1/2 c. frozen peas

In large saucepan coated with nonstick cooking spray (or olive oil), brown the meat over medium heat for 5 minutes. Stir in the water, tomoato sauce, potato, carrot, onion, red pepper, soup mix, Italian seasoning and garlic powder. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, for 45 minutes.

Stir in peas; simmer 15 minutes longer or until vegetables are tender.

Yield: 2 servings

Personal Observations: Okay, let me get this off my chest -- cube steak is about as useful as ground beef. While trying to "cube" it, I could hardly get it to even stay together! If I make this again, I will seriously consider finding a substitute meat... Secondly, the prep for this dish is much more than I had anticipated and the steak was done way before I had even gotten the first vegetable chopped! Bad timing on my part and dinner took forever to finish. It even got to the point where I just "estimated" how much veggies I had cut. I'm sure many were more than what the recipe called for but I was tired, darn it!

Also, I made a vow after making this recipe. I solemnly swear to NEVER again double a "Cooking for 2" recipe until I have first tried it in it's original form. Holy cow! I don't know where I sent wrong, but my attempt to have 4 servings instead of 2 turned into 8 servings! Needless to say, I'm tired of eating this stuff.

Gidget's Rating: 4 stars, due to the preparation requirements!