Alligator, Yu55, Radio and Recipe.

Hmm, can you imagine going to church and being met by an alligator? In a Michigan church grounds someone spotted an alligator and called the police. They say it was probably released into the wild recently and would not have survived the cold winter of Michigan – how cruel of the previous owner to just release it. One more reason why people shouldn’t have exotic pets of any kind.

It seems they were right at NASA and the asteroid, Yu55, did miss us by a considerable margin. I forgot we might have been able to see it although there are too many city lights near us I think. I didn’t even try though. The next time a large lump of rock is due to pass us is in 2028. There is an interesting simulation on this website showing just how close it came to Earth.

Yesterday morning Randy Johnston called me again to do another recipe corner for him as the person scheduled was unable to make it. I was very pleased to do so and gave him the recipe for Poulet Sauce Maroc which I published on October 27th, 2011. I didn’t manage to get in any more information about Restore Family Nutrition, but please read all about it by following the link on this page and hopefully taking part in the Kitchen Challenge. At the end of the broadcast, Randy played Hands Up Baby for me, a song I heard the other day and hadn’t heard for years. http://youtu.be/NTeQ6gSveRI. I used to love to dance to this, and even today I was jigging around, maybe not as much as I once did LOL.

Went to the doc’s yesterday and saw a sign at a Collision Repair garage – they usually have good ones, I have seen this before but thought it might amuse you “A hangover is the Wrath of Grapes”.

Before we went to bed last night, there was one hell of a gale blowing. Had trouble sleeping.

I thought the following recipe looked really good again always providing you can get hold of flank steak, doesn’t seem to be so easy lately. It was very much an under appreciated cut of meat for many years, but became very popular and is now difficult to obtain, or at least it is for me, I will be checking with Sobey’s where they do cut meat, our normal grocery store have meat cut for them before delivery.

Flank Steak Pinwheels

WebMD Recipe from EatingWell.com

These festive wheels of steak, Boursin cheese, spinach and sun-dried tomatoes look fancy, but they're quite easy to make. For a party, arrange them on a platter atop a bed of spinach.

Servings: 4

Make Ahead Tip:Prepare the steak roll (Steps 2-4). Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate for up to 6 hours. When ready to grill, proceed with Steps 5 and 6.

Recipe Ingredients:

1. 2/3 cup sun-dried tomatoes, (not packed in oil)
2. 2 cups boiling water
3. 1 pound flank steak, trimmed of fat
4. 1 clove garlic, minced
5. 3 tablespoons light herbed cheese spread, such as Boursin (see Variation)
6. 1 cup baby spinach
7. 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
8. 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

Recipe Steps:

1. Preheat grill to high.
2. Place sun-dried tomatoes in a bowl; pour boiling water over them and let steep until softened, about 10 minutes. Drain and chop.
3. Meanwhile, place steak between 2 large pieces of plastic wrap. Pound each side of the steak thoroughly with the pointed side of a meat mallet until the steak is an even 1/4-inch thickness.
4. Rub garlic all over one side of the steak. Spread cheese lengthwise in a 3-inch-wide strip down the middle of the steak. Top with the sun-dried tomatoes and spinach. Starting at one edge of a long side, roll the steak up tightly, tucking in the filling as you go.
5. Carefully rub salt and pepper all over the outside of the steak roll. Turn the roll so the overlapping edge is on top. Push 8 skewers, evenly spaced, through the roll, close to the overlapping edge to hold the roll together. Slice the roll into 8 equal portions, roughly 1 to 1 1/2 inches thick, with a skewer in each. Lay the slices on their sides and push the skewer through so it sticks out about 1 inch.
6. Oil the grill rack (see Tip). Grill the pinwheels 3 to 4 minutes per side for medium-rare. Use a spatula when turning them to prevent too much filling from falling out. (Don't worry if the ends of the skewers burn. They will still hold the pinwheels together.) Remove the skewers; let the pinwheels rest for 5 minutes before serving.

Recipe Nutrition:

Per serving: 226 calories; 9 g fat ( 4 g sat , 3 g mono ); 46 mg cholesterol; 7 g carbohydrates; 27 g protein; 2 g fiber; 332 mg sodium; 278 mg potassium.

Have a great day