Stephanie Sjoberg

     I had to drag out the recipe to make a new batch of Seco de Carne this weekend. (A very spicy Peruvian beef stew.)  

     The Whitney Houston song I’m Every Woman plays happily in my head when I cook.  I feel fulfilled and useful and whole when I am able to prepare a home cooked meal for him. Old school, I know…but it’s really about making time and doing for another person. (Again I say…I’ve never met a man who has a dream in life to find a woman to have to take out to dinner every night. In fact, I can’t tell you how many of my guy friends complain about this quite often.  They especially hate it when the female expects it.)  Just sayin. Check out the recipe below!

   If you have been of the mindset that men love nothing more, than taking you out to fancy restaurants night after night, watching you eat and drink up his money, you would be wrong.

   Ask any man, I mean, any man, and he will tell you that he absolutely loves it when a woman prepares a great meal at home.    

   I have a lot a male friends, in various ages, and this is something that comes up frequently.  Even if as man has plenty of money, he begins to think a little less of the woman if she doesn’t ever offer to invite him over for dinner.   It may seem old school, but look at it this way…if you make a great deal of money, and  work a lot, and the man finds that attractive, then you have a bigger problem!

   Before we began dating, I’d decided to stay home every Sunday night, and make “Sunday Dinner.”   I did this, to hold on to my inner peace and enjoy my home life and love of being a homemaker, although I was divorced and living alone.  It added a measure of stability to my life. 

   Once we began seeing each other, I’d invited him over to my house for my weekly Sunday dinner. He’d commented at the time that no one ever did that.  Women are different now, and they want to be taken out all the  time.

   People are sometimes amazed, men and women, when they find out I cook.  It’s not that I absolutely love to cook and want the stress of feeding other people and making sure I have all the ingredients (which I never do).  It’s more of a way to express love for someone.  My husband always gets so happy when I cook!  He says over and over how it makes him feel special and loved. It is a gesture of caring and unselfishness.  We both like to eat healthy most of the time, so it helps to stay in and have a party of two all alone at home with our customized menu, a movie rental and a few light beers or wine.  

   It also makes life easier on me, because if I make enough, it can be another dinner and a lunch.

   Friends ask me why we don’t go out much at night, but to us, it’s like taking sand to the beach! We have what we want at home.  We do enjoy food, and do go out for breakfast and sometimes a nice lunch or dinner, but it’s so great just to have a cozy meal at home.

   That being said, I’d made Seco de Carne recently for the first time, because his mother had moved back to Peru, and he was missing her and her Peruvian cooking. Her cooking is absolutely amazing, so I decided to give it a shot!  Seco de Carne is a spicy Peruvian beef stew. It turned out great, so I made it again tonight, to share the recipe with you. Take a picture of the ingredients with your cell so you have it at the store! Please let me know if you try it, what you think!

WHAT YOU NEED:

1  3.5 pound beef round sirloin roast

5 new potatoes

2 green bell peppers

1 large white onion

2 14.5 ounce cans Hunt’s diced tomatoes(celery, onion, flavor)

1/3 cup minced garlic 

Flour

2 tablespoons ADOBO seasoning

1 tablespoon Crushed Red Pepper spice

1 tablespoon oregano spice 

salt and black pepper

1/2 cup oil (Olive Oil, Garlic Oil or Coconut Oil)

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Alrighty!  Start off by salt and peppering your beef. Then bread the beef with a coating of flour. 

   Have a pot begin to boil with your oil, and minced garlic. 

   Once boiling begins, place the beef in the oil and brown each side for about 6 minutes . Throw in chopped onion, and green peppers before pouring in both cans of diced tomatoes and adding two cups of water.

Then put in your sliced potato wedges while waiting for it to begin boiling again.  

Also add in the Adobo, and crushed red pepper and oregano spices. This is the part where I would lower the heat to medium, and because I love garlic, I would add another 3 tablespoons to the top and let the mixture simmer for an hour. 

After an hour , you can remove the roast from the pot, and slice it up into medallions then place the medallions back into the pot to finish simmering for about 20 minutes or until cooked all the way through. Once they look done, turn off heat and allow to sit for at least 20 minutes to allow beef to soak up the flavorings as it cools a bit. 

Makes about 6 to 8 servings.

Serve with jasmine rice, a nice salad, and enjoy!

August 15, 2012

–SDS

-SDS

-June 11, 2013