~Dinner Date at home~

Saturday Night Menu: Rib-Eye Steak with Black Olive Vinaigrette and Orzo Salad with Fresh Citrus and Red Onion. (courtesy of the fabulous and much loved in this house, Giada DeLaurentiis)

I have to say before anything else, as I took my first bite of this amazing rib-eye dish, I said to my husband "that is gourmet right there!" I am no chef, but I do LOVE to cook since moving to Madison in 2010! I enjoy making new recipes and trying them! I find it relaxing and stress-relieving.....when I am not under a time limit like tonight...Nick was ditching me and meeting up with the men for a "guys' night!"

This pic is the hubby's portion of steak as mine was much smaller! I couldn't imagine eating that much steak! I think I'd collapse from a heart attack! The steak was absolutely amazing, thanks to the hubby's skills on the grill in below zero temps! The vinaigrette was absolutely delicious.....I was unsure about pureed black olives and dijon and red wine vinegar, etc....but it was absolutely to die for. I ended up putting the left overs in a tupperware :) I highly recommend this recipe even if you don't like black olives!

The Orzo salad called for Fregola, (an Italian toasted semolina pasta, similar to pearled couscous) but since I wanted to get more nutrition into our meal, (like I always do) I opted for whole wheat Orzo....mmmm, one of my favorite Italian pastas! So versatile and fun to eat. So, this salad was delicious as well, but....yes there is a but......I believe the certain individual in charge of thinly slicing the medium (that happened to be large since there was not a medium one at the store) red onion did not slice them thin enough and used too much of the quite strong onion......WOOPS! That's probably why my eyes looked like I'd been crying for hours on end! I think it will be better today after it has marinated in the mint, basil leaves, orange, grapefruit and olive oil :) We shall see when lunchtime comes around....or maybe I will save it for a little snack during the 49er game today!!!

All in all, this dinner was quite amazing and I did give myself a pat on the back as well as the hubs because he did help quite a lot......and even helped with the dishes before darting out the house to have a guys' night....whatever that entailed I have no idea! It was a yummy dinner together, nonetheless :)

You can find these recipes on Giada's website, too. I now own a Giada cookbook thanks to Nick's lovely parents for giving it to us for Xmas when they were here at Thanksgiving. I am getting quite a lot of use out of it. I may have a little bit of a crush on Giada for more than a few reasons.....after all she is flippin gorgeous! My husband might have another certain word for her that is not blog appropriate.....but she is AMAZING and I love her recipes!!!! Enjoy!