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Recipes for Special Occasions

I don’t know about you, but it’s a rare night that I get to dine on steak. Most people shy away from preparing the mouth-watering meat on a nightly basis because it cost more than chicken or hamburger. However, when it comes to celebrating special occasions, studies show that steak is the number one choice for diners.

With that said, you don’t have to go into debt or spend hours in the kitchen to create a succulent steak dinner. Whether you are celebrating a graduation, birthday or anniversary, the following easy, yet delicious steak recipe can’t be beat.

I’ve also included a yummy cake recipe to top off your celebratory meal.

SIMPLE STUFFED STEAK

Ingredients:

2 pounds flank steak

Salt and pepper

5 tablespoons garlic herb cream cheese

2 cups fresh baby spinach

1/2 cup sundried tomatoes

1 cup pesto sauce

Directions:

With a meat mallet, pound steak into a rectangle, as large as possible. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Spread cream cheese on steak. Top with spinach and sundried tomatoes. Roll up steak from short side. This will give you a long, stuffed flank steak. Secure with toothpicks.

Grill steak, brushing occasionally with pesto sauce.

Slice into 2-inch pieces.

Drizzle extra pesto sauce on top of steak before serving.

CHAMPAGNE CAKE

Ingredients for Cake:

2 cups flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

6 ounces unsalted butter, softened

2 cups sugar

3/4 cup champagne

1/4 cup milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

6 drops red food coloring

6 egg whites

Ingredients for Icing:

4 ounces unsalted butter, softened

1/3 cup champagne

4 1/2 cups powdered sugar

1/2 teaspoon gelatin

1 tablespoon cold water

3/4 cup heavy cream

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

Combine champagne, milk and vanilla, then set aside.

Sift together all dry ingredients, flour, baking powder and salt.

Add flour and champagne mixtures alternately to butter mixture, combining well after each addition.

Add food coloring to batter.

Beat egg whites to soft peaks. Fold whites into cake batter.

Pour batter into two greased 9-inch cake pans.

Bake for 30 minutes.

Cool cakes before turning out.

For Icing:

Beat together butter and powdered sugar.

While beating, steadily add in champagne.

Divide mixture in half for the filling between the layers.

Reserve the second half for whipped topping.

Sprinkle gelatin into water and let sit for 5 minutes, and then gently warm either in a small saucepan or the microwave. Once it’s dissolved, remove from heat.

Beat heavy cream until soft peaks form. Add gelatin to cream and continue to beat to stiff peaks.

Working in batches, gently fold whipped cream into reserved icing.

Spread icing on top and sides of cake.

Refrigerate cake for 1 hour before serving.

Related Articles:

Great Grilling Recipes

Steak and Cream

Meaty Menu Options

Beef Up Sunday Dinner

Comfort Foods: Meat and Potatoes

This entry was posted in Beef/Veal by Michele Cheplic. Bookmark the permalink.

About Michele Cheplic

Michele Cheplic was born and raised in Hilo, Hawaii, but now lives in Wisconsin. Michele graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a degree in Journalism. She spent the next ten years as a television anchor and reporter at various stations throughout the country (from the CBS affiliate in Honolulu to the NBC affiliate in Green Bay). She has won numerous honors including an Emmy Award and multiple Edward R. Murrow awards honoring outstanding achievements in broadcast journalism. In addition, she has received awards from the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association for her reports on air travel and the Wisconsin Education Association Council for her stories on education. Michele has since left television to concentrate on being a mom and freelance writer.