Valentine’s dinner for 2 for under $20 made in under 20 mins

One of our favorite things to do for a special occasion is to go to Martins and get really nice steaks from their meat counter.  We had been planning to do this for Valentine’s day for a while, and the rest of the meal actually came together while I was driving to Martin’s.  We had Ribeye steaks with a homemade spice rub, Pasta topped with a portabello marsala cream sauce, and green beans on the side.  We also bought a cheesecake for dessert!  I was able to spend less than $20 making dinner, and it only took about 20 minutes!  I KNOW the two of us could not have had a dinner this nice in a restaurant for this cheap, and I know the wait time would have been longer than 20 minutes! I also personally think the steaks we made were much tastier than many you get in a restaurant, and I know our meal overall was much healthier.  Here’s how you can make it:

Ribeye Steak:

1. Preheat oven to BROIL
2. Rub steak with a spice blend.  I used my own pork rub mix which has paprika, brown sugar, onion powder, garlic salt, cumin and pepper.
3. Place steaks on broiling pan and broil (with door shut) about 4 minutes.  Take them out, flip them, and rub the other side of the steak with more spice mix.  Place back in the oven for another 4 minutes.

• We like our steak medium rare, so cook a little longer if you want.  You can also have Martin’s marinate your steaks for no extra charge!

Portabello Marsala Cream Sauce: (so much easier than it sounds!)

1. Slice 1/2 an onion into very thin slices.  Cut portabello mushrooms into slices until you have about 2 handfuls of mushroom pieces.
2. Place onions and mushrooms into a skillet with a few drizzles of olive oil.  Cook until mushrooms just start to get soft (maybe 1 minute) on med-high heat
3. Pour marsala wine into skillet until the bottom is coated with about a centimeter of wine.  Cook until it is almost gone.
4. Put 2 tablespoons of tomato paste, 1/4 cup water, and 1/4 cup of cream (or milk or 1/2 and 1/2) into skillet.  Mix well.
5. Bring to a bubble then reduce heat.  Add more wine, or more tomato paste to either thin or thicken sauce.  You may want to add salt and pepper too.

The cost:

Steak: about 2 lbs for $14.22

Mushrooms: $2.99 and I used half so $1.50

Tomato Paste: $0.75 and I used about $0.10 worth

Green Beans: $0.69 for a dented can

Cheesecake: $3.99 (I had no idea they were that cheap…this could be bad!) and we’ll eat about $1.50 worth

I already had the wine, noodles, and onion, but I’ll add $1.00 for those

Total: $17.51!!! And we have enough leftover for 2 lunches

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