Oh. My. Gosh.

Aren’t these gorgeous?

You know, presentation means so much when it comes to a wonderful meal.

I’ve found that to be true with my kids. If I turn the carrots into a smiley face they get eaten up with much more vigor than if I just slapped them onto a plate.

We adults are a bit more sophisticated, so we don’t really want our food to smile at us. But we do want it to be pleasing to the eye. It makes the whole experience more, well, pleasing.

That’s why these colorful Steak & Boursin Wrapped Bells are perfect for a dinner party — or just when you want to please someone special.

Steak & Boursin Wrapped Bells

EatingWell Test Kitchen

For an even quicker preparation, try deli roast beef.

Servings: 16 pieces
Total Time: 10 minutes
Ease of Preparation: Easy
Health: Low Sodium, Diabetes Appropriate, Heart Healthy, Low Cholesterol, Low Sat Fat, Low Carb, Low Calorie???

Ingredients: Steak-&-Boursin-Wrapped Bells
16 thin slices grilled steak, such as filet mignon (about 8 ounces)
1 cup light Boursin cheese, divided
4 ounces thinly sliced bell pepper ???

Steps:

1. Spread each steak slice with 1 teaspoon Boursin cheese and top with bell pepper slices.

2. Roll the steak around the bell pepper slices.

Nutrition: (Per piece)

Calories – 37

Carbohydrates – 1

Fat – 2

Saturated Fat – 1

Monounsaturated Fat – 0

Protein – 5

Cholesterol – 13

Dietary Fiber – 0

Potassium – 66

Sodium – 34

Nutrition Bonus – Protein, vitamin C, potassium, zinc.

Photo and recipe courtesy of arcamax.com.

Remember how I wasn’t sure if my photos would do the cute little mini steakburgers justice? You know, the ones I grilled at the beach?

Well, check this out . . .

I think they turned out all right!!!

The combination of the gorgeous slider and the beautiful beachy sunlight made this a PERFECT meal. And photo. This was just taken on a white plate out on the balcony.

I was pretty sure I couldn’t mess up the grilling on these little guys. And I was right about that. I whipped out my George Foreman Lean Mean Grillin’ Machine and our little condo was filled with such an amazing smell. All I did was salt and pepper them. That’s it! The kids played as these babies sizzled and everyone kept asking, “Are they ready yet?”

They had been delivered to my door the day before and it was so nice to not have to hunt through the local supermarket’s selection of beef. We’ve been to this resort town before and it’s often iffy at best.

My kids loved how small and cute the sliders were. We bought Hawaiian rolls, sliced them in half and we had the perfect little buns for our mini steakburgers.

What a treat to have these little guys delivered to us halfway across the country!

Seriously, one of our absolute favorite aspects of a vacation is cooking great meals at night. We take the time to savor the experience of cooking and eating.

These sliders were so fun and flavorful. And to me, that’s what life’s about.

Happy, happy 4th of July to you!

My gift to you in celebration of this day is the gift of food. Well, a recipe, actually.

And I am loving this recipe! It’s a kaboby-meatballish combo (if you ask me) and I LOVE that it uses ground beef.

The light lemongrass is perfect for hot, hot July weather, too!

Enjoy it under the firecrackers tonight!!!!!!!!!!!

Lemongrass Ground Beef Skewers

INGREDIENTS

• 1/2 cup coarsely chopped lemon grass
• 1 onion, coarsely chopped
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 1/2 pounds lean ground beef
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon white sugar
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 1 tablespoon oyster sauce
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat an outdoor grill for medium-high heat, and lightly oil the grate.
2. Place lemon grass, onion, and garlic in the container of an electric blender or food processor. Cover and blend or process until finely chopped, about 10 seconds. Scrape lemon grass mixture into a bowl, and stir in beef, salt, pepper, sugar, cornstarch, oyster sauce, and sesame oil.
3. Form meat mixture into 12 meatballs. Thread onto skewers.
4. Cook on the preheated grill until the meatballs are well done, about 7 minutes per side. An instant-read thermometer inserted into the center should read 160 degrees F (70 degrees C).

Recipe and photo courtesy of allrecipes.com.