Open-Face Garlicky Steak Sandwiches (pg. 100) & Pizza Margherita (pg. 286) & Pumpkin-Cranberry Bread Pudding (pg. 263)

It was a day of cooking on Sunday.  I love it when my sister visits!

I had never cooked steak before this experiment.  It is usually for my husband to work with a steak on the grill, but this cookbook is stretching my limits. 

We spent an afternoon walking through a winter wonderland in Mendon Ponds Park, and we came home hungry.  The steak sandwich picture looked scrumptious, so we went with it.  A serving is one slice of hearty bread topped with garlic spread, steak, and a tomato/cucumber/jalepeno pepper salsa.  The one ingredient that we eliminated was the cilantro - not a fan.  The salsa marinates in an apple cider vinegar, and I would honestly cut the 3 tablespoons of vinegar in half to 1.5 tablespoons.  It was too strong with 3 tablespoons, but we were able to drain some of it off before serving the dish.  It helped.  We served the sandwiches with a small side of Sun Chips.  1 serving = 6 pts.
PointsPlus:  7 points

The meat was moist and seasoned properly.  The topping was crisp and refreshing.  I would have toasted the bread a little more.  According to my sister and husband, it was the perfect lunch.  I agree.

For dinner, we made the pizza margherita, which is a thin-crust pizza without sauce.  It has tomatoes, garlic, mozz cheese, basil, oregano and olive oil.  My sister put the pizza together while I worked on the pumpkin bread pudding.  Her comment on the pizza:  "that's a lot of cheese."  The pizza was tasty, and it had me thinking about summer ingredients.  The pizza recipe is in the "Need A Snack" section of the book.  To make it a dinner, we coupled it with a side salad, and that did the trick.  Anna's verdict:  Yum.  1 serving = 1/6 of a pizza = 3 pts.
PointsPlus:  5 points

For dessert, we decided to try the pumpkin-cranberry bread pudding.  It was a teensy bit labor intensive (many minutes whisking half and half over the stove), but the smell was beyond expectation.  It worked out that we prepped this while making dinner - the whole mixture needed to set for 20 minutes before it could be cooked.  We kept out the pecans because of allergies in the family, but I would include them in my pudding next time.  The pudding is cooked in 12 individual cups in a hot bath.  Pecans can be customized in each cup.  We added whipped cream on top, and it cut the consistency of the pudding quite nicely.  I'd have it again.  1 serving = 5 pts.
PointPlus:  6 points