Live to Love on the Edge Blog

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Tasty and Healthy Bistec Empanizado (Breaded Steak)

There are lots of tasty foods mentioned in South Beach Love, but not one of my favorites (I don’t think! LOL!)

Bistec Empanizado – aka Breaded Steak – is a staple dish in Cuban households, but it’s normally fried so we really didn’t eat it all that often since we were trying to be healthier.

But my daughter recently got an air-fryer and made some croquettes for us that made us believers since they were so crisp and tasty! Since our Cuisinart toaster oven has an air-fry mode, we decided to check it out and boy are we glad we did. It is totally possible to get a crisp coating on the steak or chicken or pork chops.

So today I’m sharing an easy recipe for a healthier and tasty breaded steak!

Ingredients

1 pound sirloin
2 eggs
1 tablespoon hot sauce (I use Cholula)
1 1/2 cups Italian-style bread crumbs
1/2 cup Panko bread crumbs
Cooking oil spray
Olive oil cooking spray
Salt and Pepper to taste

Directions

Thinly slice the sirloin steak. You can also use a cheaper cut like London broil. To slice the meat thinly, you might want to partially freeze the steak so it’s easier to handle. You should be able to get 3 or 4 slices from the steak.

Once you slice the meat, lay one piece at a time on a cutting board and place some plastic wrap over it. Then pound it with a meat tenderizer, making the slice of steak even thinner. It’s okay if the meat tears a little as you do this, but don’t pound it into burger meat.

Prepare the egg wash by beating the eggs, adding a few tablespoons of water, and the hot sauce. Beat together.

Prepare the bread crumbs. Place the panko into a gallon freezer bag and use a rolling pin to crush them a little as the crumbs are often too big. Add the Italian-style bread crumbs and mix. If you want, you can also add some grated parmesan cheese at this step, but that’s not traditional.

Place the steaks into the wash one by one and then into the bag with the bread crumbs. Coat the steaks and move to another plate. Repeat for all four steaks.

I usually do a second coating by running the steaks through the egg wash and bread crumbs again. Set them aside.

Preheat the air-fryer for at least 5-7 minutes. While you do this, prepare the air-fryer tray by spritzing it with cooking oil spray. Then lay the steaks on the tray and spritz them with the olive oil cooking spray. Flip and spritz the second side.

Once the oven/air-fryer has pre-heated, place the steaks inside and set a timer for 4 minutes. Check at 4 minutes and if golden brown, flip and cook for another 4 minutes.

Once golden brown on the second side, it’s time to eat!

You can use this same recipe to make breaded chicken cutlets or pork chops!

Caridad's Breaded Steak

Get your free copy of this collection of other enticing recipes and engaging reads!

To celebrate the release of SOUTH BEACH LOVE, I’ve created this book of recipes and free reads from my various books. You can download this e-book for free from Kindle Unlimited or get your copy at https://claims.prolificworks.com/free/JT72rhhr.

To see more recipes, please visit my Cook’s Treat section.

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Every Ending is Happily a New Beginning

The other day I blogged about typing THE END on my latest manuscript, a K-9 romantic suspense for Harlequin Intrigue. It’s always exciting to write those words because it means I’ve finished another book. Number 60 actually! Wow!

It’s also exciting because it means a new beginning is coming soon as well. Seriously, even before I’ve finished one book I’m thinking about the next one. I’m thinking about what the next story is going to be and what new things I can create for you!

But thinking about endings and beginnings made this thought come to mind on this #MotivationMonday: That even though life is full of endings, each ending is also a new beginning. It’s an opportunity to try something new or revisit something you didn’t do in the past.

What about you? Is there something you just finished that makes you think about what’s the next thing you’ll do?
caridad new beginnings

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Happily Picking in Nashville

On my last day in Nashville, I was able to visit the American Pickers store! I just love this show because I love seeing the many unique objects they find as well as the history behind them. When I found out that they had a store in Nashville, I just had to stop by before I came home. The shop is in a lovely old building called Marathon Motor Works which apparently used to house a company that made automobiles! I’m sharing just a few photos from the store. I recognized some of the items from the shows I watched which was pretty cool. Do you watch this show? If you do, what do you love about it?

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Caridad Visits the Amazing Grand Ol’ Opry

This throwback is to a few days ago when I was able to visit the Grand Ol’ Opry. I wasn’t sure how I’d like it since I’m not really a country music fan, but I have to say that it was very inspiring! Watching the singers as they spoke about performing there or seeing their reactions at being inducted into the Opry was really very emotional.

It was also emotional hearing about how everyone came together after the horrible 2010 Nashville floods that swept water throughout the location, leaving upwards of four feet of water above stage level. Truly amazing.

It was also fun to see all the backstage areas and things like the dressing rooms which each have different themes. There are dressing rooms for newbies, stars who have a military background, the ladies, a special Minnie Pearl one, and so many more as you’ll see from the photos.

If you’re in Nashville, I would highly recommend a trip there! For more Nashville photos, please visit https://www.caridad.com/2021/07/14/first-fun-day-in-nashville/ and https://www.caridad.com/2021/07/16/have-a-great-time-in-nashville/.

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Trapping a Terrorist Cover Reveal

I am so excited about the upcoming October release of Trapping a Terrorist which is part of the Behavioral Analysis Unit series from Harlequin Intrigue! Don’t worry, each book is standalone, but you’ll get to see the BAU Team in every book. My book features Miguel Peters who is the Supervisory Special Agent of the unit.

In my story, a serial bomber is on the loose in Seattle. SSA Peters and his team must find the bomber before someone is seriously injured or killed, especially Maisy Oliver, the heroine the terrorist has fixated on.

It’s a fast-paced and emotional story and I hope you enjoy the cover reveal and this teaser!

Teaser

An FBI agent puts everything on the line…

To keep a deadly threat at bay.

When FBI agent Miguel Peters and his father land squarely in the crosshairs of a bomber terrorizing Seattle, the last thing Miguel wants is to also entangle a lovely stranger in a terrorist’s web. Yet while Maisy Oliver might look innocent, her father’s one of the most notorious men in Washington State. Miguel knows Maisy will do anything to help him and his team catch a killer. But does that include confronting a past she’s worked far too long to forget?

From Harlequin Intrigue: Seek thrills. Solve crimes. Justice served.

Amazon Kindle: https://amzn.to/3stMJSx
Amazon Paperback: https://amzn.to/3dmWs6L
Amazon Box Set: https://amzn.to/3lWYdvf
Apple: https://apple.co/3fp4NcL
Apple Box Set: Coming Soon!
BN E-book: http://bit.ly/BNTrap
BN Box Set: http://bit.ly/BNBoxSetTTrap
Kobo: http://bit.ly/KoboTrap
Kobo Box Set: http://bit.ly/KobpBoxSetTrap
Additional Retailers: https://books2read.com/TrappingATerrorist

Discover more action-packed stories in the Behavioral Analysis Unit series. All books are stand-alone with uplifting endings but were published in the following order:

Book 1: Profiling a Killer by Nichole Severn
Book 2: Decoding a Criminal by Barb Han
Book 3: Tracing a Kidnapper by Juno Rushdan
Book 4: Trapping a Terrorist by Caridad Piñeiro

Excerpt

Prologue
King Street Station, Seattle, 10:16 a.m.

I need the perfect hostage.

Tucked behind the protection of the column, he watched the people coming and going in King Street Station, unaware of the danger. Unaware that he intended to grab one of them, and soon.

Peering around the edge of the column, he spied a young boy at a nearby kiosk. The boy, who was maybe six or seven, was focused on the shelves of candy before him, eyes wide in anticipation of a treat. His distracted parents, tourists if he had to guess from the expensive camera dangling around the man’s neck and the map tucked into his back pocket, were a few feet away, their attention on a display of postcards, probably to commemorate their visit to Seattle.

He laughed, thinking about how it would be a visit they would never forget if he grabbed their boy. But parents could be overly protective when their kids were involved. If the two of them went crazy when he snatched the boy, it could all go south.

Still, if this was a video game, kids would score high points for being fast, hard to control and too young to die.

A few yards away a dainty young thing stood chatting to an older man. She was pretty in that girl-next-door kind of way. Brown hair with caramel highlights was tucked up in a feminine braid and as she glanced his way, he noticed her eyes. Blue, but a blue so deep they were almost indigo. A man could get lost in those eyes. Angel Eyes.

He imagined grabbing her, but her body was toned and no matter how angelic she looked, something about her warned that she’d be scrappy.

Again, high points for that feistiness and beauty.

Not so many points for the old man with her.

He looked like an absent-minded professor with his tweed cap, sweater with leather patches on the elbows and silver-rimmed eyeglasses that made his eyes look way too big. The professor didn’t seem feeble, but he didn’t seem like a problem either.

I could take him, he thought until a tall, muscular man turned to speak to Angel Eyes and the professor. The man was fit and powerful looking but leaning heavily on a cane. He looked like a younger version of the professor. Enough to maybe be a son. This man could be major trouble, but trouble would definitely earn more points in any game.

A second later the man’s phone rang. He held up a finger, turned and took a few steps away, probably for privacy during the call.

Perfect. This is my chance.

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