Day 8 - Tortilla Bake

This is completely different. Easy & delicious!

Tortilla Bake

1 lb ground beef
1½ cups salsa
1 can black beans, drained
4 flour tortillas
2 cups cheese

Method:





Cook beef; drain.





Add salsa & beans.





In a round casserole dish, layer 1 tortillas, 2/3 cup meat mixture & 1/2 cup cheese.





Repeat 3 times.





Bake @ 400 for 30 min or until heated through



This is a favorite around our house. I hope you enjoy it also!

If you have any special requests, please don't hesitate to ask. I have been asked for a couple things that I will put on in the next week or so. It doesn't have to be anything specific, maybe a food item (i.e. strawberries, fruits, etc.) you would like highlighted.

Enjoy!

Day 7 - Grilled Steak Tenderloins

Tonight is a kind of variation on last night's post.

I started out with Beef tenderloin steaks probably about 4-6 oz a piece. I made about 7 of them just to be sure it was enough, because they are small. I poured a little bit of olive oil in the bottom of a shallow dish and cut up some fresh rosemary & sprinkled half of it in the bottom of the dish, then I added minced garlic. I stirred it around a bit. I then added the steaks. Then repeated the same process over the top. Drizzle with olive oil, add rosemary & garlic. Let it set for around a half hour or as long as it takes to heat your grill. Heat the grill to med-high. Grill for 5-7 min per side for medium.

I added corn to the grill and steamed some green beans.

I made parmesan twists to go along with it tonight.

Parmesan Twists

Ingredients:

3/4 cup water
2 cups bread flour
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp sugar
1 tsp bread machine yeast or active dry yeast
3 tbsp melted butter
1-2 tbsp parmesan cheese
garlic powder (optional)

Method:

Using a bread machine, put ingredients in machine as instructed by owner's manuel. Do not add the parmesan or butter.
Set machine to dough cycle. When the machine signals to add other ingredients, you can add a tbsp of parmesan & a tsp of garlic powder, if you wish.
When cycle is over, spray a bowl with nonstick spray & turn dough out into the bowl turning dough so oiled side it up. Cover & let sit for 30 min.
When the dough has doubled cut into 20 equal pieces. Roll each piece out to about 6" "snakes" Take 2 pieces press tops together & then twist them like making a braid. Press the bottom ends together & place on a oiled cookie sheet. Repeats with all pieces. When all of them are made, melt butter in a microwave, add parmesan, and garlic powder. Brush over the newly formed twists. Cover again & let sit for 20 min.

Bake 400 for 12-15 min.


Hope you enjoy!!

Day 6 - Easy Grilled Chicken Dinner

Today kind of ended up being a meal that I threw together, but it is a very good meal!! And Easy!

I start off with chicken, enough to feed all. I use a McCormick's marinade (powdered) There are many different flavors. Usually you can find them 10 for 10. Marinate the chicken for a half hour at the minimum. It has better flavor if you let it sit longer. Heat your grill to high & cook 10 min per side.

For the vegetables, I have found corn at our local farmer's stand & it is so good & sweet I would highly recommend it, if you don't have fresh you can always use canned. The corn I husk & get as much of the silk off & put it on the grill, if you have a gas grill & an upper rack, that would be perfect or a charcoal grill on the outer edges. Also green beans, I steam mine, or nuke 'em if they're canned. You can prepare any vegetables you like. Corn and green beans are our favorites, but I sometimes make Saya broccoli too by steaming it.

You can pair it with a salad if you feel it's a bit wimpy on the vegetables, or add a nice loaf of french bread.

I told you easy peasy!! Hope you try it & enjoy it!

Day 5 - Banana Bread

Today I took the day off as far as cooking goes. I needed it. I have a recipe that I made earlier in the week that I wanted to share.

Moist Banana Bread

1 cup walnuts, roughly chopped
1 3/4 cup flour
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
3 large, very ripe bananas
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
1/2 cup butter or shortening

Preheat oven to 375.

Spread walnuts on a flat baking sheet and roast them in the oven for 5-6 min. Midway through, toss them around on the pan so that the tops and bottoms brown evenly. When they are done remove the pan from the oven and then remove the toasted nuts from the pan and set them aside to cool.

Combine the dry ingredients.
*IMPORTANT: Make sure the walnuts are thoroughly cooled before adding them to the dry, as the heat will activate the baking powder too early.

Melt the butter until it is thoroughly melted. Set it aside at room temperature to cool, but don't let it solidify again.

Peel the bananas. Use a potato masher, mash the bananas in a separate mixing bowl.
Add the vanilla to the bananas.
Beat the eggs in a separate bowl and then add the beaten egg to the banana mixture.

Thoroughly grease and flour a loaf pan.

Pour a tiny bit of melted butter into the wet mixture and sit it in. Repeat 3-4 times, adding a slightly large amount of the liquid butter each time until it is all incorporated.
*IMPORTANT: Don't add hot melted butter to the egg mixture as the heat from the butter would cook the egg

Add the liquid ingredients to the dry and mix for NO MORE THAN 10 SECONDS!! The batter will be visibly lumpy. That's OK! It's extremely important not to over mix the batter, or it will be too hard.

Pour into the pan and bake immediately for 50 min or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Once the pan is cool enough to touch, invert it & let it cool on a wire rack.



This bread came out very very well. I hope you enjoy it too!!

Day 4 - Grilled Chicken Caesar Salad

For today, I went easy. I have been pushing myself a little too hard I think & have worn myself out. So, it may not be my shining moment, but it sure was tasty!!

Grilled Chicken Caesar Salads with Parmesan Crisps

Ingredients:

4-7 boneless skinless chicken breasts
romaine lettuce (enough for everyone you're feeding)
1 bottle caesar dressing (your choice of brand)
Croutons
Shredded Parmesan Cheese

Method:

Chicken:
Cover the chicken with dressing and marinate for at least an hour. Prepare the grill to high heat. Grill 10 min per side.

Salad:
Cut romaine into bite sized pieces. Add croutons. Put into a bowl & set aside.
Cut chicken into thin strips & add to salad. Put dressing on right before serving.

Parmesan Crisps:

On a parchment lined baking sheet, place small mounds of shredded parm about 2 inches from each other. Press down on the centers of the mounds to make disk shapes. Preheat oven to 375. Bake for 10 min.

Allow to cool for 10 min. Serve along side salad.





This is a very savory meal. It was gone in minutes. Hope you enjoy!

Day 3 - Banana S'mores

This is a sinful dessert especially if you really like sweet stuff!!! In my opinion, it would be better with milk chocolate chips than the semi-sweet, but it is still good. The chocolate makes it richer & to me is almost not needed, but then it would just be bananas & pudding with marshmallows, all still yummy!!

Banana S'mores
Ingredients:

¾ cup graham cracker, crumbs
½ cup bisquick
2 tbsp sugar
¼ cup butter, melted
2 med banana
2 tbsp lemon juice
1⅓ cups milk
1 pkg pudding, vanilla or chocolate
¾ cup mini marshmallows
½ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Method:

Mix crumbs, bisquick, & sugar in a bowl. Stir in butter until moistened. Press in bottom of ungreased square pan. Bake 350 for 10 min. Cool 20 min.
Peel & slice banana; dip into lemon juice. Arrange on cooled crust.
Beat milk & pudding mix with whisk until smooth. Stir in marshmallows, spread over bananas. Sprinkle with chocolate chips. Refrigerate 1 hour.


Ok, so when I made this I did it just a little differently. I didn't dip the bananas in lemon, I can see the reasoning in it if you let them sit for a long time. I didn't put the chocolate chips over the top of it, which probably was what made mine too rich to me, I used a double boiler & melted the chocolate & poured it over the top. I didn't get it to the drizzle phase, probably should have added milk, oh well. Things to try for the next time!!

I hope you enjoy this recipe, I know that my daughter loved it!!

Day 2 - Peanut Butter & Bananas

So, today, I decided to kick this thing off with a bang. I decided what goes best with strawberry jam?!?!? It's best friend, peanut butter. I had recently purchased a mass amount of roasted peanuts from the bulk section of my grocery store, but they weren't salted. Instead of throwing them out, peanut butter came to be!! It is very easy, in a food processor. A blender might do ok, but it might be a bit cumbersome.

Peanut Butter courtesy of Alton Brown
The recipe:

15 oz roasted peanuts
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp honey
1 1/2 tbsp peanut oil (I used more!!)

Method:

Place the peanuts, salt, and honey into the bowl of a food processor. Process for 1 min. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Place the lid back on and continue to process while slowly drizzling in the oil and process until the mixture is smooth, 1 1/2 to 2 min. Place the peanut butter in an airtight container and store in the refrigerator for up to 2 months.

I ended up using more peanut oil, because it wasn't smooth. Just eyeball it & make it the consistency you like.

Also for today is a delicious banana muffin. I had a bunch of ripe bananas hanging around, and needed to use them!! So here you go!


Oatmeal-Banana Muffins

1 cup quick oats oatmeal
½ cup whole wheat flour
½ cup white flour
1 teasp baking powder
¾ teasp baking soda
2 tbsp walnuts, optional
½ cup brown sugar
2 banana, ripe
¾ cup milk
1 egg
1½ tbsp oil
½ tbsp peanut butter
Method:

Preheat oven to 400. Spray muffin pan with cooking spray. In a large bowl combine dry ingredients. In a food processor mix banana, milk, egg, vegetable oil, and peanut butter. Add wet to dry ingredients and stir until moist.
Spoon batter into muffin cups to 2/3 full.

Bake 15-20 minutes

So there you go! Day two!! I hope you enjoy!

I just wanted to say a little aside, we do not eat fish in our family, so the bulk of my recipes are chicken & beef with some pork mixed in every once in a while. Also, I am having a problem getting my pictures off of my phone & on to the computer to upload, so once I figure it out I will start posting pictures. Enjoy!!!

Day 1 - Thai Chicken Salad

Today is my first blog. I'm not quite sure where this blog is going to go, but my goal is to post at least 1 food item a day & sewing projects as I get to them. So the past couple days I have been SO excited about strawberry season. I have been busy making strawberry jam. I would however like to share the dinner that I made tonight. It is my favorite go-to meal for get togethers. It is yummy as well as easy to make. (I did not get a picture of the finished product, because it was promptly devoured by my family.

Thai Chicken Salad, compliments of Pampered Chef

¾ cup creamy poppy seed salad dressing
2 cloves garlic, pressed
1 1 inch fresh gingerroot, grated & juiced
1 pkg fresh baby spinich
1 pkg broccoli slaw mix
1 cucumber, scored, seeded & sliced
1 sml red bell pepper, sliced into thin strips
1 lb chicken, flattened and cut into 1/2-inch cubes
¼ cup fresh basil leaves, snipped
¼ cup peanuts, chopped


Method:

For dressing, in a mixing bowl combine salad dressing and garlic. Grate gingerroot. gather gingerroot in hand and squeeze over bowl to release juice, discard flesh. Whisk until well blended and set aside.

For salad, place spinach, slaw mix, cucumber, and bell pepper in a large bowl, refrigerate until ready to serve.

For chicken mixture, heat skillet over med-high heat. Lightly spray with nonstick spray. Add chicken to skillet in a single layer. Cook without stirring 2 min or until chicken begins to brown. Stir-fry 2-3 min or until chicken is no longer pink; remove from heat. Add basil peanuts and 1/4 cup of the dressing; toss to coat.

To serve, toss salad with remaining dressing; top with chicken mixture and serve immediately.


I hope you enjoy this meal. It is very yummy!!