Yorkshire Pudding

I love watching Kitchen Nightmares on the BBC channel. Chef Ramsey has featured Yorkshire pudding way too many times for me not to at least try making it, after all, on t.v., these Yorkies looked AMAZING! So, yesterday, I made them and they are SO GOOD! Best part of it all, it's so easy! Airy, tasty and with a drizzle of brown gravy, you're set to go! (Will blog beef tips and gravy in a bit).

Ingredients:

1 cup of flour
1 cup of room temperature milk
3 eggs (room temperature)
butter

Preheat your oven to 375. In a large mixing bowl, add milk and eggs and whisk together. Add flour and whisk well. The batter will be a thin consistency. While your oven is warming up, take 1/2 teaspoon of butter and place into each tin cup. I can easily make 6 Yorkies with the batter, so put butter in at least 6 tin cups. Once your oven has reached 375, place tin into the oven for 2 minutes so that the butter melts. After the 2 minutes is up, remove the pan and add the batter to each 6 tin cups, all the way to the top of each cup. Drop the temp of the oven to 350 and place pan into the oven for 20-25 minutes until top is a light golden brown.

Once you remove the pan, let the Yorkies rest a bit before you add your gravy or butter.

Really, it's that easy and you have to at least try it once in your lifetime!

Steam Fresh Bag Recipes...GREAT IDEA!!!

Yesterday on Facebook one of my friends, Sheridan's status read "Just made 20 Steam Fresh Bags"...so of course, this peeked my curiosity so I commented "what in the world are those?". She wrote me back and said they are bags of uncooked food she makes ahead of time and then throws them in the freezer. She said it has been working out awesome because it's total portion control and her husband has lost 6 lbs in 2 weeks eating these. I told her I wanted to learn more and to send me info. She sent me recipes and pictures of the finished product right out of her freezer.

I'm going to post them here for you guys because I'm giddy excited about this. I haven't tried it yet but I'm going to the store today to buy one of the recipe ingredients and the Steam Fresh Bags. I will make it and do an update. But for now check out this idea...very cool for the moms that work, men that don't cook, or just the all around busy busy person.

Here's her recipes and all the info she sent me:

The intention is to fill the bags with more veggies than carbs. I always make a big salad before with whatever dressing, fat or no fat, and then one of the bags. Daniel is doing really well with these. I just take one hour and make a ton of them and freeze them. I mix up and add or take away so each bag is different. I add full sugar/fat sauces. But you can add spices so that there is barely any additional fat or sugar added. Get creative in the spice section, salt/pepper, curry, lemon/pepper, chili pepper, cinnamon, taco seasoning, you name it. Replace veggies with ones you like if you don't prefer the ones I put. Add nuts too! Each box of medium steam fresh bags have ten each in them (you can find them by the ziploc bags)

Sweet and Sour Chicken:

divide chicken and veggies into 4 portions and put into each bag seperately

1 pound skinless/boneless chicken strips diced
1 can pineapple1 red or green bell pepper diced
1 white onion diced
1 jar of sweet and sour sauce (just put 1 to 2 tablespoons in each bag)
1 bag of Uncles Bens 90 second rice

Teriyaki Chicken and Asparagus:

1 pound skinless/boneless chicken strips diced
1 stalk of asparagus
1 carton of mushrooms
1 onion diced
1 can water chestnuts
Garlic (1-2 cloves per bag)
1 jar of teriyaki sauce (1 to 2 tablespoons in each bag)
1 bag of Uncle Bens 90 second rice

Curry Lamb:

4 lamb steaks (cheap at Bashas,like $2 a piece)
1 small bushel fresh mint (put 3-4 leaves in each bag)
1 tablespoon curry spice
1 Garlic (1-2 cloves per bag)
1 carton of portobello mushrooms
1 zuchinni sliced
1 onion diced
1 bag of Uncle Bens Basmati 90 second rice

Steak and Asparagus:

4 medium sized steaks
1 Garlic (1-2 cloves per bag)
1 onion diced
1 carton mushrooms
1 stalk of asparagus
2 white potatoes diced
1 bag baby carrots
salt/pepper to taste

Buffalo Chicken:

1 pound diced chicken
1 bottle buffalo marinade (1 to 2 tablespoons per bag)
one onion diced
2 white potatoes cubed

Fajitas Fun:

1 pound stir fry beef
1 onion sliced in circles
1 red or green bell pepper
1 jalepeno (if your brave enough)
one pack taco seasonings
one 90 second bag of spanish rice
with or without a pack of tortillas you have fajitas

Honey Mustard Salmon:

1 large salmon sliced into fours
Honey Mustard (1-2 tablespoons to bag)
1 scallion diced
1 garlic (1-2 cloves per pack)
1 yellow squash sliced
1 carton white mushrooms
one pack gnochi

Beef and Broccoli:

1 pound stir-fry beef sliced
1 onion
1 garlic minced
1 stalk broccoli
1 can water chestnuts
1 bag baby carrots
teriyaki or soy sauce to taste
one bag 90 second brown rice

Chicken Tortellini:

1 pound chicken strips
1 onion
1 garlic
1 can spaghetti sauce (2-3 ts per bag)
1 carton portobello mushrooms
1 bag shredded cheese(put a small handful in the bag, or after you cook it)
1 zuchinni diced
1 medium bag frozen cheese tortellini or ravioli

Each Bag States on the front how long each piece takes. I do between 5-7 minutes for each one. You have to live and learn, depending on how your microwave is, your portions sizes ect. If it isnt cooked, put it back in for 2 minutes and you are golden.

Sheridan with her son Carter

Thanks Sheridan...great idea!!!

Loco Moco a treat from Hawaii

I use to semi-live in Hawaii and 2 years ago or so, Bart, Triston and I spent an amazing week there. Just like any place we visit, we love, LOVE hitting up the hole in the wall restaurants. On the way to ride horses in the mountains of Hawaii, we stopped at this dive for brunch and I ordered one of the best Loco Moco's I've ever had in my life.

This dish consist of only 4 ingredients and is divine when you can't think of what you want for dinner and you want something easy yet filling and something the entire family would like.

Ingredients for a family of 4:

4 hamburger patties (make them the way you would make a grilled hamburger)

3-4 cups of cooked white rice

brown gravy (I used the packet to save on time)

4 eggs (fried)

Make your patties thin and cook them in a pan or grill. Cook your white rice, fry your eggs and make your gravy. Once that is all done, it's time to assemble.

First put a good amount of white rice on the plate.

Add your egg.

Now add your hamburger patty and cover with brown gravy.

It was so good, look at how my son ate the entire Loco Moco!

Grilled Steak with Mustard Sauce

This was so easy and so tasty. Very simple sauce you can make in less than 5 minutes and you will feel like you are eating at a 5 star restaurant. It tastes that fancy. And trust me, it's delish!

Grilled Steaks

(check my previous post on how

to make the perfect simple grilled steak)

1/2 cup beef broth or water

2 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled

1 tablespoon coarse-grain Dijon mustard

1 tablespoon butter

Pour broth into skillet or small saucepan. (I used the same pan I cooked the bacon in and just discarded the grease...it left a small residual amount of grease which I'm sure was great for flavor). Add bacon and mustard, stirring to combine. Bring to a boil. Whisk in butter until blended. Serve sauce over steak.

This sauce was just enough for me, Scott and Sydney. You might have to double or triple the recipe if making for several people.

Roy's Grilled Steak

The steak in this picture had a little too much marbling of fat for me (I'm trying to lose weight) and it's not near as moo-ing as I like (I like really really red)...so this particular steak went to one of the kiddies.

My father in law Roy is known for his famous grilled steaks. What he does is so easy yet so yummy! I really do feel like grilling is an art that takes years to perfect. Roy has definitely perfected this fine art of grilling. My hubby Scott is second best by far...(well as far as I have tasted).

Now I know there are several ways to marinate or grill a steak, but I have to say there is no steak like a "ROY" steak. We have been following Roy's lead ever since he came up with this concoction. Try it out...you will not be disappointed.

The two ingredients involved are Lawry's Meat Tenderizer and Kikkoman Teriyaki Marinade and Sauce.

We usually buy New York Strip but Scott's favorite is Ribeye. We pretty much stick to Ribeye, Top Sirloin or New York Strip. Place steaks in a dish or pan. Sprinkle the tenderizer lightly over the steaks.

Using a fork, poke several holes all over the top.

Then pour a generous amount of the Teriyaki Marinade over the steaks.

Let the steaks sit for at least 30 minutes or up to several hours. Either way, you're going to come out with a pretty darn good steak. They are moist and tender and have a ton of flavor.

Make sure your grill is nice and hot when you put the steaks down. That will give them a good sear. Depending on thickness, the time will vary. We like our steaks practically mooing so we only leave ours on for about 3 1/2 minutes on each side. I like the criss cross grill marks so I will quickly toss it back on each side and turn it a quarter turn just enough to sear the marks into the steak. That's how you gets those pretty grill marks.

We always serve grilled veggies with our steaks. I will be posting about those soon. Stay tuned!

The "South Beach" Sandwich

I should be on the South Beach diet, the Atkins Diet, the Zone, the Life Choice, Weight Watchers, the Dr. Phil Diet....the "I feel for ya Oprah" Diet, but I'm not. I'm not dieting yet because I can't even make it to the grocery store let alone nap during the day to make up for the hours I'm awake during the night feeding our daughter. I should be motivated by the fact that Jaime (my BBFF) and my little sister, Crystal are on the South Beach Diet but I'm not, remember I said before that I'm TOO TIRED??!! So, I named this yummy dish the South Beach Sandwich because I'm pretty sure you can't eat it and I dedicate it to the DBFF's Jaime and Crystal.


1-2 lbs of Ribeye, shaved (ask the butcher, he'll do it for free)
sliced mushrooms, I buy the prepackaged sliced shrooms to cut down on prep time
red onion, slided
cheese dip
worcestershire (1/4 cup)
hoagie bread
butter

I buy the ribeye at Albertsons becaues the butcher will shave it for free. I take the meat and pull it apart in smaller peices before adding the worcestershire marinade.

Add the worcestershire sauce and let sit at room temp for 10-15 minutes before cooking.

Throw into a hot pan and cook until all the pink is gone.

(This is what the meat should look like before you add the onions and shrooms).

Move the meat aside and add the onions and shrooms and cook until tender.

Now mix them all together.

I like to toast my bread on a hot pan on the stove with some butter before adding the Cheese Whiz. Pile high the meat mix and enjoy! It's tasty!

-Lots of good eats

Jenifer

Beef Kebabs With Peanut Dipping Sauce

I got this recipe out of the South Beach Diet cookbook (I'm not sure I'm allowed to publish it on this blog but I'm going to until someone tells me differently). First let me say, HOLY SMOKES!..This was one tasty dish. The marinade for the meat was unbelievable and could be used for any meat in any recipe. Secondly, the peanut sauce is to die for! I ate it for 3 days with all the left over sirloin. You could eat it with a spoon just right from the pan...it's that good. I did use Splenda products in this. And to be honest, I'm not a huge fan of Splenda but until my butt gets smaller, Splenda and Stevia are my new sweetener B.F.F's. If you are not concerned about your sugar intake, then you could easily add regular sugar and brown sugar and it would be just as good.

Beef Kebabs with Peanut Dipping Sauce

1/2 cup light soy sauce

2 Tbls Brown Sugar substitute (Splenda)
2 Tbls Sugar Substitute (Splenda)
4 garlic cloves, pressed
1 1/2 lbs sirloin steak cut into 1" pieces
1/4 cup creamy natural Peanut Butter
3/4 cup water
3 Tbls lime juice
1 Tbls Ginger, finely chopped
1/4 tsp ground red pepper
1 green bell pepper, cut into squares
1 red bell pepper, cut into squares
1 large onion, cut into wedges

In a shall dish, combine half of the soy sauce, 1 Tbls of the brown sugar, 1 Tbls sugar and 2 of the pressed garlic cloves. Add the steak and stir to coat. let stand for 20 minutes, stirring once. (I put all my marinade ingredients in a freezer bag and placed my meat in there. This is how I marinate all of my meat and it works like a charm because it's easy to toss the meat around in the bag to get coated by the marinade)

Meanwhile, in a heavy saucepan over high heat, combine the peanut butter, water, lime juice, ginger, ground red pepper, the remaining half of the soy sauce, the remaining 1 Tbls brown sugar, the remaining 1 Tbls sugar and the remaining 2 cloves pressed garlic. Cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture boils. Remove it from the heat.

Coat a grill rack with cooking spray. Preheat the grill to high.

Thread the steak, peppers, and onion onto four metal skewers (I used wooden ones). Place on the grill rack and cook, turning occasionally, for 10 minutes, or until the steak is no longer pink. Serve with the peanut sauce.

Slow Cooked Roast and Gravy

I stumbled on this recipe blog, Recipe Sharing and realized that the owner of the blog not only lives in Arizona but we both know the same people and these are people that I've known for years...weird, HUH? Anyhoo, I'm glad I found it because the recipes sound DELISH! I made this roast, not only because it sounded good but also because I had all the ingredients in my pantry. This roast was AWESOME! The gravy was so amazing, I froze the remaining gravy and am going to use it for chopped beef in another recipe. My kids even loved it and when that happens, I know I've hit a home run!

Slow Cooked Roast and Gravy

1 (10 3/4-oz.) can cream of mushroom with roasted garlic soup

1 (10 1/2-oz) can condensed beef broth

1 (1-oz) envelope dry onion-mushroom soup mix

1 (3 1/2-to 4-lb) eye of round roast, trimmed

(I used top sirloin roast and it was amazing...super tender)

2 Tbsp. all-purpose flour

1 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. pepper

2 Tbsp. vegetable oil

1. Stir together first 3 ingredients in a 5 1/2 quart slow cooker.

2. Sprinkle roast evenly with flour, salt, and pepper. Brown roast on all sides in hot oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Transfer roast to slow-cooker.

3. Cover and cook on LOW 8 hours.

4. Remove roast from slow cooker, slice to serve. Skim fat from gravy in slow cooker, if desired. Whisk gravy; serve over roast.

Steak Quesadilla w/ Black Bean and Avocado Salsa

Here's another great recipe from Whitney at Rookie Cookie. This was really easy to make and was quite tasty. There are a few things I would do differently next time though. Scott wanted the grill taste so the next time we'll throw the steak on the bbq instead of cooking it in the pan. Also, being the critic that he is, Scott suggested that we cook them in a pan next time so that we can really brown the outside of the tortilla almost to the point of crunchy. These are spicy so if you want to tone the spice down, mix the pepper jack cheese with some colby or monterrey jack. And the salsa...YUMMY! Great on the quesadilla but even better with chips or right out of the bowl with a spoon.

Steak Quesadilla

1 strip steak (8 ounces and 1 inch thick) (I used thin cut sirloin)
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
3 teaspoons olive oil
4 flour tortillas (10-inch or burrito-style)
1 1/2 cups grated pepper jack cheese (6 ounces)
1 medium red onion, halved and thinly sliced (I didn't have this and I regret it now)

Rub steak with oregano; season with salt and pepper. In a 10-inch skillet, heat 1 teaspoon oil over high. Add steak to skillet, and cook, turning once, until browned and still rare, 2 to 3 minutes per side. (Steak will cook a little longer in the quesadillas during baking.)

Transfer steak to a cutting board; let rest 5 minutes before slicing 1/4 inch thick.Preheat oven to 425 degrees with racks in upper and lower thirds. Brush one side of each tortilla with remaining 2 teaspoons oil. Place 1 tortilla, oiled side down, on each of two baking sheets. Dividing evenly, layer with half the cheese, then onion and steak, ending with remaining cheese.

Top with remaining tortillas, oiled side up. (I just folded mine over). Press lightly to seal.Bake, turning over once (with a wide spatula), until lightly browned and crispy, about 7 or 8 minutes per side. Transfer to a cutting board; cut each quesadilla into 6 triangles. Serve with black bean avocado salsa.

Black Bean Salsa

1 can (15 1/2 ounces) black beans, drained and rinsed

1/2 cup cilantro, roughly chopped

2 plum tomatoes, cut into 3/4-inch pieces (I didn't have plum tomatoes so I used little grape tomatoes, it was really good)

1 avocado, halved, pitted, peeled, and cut into 3/4-inch pieces

1 tablespoon fresh lime juice

Coarse salt and ground pepper

In a medium bowl, combine black beans, cilantro, tomatoes, avocado, and lime juice; stir to combine. Season with salt and pepper.

BBQ Meatloaf

I hate all things puffy...meringue, chilli rellenos, quiche (except for Tammy's because it's so darn dense), and even meatloaf. I really don't like meatloaf. For years, I always thought it was puffy and tasted like mystery meat....kinda gross. But Scott loves meatloaf so once in a blue moon (thanks Crystal for bringing "blue moon" back), I like to sacrifice and bust out with my "stepford wife"-ness. So I searched high and low for a meatloaf recipe years ago. I found the BEST recipe but can't find it out now...uggghh. It was when www.NBA.com started and the commercial said it had everything even Penny Hardaway's mother's meatloaf. I tend not to believe what people say so I logged on and low and behold on the front page of www.NBA.com was Penny's mom's recipe. I made it!!! Oh mother...Penny's mother that is...it was DIVINE! But then again, anything encased in bacon can only be DIVINE..right? So if anybody happens to have the recipe or know the recipe, please let me know.

Okay, I'll stop rambling. Last year, I found this current meatloaf recipe on Food Network. It was a Paula Deen recipe so I knew it had to be good...fattening...but good. Actually, if you use lean meat, it's actually not to bad. I made it and I liked it. It wasn't too puffy and had great flavor. And the best part...the whole family ate it...even Gavin! WooHoo...that's a success in my book.

Barbecue Meat Loaf

1 1/2 pounds ground beef

1 cup bread crumbs

1 onion, diced

1 egg, lightly beaten

1 1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

2 (8-ounce) cans tomato sauce

3 Tbls vinegar

3 Tbls brown sugar

2 Tbls Dijon mustard

2 Tbls Worcestershire sauce

1/2 cup water, to thin sauce if necessary

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix together the beef, bread crumbs, onion, egg, salt, pepper, and 1/2 cup of the tomato sauce. Form this mixture into a loaf and place it in a shallow pan. Stir together the remaining tomato sauce, vinegar, sugar, mustard, Worcestershire and the water (if too thick)...(I actually didn't add any water because I forgot, but it turned out great). Pour this sauce over the meatloaf. Bake for 1 hour, basting every 15 minutes with the pan juices (I didn't baste...I don't have time for stuff like that...and it turned out fine).

We ate it all or I would have made Scott a meatloaf sandwich the next day. Those are his favorite.

Broccoli Beef

Folks, this was so easy! It took very little time and it was done in a flash. This is very similar to Pepper Steak but I think it tastes even better. I'll be honest, Scott's aunt Vicky's recipe is the best. I will try to get that one and re-post but this was pretty tasty overall. The whole family ate it. Now when I can get all 6 of us to eat the same thing in one night...SUCCESS!

Broccoli Beef


1 lb sirloin steak, sliced thinly across the grain
1 lb fresh broccoli florets (I'm sure you could use frozen, as well)
2 Tbls canola oil or any high heat cooking oil
2 cloves garlic, very finely minced or smushed thru garlic smusher
1 tsp cornstarch, dissolved in 1 Tbls water



For beef marinade:
1 tsp soy sauce
1 tsp chinese rice wine vinegar
1/2 tsp cornstarch
1/8 tsp fresly ground black pepper



For the sauce:
1/4 cup Oyster Sauce (I die for this sauce...YUMMY!)
2 tsp chinese rice wine vinegar
2 Tbls soy sauce
1/4 to 1/2 cup chicken broth

Marinate the beef: Stir together the beef marinade ingredients in a medium bowl or large baggie. Add the beef slices and stir until coated. Let stand 10 minutes.

Prepare the sauce: Stir together the sauce ingredients in a small bowl.

Blanch the broccoli: Cook the broccoli in a small pot of boiling, salted water until tender-crisp, about 2 minutes. Drain thoroughly. (I almost didn't do this part because I was running short of time, but I decided to do it and I think it makes the broccoli so yummy and crispy and stays so pretty green.)

Heat a large frying pan or wok over high head until a bead of water sizzles and instantly evaporates upon contact. Add the cooking oil and swirl to coat. Add the beef and immediately spread the beef out all over the surface of the pan in a single layer. Let the beef fry undisturbed for 1 minute. Flip the beef slices over, add the garlic to the pan and fry for an additional 30 seconds to 1 minutes until no longer pink. Pour in the sauce, add the blanched broccoli and bring to a boil. Pour in the dissolved cornstarch and cook, stirring, until the sauce boils and thickens, 30 seconds.

Enjoy!