• Grilled Polenta with Spicy Steak

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    This dish is fantastic!  Definitely tastes like something you would get at a restaurant.  The best part…it’s quick and easy.  Certainly company worthy.

    Recipe is adapted from a recipe in the June 2010 issue of Cooking Light.

    Ingredients:

    • 3 tsp. olive oil
    • 1/4 to 1/2 tsp. salt
    • 1 tsp. ground cumin
    • 1 1/2 tsp. ground chipotle chile powder (1 dried chipotle, ground)
    • 1/4 tsp. black pepper
    • 1 lb. flank steak or flat-iron steak
    • 1 (18oz) tube of polenta, cut into 8 to 10 slices
    • 1 avocado, sliced
    • 1/4 c. crumbled queso fresco
    • 2 c. pico de gallo (simply mix grape tomatoes, chopped jalapeno, chopped cilantro, garlic, salt and lime juice together)
    • Limes, quartered

    Directions:

    1. Combine 2 tsp. olive oil, salt, cumin chile powder, and pepper; rub evenly over steak.
    2. Heat grill; grill steak until done.
    3. Brush polenta with 1 tsp. olive oil.  Sprinkle with salt.  Place a piece of foil on the grill and add the polenta; cook 3 minutes on each side or until browned.
    4. Arrange sliced polenta on a plate; add steak, top with pico, queso fresco, and avocado; then squirt with lime.

    Grilled Polenta with Spicy Steak:

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  • Grandma’s Sweet and Sour Meatballs

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    Oh man do these meatballs remind me of dinners at Grandma Clark’s!  Good memories!!  I call these meatballs sweet and sour, because that’s what it reminds me of.  I’ve adapted the sauce recipe a bit more to my liking as I like a sauce (lots of sauce) with bold flavors.

    Definitely a family favorite and makes great leftovers!

    You can serve these meatballs over rice or egg noodles.

    Ingredients:

    • 2 lb. lean ground meat (I use ground turkey or chicken)
    • 2 eggs
    • 1 c. Italian seasoned bread crumbs
    • 1/2 envelope of dry onion soup
    • 1/2 tsp. salt
    • 1 tsp. dried parsley
    • 1 tsp. dried celery flakes
    • 2 c. vinegar
    • 2 c. water
    • 3/4 – 1 c. sugar (use juice of 20 oz pineapple chunks can)
    • 2 c. ketchup
    • 2 envelopes dry onion soup mix
    • 1 c. (or 1 bag) raisins or craisins (or omit and add an additional 1/2 c. sugar)
    • 1 20 oz. can pineapple chunks from above (can omit if desire)
    • Hot rice or egg noodles

    Directions:

    1. Meat: Mix meat through celery flakes together.
    2. Sauce: Combine vinegar through raisins and pineapple in a large pot.
    3. Roll meat mixture into walnut sized meatballs and place them in the pot.  Cover and simmer for 1 hour in the sauce.
    4. Serve over rice or egg noodles.

    Grandma’s Sweet and Sour Meatballs:

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  • Curried Beef

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    This crock pot dinner is really tasty, and the leftovers were delicious too.  The recipe comes from the March 2009 issue of Cooking Light. I thought the original recipe called for way too much salt, so I didn’t add the salt, other than to season the beef prior to searing it, and boy am I glad that I omitted the rest of the salt, because the dish was plenty salty.  My advice is to use the salt sparingly, because you can always add more after the dish is finished crocking.

    The recipe calls for beef short ribs, but I used just a boneless chuck roast, and it worked just fine.  If your meat cut doesn’t have a bone, then I’d reduce the cooking time.

    Ingredients:

    • 2 tsp. canola oil
    • 2 lbs. short ribs or boneless chuck roast, trimmed
    • salt and pepper
    • 1/3 c. minced shallots
    • 3 TBSP minced garlic
    • 3 TBSP minced peeled fresh ginger
    • 1/4 c.  water
    • 2 TBSP red curry paste
    • 1 can of light coconut milk
    • 1 TBSP sugar
    • 1 TBSP fish sauce
    • 1 TBSP grated lime rind
    • 1 TBSP fresh lime juice
    • Hot rice

    Directions:

    1. Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Sprinkle ribs with salt and 1/8 teaspoon pepper. Add half of ribs to pan; cook 2 minutes on each side or until browned. Place ribs in an electric slow cooker. Repeat procedure with remaining ribs.
    2. Add shallots, garlic, and ginger to pan; saute 2 minutes. Stir in 1/4 cup water and curry paste; cook 1 minute. Stir in coconut milk, sugar, and fish sauce. Add coconut milk mixture to cooker. Cover and cook on LOW 6 hours.  If using boneless chuck roast cover and cook on LOW 4-5 hours.
    3. Remove ribs from cooker; keep warm. Pour cooking liquid into a zip-top plastic bag and place bag inside a 2-cup glass measuring cup. Pour cooking liquid; let stand 10 minutes (fat will rise to the top). Seal bag; carefully snip off 1 bottom corner of bag. Drain drippings into a small bowl, stopping before fat layer reaches opening; discard fat. Stir in lime rind and juice, taste and adjust seasoning, if necessary. Shred rib meat with 2 forks; discard bones. Serve sauce over ribs and rice.

    Curried Beef:

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  • Crock Pot Turkey Chili

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    This chili is so delicious.  It can be made completely on the stove or once assembled it can be simmered away in the crock pot.  I used my crock pot, and this chili is awesome.  It is thick and hearty and delicious.  I used ground turkey, but you could certainly use ground chicken or beef.

    Ingredients:

    • 1 medium onion, chopped
    • 1 TBSP vegetable oil
    • 4 garlic cloves, chopped
    • 1 lb. ground turkey
    • 2 TBSP chili powder (I used 1 TBSP chili powder and 1 TBSP ancho chili powder
    • 2 tsp. ground cumin
    • 3 TBSP  tomato paste
    • 5-6 dark chocolate Hershey kisses
    • 3 (14-oz.) cans of chili ready tomatoes diced tomatoes (2 cans fire roasted tomatoes and 1 can of Mexican stewed tomatoes)
    • 1 (16-oz.) can red kidney beans, rinsed and drained
    • 1/2 c. water
    • Top with shredded cheese

    Directions:

    1. Saute chopped onion in hot oil in a large Dutch oven or skillet over medium-high heat 5 minutes or until tender; add garlic, and saute 1 minute.
    2. Add turkey, chili powder and cumin, cooking for 8 minutes or until meat crumbles and is no longer pink.  Then add the tomato paste, and cook 2 minutes. Add chocolate, tomatoes, beans and water, stir to combine.
    3. Stove top recipe: Bring mixture to a boil and cover, reduce heat to low, and simmer, stirring occasionally, 30 minutes. Top with shredded cheese.
    4. Crock pot recipe: add everything to your crock pot.  Cook on high for 2 hours (more time won’t hurt it) or on low for 4 hours (more time won’t hurt it). Top with shredded cheese.

    Crock Pot Turkey Chili:

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  • Quick Reuben Sandwiches

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    Here’s another really tasty recipe for quick Reuben sandwiches.  To me what makes this sandwich is the homemade thousand islandish dressing.  It’s easy, so don’t skip that step.

    Thousand Island Dressing Ingredients:

    • 1 c. mayo
    • 1 c. ketchup
    • 1/2 c. sweet pickle relish (I only had hot dog relish which is a mix of mustard and relish)
    • 1 TBSP sugar

    Sandwiches:

    • Rye bread
    • Butter
    • Leftover corned beef, sliced and heated
    • sour kraut
    • Swiss cheese
    • Thousand island dressing

    Directions:

    1. Thousand Island Dressing: mix all ingredients together in a bowl.
    2. Sandwiches: take a slice of rye bread, add corned beef, sour kraut, swiss cheese, and some dressing.  Top with rye bread.  Butter the top of the bread and put the sandwich butter side down in a hot skillet.  Cook until bread is browned.  Add some butter to the now top of the sandwich and flip it over and cook until browned.

    Quick Reuben Sandwiches:

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  • Quick Steak Taco Dinner

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    Here’s a tasty menu for a quick weeknight dinner.  Top tacos with Mango Salsa and serve with Los Tios Mexican Rice.

    Ingredients:

    • 1 flank steak
    • lime juice to marinate
    • salt
    • pepper
    • garlic powder
    • onion powder
    • ground ginger

    Directions:

    1. Combine all ingredients in a dish or zip top bag and marinate for 30 minutes.  Grill until desired doneness.

    Serve:

    Quick Steak Taco Dinner:

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  • Cook Off Chili

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    This chili is solid.  I found the recipe and the always tasty fashionably foodie.  You can cook on the stove-top or in the crock.  It was also really good the next day on a taco salad with creamy jalapeno dressing.

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    Ingredients:

    • 4 cans kidney beans, undrained (I used 2 cans)
      or 1 pound dried kidney beans, soaked overnight and cooked until tender, with cooking liquid
    • 1 lb. ground beef (I used turkey)
    • 1/2 large onion, chopped
    • 1 green bell pepper or jalapeno, chopped
    • 2 TBSP chili powder
    • 2 TBSP brown sugar
    • 2 quarts tomatoes with juice (or two big 28 oz cans)
    • 1 big (15 oz) can tomato sauce
    • 3/4 tsp. salt
    • 1/2 tsp. pepper
    • 1 tsp. basil
    • 1/8 tsp. allspice (the secret ingredient!)
    • 1 bay leaf (I used more because mine weren’t that fresh)
    • Grated cheese

    Directions:

    1. In a large stockpot, cook ground beef/turkey, onion, and green pepper and/or jalapeno till meat is brown. Drain fat. Stir in undrained tomatoes, kidney beans, tomato sauce, chili powder, basil, salt, sugar, pepper, allspice and the bay leaf. Bring to a boil, reduce heat. Cover, simmer at least 45 minutes, until reduced and thickened, or cook in Crock Pot on LOW for 3-5 hours (for the crock pot, omit juice from one jar of tomatoes.) taste before serving, add a sprinkle of salt or sugar as needed.
    2. Top with cheese.

    Cook Off Chili:

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  • Beef BBQ Sandwiches with Slaw

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    Here’s another excellent BBQ beef sandwich cooked in the crockpot.  The recipe is from Taste of Home.
    Ingredients:

    • 1 3 lb. boneless chuck roast
    • 1 c. BBQ sauce
    • 1/2 c. apricot preserves
    • 1/3 c. chopped green or red pepper
    • 1 small onion, chopped
    • 1 TBSP dijon mustard
    • 2 tsp. brown sugar
    • Cole slaw
    • Buns

    Directions:

    1. Spray your crockpot with cooking spray.  Cut the roast into quarters, and add the meat to the crock.
    2. In a bowl, combine the bbq sauce, preserves, green pepper, onion, mustard, and brown sugar; then pour mixture over roast.
    3. Cover and cook on LOW for 5 hours, or until meat is tender.
    4. Remove meat from crock and thinly slice. Serve on buns with slaw.

    Beef BBQ Sandwiches with Slaw:

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  • Korean Short Ribs

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    I found this most delicious recipe at Blisstree.com.  Heather’s photo is soooo much better than mine, but since I loved the dish so much, I didn’t want to wait until I made it again to try taking a better photo.

    Not only is this a crock pot dish, but it is company worthy…yes you heard me right…I would certainly serve this dish to company!

    Ingredients:

    • 1/2 c. soy sauce
    • 1/2 c. packed light brown sugar (you can scale it down to 1/3 c)
    • 2 TBSP sesame oil
    • 2 TBSP rice vinegar
    • 2 TBSP minced fresh ginger (I probably used closer to 1/4 c.–love ginger)
    • 4 cloves of crushed garlic
    • 1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes
    • 2 lbs. boneless beef short ribs or boneless country ribs
    • 3 TBSP cornstarch
    • 3 TBSP cold water
    • Sesame seeds
    • Green onion, chopped (we didn’t have any)
    • Rice

    Directions:

    1. Mix soy sauce, sugar, oil, vinegar, ginger, garlic and red pepper in a small bowl.  Place ribs in crock pot and then add the sauce.
    2. Cook on low for 5 hours or until meat is tender (if you use ribs on the bone, then cook longer).  Remove meat and place on platter.
    3. Mix cornstarch and water in a small bowl. Turn crock to high and add cornstarch mixture.  Bring to boil to allow sauce to thicken.
    4. Plate: rice, ribs, sauce, green onions, and sesame seeds

    Korean Short Ribs:

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  • Coconut Beef Curry

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    Not a great picture, but are there really any good pictures of Indian curry dishes?  Despite the picture, this is an excellent Indian inspired crock pot beef curry.  I don’t say this often, especially with regards to a crock pot meal, but this dish is company worthy…especially if the company loves a deliciously spicy (or not if you choose not to add the spice) curry.

    Ingredients:

    • 1 can of light coconut milk
    • 1 lime, juiced
    • 4 garlic cloves, minced
    • 2 inch pieces of ginger, grated
    • 2 tsp. brown sugar
    • 2 tsp. curry powder
    • 2 tsp. ground cumin
    • 1 tsp. ground coriander
    • 1 tsp. crushed red pepper (or less if desired)
    • 1 tsp. salt
    • 1 onion, roughly chopped
    • 2 potatoes, 1 inch cubes
    • 1 lb. very lean stew meat
    • 1 c. peas
    • Hot rice, peanuts, and cilantro

    Directions:

    1. Combine coconut milk through salt in the crock pot; then add onion, potatoes, and stew meat and toss to coat.
    2. Cook on Low for 4 1/2 hours or until meat is tender.
    3. Add cooked peas.
    4. Serve over rice and garnish with peanuts and cilantro.

    Coconut Beef Curry:

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