Steak Kabobs

I have really been enjoying being able to cook on the grill. This last meal I cooked was completely by myself with no help from Emi and the steak ended up being cooked perfect!!! It still had a bit of red in it and was moist and flavorful. I changed this just a little bit from the orginal recipe. For one thing, I used 2 garlic cloves instead of just the 1 and Emi and I never use hot sauce, so I didn't want to buy any for 1/8 of a tsp. Plus, I was a little afraid that if Emi saw the hot sauce, he wouldn't even try the steak, although I'm sure 1/8 of a teaspoon wouldn't add any heat to it. Instead I added 2 T of teriyaki sauce. It turned out great!!! My vegetables of choice were red onions and green bell peppers.

STEAK KABOBS
1/3 cup lemon juice
2 T oil
2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp paprika
2 cloves minced garlic
1/2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2 T teriyaki sauce
3/4 lb steak- cubed
veggies of choice (like onion, mushrooms, peppers)

Combine first 9 ingredients. Pour 1/4 cup in a large zip loc bag. Cover and refrigerate remaining liquid. Add beef to bag and marinate at least 2 hours. Put meat and veggies of choice on skewers (soak skewers in water for 20 minutes before putting meat and veggies on them so they don't burn). Grill until desired doneness brushing with reserved liquid.

Source: Tried and True Cooking With Heidi

Beef Parmesan with Garlic Pasta and Peasant Bread

I have posted about this recipe before, but I wanted to post about it again since its way back in the archives and I didn't take a picture last time. This dish is DEFINATELY worth making. I have now made this dish 3 times and each time its just been absolutely amazing. I made this for my sister-in-law Maria for her birthday. I gave her a choice of three separate meals and she ended up picking this one. It was a big hit and my husband is especially fond of the garlic pasta.
You can see the original post here.

BEEF PARMESAN WITH GARLIC PASTA
1 1/2 pounds beef cube steak
1 onion, sliced into thin rings
1 green bell pepper, sliced in rings
1 cup Italian seasoned bread crumbs
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
4 tablespoons olive oil
1 (16 ounce) jar spaghetti sauce
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
12 ounces angel hair pasta
8 garlic cloves
1/4 cup parsley

1.Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2.Cut cube steak into serving size pieces. Coat meat with the bread crumbs and parmesan cheese. Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large frying pan, and saute 4 minced garlic cloves for 3 minutes. Quick fry (brown quickly on both sides) meat. Place meat in a casserole baking dish, slightly overlapping edges. Place onion rings and peppers on top of meat, and pour marinara sauce over all.
3.Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 30 to 45 minutes, depending on the thickness of the meat. Sprinkle mozzarella over meat and leave in the oven till bubbly.
4. While pasta is boiling, heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a frying pan and saute 4 minced garlic cloves until golden brown. Take off the heat and add parsley to the pan. Set aside until pasta is done.
4.Boil pasta al dente. Drain, and toss in olive oil, parsley, and garlic. Top with grated parmesan. Serve meat and sauce atop a mound of pasta!

HINT: make the meat ahead of time, and refrigerate over night, the acid in the tomato sauce will tenderize the meat even more. If you do this, save the mozzarella till the last minute.

With this I made a recipe that I've had sitting in my favorites probably for the last six months or so. I had never made it before because I was afraid if my husband saw this lump of dough that he would stick up his nose and not want to try it. He LOVED this bread and told me to make it ANYTIME and since it is REALLY easy... maybe I will!

PEASANT BREAD
1 pkg dry yeast
2 cups warm water
1 Tbsp sugar
2 tsp salt
4 cups flour
Cornmeal
Melted butter

Place yeast, water, sugar, and salt in bowl and stir until dissolved. Add flour and stir until well blended. Do not knead. Cover and let rise until double in size (about 1 hour). Remove dough from bowl and place in 2 rounds on a greased cookie sheet sprinkled with cornmeal. Let rise an additional hour. Brush top on dough with melted butter and bake at 425 degrees for 10 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 375 degrees and cook for an additional 15 minutes. Serve warm.

Stuffed London Broil

I got this idea from My Tasty Treasures. Unfortunately when I went to the store there wasn't any flank steak to be found, so I picked up a London Broil and hoped for the best. :-D We had one of my very best friends over for dinner last night, and she actually follows the food blog world as much as I do. She was planning to make this dish soon so it was fun to have her over to see how it turned out. I must say I had quite a bit of trouble cutting the steak in half, but it turned out great and everyone really liked it. The roasted red peppers really made the dish in my opinion, giving it a very interesting flavor. My only recommendation would be to use more cheese. Oh, and make it with flank steak instead!! :-D

STUFFED FLANK STEAK
1 Flank Steak 1 1/2 to 2 poinds
1 pkg frozen chopped spinach, thawed
1/2 cup crumbled blue cheese
1 seven ounce jar roasted red peppers, chopped
2 T. seasoned dry bread crumbs
1 egg yolk
3/4 t. garlic salt
3/4 t. ground black pepper
1 T. olive oil

1. Heat oven to 425.
2. Lay steak on work surface. Holding sharp knife parallel to work surface and starting at long side, slice flank steak in half to opposite side, without cutting all the way through. Open up the steak like a book and flatten slightly to an even thickness.
3. Squeeze liquid from spinach and discard liquid. In a medium sized bowl, combine spinach,cheese, peppers bread crumbs, egg yolk, ¼ teaspoon garlic salt, and ¼ teaspoon pepper.
4. Season steak with an additional ¼ teaspoon pepper and garlic salt. Press filling onto steak, leaving a 1 inch border on all sides. Roll up steak to enclose filling, beginning on a short side. The grain of the meat will be running from left to right. Tuck any loose filling back into ends.
5. Tie steak with cotton twine at 2 inch intervals to secure. Rub outside with oil and sprinkle with remaining ¼ teaspoon pepper and garlic salt.
6. Roast at 425 for 35 minutes, then increase heat to broil for 5 minutes, turning once. Let meat rest for 15 minutes. remove twine, slice and serve.

I served this with Crash Hot Potatoes courtesy of For The Love of Cooking.

Slow Cooker Italian Beef

After a week of some pretty intensive recipes, I decided that yesterday I was going to sit back and let my crock pot do the work for me. I did make some french bread to eat this on so I guess I didn't really take a break. You can find the french bread recipe here (or right below this post).

This was a good meal, but the recipe is suited for a bigger roast than I could find and more food than Emi and I could eat before it went bad! :-D So I altered the recipe to reflect a 2 lb roast. It was however, a little too salty for my taste, but Emi loved it! It was very tender and easy to eat. I followed the recipe exactly and only added some mushrooms about 30 minutes before it was done and I also added some sauteed green bell peppers. Yum!

(Sorry about the poor quality of the picture, I am still waiting on new batteries for my new camera! If you want to see a good representation of these yummy sandwiches, check out the link!)

Here is the unaltered recipe for a 5 lb chuck roast.

Slow Cooker Italian Beef
1 1/2 cups beef broth
1 cup water
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon onion salt
1 teaspoon dried parsley
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 bay leaf
1 (.7 ounce) package dry Italian-style salad dressing mix (such as Good Seasons brand)
1 (5 pound) chuck roast

Combine water and beef broth with salt, ground black pepper, oregano, basil, onion salt, parsley, garlic powder, bay leaf, and salad dressing mix. Whisk to combine.

Place roast in slow cooker, and pour salad dressing mixture over the meat. Cover, and cook on Low for 10 to 12 hours, or on High for 4 to 5 hours. When done, remove bay leaf, and shred meat with a fork (I did this step about 45 minutes before eating so the shredded meat had time to absorb more of the juices in the crockpot). Serve on crusty rolls with cheese, if desired.

BBQ Ribs

This is one of the easiest dinners you'll ever put together.

BBQ Ribs
Salt
Pepper
Garlic Powder
Onion Powder
Sweet Baby Ray's Honey or Original BBQ sauce (or your preferred BBQ sauce.)

1. Rub salt, pepper, garlic powder, and onion powder into ribs.
2. Place in crock pot and smother with BBQ sauce. (Fold ribs in half if you have to.)
Cook on low for 8 - 10 hours. (I usually cook mine for 9 hours)

You can use bone-in or boneless, pork or beef, ribs.

I usually serve mine with baked or mashed potatoes and another vegetable of choice.

Next Tried and True Recipe: Ranch-Style Stuffed Potatoes.

The Ultimate Beef Stroganoff

I got this from here. I think this is my favorite recipe that I have tried so far from My Kitchen Cafe. I just barely ate it and my stomach is SO full and I only ate a small serving. I probably have enough meat and sauce left for two more meals and if you know my husband, you know that is a miracle! Yum! I had one reservation about making this and that was the apple juice, when I read that I thought to myself how gross that must be, but it turned out great and there didn't even seem to be a hint of apple in it. I don't think I would change anything about this recipe. I served my beef stroganoff over fettuccine noodles.

The Ultimate Beef Stroganoff

Put in crock pot:
2-3 pounds stew meat
1 tsp. salt
dash of pepper
1 onion, sliced

Mix in a bowl and pour over meat:
¼ tsp. garlic salt
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 ½ cups beef broth or stock (made up from cubes or granules)
1 tablespoon ketchup

Cook in crockpot on low for 7-8 hours or high for 4-5 hours. When cooked make a simple roux by whisking 1/3 cup flour with enough apple juice (about 5-6 tablespoons) to make a thick but still pourable flour mixture. Whisk the roux into the crockpot and add 4 ounces sliced mushrooms.

Cook on high for 15-30 minutes. Then stir in ½ cup sour cream. Serve over pasta, rice or baked potatoes.