Steak chimichurri with grilled garlic bread and grilled tomatoes

 Ingredients:

1 1/4 lbs shoulder center steak (ranch steak) or top sirloin about 1 1/4 inches thick

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

Season steak and grill until desired doneness. Let sit 5 minutes and then slice into strips.





Grilled Bread:
Crusty Bread
Olive oil
Minced Garlic

Combine minced garlic and olive oil. Brush both sides of bread and grill 2-3 minutes until you have good grill marks.

 Like so.

 Grilled Tomatoes:

4 Large tomatoes
Olive oil
Salt (optional)


Slice tomatoes and squeeze gently to remove some of the juices. Brush with olive oil and grill until warm, but still retaining shape (about 10 minutes)

 Chimichurri sauce:
1/3 cup packed fresh Cilantro
1/3 cup packed fresh Italian Parsley
3 Tbs. Olive Oil
1 Lg Clove Garlic
1 Tbs Red Wine Vinegar
1 Tbs Water
1/4 tsp Red Pepper Flakes
1/4 tsp salt

Mix all ingredients in a food processor. Spoon over cooked steak.

Enjoy!

Recipe from Ellie Kriegers Cookbook,"So Easy"

3 Packet Pot Roast

Ingredients:
Brown Gravy Mix
Ranch Dressing Mix
Italian Dressing Mix
Onion (Optional)
Baby Carrots
Potatoes
1/2-1 cup water
Oh yeah, and a roast. I usually use a rump roast, with a nice thick layer of fat (trust me)


This recipe is really complicated so you're gonna want to pay attention.


Slice onion and lay on the bottom of your crock pot.

Unwrap your roast and set on top of the onions, fat side up.

Not unwrapping it may lead to a big disappointment at dinnertime. You've been warned.

Open all 3 packets and mix together in a separate bowl. Pour over top of roast.

Add Potatoes, carrots and a 1/2-1 cup water (The recipe I had called for 1/2, I always do 1 full cup)





Cover roast and cook on low for about 7-8 hours.

This is the only roast recipe I have done that always turns out this moist and flavorful. If it doesn't work for you, I would recommend giving up cooking and hiring a personal chef.


If you want to make gravy, you can just strain the juice to get the junk out of it and then you're on your own. I am not a gravy connoisseur, so you'd better go call your mother.

Enjoy!
Recipe adapted from "Lick the Bowl Good"

Better than sex cake (Scandalous recipe!)

 Ingredients:  Devils Food Cake
(eggs, oil, water)
Sweetened Condensed Milk
Cool Whip
Large Symphony Bar with Toffee and Almonds


First off, don't tell your mother what the name of this cake is. She'll most likely embarrass you by making you tell your bishop what its called when he comes over for dinner when you're 13.
I'm guessing.





Bake the Devils food cake as directed. If you can't figure that out, you have no business making this cake.

When the Devils Food cake is done, take it out and let cool completely. Then take a candle (or pen lid) and poke holes all over the cake.

Take this beauty.......

....and pour it all over the cake. Try to get it inside the holes so it soaks through the cake. Sometimes I get an extra can of the sweetened condensed milk and use about half of it so the cake gets completely saturated in ooey gooey-ness. After its all spread over the cake, cover and put in the fridge for 4 hours or overnight.

Chop up your Symphony bar and stir it into the cool whip. I just use a regular sized tub of cool whip. Refrigerate for later.

This is the goodness that happens after overnight refrigeration. Ignore my ugly countertop.

Put a dallop of candy cool whip on top and enjoy!
I'll let you decide for yourself what this cake is better than ;)

Bacon, Leek and Tomato Spaghetti

Ingredients: 

1 lb thin Spaghetti, 

Extra Virgin Olive oil, 

3 Leeks,

6 slices bacon, 

minced garlic, 

3 cans Italian diced tomatoes 

(or whole tomatoes and just

smash them...you could pretend its

someone you don't like)

Basil, Parsley,

Parmesan Shavings

   Mad props to my guest photographer, (my 8 year old) Elaine! She loves taking pictures for me.....          she is a foodie photographer in the making.

Chop the root end off your leeks and peel off the outer layer. Slice the leeks down the middle, and then slice into small strips. Put leeks into a medium bowl and fill it with cold water and soak.

We really like bacon. It makes us happy. I know the recipe says 6 slices, but we do a whole package. Its about 12 slices. Center cut is the best bacon ever. It doesn't make too much grease, but just enough for this recipe.

Dice it up

Toss it into a large skillet with some evoo. Make it big. This recipe will fill up the whole thing. cook until bacon is a little crispy.









While the bacon is cooking, you'll want to separate the leeks layers. They are kinda like onions, but when they grow, they get dirt in between the layers. You want to kind of make a clothes washer agitator motion with your hand and get all that dirt out of them. I know, that sounds weird. Humor me.

When they're all pulled apart and clean, take a clean dish towel and lay it out on the counter. Pull the leeks out of the water with your hands (look at all the dirt in that water. Gross.) and spread them out over the towel. Lay another clean towel over the top and pat dry.

This is how you want your bacon/olive oil to look. Now you're not going to drain any grease. You want that bacon flavoring in the sauce. If you used Center cut, it won't be a lot anyway.


Ummm.....you may want to start your pasta water. I really hope you know how to cook pasta. Cook pasta to Al Dente.

Add a couple teaspoons minced garlic to your bacon. If you really like garlic (as I do) you can put more.


And more. 

A little more than that.

Okay. That's enough.
Oh yeah, now add the leeks to your bacon-y goodness. Simmer 3 minutes or so until the leeks are good and wilted.

Italian diced tomatoes.

These are tricky to find. The can may not say "Italian", it may just say, "Basil, Garlic & Oregano". Same thing. Buy it. Buy a bunch. You'll make this again. If you only find Italian Whole tomatoes, just mash them up in the pan.







Dump 3 cans of it into your skillet and mix it up.

Now add your perfectly cooked pasta. Take a food grabber thingy like mine, and go ahead and mix it in. Just like this. Keep doing it for about 3 minutes until the noodles are all saturated with the sauce.....

I didn't in this picture, but you can also throw in some basil leaves and mix them in (Wal-mart was out that day)
Cut up some fresh Parsley and sprinkle it over the top.

Add Parmesan shavings. I love Parm shavings. This is not the same with powdered Parmesan. Trust me. Shredded is not bad, but try to go for the shaved. It sounds dumb but it matters.


Enjoy! This serves quite a few people. My family of 5 eats a ton and we still have lots left for lunch the next day.


This recipe is adapted from Rachael Ray.

Orange Chicken

This recipe is really messy to make, but sooo good. I didn't want to risk getting my camera all gooey, so I'm just gonna give you the link to it on Annies Eats.
 
My 6 year old is a huge fan of Panda Express Orange Chicken, but she didn't like this. I see that as a good sign. She said it was too "orangey". Whatever. Its was amazing. Make it. Right now. Or tomorrow. Let me know what you think. Serve with rice.

Crockpot Chicken Tortilla Soup (EASY RECIPE)

 Okay, so admittedly there are no tortillas in this soup. But that is truly the name of it. Call it whatever the heck you feel like calling it.

Ingredients: 
3 frozen chicken breasts
2 (15 oz) cans of blackbeans, drained
2 (15 oz) cans of stewed tomatoes
1 cup medium salsa (I used Pace Picante, but I bet it  would be awesome with fresher stuff)
1 can corn, drained
1 can tomato sauce
I also rinsed the corn and beans to get a little less sodium in there. You won't miss it at all.


Throw everything into your crockpot and cook on low until chicken is done (recipe says 8 hours, but my crockpot cooks fast)
When chicken is done, scoop it out and shred it.
(Tip: Put it in a medium bowl and mix with a hand mixer. Its shredded perfect in literally 5 seconds)

 Put shredded chicken back in the crockpot for a half hour or so.

Serves.....a whole lotta people. I would guess 6 -7 adults.


Top with Tortilla (there they are) chips, cheese and sour cream.

"Healthy" Chocolate Chip Cookies......don't be frightened

A far cry from my normal fare, these are actually healthy. Or as healthy as a chocolate chip cookie can be. I admit, I have been off sugar for 2 weeks today (with one discrepancy on girls night out), so these may taste better to me because of that. Any-who, they are a great "clean eating" recipe for satisfying the sweet tooth. Just make them under supervision, they are still 110 calories apiece :)




Almond Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 cup Almond Butter
3/4 cup Sucanat  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sucanat
1 large egg
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp sea salt
3 oz DARK chocolate (70% cocoa or greater), broken into small pieces






Preheat oven to 350. In a medium bowl, stir first five ingredients until blended. Stir in chocolate.


Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls onto parchment paper-lined baking sheets. Bake for 10-12 minutes. Let cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes, then for 15 minutes on wire rack