Steak Salad

We love steak. We love salad. So why not combine the two? Wallah, it turned out wonderful. Even my kids were impressed. What made the salad so scrumptous is that my husand cooked the steak perfectly. Still pink in the middle but the juices weren't crazy pink (I have a hard time with that). The other reason this salad came out so good was the dressing. A friend had given me a sample of a Blue Cheese vinagarette that she eats faithfully. I am not a blue cheese fan, at all, but the dressing was awesome. That's where the steak salad comes in. Gotta have blue cheese with steak, right?

KC strip steak, 2 lbs worth
Montreal Steak seasoning
3-4 eggs
1 lb asparagus
1-2 packages of Spring Baby Mix salad
grape tomatoes, red onion and croutons-all to your liking
fresh Parmesan (not much, just a little for show)
Blue Cheese vinagarette (I found it in the refigerated section of the produce)

Preheat oven to 350. Place eggs in a sauce pan. Cover with cold water. Bring to a boil. Cover and remove from heat. Let sit 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, line baking sheet with foil. Spray with PAM (I used Olive Oil PAM). Lay asparagus flat on baking sheet. Spray asparagus with PAM. Sprinkle with salt, pepper and garlic (I use McCormick pepper/garlic blend). Place baking sheet in oven. Bake for around 20 minutes or until asparagus is tender crisp and green. Not burnt.

When eggs are done, pour out boiling water and replace with cold water. When cool to touch, peel and place whole eggs in fridge to get cold until ready to slice. Preheat grill to medium high. Put steaks on the grill and cook to medium rare. Let steak sit 10-15 minutes before slicing.

While steak is resting, cut up onions, tomatoes, eggs and asparagus. Place salad greens on large platter. Top with onion, tomatoes, croutons, eggs, asapragus, and Parmesan. Slice steak and place on top of salad. Drizzle with dressing (really doesn't take much, especially with juicy steak). Serve and enjoy.

BBQ Chicken wings

Our weather has been absolutely georgeous and it's grilling time again, yay!!! So, if you have followed my blog, as boring and inactive as it is, you would know that every year I come up with a grilled chicken recipe for the Summer. This is it. I am anxious to try it with boneless and bone-in chicken breasts to see if they come out as juicy and messy as the wings were. My kids had bbq sauce from one temple to the other :)

24 wing drumettes
1/2 cup or so Italian dressing (enough to cover all wings)
1/2 lime, juiced
4 TBS honey
BBQ Sauce (we used Sweet Baby Rays Hickory and Brown Sugar)

Place thawed chicken in Ziploc bag. Squirt in rest of ingredients. Close bag and knead bag to combine ingredients and coat chicken. Let marinade for at least an hour. Grill chicken at medium/high heat. We had the grill pretty hot and it flamed up so the wings were crunchy with burnt spots (my fave). Baste with BBQ sauce towards the end of cooking time.

Queso Corn Salad

I cannot say enough good things about this salad. I love, love, love it. I could eat it everyday by itself or as a topping or as a salsa. Wonderful is what it is. Okay, I'm done! I served this on top of frozen fish sticks in a soft-tortilla with some shredded lettuce and salsa verde and my hubby couldn't get enough (my kids just had fish sticks). I can only imagine what it would be like with grilled fish or freshly battered fish. And like always, the longer it sits the better it is. I get this from a site I visit regulary www.ourbestbites.com and adapted it to my tastes.

1 bag of frozen corn or frozen roasted corn
1/2 red pepper, diced
1/2 red onion, diced
1 jalapeno, diced (de-seeded)
1/2 cup queso fresco cheese (or cotija), chopped
1 avocado, pitted, peeled and chopped
cilantro, 1/4 bunch chopped (more if you really like cilantro)
salt and pepper to taste


Dressing:
1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 TBS sugar
1/2 cup Italian dressing
juice of 2 limes

Place 1 in of water in large stock pot or dutch oven. Bring to boil. And corn, boil for 3 minutes and drain. Mix dressing together in separate bowl. Place all ingredients except avocado in large bowl, pour dressing over and mix. Refigerate at least 30 minutes, overnight is best. Add avocado right before serving.

Tip: I sprinkle my avocados with Fruit Fresh after chopping and add avocado in the beginning and it doesn't turn brown. And at my local grocery story, queso fresco cheese is located by the fancy, gourmet cheeses, not the shredded cheese aisle.

Spinach Ravioli's

My new favorite pasta. My brother-in-law made a wonderful manicotti at Christmas that was smokey and filled with spinach and mushrooms. I am usually not a manicotti fan so I decided I needed to find a way to re-create this recipe for my taste. I was planning on using just cheese raviolis and adding spinach to the sauce, but I found spinach and cheese filled raviolis. Perfect. My dish doesn't equal his by any means, but I made it easily and we loved it! I plan on making this many times. Hope you enjoy!





1-2 pkgs of refrigerated spinach and cheese raviolis (depending on how many you need, I found them at Sam's Club)
1 big can crushed tomatoes
1/4-1/2 pound double smoked bacon
glug of Cabernet or other red cooking wine
Italian Seasoning and dried basil to taste
1 TBS brown sugar
1 cup shredded mozzarella
Grated Parmesan
Parsley for garnishment, optional

Cook bacon in medium sauce pan until crispy. Remove bacon to plate, pour out most of bacon grease. Add crushed tomatoes, wine, seasonings, sugar and crumbled bacon back to sauce pan. Let simmer until ready to pour over raviolis.

While sauce is simmering, bring a big pot of water to boil. Cook raviolis according to package directions. Drain and place in casserole dish. Top with tomato sauce and coat with cheeses. Bake, uncovered for 20-30 minutes or until cheese is melted. Broil for a minute or so to brown cheese. Sprinkle with parsley for color.

Pretzel Bites

Once again, my friend Kim C. does not let me down. She had recently given me the following 2 recipes. They are party faves and although I did not get them posted for Christmas or New Years, you could make them for a Super Bowl gig.










Pretzel Bites

1 package Rhodes Texas Rolls, thawed (only thaw half bag for small event or lack of pans)
1/2 stick butter, melted
sea salt

Take a thawed roll. Cut it in four equal sections. Place dough bites on greased sheets. I placed five across and five down on large baking sheets. Cover with plastic wrap that has been sprayed with non-stick cooking spray, and let dough rise until double in size. (about 1 hour) Bring a large pot of water to a gentle boil. When dough has risen, plop about 10-15 pieces into the boiling water, tossing gently for about 45-60 seconds. Remove with slotted spoon, and place bites on towels to drain slightly. Move bites to greased baking sheets, and bake at 375 degrees for about 25-35 minutes or until done and golden brown.

Brush bites with melted butter, sprinkle with Kosher or Sea Salt. Serve with Nacho Cheese and watch them disappear.
You can also make Cinnamon and Sugar bites or Garlic Parmesan bites.






Chocolate Rolo Cookies

1 pkg Devil Food cake mix
2 eggs
1/3 cup oil
1 pkg Rolos, unwrapped

Mix cake mix, oil and eggs. Take a small ball of dough and form a ball around Rolo, covering entire Rolo. Place on greased cookie sheet and bake at 350 for 8 minutes. Sprinkle with powdered sugar. Cool on wire rack. Yields 2-3 dozen.

The cookies don't really spread much so you can place them pretty close together on cookie sheet and get them done really quickly.

Basil Chicken Lettuce Wraps

I love lettuce wraps from a local restaurant and have finally come close to their recipe. Nothing beats going to the restaurant but this will work when the craving strikes.











1 lb. ground chicken
2 carrots, chopped
1 onion chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup of chopped shitake mushrooms
1 TBS dried basil
1/2 cup chopped peanuts (I used unsalted, dry roasted)
1/4 cup Classic stir-fry sauce or more to taste (found it in Asian isle)
2 TBS wok oil or peanut oil
1 head iceberg lettuce, cored and separated

Heat wok or heavy skillet on high heat. Turn down and add oil. Add carrots, onion and garlic. Saute until fragrant, less than a minute. Add ground chicken and mushrooms. Cook thoroughly. Add stir-fry sauce, basil and peanuts. Stir until combined. Serve immediately with lettuce.
**I combined a little stir-fry sauce, soy sauce and chopped scallions for a dipping sauce. It had good flavor but a little salty. Still working on the dipping sauce.

Crock Pot Baked Potato Soup

I stumbled across this recipe and I am so, so glad I found it. It is just what the doctor ordered on this cold, December day. It tastes like restaurant style soup but without any of the work. I tweaked it to my liking so feel free to do the same. Here's what I did:









1 package frozen hash browns
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 box + 1 can chicken broth
1/4 onion, chopped
Course ground black pepper to your taste
12 oz or 1 1/2 packages cream cheese (do not use FF, it won't melt)
1/2 package real bacon bits

Combine all ingredients except cream cheese and bacon in crock pot. Cook on low for 6-8 hours or more if needed. An hour before serving, add cream cheese and bacon to crock pot. Stirring occasionally. Serve topped with scallions and cheese.

It can be made on stove-top also and takes about an hour. If you like really thick soup then go ahead and add the other 1/2 of the cream cheese.