steak night

We don't actually eat that much red meat, but sometimes...I just want steak. This was one of those nights. I had a hankering for a nice thick steak with a mess of sauteed mushrooms and onions.



I found a couple of perfectly-sized pieces of sirloin filet at the grocery store. I was a little worried about using sirloin because while it's usually very tender, it's not always that flavorful. I salted and peppered both sides of each steak lightly, then put them in a ripping hot stainless steel frying pan. The steak cooked for 3 minutes on one side, and about 3 minutes on the other, and came out medium-rare. I pulled the steaks out and set them aside on a plate, then deglazed the pan with half a cup or so of chardonnay I had hanging around in the fridge. I know, I know, red wine goes with red meat, blah blah, but trust me on this one. I added a sliced onion and a cup or so of sliced button mushrooms, and turned the heat down a little. I let the onion and mushrooms simmer until the onions were mostly soft, then added a tablespoon of butter and stirred to melt and combine.

I served the steak and onion / mushroom mixture with a side-salad of spring mix and grape tomatoes tossed with vinaigrette. The steaks came out very nicely - tender and juicy, and with pretty decent beef flavor as well. As for the onions and mushrooms - it was quite easily the best batch I've ever had. I could have eaten a whole plate of just those. Writing about them makes me want them all over again!

birthday dinner

My birthday fell on a Wednesday this year, so it wasn't really an ideal occasion to go out to eat. Instead, I made an epic batch of my favorite tomato sauce and we had a celebratory spaghetti feast! Sorry for the blurry picture. It smelled too good to spend much time adjusting the camera!



The pasta sauce is very quick and simple. I cooked up 4 links of Italian sausage, drained most of the fat, then added a chopped onion, a chopped green bell pepper, and some minced garlic. I let the mixture cook until the onions and peppers softened a little, about 3-4 minutes, then added a can of chopped San Marzano tomatoes with their juice. I added a pinch of salt, two pinches of sugar, a couple teaspoons of dried oregano and a teaspoon of dried thyme, and let the sauce simmer while I cooked my pasta. As soon as the pasta was done, I drained it and spooned the sauce over the top. I added a side-salad, a glass of beer, and voila! Birthday feast!

chicken and biscuits

Chicken and biscuits is one of my all-time favorite Sunday meals. I like nice clean flavors, so my version is very simple - just celery, carrots, potatoes, peas, onions, chicken thigh meat and a gravy made of chicken stock, some butter, flour and black pepper. I do sometimes cheat and use Bisquick for my biscuits, but that's just between you and me. ;)

holiday goodies

I've been really busy making goodies for various holiday functions lately. I haven't even had time to take pictures of everything - there were caramels and English toffee, a really cool cheese platter, and I even took a stab at making crackers, although that didn't go so well.

I did manage to get a picture of the peanut brittle I made, which came out super fantastic! It's so easy to make - it just takes a little patience.



Here are some coconut macaroons, as well. I don't put as much sugar in them as the recipe calls for because the coconut is sweet enough as it is. When they bake, they get really nicely toasty and crunchy on the outside, but stay creamy and soft inside. So yummy!

thai peanut noodles with chicken

So. Yummy!

I made a sauce of peanut butter, soy sauce, a little honey, garlic, grated fresh ginger, Sriracha (I only used a teaspoon of it because Mark can't eat really hot stuff), and chicken stock. I let it thicken a little while I cooked some linguine noodles (I couldn't find udon) in salted water. My husband insists on meat in most dinners, so I very thinly sliced some chicken breast and stir-fried it in some canola oil quickly. I drained the noodles, then tossed them with the sauce and chicken, and topped them with chopped peanuts, cilantro, green onions, and lime wedges. We squeezed the lime over the noodles and mixed it all up before eating it. It was really quick, very tasty, and relatively healthy. And, more importantly, it was something very different from what we usually have. I'll definitely make this again, especially now that I have the Sriracha hanging around in the fridge.

baked ravioli

The idea of baked ravioli, coupled with the picture of lovely toasted bubbly cheese that this recipe painted totally seduced me. I was a slathering, cheese-craving mess by the time I got done reading it. Must...make...the ravioli, I thought. So, I gave the recipe a try...and while the results were certain edible, I have to say that for the amount of work that went into making it, I feel I'd have been better off just making lasagna.



The recipe called for frozen ravioli, and basically you just parboil it, combine it with sauce, top it with cheese, and bake it. Easy-peasy, right? Yeah, if you like jarred marinara sauce...which I don't. So, I ended up making a batch of sauce to go on the ravioli and adding about 40 minutes to the whole process by the time it was all said and done. Like I said - it was tasty enough, but for probably less money and the same amount of time and effort, I could have made lasagna and probably been happier.

stuffed peppers

One of my husband's most favorite meals is stuffed peppers. They're a little bit of work, but they're worth it...and it's a good make-ahead type meal.



I try to find 4 green bell peppers that are all relatively the same height and that stand fairly level on their own. I cut the tops off, core them, and rinse out the seeds, then they go top-down in the steamer for 5 minutes to soften. I remove them and set them aside in the casserole dish I'm going to bake them in, and then work on my filling. I use ground turkey in my filling, but it would work just as well with ground pork or beef, or even no meat at all. Sometimes I also add black beans, which is yummy as well. I usually use a large can of crushed San Marzano tomatoes in the filling, as well as a can of chopped tomatoes with their juices, and I use (pre-cooked) brown rice. Everything gets mixed together: meat, tomatoes, rice, along with some oregano and thyme, salt and pepper. I spoon the mixture into the peppers, and any extra filling I have, I spoon into the pan around the peppers to help hold them up as they bake. I sprinkle either some shredded mozzarella or cheddar cheese on top of the stuffed peppers, and they bake in a 400 degree oven for about 35-40 minutes. Sometimes they need a quick trip under the broiler to brown the cheese on top just before serving.