Holy Crap I Made Something Tasty!

2011-12-04T12:23:00.001-06:00

Quick Steak!

Sometimes all you want is just a big slab of beef. It's one of the easiest and tastiest things to make, and only takes about 7 minutes.
Also, the best way to make any meats involve a well made broiler pan. When my mom met my dad, she started to learn how to cook just as I am now, and she got her hands on a Tony Broiler Pan (http://tonysbroilpan.com/). And the tradition has been passed down as a few years ago she bought my my first Tony Pant as well. I suggest this for anyone's kitchen!

Ingredients:
Top Sirloin, thawed or fresh (we usually get from Joe Caputo's for about $8/lb)
Seasoning Salt (Cajun Salt for this time)
Avocado
Dill
Lime Juice

Directions:
Preheat broiler with Broiler pan.
Cut avocado in half, season with lime juice and dill
Once oven is done preheating, spray broiler pan with Pam, or whatever you use to prevent sticking and burning. Place steaks on pan. Depending on thickness cook for 5-10 minutes.
Once finished, season with cajun salt. Let sit for about 5 minutes
SCARF IT DOWN!

Simple. Delicious. Awesome.

2011-12-01T18:42:00.001-06:00

Oy! Got home from work today and decided to do what I call a "dad snack" dinner. Way too tired and lazy for cooking tonight and the couch is mighty comfortable. Since the significant other is out for the night I could totally get away with this.

Ingredients:
10000000 lbs of Pure Lazy
1 TV
3 Small Tomatoes
2 Avocados
1 Lime (juiced)
Olive Oil
Dried Basil
Parm cheese (grated)
Sea salt
Dill

Directions:
Cut up the tomatoes into slices
wander back to the TV to snicker at a Family Guy episode you have already seen a million times
Scoop out the avocados
Salt everything to taste
Sprinkle the parm cheese and basil and olive oil on the tomatoes
spritz the avocado with the lime juice and dill
Eat! (try not to use hands as its pretty messy, unless you are way lazier than anticipated... then by all means!)

this totally looks like a hot mess....

I'm probably gonna munch on some cheese later too. So there.

2011-11-29T21:28:00.001-06:00

The famous Chili!

So a few weeks ago I submitted my chili to a cook-off atwork and it actually won! Here is the recipe for those who are interested:

Ingredients:

1 Package of Ground Turkey (Jennie-O preferred)

½ Onion (yellow used for thisrecipe)

Two cans of diced tomatoes

1 can Kidney Beans

1 can Black Beans

1 can Garbanzo Beans

1 can ButterBeanss

1 can Manwich sauce

Minced Garlic

Optional Spices: Yellow CurryPowder, Paprika, red pepper flakes, parsley, oregano, Cajun seasoning, MaltVinegar, Giardiniera, Worcestershire sauce, Famous Dave’s BBQ sauce.

Directions:
Ina large pot on the stove cook the ground Turkey until at done temperature.
Addin the onion, chopped and minced garlic (about two tablespoons).
Aftera few minutes of stirring, add in the canned beans, manwich sauce and dicedtomato cans one by one, stirring after each. Wait until heated again.
Addin the rest of the optional spices to taste. Yellow Curry Powder is the mostused spice in my recipe.
Reduce as desired.
Serve!

2011-11-28T20:13:00.001-06:00

So close to eating my foot!

After coming home today I was so excruciatingly hungry thatI didn’t think I would have enough energy for a crazy complex dinner, so I tookout the old go-to dinner, and one of our favorites: Sliced Sausage cooked on afrying pan!

Ingredients:

1 Pre-cooked sausage or kielbasa. Hillshire farms make somegood ones, we buy ours from Sam’s Club.

Frozen Broccoli (Can be fresh too, broccoli also from Sam’sClub)

Minced Garlic

Seasoning (I used Cajun Salt this time)

Sauce (Optional, I used spaghetti sauce)

Directions:

1) Cut up sausage into 1/3 inch slices, slap them on thefrying pan.

2) Pour frozen broccoli into saucepan with cover. Steam itup till tender. Add a little bit of water on the bottom to keep from burning.Toss in some Minced Garlic and seasoning of your choice for flavor

3) When sausage is all nice and heated up, add in spices andsauce of your choice. Continue heating until reduced to desired amount.

4) For fun I added some Giardiniera to the mix.

5) PLATE IT UP. EAT.

Obviously this is ridiculously easy and delicious, and canbe adjusted in any way to suit whatever flavor you are craving.

2011-11-27T20:39:00.001-06:00

So I have decided to start chronicling my adventures in mealmaking, as I used to be a huge n00b in this category but have been starting tobranch out.

To start outwith, my cooking does not involve any grains as I have been adhering to amodified Paleo Diet. It will also be as low in processed sugars as possible.

So here we go!

To start outwith I made Mashed Cauliflower! I got the idea from a dear sorority sister ofmine, and made some modifications.

1) Get acauliflower (I got mine from the local Joe Caputo's)

2) Break thatsucker up (large chunks, doesn't matter for the steaming process)

3) Put all ofit into a microwave safe container with a lid and pour a bit of water in thereto steam. Microwave for 5 minutes.

4) Drainwater, put pieces into blender/food processor (or mash by hand, whatever yougot!). I used my handy dandy cheap blender for this. Add about 1 cup of milk (Iused organic whole milk). Mash that up! Add whatever spices you please. Forthis recipe I added a spoon of hummus, spoon or two of minced garlic, cajunseasoning salt and a spoon of yellow mustard.

5) NOM NOM NOM

Second Side:Shredded Brussel Sprout salad! Can be served hot or cold!

I got thisidea from my boyfriend's sister, and again I made a variation.

1) Buy about1-2 lbs of fresh brussel sprouts. Clean them up if any have any cruddy lookingleaves on their.

2) Shred them.I used a Mandolin but you can also cut by hand, it just takes longer. Make theshreds large.

3) Also shredsome red cabbage (for flavor and pretty color!). This is optional but it cameout tasty.

4) Saute thesesuckers until they are cooked but still have a little crunch. Depending on howmuch you are making, it might take anywhere between 5-10 minutes. Add a littlebit of oil to keep it from burning (I used a little olive oil). Turn off heatwhen done.

5) peel andchop up some cucumber slices and add them in, stir.

6) Add Ricevinegar, Sesame Oil and sea salt to taste, stir again.

7) Can beserved hot or cold.

Main Course:Easy, Cheap and quick Salmon.

Normally Ilike to cook fresh Salmon, but sometimes I don't have anything fresh off hand.Sam's Club sells a 3lb bag of portioned plain salmon for about $24 (GREATDEAL!). Really useful for nights when you are too tired to make the perfectsalmon dish, and will settle for something easier but just as tasty.

1) Thaw outthe salmon portions (I usually make two) in a bowl of warm water.

2) Pan fry itup, only takes about 5-10 minutes depending on thickness of portion. You canuse any spices, sauces, whatever you want to do! Once I just poured on someFamous Dave's BBQ Sauce (Sugars, preservatives, I know, I know....) and itturned out awesome. This time I did the following:

Marinade salmon in lime juice (1 limesqueeze), 1-2 tablespoons of yellow mustard and 1-2 tablespoons of the goodmustard (I used Maille Dijon, that stuff is awesome). After cooking add somesauteed onions. I'm using some leftover onions and vinegar sauce from Seledka that I made a fewnights earlier.

Salmon and Brussel Sprout Salad (served cold)

Seledka (pronounces See-yot-ka) This was made the night before (This picture is actually from Thanksgiving)