Cooking Experiences & Recipes

Healthy Energy Boosting Pasta!!!

2010-01-03T22:40:00.000-08:00

This pasta recipe is from the Food Cooking Network. John has begun working out and thought it'd be great to make him food that helps boost energy! Its a very yummy, light and healthy dish. The ingredients you'll need are:

Scallopini Style Turkey Breasts (this just means THINLY sliced pieces of turkey breasts)
Garlic infused Olive Oil OR Garlic and Olive Oil
Basalmic Vinagarette
Package of penne pasta or pasta of your choice
1 Bundle of Asparagus

Take the thinly sliced turkey pieces and put them in a big ziplock. Add salt & pepper. Add 1/4 cup of basalmic vinagarette, 1/4 cup of the garlic infulsed olive oil OR 1/4 cup of olive oil and a few cloves of garlic chopped up then close and mix around so the marinade coats all of the meat. Let it sit during the rest of the cooking so the marinade with soak into the turkey.

Ok, to prep your asparagus...grab the ends of the asparagus. Slowly bend it and where it breaks is where you need to cut all the others at. Throw away the end. Then cut them all into one inch pieces.

Bring a pot of water, bring to a boil and cook the pasta as directed. In the last 2 minutes of the pasta cooking...throw the asparagus pieces in and let them cook.

Before you drain the pasta take about a half of a cup of the water out and put it aside. Then drain it all.

Next cook the turkey breast pieces. Shouldnt take more than a minute or two on each side just depending on how thin the turkey is.

In the pot you cooked the noodles in....put garlic infused olive oil or olive oil and garlic. If you do olive oil and garlic heat it and stir around for a while so the garlic flavor goes into the olive oil. Then add the pasta and asparagus to the pot.

Cut the turkey into small pieces and add to big pot.

Then you can add salt, pepper, basalmic, and olive oil as you please so that it is coated and tastes yummy. Then ENJOYYY!!!!!!!!!!!! You can eat it hot or cold.

Cooking STEAKS!!!! Of any kind....

2009-12-21T18:48:00.000-08:00

Ok, so here is my FAVORITE way to cook steaks......I found a similar recipe online and made it my own...and it was originally for sirloin. BUT, I have done the same with T-bones, ribeyes, shoulder steak and more. SUPER EASY!!!

Turn oven on Broil HIGH!

Take your broiler pan (comes with ovens, or buy a new one...recently found out its a MUST HAVE) cover the bottom 'drip pan' with foil for easy clean up.

Next get your steaks and rub olive oil all over each side and generously season with coarse ground black pepper, moderately salt (I use sea salt), and garlic powder.

For John's steak I chop some real garlic and push it into the meat. For mine I slice pickled jalapenos and lay them on top and pour jalapeno juice on top as well. (can you tell I love jalapenos?)

Put the tray on the bottom rack in the oven on broil for 3 minutes, flip steaks and cook 3 minutes on other side.

Move to top rack and cook 1-2 minutes on each side....depending on how you like your steak!

ENJOY! Its soooo simple and its really good! Then don't forget to get some of the juice from the drip pan to pour on top!

YUMMMY Salad!!!

2009-09-12T13:42:00.000-07:00

This salad is amazing! It's not my creation, but I remade one at home and I love it so I thought I'd share it with ya! Very simple and easy! Great with any meal.
Ingredients:

Mixed Greens

Strawberries

Blueberries

Advocado

Cherry Tomatoes

Cucumbers

Basalmic Vinagarette

Mix it all together and enjoy!!!

Stuffed Mushrooms

2009-09-06T17:41:00.000-07:00

I made these for John after seeing some behind the meat counter at the grocery store. It said 350 degrees for 30 minutes....I thought 'thats easy, why not?' I don't eat mushrooms but I know a lot of people really like them, especially the hubbers. So here is the recipe....there aren't specific amounts of anything because we didn't measure, we just dumped all sorts of stuff in them!!!

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees first!

What you will need:

Carton of regular mushrooms
Pork
Cream Cheese
Parmesean Cheese
Mozarella Cheese
Parsley
Onion (seasoning, not actual)
Basil
Minced Garlic

Italian Seasoning

Take the stems out of the mushrooms (keep them for stuffing) I also took out some of the surrounding area so more meat mix could fit.

Put pork in a mixing bowl. Mix in some of all the listed ingredients. The more the better. You can't really mess these up. Mix this all up really well, use your hands, that always works well for me. Then put the mix in little balls and work it into the mushrooms...I put a lot. Spray nonstick on your baking pan and put them in the oven...Bake them in the over for 30 minutes. Take them out and let them cool and then ENJOY!!!!!!!!!

Microwave Enchiladas!!!

2009-08-31T11:52:00.000-07:00

Ok, so if you want easy...these are for you!!! John HATES Mexican food restaurants...he thinks they are all dirty. So I have taught myself how to make my favs and he likes eating them too! Here is what you will need....

Corn tortillas (I get HEB's made fresh daily)

Rotel ( I get Regular, Jaime-you need Mild for the kiddos!)
HEB Fully Cooked Seasoned chicken breasts (they are frozen over by the meat section)
Goya Brand Salsa Verde (tall glass jar)
Shredded Monterrey Jack OR Shredded Mild Cheddar
Sour Cream

First cook the chicken in the microwave. 1 Breast will make about 4 big enchiladas. Cook about 4 minutes. You want to thaw it fully but not overcook it because it'll get dried out. Follow bag instructions (put a little water on plate with breast and cover with plastic wrap, pull one corner back).

Then take chicken breast, cut it up into little pieces. Mix rotel and cheese with chicken. I put a lot but some people don't like as much.

Warm up corn tortilla in little pan on the stove so that it doesn't break when you fold it. Put some of the green salsa on the plate, coat both sides of the tortilla, then stuff it with the chicken mix. Fold it over so that all the chicken is inside.

Then I pour some more green salsa on top and put shredded cheese over the salsa. Microwave this until the cheese is good and melted.

Put a little bit of sour cream on top and serve!

If you want to go the baking route so you can make A BUNCH at once and have it a little more flavorful you just make them the same way but instead of folding over you roll them up and put them side by side in a glass Pyrex pan. Cover the tops of them w/the green salsa and cheese and bake at like 350 until the cheese is really melted and theres some bubbles. This is better for bigger families/dinner. I do the microwave route for us for quick lunches or when I am by myself.

ENJOY!!!

~BBQ Cups~

2009-07-23T11:12:00.000-07:00

Ok, these are freaking AMAZING! I will definitely make these when we have kids....they are fun to watch 'pop up' in the oven and they're fun to eat. Until then, I'll make them for my 'Big Kid' John:) Super easy to make and they take about 30 minutes total!
Preheat oven to 300 degrees...
Here's what you'll need:
1 lb ground beef
Jardines Spicy Jalapeno BBQ Sauce
1 1/2 Teaspoon of Light Brown Sugar
Grands Buttery Biscuits (8 count package)
Shredded Cheddar Cheese

Brown ground beef and season with Garlic Powder & Pepper
Take muffin baking sheet and spray Pam/any non-stick spray in 8 of the 12 muffin spaces.
Push the buiscuits down into the holes making a large hole in the middle as to put meat all the way into the bottom.
After meat is browned add brown sugar and enough BBQ sauce to coat the meat.
Push meat down into each biscuit, stuff to the top.
Top off with shredded cheddar.
Bake 12-14 minutes. Take out of the over and let them cool.
You can dip them in BBQ sauce or just eat them!!!!!!!

I think this is my favorite thing I've made!

MiNi Cheesecakes!!!!!

2009-07-23T10:53:00.000-07:00

Alright, I didn't post this yesterday because we didn't try them until today...and I don't want to post any recipes that suck. But I almost DIED today when I tried one of these little pieces of heaven! Preheat your oven to 300 degrees..Ok here is what you'll need...
Little Keebler's miniature pie crusts...they are on the aisle w/all the baking goods. They're are 6 in a package. Get 2 packages.
2 8oz packages of Philly Cream Cheese
1 14oz can of Eagle Brand Sweetened Condensed Milk (on baking aisle as well) You'll use 1/2 of the can.
1 extra large egg
1 Tablespoon of vanilla extract.

Put the cream cheese in a mixing bowl, put in the Microwave about 15-20 seconds so its easy to beat and then beat it around in there for a little while till its fluffy.
Mix in half can of Condensed Milk till its silky.
Then mix in egg & vanilla extract.
Put even amounts of mix in all 12 miniature pie shells.
Bake for 20 minutes. Put in fridge until cooled. ENJOYYY!!! I put whipped cream on top and it was AMAZING!

Hope ya like them!

Queso Chicken Fried Steak Night

2009-07-21T19:23:00.000-07:00

My parents have always bought either a hog or a steer at auction from 4-H Kids. If you don't know what this is...you don't live in the South, and thats ok! Anyways, last year my parents started giving the meat to my husband and I since they know how much he loves meats. Now we have a freezer FULL of all sorts of meat from all over the steer's body. So I looked up the uses of the different types we have. Recently I looked up round steak and cube steak. Both are used a lot for chicken fried steak, which I LOVE! So I decided to give it a go. Being only 23 and having been married almost a year I have ventured FAR outside of my cooking capacity. Hell when we first started dating I would burn a grilled cheese on a regular basis. So anything that I post on this blog will be EASY, have minimal ingredients and not take much of your time as I am VERY impatient.

I combined two recipes that I found online and here goes.....
Take about 2 pounds of round steak and tenderize it very well with one of those hammer looking tenderizers (you know what I am talking about).
Set up your 'dipping stations' in order first furthest away from your pan, last closest to your pan.
Your stations will be:
1) Flour that is seasoned with salt, pepper and garlic powder.
2) Egg beaters with a little milk in it.
3) Bread Crumbs.
Take each piece of meat and dip it in station 1, 2, 3 and then put it in the hot oil in the pan.
Repeat this until all meat is cooked.
Don't forget to put Paper Towels on the plate you put the cooked steaks on so the grease will be absorbed and you won't have greasy steaks.
Either use your favorite queso recipe or go get yourself some "Austin Slow Burn Green Chile Queso" to put over the steaks.
It is AMAZING! My husband, who is 38 and has had his fair share of chicken fried steak and is VERY picky, told me it was the BEST he has ever had! Hope you enjoy it!