I just love things that you can chop up, put in marinade and then serve when you are ready. This is a great recipe for getting your kids to eat veggies. They are also fun for entertaining because they are colorful and look good on the plate. Don't let the bourbon in the marinade fool you, it just makes for a rich taste, nothing too funky.
1/4 Cup vegetable oil
1/3 Cup honey
1/3 Cup soy sauce
1/3 Cup bourbon (it can be expensive and if you don't keep it on hand, buy a airplane size bottle at a liquor store)
chopped garlic (amount to taste)
fresh ground pepper.
Combine the marinade ingredients together. For the actual kabobs, I have only used this marinade with chicken, but it probably works well with shrimp as well. For the veggies, I use the following: red, green & yellow bell peppers, Vidalia (or other sweet, like Maui) onions, mushrooms and lemon quarters. Pick and choose what to put on the kabobs based on what your family will eat.
Marinade is good in a few hours, though better overnight.
It's one of those recipes that on paper may not seem overly flavorful, but in reality is very, very tasty!
Enjoy...
Monday, July 28, 2008
Saturday, July 26, 2008
It's not for dinner but....
I know my blog is about dinner, but what's a good dinner without a great dessert?
First I will start by saying that to me, this recipe seemed wrong on so many levels. For a long time I have been searching for a good jello salad/dessert type recipe. We are a "red" jello family and nothing tops the delicious two layer treat that I have been making for years now during holiday time. We desperately needed a summertime counterpart. As I reviewed books and websites I was amazed by how many recipes had pretzels in them. The marriage of salty/crunchy pretzels and the sweet smooth of jello just didn't seem right to me. I finally broke down and made it and folks...we have a winner! We brought this to one of Jacob's baseball get-togethers and when all was said and done, it looked as though the boys had licked the bowl clean. Don't let the pretzel thing stop you...it is really good (and like most everything I make, really easy too).
2 Cups crushed pretzels
3/4 Cup margarine or butter, melted
2 t white sugar
1 8oz package cream cheese
3/4 C white sugar
4 1/2 oz cool whip (thawed) - this is half of a small tub
1 6 oz package jello
2 Cups boiling water
2 10 oz packages frozen strawberries
(however I made half frozen strawberries and half sliced bananas)
Preheat oven to 400
In a medium bowl, mix crushed pretzels, margarine and sugar.
Press crushed pretzel mixture into a 9X13 baking dish. Bake in preheated oven 8 minutes. Remove and allow to cool. In a separate bowl, blend together cream cheese, sugar and cool whip. In another bowl, dissolve jello in boiling water. Once completely dissolved, mix in fruit. Set the jello mixture aside for 15 minutes and allow it to start to gel. In the meantime, cover the pretzel mixture with the creamy mixture. When ready, top the creamy mixture with the jello mixture. Put in the frig and let set for 4 hours.
I put mine in a trifle bowl and it looked really pretty. Once the pretzel mixture was completely cool, I took it out of the pan in pieces and covered the bottom of the trifle bowl with it. Then I followed the rest of the layering steps.
First I will start by saying that to me, this recipe seemed wrong on so many levels. For a long time I have been searching for a good jello salad/dessert type recipe. We are a "red" jello family and nothing tops the delicious two layer treat that I have been making for years now during holiday time. We desperately needed a summertime counterpart. As I reviewed books and websites I was amazed by how many recipes had pretzels in them. The marriage of salty/crunchy pretzels and the sweet smooth of jello just didn't seem right to me. I finally broke down and made it and folks...we have a winner! We brought this to one of Jacob's baseball get-togethers and when all was said and done, it looked as though the boys had licked the bowl clean. Don't let the pretzel thing stop you...it is really good (and like most everything I make, really easy too).
2 Cups crushed pretzels
3/4 Cup margarine or butter, melted
2 t white sugar
1 8oz package cream cheese
3/4 C white sugar
4 1/2 oz cool whip (thawed) - this is half of a small tub
1 6 oz package jello
2 Cups boiling water
2 10 oz packages frozen strawberries
(however I made half frozen strawberries and half sliced bananas)
Preheat oven to 400
In a medium bowl, mix crushed pretzels, margarine and sugar.
Press crushed pretzel mixture into a 9X13 baking dish. Bake in preheated oven 8 minutes. Remove and allow to cool. In a separate bowl, blend together cream cheese, sugar and cool whip. In another bowl, dissolve jello in boiling water. Once completely dissolved, mix in fruit. Set the jello mixture aside for 15 minutes and allow it to start to gel. In the meantime, cover the pretzel mixture with the creamy mixture. When ready, top the creamy mixture with the jello mixture. Put in the frig and let set for 4 hours.
I put mine in a trifle bowl and it looked really pretty. Once the pretzel mixture was completely cool, I took it out of the pan in pieces and covered the bottom of the trifle bowl with it. Then I followed the rest of the layering steps.
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Hawaiian Chicken Kabobs
Tonight was our team party for Jacob's all-star baseball team. It was a pool party and BBQ. I didn't want to do the "hot dog/hamburger" thing. Instead, Rachel and I made these amazing kabobs. We put them together yesterday and let them marinate overnight. These were so great! Another family was bringing hot dogs, so I had thought that these would primarily be for the adults. WRONG...the boys were chowing these things down!! One thing that I did differently from the recipe below is that I put the chicken and pineapple on the kabobs and then put the kabobs in the marinade. I doubled the amounts below since I was making enough to feed a crowd. I also poured some of the pineapple juice into the marinade.
3 tablespoons soy sauce
3 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons sherry (Or Orange Juice)
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
8 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves - cut into 2 inch pieces
1 (20 ounce) can pineapple chunks, drained
skewers
DIRECTIONS
In a shallow glass dish, mix the soy sauce, brown sugar, sherry, sesame oil, ginger, and garlic powder. Stir the chicken pieces and pineapple into the marinade until well coated. Cover, and marinate in the refrigerator at least 2 hours.
Preheat grill to medium-high heat.
Lightly oil the grill grate. Thread chicken and pineapple alternately onto skewers. Grill 15 to 20 minutes, turning occasionally, or until chicken juices run clear.
3 tablespoons soy sauce
3 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons sherry (Or Orange Juice)
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
8 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves - cut into 2 inch pieces
1 (20 ounce) can pineapple chunks, drained
skewers
DIRECTIONS
In a shallow glass dish, mix the soy sauce, brown sugar, sherry, sesame oil, ginger, and garlic powder. Stir the chicken pieces and pineapple into the marinade until well coated. Cover, and marinate in the refrigerator at least 2 hours.
Preheat grill to medium-high heat.
Lightly oil the grill grate. Thread chicken and pineapple alternately onto skewers. Grill 15 to 20 minutes, turning occasionally, or until chicken juices run clear.
Cheater's Lasagna
2 large packages of frozen ravioli
2 jars of store bought spaghetti sauce
3 lbs hamburger
2 bags shredded mozzarella cheese
Parmesean cheese
Brown the hamburger and drain. You can add onion or garlic powder to taste.
In a 13x9 coated baking dish, layer with sauce, cheese , ravioli, and hamburger. Continue with the layes until you run out of ingredients. Top with sauce and parmesean cheese , bake 45min to 1 hour at 400 or until cheese begins to bubble and turn golden.
2 jars of store bought spaghetti sauce
3 lbs hamburger
2 bags shredded mozzarella cheese
Parmesean cheese
Brown the hamburger and drain. You can add onion or garlic powder to taste.
In a 13x9 coated baking dish, layer with sauce, cheese , ravioli, and hamburger. Continue with the layes until you run out of ingredients. Top with sauce and parmesean cheese , bake 45min to 1 hour at 400 or until cheese begins to bubble and turn golden.
Monday, July 14, 2008
Cat's Sweet & Sour Meatloaf (for Tiffany)
I hated meatloaf growing up. I never understood why we just couldn't have hamburgers instead. It was just a bunch of ground beef anyway...
Well thanks to my good friend Cat, my kids are growing up loving meatloaf! This dish is always devoured entirely and there are often fights over who gets the last piece.
8oz can tomato sauce
1/4 C packed brown sugar
1/4 C red wine vinegar
1 t dry mustard
1 egg
half an small onion chopped
1/4 to 1/2 crushed saltine crackers (use as much/little as you like depending on density)
1 t pepper
1 t salt
2 lbs ground beef
Mix first 4 ingredients in a small bowl, and set aside. Beat the egg. Combine the onion, cracker, salt and pepper with the meat. Add the egg and mix together. Add half of the sweet and sour sauce mixture to the meat. Shape the meat into the form of a loaf and set on a foil lined cookie sheet. Pour the remaining sauce over the meatloaf (I make a small indentation down the center of the loaf so the sauce has someplace to stay).
Bake at 375 for 45 minutes.
Well thanks to my good friend Cat, my kids are growing up loving meatloaf! This dish is always devoured entirely and there are often fights over who gets the last piece.
8oz can tomato sauce
1/4 C packed brown sugar
1/4 C red wine vinegar
1 t dry mustard
1 egg
half an small onion chopped
1/4 to 1/2 crushed saltine crackers (use as much/little as you like depending on density)
1 t pepper
1 t salt
2 lbs ground beef
Mix first 4 ingredients in a small bowl, and set aside. Beat the egg. Combine the onion, cracker, salt and pepper with the meat. Add the egg and mix together. Add half of the sweet and sour sauce mixture to the meat. Shape the meat into the form of a loaf and set on a foil lined cookie sheet. Pour the remaining sauce over the meatloaf (I make a small indentation down the center of the loaf so the sauce has someplace to stay).
Bake at 375 for 45 minutes.
Thursday, July 10, 2008
The One Everyone Asks For
I used to collect cookbooks. They were everywhere. Then along came the age of technology and being married to a computer guy, he insisted that the books had to go. His arguement was that everything I could ever need was right here at my computer saavy fingertips. Oh, how wrong he was. Everything I could ever need was right here in my handy handwritten recipe collections. You see, every time I ever found a "keeper", I entered it into a blank wire bound book that then became "the cookbook". My good friends all know "the cookbook", in fact I remember one ocassion a long time ago when a friend called asking for a recipe and I wasn't here. She had the good mind to explain to Dan where I kept it, what it looked like and where the receipe was that she was looking for.
Anyway, this recipe is one of the first ones that ever made it into "the book". It is a flank steak marinade. Why I like it so much is because what I do is when I bring the meat home from the butcher, I made the marinade immediately. I pour it into a zip lock bag, along with the meat, seal it and toss it in the freezer. It is perfect for those busy days when you just need to get something on the table. I can set it out to defrost or defrost it in the microwave if I'm in a hurry. All the while, it's marinating. It's also a great camping meal because you can throw it in the cooler while it's frozen and then when you're ready to grill it, wrap it in foil, toss it on the fire and there you go!
Marinated Flank Steak
1/2 cup oil
1/3 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
2 tsp worcestershire sauce
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp minced garlic
1 flank steak
Combine all the ingredients. Toss it in a large zip lock bag along with the meat and either refrigerate it to marinate several hours or overnight. You can also freeze it in the bag with the marinade and use it when you're ready!
Anyway, this recipe is one of the first ones that ever made it into "the book". It is a flank steak marinade. Why I like it so much is because what I do is when I bring the meat home from the butcher, I made the marinade immediately. I pour it into a zip lock bag, along with the meat, seal it and toss it in the freezer. It is perfect for those busy days when you just need to get something on the table. I can set it out to defrost or defrost it in the microwave if I'm in a hurry. All the while, it's marinating. It's also a great camping meal because you can throw it in the cooler while it's frozen and then when you're ready to grill it, wrap it in foil, toss it on the fire and there you go!
Marinated Flank Steak
1/2 cup oil
1/3 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
2 tsp worcestershire sauce
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp minced garlic
1 flank steak
Combine all the ingredients. Toss it in a large zip lock bag along with the meat and either refrigerate it to marinate several hours or overnight. You can also freeze it in the bag with the marinade and use it when you're ready!
Easy Tamale Pie
Those of you who know me, realize that you don't typically find mexican food in my kitchen unless Taco Bell or Del Taco prepared it. It's not because it isn't being requested, it just because Mamma just doesn't eat it!
Back when I worked at Lexus, my department was fairly well know around the company for the spreads we would throw on pot-luck days. You could always count on visits from other department members strolling through our buffet lines beacause we put out quite the spread. This receipe was one that came from those days, not sure who it belonged to, but you'll find it at nearly any event we need to bring a dish to.
Easy Tamale Pie
1 pound ground beef
1/2 onion chopped
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 package taco seasoning mix
1 can Chile Con Carne w/beans
1 can mild green chiles, diced
1 can ripe olives, sliced
1 can pimentos
1 can corn, drained
2 packages Jiffy Corn Muffin Mix
Preheat oven to 375. Brown beef and onions. Add garlic powder and taco seasoning. Drain fat. Add all put the corn and corn muffin mix. Spread meat mixture in a casserole dish. Make muffin mix per box instructions. Sprinkle corn kernals over the meat mixture then cover evenly with teh corn bread batter. Bake at 375 for 15-20 minutes or until corn bread is golden.
Back when I worked at Lexus, my department was fairly well know around the company for the spreads we would throw on pot-luck days. You could always count on visits from other department members strolling through our buffet lines beacause we put out quite the spread. This receipe was one that came from those days, not sure who it belonged to, but you'll find it at nearly any event we need to bring a dish to.
Easy Tamale Pie
1 pound ground beef
1/2 onion chopped
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 package taco seasoning mix
1 can Chile Con Carne w/beans
1 can mild green chiles, diced
1 can ripe olives, sliced
1 can pimentos
1 can corn, drained
2 packages Jiffy Corn Muffin Mix
Preheat oven to 375. Brown beef and onions. Add garlic powder and taco seasoning. Drain fat. Add all put the corn and corn muffin mix. Spread meat mixture in a casserole dish. Make muffin mix per box instructions. Sprinkle corn kernals over the meat mixture then cover evenly with teh corn bread batter. Bake at 375 for 15-20 minutes or until corn bread is golden.
Easy BBQ Chicken
With Dan out of town this week, the kids made me promise no left-overs or sandwiches for dinner this week. I set out to find a few new easy entrees to try and boy, have we found a winner. You will LOVE this chicken....EASY....TASTY....FAST!
1 Cup ketchup
1/4 Cup packed brown sugar
2 Tablespoons orange juice
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1/4 teaspoon liquid smoke
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard powder
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
6-8 pieces of chicken parts
Preheat oven to 375 or prepare a grill.In a large bowl, stir together all ingredients except the chicken. Reserve 1/3 cup of the sauce and set it aside. Add the chicken to the remaining sauce in the bowl, turning to coat.Arrange the coated chicken in a roasting pan or on the grill. Cook (covered if grilling) for 40-45 minutes. Baste with the reserved 1/3 cup of the sauce as the chicken cooks.This sauce is sooooo good. It's tangy sweet, but because of the pepper, it has a slight bite to it. The kids loved it. It the kind of sauce that really sticks to the chicken and gets a little gooey.We served it over rice with corn on the cob and it was definitely two thumbs up! :DLet me know if you give it a try!
1 Cup ketchup
1/4 Cup packed brown sugar
2 Tablespoons orange juice
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1/4 teaspoon liquid smoke
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard powder
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
6-8 pieces of chicken parts
Preheat oven to 375 or prepare a grill.In a large bowl, stir together all ingredients except the chicken. Reserve 1/3 cup of the sauce and set it aside. Add the chicken to the remaining sauce in the bowl, turning to coat.Arrange the coated chicken in a roasting pan or on the grill. Cook (covered if grilling) for 40-45 minutes. Baste with the reserved 1/3 cup of the sauce as the chicken cooks.This sauce is sooooo good. It's tangy sweet, but because of the pepper, it has a slight bite to it. The kids loved it. It the kind of sauce that really sticks to the chicken and gets a little gooey.We served it over rice with corn on the cob and it was definitely two thumbs up! :DLet me know if you give it a try!
So I'm Really Gonna Do It This Time
For years I've toyed with the idea of a food blog for parents but just never found the right inspiration to do it. Well just the other day I was watching a glimpse of the Rachel Ray Show (I was actually at the car washing waiting for my car) and I finally had my "aha" moment. This mom was on there who made a New Year's resolution to use her crock pot everyday in 2008 and post the receipes and reviews from what she had made. Don't get me wrong, I too love that handy dandy appliance, but seriously, give us BBQ on the grill and crispy chicken out of the broiler...I just couldn't do it. Then it dawned on me, I could (and do) try at least one new recipe every week in my own home trying to keep things fresh and interesting around here. I have my top ten family pleasers that we rotate around our dinner table on a fairly regular basis, but I always am trying to build that base of 10. I'm all about the 30 minute meal ideas since we usually run in from one activitiy and I'm preparing dinner before either the departure to the second or the start of homework wars. A challenge we find in this house (which I'm sure no one else in this world ever has to deal with) is that this one doesn't like tomoatoes, or that one doesn't like cheese (okay, I'll confess right here and now - it's me) but you get the picture. You can peruse all the 30 minute prep to cook recipes you want, but if it's got fish in it, Dan's not eating it, if it's got califlower in it , someone isn't eating it (you get the picture). That's why I like to keep it simple. I know not all of my collection of ideas will appeal to everyone, but I stick to basics...I also look for recipes where possibly questionable ingredients can be swapped out for more pleasing ones (chicken for fish, broccoli for califlower etc...). I'm not sure how this first stab at doing this will go, but I'm going to give it a try. I encourage all of you to invite your friends to join us here so this community will grow. Please feel free to submit your favorites (hey, I'd love everyone's "top tens"). When you submit, please include what is good about the recipe, what you can adjust to change to please your family as well.Thanks for your interest and let's give it a go!
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