Savory Garlic Marinated Steaks W/Scalloped Potatoes and Cheesy Broccoli!

Last night we had I think the BEST marinated steaks I have ever made...and that's saying a lot considering I am more of a plain steak with a little steak sauce type of girl! They were SO flavorful and smelled so good. Like the minute I opened up the marinade bag to put them on the grill I was ready to eat thats how good it smelled! I wish your screen was "scratch and sniff" cause then you would get what I am talking about!! LOL

The Scalloped Potatoes is a recipe I got from my grandma years ago. Its my favorite recipe for scalloped potatoes and its SO easy...it only takes 20 minutes in the microwave and they are a million times better than anything you would make out of a box! I have NEVER made scalloped potatoes out of a box since I have had this recipe I refuse to.

The Cheesy Broccoli I believe is from my Betty Crocker cookbook but I don't 100% remember. Anyway...here are the recipes!! :)

Savory Garlic Marinated Steaks

Ingredients

• 1 cup balsamic vinegar
• 1/2 cup soy sauce
• 1/4 cup and 2 tablespoons minced garlic
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 tablespoon and 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
• 2 teaspoons onion powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon liquid smoke flavoring
• 2 pinches cayenne pepper
• 4 (1/2 pound) rib-eye steaks
• 
  

Directions

In a medium bowl, mix the vinegar, soy sauce, garlic, honey, olive oil, ground black pepper, Worcestershire sauce, onion powder, salt, liquid smoke, and cayenne pepper.

Place steaks in a shallow glass dish with the marinade, and turn to coat. For optimum flavor, rub the liquid into the meat. Cover, and marinate in the refrigerator for 1 to 2 days.

Preheat grill for medium-high to high heat.

Lightly oil the grill grate. Grill steaks 7 minutes per side, or to desired doneness. Discard leftover marinade.

Scalloped Potatoes

Ingredients

1/2 cup chopped onions

2 tablespoons margarine

2 tablespoons flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon pepper

1 cup milk

5 cups peeled and thinly sliced potatoes

Directions

1. Place onion and butter in 1 1/2qt casserole. Cook in microwave HIGH HEAT for 1 1/2 minutes, or until onion is tender.

2. Blend in flour, seasonings and milk. Cook in microwave on high for 4 minutes or until thickened. Stir halfway through cooking time.

3. Add potatoes. Stir lightly to coat. Cook covered on full power for 15-20 minutes or until potatoes are tender!

Cheesy Broccoli

Ingredients

1 can (10 3/4 ounces) Condensed Cheddar Cheese Soup

1/4 cup milk

4 cups frozen broccoli cuts

Directions

Stir the soup and milk in a 2-quart microwavable casserole. Stir in the broccoli. Cover and microwave on HIGH for 5-10 minutes or until the broccoli is tender-crisp, stirring once during cooking.

And here is my final plate!!! Seriously if you want a DELICIOUS steak dinner make this recipe you won't be sorry!! :)

Basic Tossed Salad and Milky Way Fudge!

Friday night we had company again. My husbands brother, his wife and kids all came over for dinner and then we watched Bridesmaids (hilarious movie btw!) I had planned on a Mexican themed dinner with Chicken Enchiladas, refried beans and Spanish rice but I was worried that the kids wouldn't like it and to be honest my back has been killing me all week so I really just wanted something easy that I could prepare ahead of time so I wasn't standing in the kitchen while everyone else was hanging out.

So I went with my awesome Baked Ziti (you can find that recipe here!) a basic salad with homemade dressing and for dessert I made Milky Way Fudge...it was SO good and every single one of the kiddos cleaned their plates. That's a WIN in my book!! :)

Basic Tossed Salad W/ Homemade Dressing

Ingredients

• 2 hearts romaine lettuce
• 2 small plum tomatoes, diced
• 1 Kirby cucumber or 1/4 European seedless cucumber, diced
• 1 small yellow onion or 1/2 red onion, chopped
• 1 carrot, peeled and shredded
• 1 /4 cup (a couple of glugs) extra-virgin olive oil,
• 2 to 3 tablespoons (a couple of splashes) red wine vinegar
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• Coarse salt and black pepper

Directions

Place salad greens in a salad bowl and top with tomatoes, cucumbers, onion, and carrot. Place oil, vinegar and sugar in a small plastic container. Put the lid on the container and shake dressing until sugar dissolves, about 1 minute. Pour dressing over salad. Season salad with salt and pepper, to taste, and toss to combine.

Milky Way Fudge

Ingredients

1 teaspoon butter

1 can (14oz) sweetened condensed milk

2 cups (12oz) semisweet chocolate chips

3 Milky Way candy bars (2.05oz each), chopped

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

Line a 9in square pan with foil and grease the foil with butter; set aside.

In a large microwave-safe bowl, combine milk, chocolate chips and candy bars. MIcrowave, uncovered, on high for 1 minute; stir. Microwave at additional 15 second intervals, stirring until smooth. Stir in Vanilla. Spread into prepared pan. Refrigerate for 1 hour or until firm.

Using foil, lift fudge out of pan; cut fudge into 1 inch squares. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator!

I just have to say that this fudge is AWESOME but very chocolaty and super easy to make!! Danny wants me to try it using snickers next time so I will let you know how that turns out! :)

Skillet Chicken Parmesan!

I am FINALLY back with another food blog! I have been very lazy in the last week because I haven't felt the greatest thanks to my back but that doesn't mean I haven't been cooking or taking pictures...it just means that by the time I get upstairs and to my laptop I don't fee like uploading my pics and writing a blog to go with it!!

I have like 4 or 5 meals I need to blog about so I hope to get them out in the next few days. This meal that I am doing now we had for dinner last Thursday (told u I was behind!!) and it was SO good and made the house smell DELICIOUS while it was cooking...

Skillet Chicken Parmesan

3/4

cup Original Bisquick® mix

1

teaspoon Italian seasoning

2

tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

1

egg

4

boneless skinless chicken breasts (4 oz each)

3

tablespoons olive or vegetable oil

2

cups tomato pasta sauce (from 26-oz jar)

1

cup shredded Italian cheese blend (4 oz)

Step 1

In shallow dish or pie plate, mix Bisquick mix, Italian seasoning and Parmesan cheese. In another shallow dish or pie plate, beat egg. Coat chicken with Bisquick mixture, then dip into egg, and coat again with Bisquick mixture.

Step 2

In 12-inch nonstick skillet, heat oil over medium heat. Add chicken; cook 4 to 6 minutes, turning once, until golden brown. Cover; cook 8 to 10 minutes longer, turning once, until juice of chicken is clear when center of thickest part is cut (170°F). Remove from skillet to plate.

Step 3

Add pasta sauce to skillet. Place chicken on top of sauce. Sprinkle with Italian cheese blend. Cover; cook 2 to 3 minutes or until bubbly and cheese is melted.

Add...here is my final plate!! :)

You can serve it over any pasta you like, I really like penne pasta so thats what I used and served it along with some Texas Toast!! Oh and I didn't use the Italian cheese blend like the recipe called for I used shredded mozzarella cause thats what I had on hand!! Enjoy!!

Health Update

Well I am sure as many of you already know last week I had a bronch done up in Gainesville to check and make sure I had no rejection after receiving treatment a month prior for the acute rejection my doctors had found.

I am pleased to report that the bronch results came back in recored time (the next day~usually its not till like thursday or friday I get results if my bronch is on a monday) and they were NEGATIVE for rejection!! YAY!! I can not begin to put into words how relieved I was to get those results. :)

While my mom and I were in Gainesville we also had an appointment with my vascular surgeon who did my Arterial Bypass surgery in February. I had an ABI test done and I have completely 100% normal blood flow in both my legs so that was another piece of good news! I have been having some minor swelling in my left foot/ankle from time to time lately which is what prompted me to make the appt (to make sure everything checked out ok) but the PA said that that could just be my "norm" now and that everything else looked good. So I don't have to go back to see them for another 6 months.

I did talk to my tx doctor about my back while I was up there. Ever since my surgery I have had aches and pains in my lower back but nothing that ever stopped me from doing anything. But the last month or so the pain has been SO bad that when I wake up in the morning I can barely move and unless I take something for the pain it will continue like that for the rest of the day...its HORRIBLE! :(

So Dr. Baz suggested that I go and see a Neurosurgeon in my hometown to make sure I don't have a chipped disc or disc disease due to Osteoporosis or anything like that. I for one don't think its either of those two, I feel its more like a pinched nerve or muscular but what do I know?? Anyway...so last Wednesday I went to see the Neuro guy and he agreed with me that he thinks its more muscular but couldn't rule anything out until I got a CT Scan and MRI done.

That was today. I have had many CT scans done so I knew what to expect but have never had an MRI so I was needless to say "a little anxious" about it considering I don't like things directly above my face! I was in the tube for an hour and since I am writing this blog tonight you can see I survived but let me assure you I did NOT enjoy any minute of it at ALL!! LOL

I got the films from the radiology place and now have to wait until next week to see the Neuro doc again to get a diagnosis. I will let you all know what he says but I am thinking some PT for my back is somewhere in my near future....wish me luck that that is the LEAST of my problems and that I don't have to go through any more surgeries!!

I hope everyone has a great Labor Day weekend!!

XoxoX

Flavorful Beef in Gravy!

I am a few days late with this blog...I made this meal Friday night. We had Danny's brother and his wife and kids over for dinner along with Danny's brother Tony who lives with us. All total there was I think nine of us so I needed a meal that fed a lot but didn't break the bank! This crock-pot recipe feeds 12 so it was PERFECT!

Flavorful Beef in Gravy

Ingredients

• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 3 pounds beef stew meat, cut into 1-inch cubes
• 3 tablespoons canola oil
• 2 cans (10-3/4 ounces each) condensed cream of mushroom soup, undiluted
• 1 can (10-3/4 ounces) condensed golden mushroom soup, undiluted
• 1 can (10-3/4 ounces) condensed cream of celery soup, undiluted
• 1-1/3 cups milk
• 1 envelope onion soup mix
• Hot cooked noodles or mashed potatoes

Directions

• Place flour in a large resealable plastic bag; add beef and toss to coat. In a skillet, brown beef in oil.
• Transfer beef to a 5-qt. slow cooker. Stir in the soups, milk and soup mix. Cover and cook on low for 7-8 hours or until the meat is tender. Serve with noodles or potatoes.

Lemon-Herbed Mashed Potatoes

Ingredients

1 (5 pound) bag yukon gold potatoes, cut into 1-inch chunks

1/2 cup butter

1 (8 ounce) container sour cream

2 tbsp. minced green onion

1 tbsp. chopped fresh parsley

2 1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. lemon zest

Directions

In a large dutch oven, combine potatoes and enough water to cover. Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes, or until potatoes are tender.

Drain potatoes and return to dutch oven. Add butter, sour cream, green onion, parsley, salt and lemon zest. Using a potato masher, mash potatoes to desired consistency.

Roasted Green Beans

Ingredients

2 (8 ounce) bags fresh green beans

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 tbsp. olive oil

Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Line a rimmed baking sheet with aluminium foil.

Place green beans in a single layer on prepared baking sheet. Sprinkle with garlic, an drizzle with olive oil and S&P. Toss gently to coat.

Bake for 12 minutes or until desired degree of doneness. Serve immediately.

**Here is a picture of it in the crock-pot. Sadly I was so hungry by the time we had dinner I was half way through my plate when I realized I didn't take a picture of my completed plate!! Im such an idiot...lol. Anyway I also served this meal with a loaf of puerto rican bread and some butter! Enjoy!! :)