Knock, Knock Anyone Still Out There??

Well, I know it been awhile but I have been dealing with some health issues that had me either not cooking at all OR I was cooking but not having the energy to document, then blog and heck even eat by the time I was finished! It was horrible but hopefully we got everything straightened out and I can get back to what I love, cooking for my hubby and sharing it all with YOU! :)  Now im not gonna promise to crank out recipes everyday but I think I can handle at least a couple a week.

So without further ado, I give you the recipe from last night which I got from my July/August 2012 Food Network Magazine. Let me just tell you we all thought the marinade on the kebobs was fantastic. Very easy with things you probably already have in your pantry! Unlike the recipe that tells you to just mix up the meat with the peppers in the marinade right before putting them on the skewer. I put them all in a ziploc bag first thing in the morning so it sat together all day. I also added onions to my kebobs just cause I like cooked onions! :)

I thought the Orzo was pretty good but tried ALL through dinner to explain to not only my husband but my brother-in-law and my brother that Orzo was in fact a PASTA and not a RICE they were eating. Ugh...boys! Other than the work of actually making the skewers the whole meal once that part is done takes only about 12 min to make start to finish so its not bad for those who want a nice meal but not a whole bunch of fuss when they get home form work (especially if you already chopped everything up before work and its been marinating all day...its good to go!)

Hope you try it and like it as much as we did!

Sizzling Sirloin Kabobs on a Bed of Orzo

Ingredients

1. 1 pound beef top sirloin steak, cut 1 inch thick
2. 2 green, red and/or yellow bell peppers, cut into 1 inch pieces
3. 1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil or 1 teaspoon dried basil
4. 1 tablespoon prepared Italian dressing
5. 2 large cloves garlic, minced
6. Salt and pepper

Orzo:
1. 1 cup uncooked orzo pasta, cooked according to package directions
2. 2 to 3 tablespoons chopped fresh basil or parsley
3. 2 tablespoons shredded Parmesan cheese
4. 2 teaspoons olive oil

Instructions

1. Soak eight 8-inch bamboo skewers in water 10 minutes; drain.
2. Cut beef steak into 1-1/4-inch pieces. Toss beef and bell peppers with 1 tablespoon basil, dressing and garlic in large bowl. Alternately thread beef and peppers onto skewers.
3. Toss Orzo ingredients in medium bowl; keep warm.
4. Place kabobs on grid over medium, ash-covered coals. Grill, covered, about 8 to 10 minutes (over medium heat on preheated gas grill, 9 to 11 minutes) for medium rare (145°F) to medium (160°F) doneness, turning occasionally. Season with salt and pepper, as desired. Serve with orzo.

**The only things I changed (which trust me isn't anything drastic!) was I added an onion to the kabobs, marinated the steak and veggies all day PLUS I soaked the bamboo skewers way longer than they said cause 

my good friend Amanda told me the longer the better!

Also, I was hoping to get this in yesterday (8-15-2012) to wish the Amazingly talented Julia Child her would be 100th birthday!! I love her shows, I love her cooking and I love the way she goes about cooking in the kitchen where nothing is a mistake! My kinda gal....

Julia Child (8/15/1912-8/15/2012)

HAPPY 100th BIRTHDAY!! 

TWD: Baking with Julia - Lemon Loaf Cake

Man have I been slacking! I have missed my last two baking post that I am supposed to do for my Tuesdays with Dorie. I did bake one of the recipes WEEKS before I was due to blog about it and then was a complete airhead and didn't remember to post the picture and what I thought about the recipe! SO...even though its really late I thought what the heck I will blog about it anyway!

This Lemon Loaf cake is similar to a pound cake and can be completely made without any fancy stand mixers or any other kitchen gadget. Just you a whisk and a bowl! The cake was moist and delicious. Some other bloggers reported that they hardly tasted the lemon but I didn't think that at all. I think if I were to add more zest it would have been a little overpowering but that's just me. :)

A few other people added a nice glaze to the top of their loaves and I wish I would have thought of that because it looked AMAZING! Oh well...maybe next time!

The two hosts of this recipe are Truc of Treats and Michelle of The Beauty of Life. They both have the recipe posted on there blogs for you to check out as well. OR page 252 in the cookbook Baking with Julia! Enjoy!! :) 

TWD: Baking With Julia - Rugelach

So I am back with another Tuesdays With Dori recipe. This week it is Rugelach, before having to make this recipe I didn't even know what Rugelach was! For those of you who are like me and never even heard of Rugelach let me help you out...it is a Jewish cookie/pastry made with a cream cheese dough and filled with dried fruits and nuts. They are usually made in a crescent roll shape but for this recipe we rolled it jelly roll style and cut them into pin wheels.

The recipe for these cookies to me was a little difficult and takes A LOT of time. Expect to spend 2-3 days with this recipe if you want to make them. For me, the hardest part was rolling out the dough. For some reason I can not get a hang of it and im not quite sure what I am doing wrong! Whenever I have to roll out dough by the time I am done me and the kitchen is covered in flour and I am left with dough that looks very sad! LOL Oh well hopefully by the end of this challenge that will be something I can improve on and not be such a disaster in the kitchen with!! Oh yeah one more thing...I think when I cut the cookies into pin wheels I cut them to big (they were suppose to be cut 1 to 1 1/2 inches thick) because when they were cooking some of them tipped over. So IF I ever make this recipe again I will stick more to 1 inch. :)

I filled my Rugelach with Apricot lekvar (homemade btw!) dried cherries, raisins and assorted nuts. If you want the actually recipe for these cookies head on over to either one of this weeks host and check it out. First is Jessica at My Baking Heart and then we have Margaret over at The Urban Hiker.

The end result for me was a pile of cookies that to me didn't look very good but luckily everyone who tried them thought they were great so I suppose that is a good thing, right??

Yummy Spinach Dip!

So as everyone (well most normal people who aren't living under a rock) in North America probably knew...two weekends ago was the Super Bowl. I am VERY happy to announce due to my total dislike for anything New England Patriots (sorry Jen!) that the New York Giants rallied late in the game to pull off a 21-17 victory against New England in Super Bowl XLVI!! GO GIANTS!

I will admit that I am not a die hard Giants fan. Growing up in Southwest Florida my whole life I am a through thick and thin Miami Dolphins girl so much so that it is represented not only on the front but on the back of my car as well! With that being said, as much as I LOVE my fins...I dislike (I'm saying dislike because I am trying to be polite!) the Patriots just as much along with there QB Tom Brady. So I will pretty much route for whoever they are playing against! :)

Anyway, I get side tracked easily! So two weekends was the Super Bowl and we ended up going over to some good friends of ours house to watch the game and I decided to bring over Spinach Dip. Now this isn't my original Spinach Dip recipe that I have used for several years this is actually a dip that I started making after my cousin Kasey brought it over one time to a party that we were having at our house and it was so good (and I don't even like spinach!) that I had to have the recipe! People like me who don't even like spinach or spinach dip really like this dip that's how GOOD it is. Trust me!

The original recipe comes off the back of the Lipton Vegetable Soup mix box with one little alteration which I am positive is what makes this dip as fabulous as it is. First let me give you the recipe and then I will tell you what we do differently....

Spinach Dip

INGREDIENTS

1 envelope Lipton® Recipe Secrets® Vegetable Soup Mix
1 container (8 oz.) sour cream or 0% fat Greek yogurt
1 cup Hellmann's® or Best Foods® Real Mayonnaise
1 package (10 oz.) frozen chopped spinach, cooked, cooled and squeezed dry
1 can (8 oz.) water chestnuts, drained and chopped (optional)

DIRECTIONS

Combine all ingredients in medium bowl; chill 2 hours.

Serve with your favorite dippers.

Now as I stated before I do a few things different (not anything I came up on my own mind you but its still different.) I don't use the optional water chestnuts because I don't care for them but if you like them by all means give it a whirl! The one thing different I do and I believe Kasey found this out on accident because she bought the wrong ingredient one time but I could be mistaken about that, is we use frozen CREAMED spinach instead of just regular and it makes it a million times better in my opinion. It just adds this extra creaminess that is just simply heaven! Another thing is I don't cook my spinach. I'm not sure what Kasey does but I just never have since frozen spinach is already cooked anyway I just let it thaw out then add it. I don't even squeeze dry it because since you aren't cooking it it doesn't get all that extra liquid and I don't want to loose any of the yummy creamy part. 

I do usually double the recipe when I make it because a) it goes SO fast at parties you really want the extra dip and b) I usually place my dip in a bread bowl right before serving and after I have hollowed out the crust If I make just one batch of the dip it usually doesn't fill the whole bowl like I like it to! :) 

So there you have it. At your next get-together try this easy and inexpensive dip. I know you will love it as much as we all do! 

As always if you end up trying it let me know what you think! 

Have a good week!

Jen

TWD: Baking With Julia - White Loaves!

Today kicks off the very first week of the new Tuesdays with Dorie blog group that I am apart of. As I said before in my previous post we will be baking recipes from the Baking with Julia cookbook by Dorie Greenspan. Our first recipe was for you guessed it...White Loaves of bread! This weeks challenge was hosted by Laurie and Jules, the creators of Tuesdays with Dorie, and you can find a copy of the recipe here on Jules' blog - Someone's in the Kitchen! Every Tuesday when a recipe is due to be posted there will be a different host with a link to his or her blog to get the recipe OR if you are feeling really adventurous you could buy the book HERE and join in the fun! :)

Now the whole reason why I entered in this blog group in the first place is because I was  am hoping it will make me a better baker. I have tried to make homemade bread once before (it was a Barefoot Contessa recipe for Honey White Bread) and while it wasn't a complete bomb it wasn't fabulous either. Especially the 2nd loaf that I froze!

I have read a few of the other blogs that were posted today on the TWD:BWJ blog to see how everyone else did on their loaves and I have to admit it makes me feel a little intimidated cause most of these people can really bake and where commenting on what a breeze this dough was to put together. I mean I didn't think it was hard but believe me when I tell you I had flour EVERYWHERE by the time those loaves went into the oven! LOL

I was also a little worried about my stand mixer. Its new to me I have only used it a couple of times and one step of the directions said to "beat and knead at medium speed for about ten minutes, until the dough is smooth and elastic." Well I read somewhere not to go over speed 2 when kneading and that you only have to knead the dough for like 5 minutes total or else you could burn up your motor. Does anybody know anything about this?? 


All in all I think it was a fairly successful recipe. I think next time I will definitely be trying a few of the suggestions to add a cinnamon swirl to one of the loaves that sounds delicious! Here is a picture of my White Loaves....  

Till next time TWD Fans....Happy Baking! :)