A Post! Father's Day Feast --- plus sides perfect for summer!

 I know what you're thinking... SHE'S ALIVE!! Or maybe it's more like "Who are you?!" I honestly can't give you a definite reason why I've been MIA this time. I've been cooking, coming up with new recipes... just haven't really felt in the mood to post anything, and most times by the time the food is done, I just want to EAT it, not take pics of it! But Father's Day is here and my husband picked the meal: Filet Mignon, Corn on the Cob and Dutch Oven Potatoes (Mac salad is left overs from last's nights Ribs and Fries -- we don't always eat like this, I promise!! ) I'm on a carb-overload this weekend, for sure!!

Here's my little secret about the steaks: pay attention to your meat dept.'s sales on WHOLE beef tenderloins. When it's on sale, grab one (or two if budget allows). Ask the butcher to filet it into 1.5" steaks. If he's super nice, he'll not only filet it, he'll trim the steaks of fat, and grind the small bits into ground beef for you (it's only happened to me once... but it was AWESOME!). Bring the steaks home, individually wrap each one and place all of them into a freezer storage bag in the freezer. Easy to pull one or two out for thawing the day you need. A whole tenderloin can be pricey, but you end up with about 10 steaks, plus either the pound of ground beef or a pound of stew meat, so at about $4-5/per steak that's a great deal -- especially knowing what GREAT quality they are. I mean come on... these are so juicy and tender and mmmmmm.... Plus, they're perfectly portioned, each one being about 4oz! No need to marinade these beauties!

The other two recipes I'll include in this post are wonderful additions to any summer BBQ. I love Mac Salad with fries and a steak. And Dutch Oven Potatoes go with anything! Just FYI: if you're making this meal, start the potatoes first, preheat the oven, then once you add the potatoes to the pot, you can start the steaks. Macaroni Salad is best made the day before.

Filet Mignon

Ingredients:
4- tenderloin steaks, about 1.5" thick
coarse sea salt
fresh ground pepper
1TBS olive oil

Sauce:
1C drinking wine
2TBS Worcestershire Sauce

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 425.

Heat oil in oven-safe skillet. Sprinkle steaks with salt and pepper on all sides, and to scorching hot pan. Allow to sear for 5 minutes -- DO NOT TOUCH! Allow to sit the entire 5 minutes, set your timer.
When the timer buzzes, transfer the entire pan into the oven.
For Rare: roast 5 minutes
For Medium (seen here): roast 6 minutes
For Well: roast 8 minutes

Take pan out of oven and allow to "rest" for 5 minutes. You may cover with foil for this, or just leave it as is.

After 5 minutes, remove steaks from pan to serving dish. Turn stove on to medium and add wine and Worcestershire sauce.  Be careful as the pan may still be hot -- I know from experience! Allow to simmer for about 5 minutes scrapping up any browned bits with wooden spoon or whisk. Serve over steaks. (Great as a gravy for mashed potatoes too!)

Literally, that simple. Just remember this: 425 for 5/6/5. Easy peasy!

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Macaroni Salad -- my mom's version, with a twist of me. 

Ingredients: 

1 pkg cherry/grape tomatoes, halved
1 cucumber, peeled (unless using English), and diced
a bunch of Radish, sliced
a bunch of green onions, mainly greens sliced
about 2 C macaroni, cooked and cooled
1C mayo
1C milk
2TBS Worcestershire sauce
1TBS mustard
salt and pepper

Instructions:

Prepare macaroni and allow to cool in colander.

Prep all veggies into a large bowl. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Add macaroni.

In a small jar (great if your Mayo is almost gone, just use it's jar!), add mayo, pour in milk, Worcestershire, and Mustard, close tightly, and shake for a good minute or two. Pour into large bowl. Combine well. Cover and store in the fridge until ready to enjoy.

Great to add baby shrimp!

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Dutch Oven Potatoes

Ingredients:

2 Russet potatoes, peeled and sliced about 1/4"
1/2 onion, thinly sliced
1/2lb bacon
2 garlic cloves, minced
dash of celery salt, red pepper flakes, thyme
salt and pepper
season salt

Instructions:

Cook bacon until crispy in large skillet. Drain all but about 2TBS of bacon grease. Add onion and cook about 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Add minced garlic, cook another minute.

Add potatoes and all seasonings, gently stir. Add about 1C of water and once it boils, turn the head down to low, cover and allow to simmer about 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Careful as to not break apart the potatoes -- trust me, you don't want mush!

Uncover and allow to cook another 2 minutes. Enjoy with ketchup! 

Cola Pork + sides

A friend posted this recipe on her blog the other day and it sounded so good, I had to try it. The picture she had attached looked like she used ribs instead of chops (which she didn't) and that got me thinkin... I don't like pork. Plain and simple... it's not my favorite. But I can say I do like ribs. I prefer the meatier Country Style type without bones... but this past summer we ate PLENTY of baby backs smoked on our charcoal BBQ (recipe to come soon). With this sparked interest, I thought I would try out this "Coke Chop" recipe only substituting the chops for country style boneless ribs. It was yummy... and the best part, it IMMEDIATELY started to smell once the crock-pot was turned on. My mind kept switching between the tragedy in Japan and the BBQ aroma filling my house all during church. I was torn....
And the recipe is so easy. I do have to say one thing.... don't get a strong flavored BBQ sauce. I would use an Original flavored, or something a little more mild. I only had Hickory Bourbon flavored sauce on hand, and it was a little too much. But once again... I recommend Stubbs brand sauce. Yum!

No more waiting... here's the recipe.

Ingredients:

6oz (or 1C) Coke
1C Ketchup
1C BBQ Sauce
Country Style ribs, or 4 Chops

Instructions:

Add all ingredients to crock pot. Cook either 4-5hrs on HIGH, or 7-8hrs on LOW. Enjoy.


That simple. Now for the sides.
I have grown up on both of these sides... and they will always be a favorite of mine. My husband has come to love the Dutch Oven Potatoes. He hasn't tasted the Mac Salad, otherwise I'm sure he'd like it too. But for now, that's all mine!!

Macaroni Salad

Ingredients:

Elbow macaroni (cooked and drained)
cherry tomatoes (halved)
cucumber (peeled and diced)
bunch of radish (sliced thinly)
green onions (sliced)
about 1C Mayo
about 1C milk
2TBS Worcestershire sauce

Instructions:

Prepare all veggies into a medium to large bowl. Sprinkle with a little salt and pepper. Add cooked/drained macaroni.
In a small jar with a lid (or practically empty Mayo bottle), add the milk, mayo and Worcestershire sauce. Tighten lid and shake well. Pour over macaroni mixture and stir until well combined. Refrigerate for at least an hour, up to overnight.


Dutch Oven Potatoes

Ingredients:

4-6 potatoes (washed, peeled and sliced)
1lb bacon
half an onion (diced)
season salt
pepper
garlic salt
pinch of onion salt and celery salt

Instructions:

Cook the bacon in either a large skillet or dutch oven. Do not discard oil. Once browned, add onions and cook about 2-3min. Add potatoes and all seasonings. Add a cup to two cups of water just to almost cover potatoes. Bring to a boil. Turn heat down to med-low and allow to cook until potatoes are tender. Turn heat back up to barely brown potatoes and have water completely evaporated.

Halibut in a Bag

This recipe comes from one of my favorite series of books: Eat This, Not That, particularly Cook This, Not That. Did you know a Whopper is so much worse for you than a Big Mac? I had no idea! That's why I love these books.
I was going to make this for dinner tonight, using Cod instead, but it's so cold that I really don't feel like cooking. Good for my budget, not so good for my waist-line(in the sense that instead I'll probably end up eating junk food... argh)!
I have made this before and it really is simple and delicious. Instead of fennel, I sliced up a regular white onion. Instead of kalamata olives, I used green olives. And instead of white wine, I used red wine vinegar. I also added a dash of fresh ground pepper and a dash of ginger. And as a side, I made up a bit of Quinoa. Yum!

Ingredients:

2 fillets of halibut or other firm white fish (5 oz each)
1 jar (8 oz) marinated artichoke hearts, drained
1 cup cherry tomatoes
2 Tbsp chopped kalamata olives
1/2 medium fennel bulb, thinly sliced (or onion)
1 lemon, half cut into thin slices, the other half cut into quarters
1/2 Tbsp olive oil
1/4 cup dry white wine (or vinegar)
Salt and black pepper to taste

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 400°F.

Take 2 large sheets of parchment paper or foil, place a fillet in the center of each, and top equally with the artichokes, tomatoes, olives, fennel, and lemon slices. Drizzle with the olive oil and wine; season with salt and pepper. Fold the paper or foil over the fish and seal by tightly rolling up the edges, creating a secure pouch. It’s important the packets are fully sealed, so that the steam created inside can’t escape.

Place the pouches on a baking sheet in the center of the oven and bake for 20 to 25 minutes, depending on how thick the fish is. Serve with the remaining lemon wedges.


NOTE on COOKING IN A BAG (from Cook This, Not That!):
The French call it en papillote; the Italians, en cartoccio. It's a technique that combines, health, flavor, and convenience as effectively as any cooking method in the kitchen. By adding a bit of liquid, you create a perfect steaming environment for chicken, fish, and seafood. Toss in tomatoes, onions, zucchini- anything that will cook in 15 min or less- to bolster the flavor. The best part? No cleanup!!

Lemon Chicken

Recipe courtesy of Deals to Meals. I saw this posted on Facebook a few weeks ago and thought it sounded easy and yummy and right up my husband's alley. Little did I know he doesn't like "fruity-flavored meat," as he would put it. Doh! Oh well, I thought it was delicious!! And they're totally right. You can shorten the marinade time, you can use bottled lemon juice, dried herbs, and different noodles and it tastes great! At least that's what I had to do!!


Ingredients:

1 lb. linguine (or fettuccine)
2 T. olive oil
Zest from one lemon
Juice from one lemon
½ c. chopped green onion
¼ c. chopped fresh parsley
Salt and freshly ground pepper
Parmesan cheese

Marinade:
½ c. olive oil
2 cloves garlic, whole
2 T. Cajun seasoning
2 T. lemon juice
2 T. minced parsley
1 T. brown sugar (or more if you like it a little sweeter)
2 T. soy sauce
2 chicken breasts, sliced. (OR 16 extra large shrimp)

Instructions:

Combine the marinade ingredients in a Ziploc bag. Slice thawed chicken (or shrimp). Pat dry and toss in marinade to coat. Refrigerate 1-12 hours. Cook marinated chicken with the marinade sauce in a large saute pan on medium heat until chicken is cooked. If using shrimp, preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Bake for 7-10 minutes. Be sure not to over cook shrimp.

Cook linguini in boiling salted water until done; drain well and rinse noodles. Combine juice of one lemon, zest, olive oil, green onions, and fresh parsley together. Add hot pasta into bowl and toss well. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Add chicken (or shrimp) with marinade into the large pasta bowl. Toss in parmesan cheese to taste and serve warm.

A Classic: Spaghetti

When it's so easy to make a REALLY great sauce, why would you spend money buying a pre-made, packaged sauce with extra JUNK that's bad for you?! Sometimes, I'll start with a bottled sauce and add fresh veg and spices to it (and meat). But today (err... yesterday), I made it from scratch. Yum. Because it's my own concoction, I didn't really measure spices. Just taste it. If it's too spicy/salty, add some sugar and/or vinegar.


Ingredients:

1lb. ground hamburger
1 small onion, diced
1 pkg. sliced mushrooms
2 Cans Tomato Sauce
1 Can diced tomatoes
Italian Seasoning
Garlic Powder
Red Wine Vinegar
Red Chile Flakes
Salt and Pepper
*optional: diced Bell Pepper, minced fresh garlic (if you have time, which I didn't)

Whole Wheat pasta (I used Ronzoni Healthy Harvest Thin Spaghetti)

Instructions:

1. Boil large saucepan/stock pot half full of hot water with about 2TBS salt. Once boiling, add pasta and cook accordingly. Drain.

2. Brown hamburger in medium saucepan. Once almost browned, add onions and mushrooms. Sautee until hamburger is completely browned and add diced tomatoes and sauce. Throw in your spices until it tastes right.

Side note: this is the garlic bread I use. Walmart sells it in a 2 pack for just around $2 and it's super yummy and easy to make!

Beef and Veg Stir Fry

*This recipe comes from Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution that aired on ABC last Fall. If you didn't watch it, "Shame on you!" *

Ingredients:

1-Pkg. Egg Noodles (see below)
Flank Steak, thinly sliced
Vegetable oil
2-3 Garlic cloves, minced
a thumb-sized piece of fresh ginger, peeled and minced
1-2 fresh chiles (I use jalapenos, but am a huge wimp and 1 is enough for us!)
Peanut shoots or beansprouts (I used beansprouts the first time and we didn't like it... your choice)
Soy Sauce
Sesame Oil
Fresh lime juice (2-3 limes)
1 Lg. red pepper, deseeded and either sliced or chunked (I used 1/3 Red, 1/3 Green/Yellow, and 1/3 Orange)
Can of water chestnuts
Handful of baby corn
Bunch of green onions, sliced. Separate whites from greens.
Salt and Pepper, to taste
Fresh cilantro, roughly chopped *optional

Instructions:
1. Prepare all veg and seasonings, keeping Garlic, Chiles, Ginger and the Whites of Green Onions separate (as this takes me the most amount of time and this meal cooks fairly quickly). Slice meat and season with salt and pepper.

2. Heat a large wok or skillet until VERY hot. Add a splash of oil and stir fry the beef with garlic, ginger, chiles and onion whites until just cooked. With Flank Steak it doesn't have to be cooked to Well. It's actually better if it's a little pink! Add the shoots/sprouts (if using), a good splash of soy sauce and a little sesame oil and the lime juice for the last 30 seconds of cooking.
While the meat is cooking, cook the egg noodles according to their directions, drain and set aside.

3. Tip the contents of the wok into a large bowl, including all the lovely juices (Jamie Oliver's words, love them!). Put the wok/skillet back on the heat, add a little more oil and all the vegetables. Stir fry for 2-3 minutes, then add the cooked noodles and toss well over the heat. (I usually can't fit the noodles, so I add them to the meat). Combine everything, including Cilantro/Onion Greens and enjoy Family Style.

When the ingredients are this fresh, you know it's gonna be good!!

NOTE: Feel free to mix and match the veggies in this meal. I always have fresh mushrooms (BIG FAV!) and I added Zucchini this last time and it was so good! Broccoli would also be a good addition. I personally prefer different colors and textures and I don't like my veg to be soggy.
I like to buy Bell Peppers when they're on sale and either chunk-cut or slice them up and divide different colors among freezer bags to be stored for a quick addition later.
And if you live in a small town like I do, where Flank Steak is VERY HARD to find, when you can find it, buy 3-4 packages and freeze them! It's the best meat for this and Carne Asada (recipe coming soon!)

Egg Noodles,
can be found at most Walmarts and probably most grocery stores.
Can also use spaghetti/linguine noodles.