My Cooking Adventures

I got this recipe from the book called "The Fat Flush Plan", and it was deeee-licious!  The cayenne mixed with ginger - ohmygah.  Just try it.  You'll love it.

Beef Stir Fry

1/4 cup chicken broth
1 pound of flank steak, sliced thin
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1/2 onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp ground ginger

Sautee the beef in the broth in a skillet on medium high heat until almost cooked through.  Add peppers, onions, and garlic and continue cooking.  Add spices.  Serve alone or over brown rice.

(This can be made with any protein - chicken, shrimp, etc.)

I finally got to cook last night! I have been moving around so much lately, that I haven't been able to cook like I used to. It felt so wonderful to be back in the kitchen!

Zippy Beef Casserole

adapted from allrecipes.com (search title above)

Ingredients

1 cup uncooked elbow macaroni
1 pound ground beef
1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of mushroom soup
3/4 cup milk
2/3 cup ketchup
1/2 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
1 teaspoon Onion salt
1 cup crushed Ritz crackers

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Bring a saucepan of lightly salted water to a boil. Add pasta, and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until al dente; drain.

Cook ground beef in a skillet over medium heat, stirring until evenly browned; drain. Stir in cooked macaroni, condensed soup, milk, and ketchup until well blended. Mix in the Cheddar cheese. Season with onion salt, and pour into a 2 quart baking dish.

Cover, and bake for 40 minutes in the preheated oven. Uncover, sprinkle the top with crackers, and bake for another 5 to 10 minutes, until crackers are toasted.

I made burgers last night, and oh-my-oh-my they were so good! I used the recipe found here, Really Good Burgers. My old neighbor & I invented this recipe ourselves one night, just throwing things into a bowl. I have to say, it is super yummy!

Source: me!

Ingredients:

1-2 lbs ground beef
1 cup bbq sauce
1 tsp Tony C's seasoning
1/2 tsp garlic salt
2 slices of bread, torn in pieces

Directions:

1. Place a grill pan on the stove, and turn on medium high heat. Spray with non-stick cooking spray.

2. With clean hands, mix all ingredients above in a large bowl.*

3. Patty out round burgers; using 3 fingers, carefully and lightly push in the middle of the burgers to create a well. [This will help the burgers to plump up when cooking - tip courtesy of Bobby Flay from his Throwdown episode with Green Chili Burgers!]

4. Place burgers, flat side down first, onto the grill pan. Cook for approximately 5 minutes per side, or until cooked through. Be careful when flipping burgers - use a spatula - the burgers will be very moist and juicy and can easily fall apart if not handled with care. Top with cheese of choice during last 2 minutes of cooking if desired.

5. When done, place on a plate with paper towels to soak any excess grease. Serve & enjoy!

*Cooking Tip: Use hands to mix instead of a spoon or tools. This will ensure that all ingredients are completely mixed in, and all the burgers get the complete flavor intensity. Just be sure to wash, wash, wash! Sanitation is key to great cooking!

Ingredients:
1 lb ground beef
1 cup Sour Cream
2 Tbsp. flour
1/2 cup water
2 tsp. instant beef bouillon
1/4 tsp. pepper
2 Tbsp. butter or margarine
1-1/2 cups sliced fresh mushrooms (optional: I did not use)
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 clove garlic, minced
4 cups hot cooked noodles

Directions:
Mix sour cream and flour in small bowl. Stir in water, bouillon and pepper; set aside.

Brown the ground beef in a skillet over medium to medium-high heat. Drain. Place beef back in skillet, add butter. Add vegetables to skillet; cook and stir until butter has melted and onion is tender. Reduce heat to medium.

Add sour cream mixture; cook until bubbly, stirring constantly. Cook an additional minute. Spoon over hot noodles.

**Tip: double the sour cream mixture for a much creamier recipe. Mine turned out a little too dry.

Adapted from: Kraft Foods.com

My neighbor and I came up with our own little hamburger concoction one night that turned out to be the best burgers we'd all ever had!

*There's no picture because I didn't think to take one last night. They look like normal burgers, but they taste like heaven!

Really Good Burgers

2 lbs ground beef
3/4 cup Barbecue sauce
2 slices of bread, torn into pieces (we used whole wheat bread, and cut off the crusts)
2 Tbsp Tony C's spice
1 1/2 tsp garlic salt

Prepare a charcoal grill.

Mix all of the above together in a bowl, using hands. Patty out burgers, round in shape, about an inch thick and about 3 inches in diameter. Place on grill for about 5-6 minutes per side. Sprinkle each burger with Tony C's right after placing on the grill, and immediately on other side after flipping. Once removed from grill, let cool for about one minute. Serve with trimmings of choice!

After I got my new KitchenAid mixer (yay!!), I wanted to try it out right away. I am a member of an online community of women called The Nest, and I frequent a board called, "What's Cooking?" I went to the board in search of recipes to try out with my mixer, and someone posted a great looking beer bread recipe from AllRecipes.com. I tried it out yesterday afternoon, and it is delicious! Here is the recipe; if you ever have the chance to try it, it is an absolute must! I'm going to make a loaf for my parents this weekend, it's that good!

Vickie's Beer Bread

Serves 12

INGREDIENTS
· 3 cups self-rising flour
· 3 tablespoons white sugar
· 1 (12 fluid ounce) can or bottle beer, room temperature
· 1/4 cup margarine, melted

DIRECTIONS
1.Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Lightly grease a 9x5 inch baking pan.
2.In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar and beer. Mix just until blended. Scoop into prepared baking pan. Pour melted margarine on top of loaf.
3.Bake in preheated oven for 45 to 60 minutes, until bottom of loaf sounds hollow when tapped.

Now, if you only have all-purpose flour, like I did, you can make your own self-rising flour by doing the following (3 cups):
3 cups flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt


For dinner last night, I had planned to make a meat loaf. The recipe called for dry bread crumbs. Instead of going to the store and buying bread crumbs in a bag, I just took a couple pieces of bread, and left them sitting out on top of the toaster oven, to get hard and stale. Then, I chopped them up into squares (I have a 3-cup food processor; if you have a larger one you might not need to chop up your bread to fit it in your processor) and put them into the bowl of my food processor. I chopped up the bread pieces until they were tiny little bread crumbs. It saved me a lot of money. I got this recipe for meatloaf (and this bread crumb tip) from my Better Homes and Garden Bridal Edition Cookbook.

Meatloaf

Cook Time: 1 hr 10 mins
Makes: 8 servings

2 beaten eggs
3/4 cup milk
2/3 cup fine dry bread crumbs or 2 cups soft bread crumbs
1/4 cup finely chopped onion
2 tablespoons snipped fresh parsley
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon dried leaf sage, basil, or oregano, crushed
1 1/2 pound ground beef, lamb, or pork
1/4 cup catsup
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon dry mustard

1. In a bowl combine eggs and milk; stir in bread crumbs, onion, parsley, salt, sage, and 1/8 teaspoon black pepper. Add meat; mix well. Lightly pat mixture into an 8x4x2 loaf pan.
2. Bake in a 350* oven for 1 to 1 1/4 hours or until internal temperature registers 160*F. Spoon off fat. In a bowl combine catsup, sugar, and mustard; spread over meat. Bake for 10 minutes more. Let stand for 10 minutes before serving.