Marinated Oven Steaks

The Date: 5 February 2012

The Occasion: I was out shopping on a Sunday afternoon, and thought that it might be nice to have a “real dinner” on Sunday evening. I bought some cheap steaks and used a marinade recipe I’d liked once before.

The Recipe: From Sara Lee’s Semi-Homemade Meals Cookbook.

How it went I guess this would be better with high quality steaks, but considering I bought the cheapest ones I think this came out pretty well. 

What You Need:

Steaks

2 T Olive oil

2 T Worcestershire sauce

2 T Some kind of red wine

1 T Steak seasoning

Your turn:
Combine

· 2 T Olive oil

· 2 T Worcestershire sauce

· 2 T Some kind of red wine

· 1 T Steak seasoning

in a wide shallow bowl. Stir gently to combine.

Place steaks in marinade. Prick each one a few times with a fork to let the marinade into the meat. Turn steaks over and prick again. Let the steaks marinate for as long as you like, the longer the better, I suppose.

Mash up some potatoes or cook green beans or something.

Place steaks on a broiler pan covered with aluminum foil. Broil 4-6 inches from the heat for about 8 minutes. Flip steaks over and broil 8 minutes on the other side. (Longer or shorter, depending on how rare you like it.) 

Serve and enjoy! 

A few recipes that aren't mine

I've made a few things recently that turned out excellent, but are so insanely easy, it's not worth a play-by-play of how to make it. I'll just give you the links and let you give it a whirl on your own.

A Whole Chicken in the Crock Pot
I made this today (recipe here) and it was seriously excellent. The blog I found it on says it's "fall-off-the-bone delicious," and I tell you... it absolutely was. I got this chicken from my employer at work for Christmas, so it was free, but I also read that buying a whole chicken is really cheap per pound, and you can make broth (which makes for divine soup) with the juices and bones! I also saved 4 cups of chicken, aside from what we ate for dinner, which I'll put in soup or casserole. It seems like a win-win-win situation. The broth is currently in my crock pot, where it will cook all night. I'll skim out all the bones and stuff in the morning, and save the excellent broth for an upcoming soup. Mmmm. I was a bit scared to attempt this whole-chicken-bones-and-all thing, but I'm impressed with myself and thrilled with the result. Please: Try this.

Nantucket Cranberry Pie
I took this recipe from Pioneer Woman to bake for Christmas Eve at my in-laws. Everyone loved it (I liked it more than the Cranberry Chess Pie, myself) and I'll definitely keep it in my favorite pies list. I might do a post on this, since it was so good and I love blogging pies, but Pioneer Woman's post (and photos, of course) are far superior to mine. So just check her recipe out.

Taco Soup
I made this a couple months ago for a friend who had a baby and needed meals delivered. It was a crock pot soup and embarrassingly easy, but she and her husband loved it. For an easy crock pot dinner, this is an excellent choice. It's also flexible. Leave out a certain kind of beans or the green chiles, or add more of anything you like. It's really great with shredded cheese and sour cream on top and a sprinkling of tortilla chips.

Skillet Chili
I've always made chili in a big skillet on the stove, but I've always used ground meat, a packet of McCormick chili seasoning, and whatever ingredients it suggests on the back of the packet. When I came across this recipe for chili, it sounded really similar but with a homemade flair. We loved it, and Husband even said it was better than my normal chili (which is funny because he normally likes packaged things more than the homemade versions). It was extremely good. I served it with rice, which I don't think she suggests. Also, I didn't use the whole jar of tomato sauce. I used tomato paste and some water instead, because I didn't have tomato sauce on hand. I also didn't have celery salt, so I used a bit of regular salt instead. It was really, really good.

Thanks to other cooks and food bloggers of the world for making such excellent recipes available!

Crock Pot Beef Stew

The Date: 16 November 2011

The Occasion: Since I rush off to Bible Study on Wednesdays after dinner, it's nice to have an easy meal that night. Crock pot meals are great, and this is a spin on my usual crock pot stew.

The Recipe: From this website, with just a few modifications.

How it Went: We loved it! Pete commented last time I made stew that it was too brothy and would be nice a bit thicker. This accomplished that, although I'm sure his love of yummy canned stews makes this still more like soup than his idea of beef stew. It was good, though, and I'll use this recipe again next time.

What You Need:
stew beef
carrots
onions
potatoes
celery
flour
pepper & salt
Worcestershire sauce
onion soup mix
broth
paprika
garlic powder
bay leaf

Your Turn:
Chop up

• 3 smallish potatoes (in 1/2 inch cubes)
  (I used both red-skinned and Yukon gold. Any type should work)
• a handful of baby carrots (in half)
• 1 medium onion (not too small; keep the pieces fork-able, not diced fine)
  
• 1 - 2 stalks celery

Set this aside.

Chop 1 lb of stew beef into small pieces. (Cutting each chunk in half worked for me.) Put the meat in the crock pot.

Mix up

• 2 T flour
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper

Toss this with the beef to coat.

Now, add the vegetables along with

• 1 packet onion soup mix
• 2 C water
• 1/2 C broth, if you like it brothier
• 1 bay leaf
• 1/2 tsp paprika
• 1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1/4 tsp garlic powder

Stir to blend all ingredients.

Cook on low for about 10 hours, then serve. I actually halved the original recipe because I have a small crock pot and I only cook for two. It can easily be doubled up again to feed a larger crowd.