Dr. Pepper Steak

I don't have a picture for this recipe yet, but I can tell you it's delicious!  I know I've complained before about using too much garlic, but I think you'll want to use all 4 cloves in this marinade - it's not overly strong.  Fall is upon us, but I'm sure we'll still have some great grilling weather.  You'll want to try this recipe soon!

Ingredients:

16 oz Dr. Pepper (you can use Coke if you prefer)
4 garlic cloves, peeled
2 cinnamon sticks
2 Tbsp grill blend (see recipe below)
flank steak, London broil, etc.

Grill Blend:
2 Tbsp Kosher salt
1 1/2 Tbsp chili powder
1 Tbsp sugar
1 Tbsp cumin
1/2 Tbsp ground thyme
1 Tbsp coarsely ground black pepper

Grill blend: Combine all ingredients, blending well.  Store in an airtight container.  Stir before each use.

Directions: 
In a large bowl or ziploc bag, combine Dr. Pepper, cinnamon sticks and garlic.  Add steak; cover and marinate for 8-12 hours.  Remove and pat dry.  Season with grill blend and cook meat on grill.  Do not overcook or steak will be tough.  

Beef Stew

When my husband and I were first married I was on a quest to find a great recipe for Beef Stew.  After trying several recipes, I finally came up with one on my own that we still love!

Ingredients

1 lb stew meat

Pan searing flour

5 cups water

1 packet McCormick Beef Stew seasoning

1-2 beef bouillon cubes

1 cup sliced carrots

1 cup frozen peas

3-4 medium potatoes, peeled and cubed

Directions:

Trim fat from stew meat and coat with pan searing flour.  Brown meat in a frying pan with about 1 tbsp oil.  In a large pot, combine the water, beef stew mix and bouillon cubes. Bring water and seasonings to a boil, then add meat.  Cover and simmer.  While the meat simmers, prepare vegetables, then add to the pot.  Simmer until vegetables are tender, about 15-20 minutes.  Enjoy!

*You can also make this in the crockpot.  I put everything in around lunchtime and it's perfect by the time my husband gets home from work.  I've also used leftover roast rather then stew meat, and both are equally tender.  

Cashew Beef Stir-Fry

I've made this a couple of times since finding it in a Taste of Home magazine and my hubby loves it! You should see how excited he is when I tell him I'm serving it for dinner.

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 2 cups cold water
• 4 tablespoons soy sauce, divided
• 1 bunch broccoli, chopped
• 3 medium carrots, julienned
• 2 tablespoons canola oil, divided
• 1 pound beef top sirloin steak, cut into thin strips
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 2 medium green peppers, cut into strips
• 2 medium sweet red peppers, cut into strips
• 2 medium onions, halved and sliced
• 1 yellow summer squash, sliced
• 1-1/2 cups salted cashews
• Hot cooked rice
• 
  
• Directions:
• 
  
• In a small bowl, combine the cornstarch, water and 2 tablespoons soy sauce until smooth; set aside. In a very large skillet or a wok, stir-fry broccoli and carrots in 1 tablespoon oil until vegetables are crisp-tender. Add the beef, garlic, pepper and remaining soy sauce; stir-fry until meat is no longer pink. Remove and keep warm.
• 
  
• In the same pan, stir-fry the green and red peppers, onions and squash in remaining oil until crisp-tender. Return beef to the pan.
• 
  
• Stir cornstarch mixture and gradually add to the pan. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened. Stir in cashews. Serve with rice.
• 
  
• Yield: 7 servings.

As a side note, my camera has been anything but cooperative lately and it seems like every picture I take is terrible. Sadly, my cell phone takes only slightly less awful pictures, so until I suck it up and buy a new camera, I'm going to use pics I find on the internet as much as possible. Why share a recipe if the picture makes it look awful, right?

Veggie Meatball Soup

My 5 year old loves meatballs, so I definitely had to try this recipe. We weren't disappointed - it's excellent and surprisingly low in fat!

Ingredients:

3 cups reduced-sodium beef broth
2 cups frozen mixed vegetables
2 cans Italian diced tomatoes
18 frozen meatballs {give or take a few :D }
2-3 bay leaves
1/4 tsp pepper
1 cup uncooked spiral pasta

Directions:

In a slow cooker, combine the first 6 ingredients. Cover and cook on low for 4-5 hours or until heated through. Stir in pasta; cover and cook 20-30 minutes longer or until pasta is tender. Discard bay leaves before serving.


*The original recipe called for stewed tomatoes, but I used the Italian diced tomatoes to give it more flavor.


Nutrition Facts: 1 serving (1 cup) equals 125 calories, 1 g fat (1 g saturated fat), 2 mg cholesterol, 574 mg sodium, 24 g carbohydrate, 4 g fiber, 5 g protein.


Weight Watchers points: 2

Salisbury Steak

I'm a sucker for comfort food - most especially meat and potatoes! I throw some vegetables on the side to ease the guilt and then sit back and enjoy my piece of heaven on earth. Mmmmm....

Ingredients

2 Tbsp Worcestershire Sauce

1/2 t. minced garlic

1/4 t. salt

1/4 t. pepper

1 lb lean ground beef

1-2 cans Campbell's Mushroom gravy or 1 packet McCormick Mushroom gravy mix

Fresh sliced Mushrooms (optional)

Directions

In a small bowl, combine the Worcestershire sauce, garlic, salt and pepper. Crumble beef over mixture and mix well. Shape into 4 patties. In a non-stick skillet brown patties on each side, then drain the grease. Add the gravy and mushrooms to the patties, then bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 10-15 minutes or until mushrooms are done.

4 servings

*If I'm feeling especially guilty about the yumminess I'm about to consume, I transfer the patties to a clean pan before adding the gravy. It cuts out at little more of the grease right?

*If you're using the powdered gravy, mix it with the water before adding it to the pan. Surprisingly, we prefer the canned gravy, but it just depends on what I have on hand and what was on sale at the time :) If I want extra gravy for the potatoes then I use two cans.

I'm sure that a true Salisbury Steak actually uses brown gravy instead of mushroom gravy, but the truth is, Chris and I are die hard fans of mushrooms. I add them to everything - hence the change from the original recipe!

Slow Cooked Sirloin

1 boneless beef sirloin steak (about 1 1/2 lbs)

1 medium onion, cut into chunks
1 medium green pepper cut into chunks

1 can beef broth

1/4 c. Worcestershire sauce
1/4 tsp dill weed
1/4 tsp dried thyme
1/4 tsp black pepper
dash of crushed red pepper flakes
2 Tbsp cornstarch
2 Tbsp water

In a large nonstick skillet, brown beef on both sides. Place onion and green pepper in slow cooker; top with beef. Combine the broth, Worcestershire sauce, dill, thyme, black pepper and pepper flakes; pour over beef. Cover and cook on high for 3-4 hours or until meat reaches desired doneness.Transfer cooking juices into a small saucepan over medium high heat. Combine cornstarch and water until smooth; gradually stir into cooking juices and continue to stir until thickened.

6 Servings


*I generally serve this with rice or baked potatoes. We love the flavor of the onions and green peppers, but we don't necessarily like them in the gravy, so when making the gravy I only remove the juice. I love this recipe because it's really fast to put in the crockpot and it smells delicious while it's cooking!

*I'm sure I found this in a cooking magazine somewhere, but I can't remember which one - I've been making it for a few years now and it's definitely a family favorite!

Sweet and Sour Meatballs

Ingredients: 

(meatballs)

1 Tbsp beaten egg

1/4 cup seasoned bread crumbs

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp ground ginger

Dash of pepper

1 lb lean ground beef

Ingredients:

(sweet and sour sauce)

1 can (16oz) pineapple chunks, undrained

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup cider vinegar

2 Tbsp reduced-sodium soy sauce

1 cup sliced fresh carrot

1 medium green pepper, julienned

3 tsp cornstarch

2 Tbsp cold water

Hot cooked rice

In a medium bowl, combine the first 5 ingredients. Crumble beef over mixture and mix well. Shape into 1-in. balls. In a large skillet, cook meatballs over medium heat until browned on all sides and meat thermometer reads 160 degrees; drain.

Drain pineapple, reserving juice; set pineapple aside. Add water to juice to measure 1 cup. Stir in the brown sugar, vinegar and soy sauce; pour over meatballs. Add carrot. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 5-8 minutes or until carrot is crisp-tender. Stir in green pepper and pineapple; cover and simmer 5 minutes longer or until pepper is crisp-tender.

Combine cornstarch and water until smooth; stir into the meatball mixture. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened. Serve over rice.

4 servings

*Note to self (or any other readers of this blog): I normally use frozen meatballs from Ikea because it's so much faster and it makes this a really quick meal to throw together - I just heat the meatballs in the skillet while I'm chopping vegetables. However, the last time I made it I didn't have enough. I did have ground beef, so I tried the meatball recipe included here. It's ok, but I've had better.  I'll have to do some checking and see if I can find a better one.

*I found this recipe in Taste of Home's Cooking for 2. If you're looking for a great recipe magazine try this one; I really like it - we've found so many good ones from it and I just double the recipe for our family.