One Lovely Blog Award

Today I received my very first blog award from Melissa over at Schweet N Savory. If you haven't stopped by her blog yet I highly suggest that you do as she has some very tummy pleasing recipes over there.
I am returning the honor by passing it on to Kaitlin over at Kaitlin in the Kitchen, another outstanding blog that you shouldn't miss out on.

Pillsbury Bake-Off

In case you didn't know this about me, I love food competitions and no I am not talking about who can eat the most hot dogs in an hour. I love the ones where you create a new recipe and compete against hundreds of other hopefuls. Daniel and I have decided that when we get rich we are going to start competing in the BBQ circuit. We would also like to get a utility trailer and modify it so that we can begin entering these contests and on our down time start a BBQ catering business. We can dream can't we?? My favorite contest is the Pillsbury Bake-Off and this year will be my second attempt at hoping to score one of the coveted spots. I dreamt up Mexican Calzones a year ago for that attempt and this year I am still in the "thinking up" phase. There are four categories this year and whatever recipe I submit must have at least two ingredients off of their ingredients list. The categories are; Breakfast and Brunches, Entertaining Appetizers, Dinner made easy, and last but not least, Sweet Treats. Needless to say I am going to be scouring the Internet to come up with ideas that I can play off of and turn into something original and while I won't be posting any of the recipes until after the April 20th submission deadline, rest assured I will be sharing them with you at some point in time. I can not even begin to imagine winning as I am just not lucky enough, but boy what I could do with the million dollar prize. Lets see; I would pay off our house, then I would pay off our vehicles, then I would buy our utility trailer so that we can get to smokin', I then see granite counter tops in my future along with a nice little pick me up of a vacation to Disney World...family included! Anyway here is the link to the Pillsbury Bake-Off website in case you may be interested in entering your own original recipe, just click here!

Veggie of the Week- Tomatillo

I have decided, since I am trying to incorporate a variety of fruits and vegetables into my diet, that I am going to do a vegetable/fruit of the week. Every Monday I will be posting a fruit or vegetable along with details on what it is, where it can be found, and of course what sort of dishes can be made with it. I think it is important as a good cook to know your fruits and vegetables.Since the majority of these items probably cannot be found in the produce aisle at my local grocery store I won't be posting my experiences with them but I promise, if I can find them, I will use them and post about them. Today's vegetable is the tomatillo.

The tomatillo is a plant of the Solanaceae (nightshade) family, related to tomatoes, bearing small, spherical and green or green-purple fruit of the same name. Tomatillos, referred to as green tomato (Spanish: tomate verde) in Mexico, are a staple in Mexican cuisine.

The tomatillo fruit is surrounded by a paper-like husk formed from the calyx. As the fruit matures, it fills the husk and can split it open by harvest. The husk turns brown, and the fruit can be any of a number of colors when ripe, including yellow, red, green, or even purple. Tomatillos are the key ingredient in fresh and cooked green sauces. The freshness and greenness of the husk are quality criteria. Fruit should be firm and bright green, as the green colour and tart flavour are the main culinary contributions of the fruit. Other parts of the tomatillo plant contain toxins, and should not be eaten.

Fresh ripe tomatillos will keep in the refrigerator for about two weeks. They will keep even longer if the husks are removed and the fruits are placed in sealed plastic bags stored in the refrigerator. They may also be frozen whole or sliced.

Information provided by: Wikipedia

Mexican Take-Out Tomatillo Salsa

Ingredients:
12 ounces tomatillos, husked and rinsed (6 to 10)
2 serrano chilies (I suggest using Jalapenos if you don't like things too hot)
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1/2 medium white onion, minced (1/2 cup)
4 garlic cloves, chopped
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
1/4 teaspoon salt, plus more if needed
1 teaspoon sugar
2 tablespoons vegetable oil

Directions:
1.)Preheat the broiler. Line a 13 x 9-inch pan with foil.
2.)Place the tomatillos and chiles on the foil and broil for about 5 to 10 minutes, or until dark brown spots develop on the chiles and tomatillos.
3.)Cool, then transfer to a blender, including all the juices that have run out onto the baking sheet.
4.)Add the cilantro, onion, garlic, lime juice, vinegar, salt, sugar, and 1/4 cup water. Blend to a puree.
5.)Heat the oil in a medium skillet set over medium heat. Add the tomatillo puree and bring to a boil. Continue to cook, stirring, until the salsa has thickened slightly, about 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and taste for seasoning; adjust if necessary. Transfer to a serving bowl and serve at room temperature or chilled.
6.)Make Ahead: This salsa can be made ahead and kept covered in the refrigerator for up to a week, or frozen up to 2 months.

*I found this recipe off of another favorite website of mine, recipezaar.com. It looks really yummy and I plan on trying it out as soon as I can find some tomatillos. Daniel and I are both really big salsa fans and we have never had one made from tomatillos. I can't wait!!

Marinade

I wasn't going to post anything tonight as I just did a steak recipe the other week but this marinade for steak is just too good not to share with everyone.

I love my Husband and I love spending time with him. We are still in those blissful pre-children years where we can just up and leave without worrying about baby-sitters and packing the appropriate amount of diapers and bottles. The unfortunate part of this is that my Husband works second shift so the only time I really get to see him is on the weekends. That means no week night dinners at the table which for lack of a better term...sucks. A few months ago we made a deal to make Sunday nights our "date night". It's the one night where together, we plan and make our dinner and share it together at our kitchen table. I look forward to this night and if you have never done this with your spouse...I highly suggest it. The food doesn't have to be special, but we do try to make it something that we wouldn't normally cook. Now I am a big red meat fan, especially a nice piece of steak. Daniel on the other hand does not enjoy steak, doesn't matter the cut or what part of the cow it came from, he just doesn't enjoy it. While on a trip to Kroger's yesterday we noticed that they were having a heck of a sale on their meats. We were trying to figure what sort of meat we were going to have for our date dinner when another shopper casually mentioned that they were selling T-Bone steaks for just a couple of bucks. We passed on the T-Bones but Daniel did something very out of the ordinary, he picked another cut. I think it was a prime cut of something something, I don't remember. I wasn't about to talk the grown man who normally doesn't touch steak out of it as I was more than happy to go with the flow. What I was going to do was leave the preparation of said steak all up to him. I was not about to take responsibility for getting him to like it. So this morning while I was still tucked into bed, he found this marinade on my favorite site, allrecipes.com and got to work. If I could have licked the plate that he served these up on after he grilled them...I would have, but it wouldn't have been lady like so I didn't. I highly suggest trying it as it is going to be a keeper in our house!! (In the marinade before being thrown on the grill)

Ingredients:
1/3 cup soy sauce
1/3 cup olive oil
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice (the stuff in the bottle works just fine)
1/4 cup Worcestershire
1 1/2 tbsp. garlic powder
3 tbsp. dried basil
1 1/2 tbsp. dried parsley
1 tsp. white pepper
1/4 tsp. hot pepper sauce
1 tsp. minced garlic

Directions:
1.) Allow selected meat to marinade in mixture for at least eight hours.

Gravy Smothered Ribs over Rice

I love ribs...I really love them slathered in BBQ sauce and left to slow cook in the crock-pot all day long. Daniel loves ribs as well, but he won't give them another glance if they've come out of the crock-pot. He is a strange man sometimes. On our last visit to the grocery I picked up two packages of country style pork ribs that were already cleaned up and off the bone. I knew since we had just had pulled pork last weekend that cooking them with BBQ sauce was out and I also knew I would have to come up with some other way to cook them then in the crock-pot. I was also not brave enough to weather the extremely cold elements outside to grill those bad boys so that left me with my stove. This is another one of those recipes I pulled out of somewhere where the sun doesn't shine and I was quite surprised with the outcome. Hope you enjoy!!

Ingredients:
1 1/2 lbs. country style pork ribs
1 tsp. black pepper
2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. paprika
3 tsp. onion powder ( love my onion powder)
1 tsp. garlic powder
2 tbsp. butter
1 1/2 tbsp. flour (I didn't use a measuring spoon, I used an actual tablespoon...FYI)
3 C. chicken stock (1 1/2 for ribs and 1 1/2 for rice)
2 tbsp. teriyaki sauce (I used Kikoman teriyaki baste and glaze)
2 tsp. red pepper flakes (Use less or more to meet your preferences)
1 1/2 C. instant rice
green onions for garnish

Directions:
1.) Wash and trim any additional fat off of ribs, cut into one inch pieces.
2.) In a large skillet on medium high heat add 2 tbsp. of butter, and add rib pieces.
3.) To the rib meat add black pepper, salt, onion powder, paprika, and garlic powder. Cook meat until brown and cooked thoroughly.
4.) In a sauce pan boil 1 1/2 cups of chicken stock and add 2 tsp. of red pepper flakes. Add rice and cook as directed on box of rice.
5.) To the rib meat add teriyaki sauce and allow to coat all pieces of meat.
6.) Add flour to rib meat and stir, allow meat to continue to cook until you can no longer see the white of the flour. Add remaining 1 1/2 cups of chicken stock and allow to thicken.
7.) Once sauce has thickened turn off heat and serve.
* I dish up the rice and top with rib gravy mixture. Garnish with chopped green onions.

Doggies

When I originally set out on my quest to blog I knew that I would include food, but I also figured I would include my day to day life as a proud dog owner. I am sure everyone thinks their dog is just the funniest thing around, but my three actually are. Not everyone can say that they have a Black Lab who sings and has a fetish with TY beanie babies or a Great Dane that when you take his collar off and tell him he's butt naked proceeds to prance around the living room like a giddy school girl. Purposely I decided not to blog on them as I figured most people wouldn't be interested and plus, how do you tie food in with a bunch of dogs other than the fact mine would eat just about anything I gave them? Since they are so much a part of my life I decided I would dedicate one post to them to allow everyone the opportunity to "meet" them. It's a long one, but when you have over three hundred pounds of dog to talk about, it's going to be long. I promise this is a one time deal and I will never do it again.

As I am sure most of you have already guessed, the love that Daniel and I have for our "children" is what non-animal loving individuals would probably describe as over the top. I cannot help that we talk to them like they are human beings and I most certainly cannot help that both Bandit and Toby talk back. I also cannot help that they sit on the couch while we either fight for the one recliner or sit on the hard floor or that when we have McDonald's...they have McDonald's, the boys love their chicken nuggets. I also don't find it over the top that we know their likes and dislikes. For instance, Wagner, otherwise known as Petunia because he is so picky, will not tolerate ketchup. Don't you even think about giving him the french fry with ketchup on it, he wouldn't touch it with a ten foot pole. And you might as well forget about giving the dog his fruits and vegetables, he will take them from you, but he spits them out quicker than you can say "don't you dare". Bandit on the other hand will eat anything that doesn't eat him back. He loves tomatoes and he even eats the core out of our apples, this dog does not have a problem with ketchup and quite strangely loves his salt and vinegar potato chips.

Did I also mention that our dogs also have middle names, even some dog people find that one strange...I don't, it helps them to know when they are in trouble or not. I knew I was toast when I heard "Katie Jo", so when I holler Bandit Leroy or Toby Scott, they know to run for their apartments. Apartment is code for cage in our house and we holler Bandit Leroy and Toby Scott a lot in our house. Bandit has been spending a lot of time in his apartment this week, you see, he has himself a hot play toy by the name of Zoe behind us. Zoe's owners have absolutely no respect for their neighbors and allow her to wonder the neighborhood as she pleases and the first place she visits is our joint. Bandit and all of his one hundred plus lab fat can still muster the strength to jump the fence so when she comes calling, he goes answering. Thank God he has been fixed...I am way to young to be a Grandmother. He of course jumps back over the fence and into his pen after he gets caught and we think he thinks that by jumping back into the dog pen that that means Mom and Dad won't know and he won't get in trouble, boy is he wrong! He gets caught every single time and every single time he is banished straight to his apartment. His apartment is where he keeps his favorite socks from his Daddy and all of his favorite beanie babies that have made it back inside the house, I am beginning to think it's not really a punishment for him anymore, more like a time to play with his things without Toby taking off with something.
Wagner George doesn't have an apartment, he gave up chewing things years ago so he got upgraded to the couch for his residency. That was not the case when we first brought him home. He enjoyed reading and watching videos while home with Lucia during the day. He is just now getting around to replacing his Dad's favorite movie, "The Goonies". He was kind enough to replace the chewed up video with a brand new DVD for Dad's Christmas this year. We don't have to use his middle name as much as we do the other boys. His middle name only gets used when he is taking up the entire couch and we are faced with the sad lab eyes from Bandit just begging for one of us to make him share. It also gets said when he comes up and casually yawns in our face sharing his rank breath. When I say rank, I mean make your eyes water RANK!! You have not smelled bad breath until you have smelled Wagner's. We fear that this may be a Great Dane thing, because sadly, Toby is developing some nasty breath of his own. This of course is a horrible thing for us, because this dog is an in your face sort of dog. We have also learned that deep down inside Wagner's, "whatever" persona, he has a mischievous side. He has learned how to open the pantry door and he will just stand there scoping out the goods. This is how Daniel almost lost an entire bag of beef jerky around Christmas.
And then there was Toby. It will be a year next month since we adopted Toby and I will be honest with you. I didn't think we would reach that milestone with him. We didn't learn until after we got him home that he had an aggressive side to him. Of course when you are adopting animals that come from rescue situations where people have beaten and abused them, this is always a chance you take. Toby's wasn't caught at the rescue because his is somewhat dormant and it only comes out in certain circumstances. We learned those circumstances the hard way. Toby by no means can be restrained during unfamiliar situations or with unfamiliar people. Take for instance the first time he met his Grandpa, my Father, we laugh at this now, but at the time my Dad's life flashed before his eyes. Shortly after he was adopted, I threw Daniel a 30th birthday party. We made the mistake of keeping Toby in his cage for introductions instead of allowing him out to meet and greet the guests on his own terms. Dad made the unfortunate mistake of going to check the new addition out and all I can say is, Toby sounded like a wounded grizzly, Dad came running, eyes as big as silver dollars, and I swear Toby's cage moved eight feet from the wall where it originally started, with him still in it. It was after a few more run ins with him and strange people while still caged that we put two and two together. When Toby is faced with a person he is unfamiliar with, he gets scared, and put him in a cage where he can't escape that person he also feels threatened. His only defense for himself in this situation is to growl and act like an idiot and hope that the person goes away. I threatened to pack his bags for him before we finally figured out this wasn't his fault, that someone obviously did something to him before he was rescued. I feel guilty now I will admit, it's not his fault that he has a few nuts and screws loose upstairs. I mean after all, I came from two nuts who screwed, and no one has threatened to take me back. A year later, Toby is best friends with his Grandpa, it took some apologizing on his part, and Grandpa casually reminds him of their first meeting every so often. It also helps that we have a house full of people every Saturday night so I think he is used to people by now. He is the biggest baby you will ever meet and just like any other baby he demands to be held. He sits in Daniel's lap and when his Uncle Matt comes to baby-sit, Uncle Matt must hold and comfort him in the recliner. The dog even enjoys perching his behind on your shoulder with his paws on your lap. We like to refer to this as his "Polly want a cracker" pose. Toby is also my snuggle buddy and kitchen helper. When I go to bed at night, Toby isn't far behind. He stays there until his Dad comes home from work and then its adios Mom and hello Dad. When I am in the kitchen, Toby is in the kitchen. He has his own rug to lay on and is a major pain in my rear to cook with. He thinks he gets to try everything, and sees no problem with laying his head on the other side of the counter and commence drooling. He's Daniel's constant companion and I tell the dog all the time to leave some space between him and Daniel when they are trucking along, because one of these days, Daniel is going to stop without warning and Toby is going to experience a little of what we suffer with when we smell his and Wagner's breath.
Sadly, at one point in time we were the proud parents of four children. We still are the parents of four children, it's just that one has gone to live permanently at her Grandma and Grandpa's house. We had to have Lucia, our gorgeous red Doberman put to sleep on 9-13-08 after we learned she had bone cancer. We keep telling the boys that Peanut went to live with Grandma and Grandpa and I know we need to stop saying that because I know when we ask them if they want to go see Grandma and Grandpa, they are probably thinking "Hell no, last time Lucia went she didn't come back". That girl had a personality on her the size of the Grand Canyon and to say she was her Dad's little Princess would be an understatement, she had been his life. Before I stole Daniel's heart, another girl had. Lucia Marie became her Daddy's little girl around Christmas eight years ago and until I came trotting along, she had him all to herself. Daniel started truck driving when he got out of the Navy and it wasn't long after that that he rescued her. Lucia was his truck driving companion and more than likely in all of her Doberman glory, kept him safe in many a truck stops. We have had our share of crying fits since her passing, you should have seen us on Christmas when we went out to see her grave. I have her collar hanging on the rear view mirror in our Equinox and I like to think that whenever her tags jingle, that's her checking in. We have now finally moved on to the should we get another Dobie phase. Do we need another mouth to feed, no. Would our Mother's kill us, heck yeah!! Do we need the love and affection from another red Doberman, sadly yes. We know when we get another, which we will eventually, that it will have to be female, and it will have to be red just like Lucia. We also decided over the weekend to name her Ariel after playing with a black and tan one at a pet store. Would you believe that today we found a red doberman puppy at the Doberman rescue we associate with? She was left to die along with her siblings when they were rescued. The very strange thing is, guess what her name is?? It's Ariel and I can't help but think maybe it's a sign that Lucia left this planet so that we could be this one's forever family as she was born right around the time Lucia first started to get sick. The question is, do we move forward with trying to adopt her, or do we act like responsible adults and say no like our Mother's would prefer that we do?? Only time will tell. But come on, how big of a coincidence can it be that she meets our requirements and her name is already Ariel?? Now that I have shared a few tidbits of information about our little doggie family I will get back to doing food!!

Beef Strogonoff with Spinach

Tonight was another what's for dinner night and I truly pulled this recipe out of somewhere that we will not mention. I added the spinach to the mix because we have a bunch in the fridge that needs to be used so I figured...why not?? It actually turned out pretty good and the spinach gave the dish a nice bite. If you aren't a fan of spinach feel free to leave this ingredient out.

Ingredients:
1 lb. ground beef, browned
1 cup onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1 tbsp. salt
2 tsp. pepper
2 tsp. onion powder
2-3 dashes hot sauce
1/3 cup of Parmesan cheese
4 oz. cream cheese
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
3 handfuls of fresh spinach
1/2 lb spaghetti noodles or pasta of your choice

Directions:
1.) In a skillet over medium heat, brown ground beef with onions and chopped garlic. Drain grease.
2.) Add salt, pepper, and onion powder to beef mixture.
3.) Add cream cheese, cream, and hot sauce. Stir until cream cheese has melted.
4.) Sprinkle in Parmesan cheese.
5.) Stir in fresh spinach and gently toss. Turn heat down to low and allow to cook until spinach is slightly wilted.
6.) Serve over cooked pasta.