Steak Marinade

We did a nice little cook out today for my Mom and Grandma and I splurged and purchased some eye of round steaks. It's a cheap cut of meat so you need to make sure you tenderize it and give it a nice marinade to soak in for several hours. I actually came up with this one on my own and it was pretty good. Daniel grilled them on the charcoal grill and they were so tender, I was quite pleased. No picture but maybe I will post one tomorrow when I have leftover steak for dinner...yummy.

Katie's Steak Marinade~
1/4 C. Honey
1/3 Extra Virgin Olive Oil
2 tbsp. steak sauce
1 tbsp. soy sauce
1/3 C. Roasted Garlic Italian Vinaigrette

Directions:
1.) Mix all of the ingredients together, slowly whisking in the olive oil. Allow your meat to marinade for several hours. We allowed ours to marinade for about two hours...I think they would have been even better had it have been much longer.

Hope you give this marinade a try during one of your BBQ's this spring/summer season!!

Bruschetta Bites

I had something similar to this several months ago during a carry-in at work. I have improvised a little bit and let me tell you they are so good. I love tomato based anything but I have never been one to eat a plain tomato. The fact I eat these is amazing. I have never actually made these for a group of people so I don't have exact measurements. I usually keep the supplies on hand so I can make two or three to snack on. Hope you enjoy.


Ingredients:
Asiago cheese, sliced
Roma tomatoes
french bread
fresh basil leaves
Tuscan Italian dressing

Directions:
1.) Toast a slice of your french bread, top with a spoonful of your dressing, top with a sliver of cheese, and then to wrap it up put on a fresh basil leaf and top with your slice of fresh tomato.

How easy is that? I have found my dressing at Jungle Jims and at Trader Joes. You can either toast your bread in a toaster which I usually do or you can brush some olive oil on the slices and pop them in the oven.

Anybody home??

Yes I am home it's just been one of those weeks, almost two if you're counting, I haven't been feeling well yet again, it's becoming the story of my life, and because of that I just haven't been cooking. I think we are starting to figure out why I have been sick for almost the past year, my gall bladder has gone haywire and has decided to either not operate at all or only operate when it so desires. This would explain why the $21,000 worth of Remicade treatments I have had since February haven't done an ounce of good. They aren't going to work if the reason they are being given to you isn't the reason why you are sick. I am not one to voluntarily sign up for a surgery, but people...I am ready to be sliced open and have that organ taken out and thrown away...that is how utterly miserable I am. If it is my gall bladder that would also explain my weight gain, I feel like I should just drop and roll instead of walking to my destination. This is evident by the pictures I have posted here on my blog. The top left one was taken exactly a year before the one I just recently posted of Daniel and Me. The roundness in my face should say it all. What makes me mad is I am eating about half of what I used to...I can't keep anything down so why bother. Now one would think, if you are eating less than you would lose weight.

Anyway, my Mother informed me yesterday that she was sick and tired of seeing the butterfly cake and instructed me that I needed to post something new. She told me I could tell everyone the story of when we moved to the farm. I was a freshman in high school and my Step-Dad had decided to go to Las Vegas during the week that we needed to move our six person, two story household. It was up to me and my Mom and she wanted me to tell the tale of moving the flimsy king size mattress down the flight of stairs. Needless to say it moved us and it was quite a ride down those stairs. Over the years I have determined that Mom+Katie+Moving= BIG TROUBLE. We attempted a dresser a few months ago, going up the basement stairs...Mom almost lost her life, I can't help that I have absolutely no upper body strength. Then there was just a few weeks ago. My Mom gave Daniel a treadmill that my Step-Dad didn't take in the divorce and let me tell you...that sucker was heavy. It took four of us to get it up those basement stairs and I would have been better off just watching. Daniel and Denny took the heavy part and Mom and I took the light part being the first two going up the stairs. I was taking the steps in a sitting position when my legs got trapped under the treadmill...I was stuck, couldn't move and it doesn't help that I am fatty. Mom and I always break down into fits of laughter during these moments so here we are stuck on the stairs laughing so hard we are crying and here poor Daniel and Denny are trying to pick up our slack and not drop the darn thing. They didn't find it very humorous but it's over now and the treadmill made it safely home. I don't think it helped that my 17 year old sister just happened to appear at that moment. Standing at the top of the stairs, cell phone in hand, asking what we were doing. Gee Megan, I don't know, having a tea party on the stairs because we are bored out of our minds...what does it look like we are doing.

There you go Mom, I gave you a new post and wrote what you requested I write about, I hope your happy.

For those of you looking for a new recipe there will be two new ones coming up, one hopefully tonight. Things may change though because I seem to get the sickest at night and in the early morning so here's hoping I can manage to pull it together.

Happy Easter

Thought I would share with everyone my butterfly cake, or the moth cake as my brother-in-law referred to it. It's easy to do and would make a great addition to your Easter spread.

Ingredients:
1 box of cake mix, bake as directed on box
2 containers of frosting
12 oreos
candy to decorate

Directions:
1.) Bake cake as directed according to the box in two 9 in. cake pans.
2.) Allow cakes to cool completely, cut in half.
3.) On a baking sheet stack up your oreos and place one layer of cut cake, icing and then stack the second layer.
4.) Finish icing and decorating with candy of your choice.

Fried Zuccini Chips

I promised I would share with you how to make the fried zucchini chips that I made to go along with our BBQ meatballs and yes I am a little late in posting...but hey, better late than never. I love vegetables that have been dredged in flour and deep fried and then dipped in ranch dressing. I especially love fried okra...it makes me happy. I pretty much use the same seasonings whenever I dredge something in flour and fry it, meats and vegetables. No exact measurements...I just fly by the seat of my pants.

Katie's Fried Zucchini~

2 md. zucchini, sliced relatively thin
1 cup flour
black pepper
garlic salt
onion powder
paprika
1 egg
splash or two of milk

Directions:
1.) In a bowl mix your dry ingredients while in a separate bowl add your scrambled egg and milk, mix well.
2.) In a large skillet pour in vegetable oil, enough to coat the bottom without drowning your veggie, and bring to high heat.
3.) Take your sliced zucchini and dip in egg/milk mixture and then dredge in flour, add to your skillet. Brown on each side and layer on a plate with a paper towel to absorb an excess oil, sprinkle with salt.

* You will start your oil off on high but after about the first batch I turn my stove down to medium, if you don't it will burn and it doesn't smell pretty. Also, to test the oil and the seasoning in the flour I cut one thin slice of zucchini and do my thing with it and throw it into the skillet. You will know by that first piece whether or not the oil is ready and once it is done you can taste it to determine whether or not your seasoning is where you want it to be.

BBQ Meatballs

It has been a very busy week at my house and as usual it has something to do with sickness. I think we have a black cloud over our house preventing everyone from being well at the same time.

Anyway, Lennon had his tail amputation Tuesday March 24th and everything seemed to have gone well. What we didn't know was that it was going to go down hill and fast. My poor little boy underwent emergency surgery this past Wednesday afternoon to remove more tail. I will spare everyone the gruesome details but we actually had to get a second opinion from another vet because the original didn't seem to think what was going on with his tail required another surgery. It did require another surgery and it required it immediately. After shelling out $1000 for this second surgery alone, Daniel and I are now on the Ramon noodle and cheap frozen pizza diet...lol. Of course had the first Vet done the amputation properly we wouldn't be in this mess but my little guy is doing really good and his tail looks 100% better than what it did after the first surgery. This Vet is having us bring him in every three days so she can make sure he stays on the path to a full recovery. I will be glad when it is all healed and he is back to normal. He is currently wearing one of those big plastic collars that they have to wear to prevent them from licking at their wounds and he is enjoying chasing Bandit around the house because of it. Bandit doesn't quite realize what it is and he is afraid of it.

On to more important matters...FOOD. I had been meaning to make this meal for a couple of weeks now. I am sure many of you are sick of seeing it as soon after the Pioneer Woman posted it to her blog, it seems that everyone jumped on the BBQ meatball band wagon. I still thought I would be nice and share with you, some of my followers may not have seen them so here you go!!

BBQ Meatballs

Meatballs:

1 1/2 pounds ground beef

3/4 cup oats

1 cup milk

3 tablespoons very finely minced onion

1 1/2 teaspoon salt

plenty of ground black pepper

Sauce:

1 cup ketchup

2 tablespoons sugar

3 tablespoons vinegar

2 tablespoons Worcestershire

4 to 6 tablespoons onion

Dash of Tabasco

1.)Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2.)Combine all meatball ingredients. Roll into medium-small balls and place on a cookie sheet. 3.)Place sheet in freezer for five minutes.
4.)Remove from freezer and immediately dredge in unseasoned flour.
5.)Brown meatballs in canola oil until just brown. Place into a baking dish.
6.)Combine all sauce ingredients. Pour over meatballs and bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.

Serve with egg noodles, mashed potatoes, or crusty french bread.

* Recipe courtesy of The Pioneer Woman

Now, as you are all already aware, I can't follow directions worth a hill of beans. This is why Katie+Baking=Trouble. The above recipe is straight from the Pioneer Woman herself, but because I have issues I made a few adjustments. First of all the oats we had in our pantry expired in 2007 so obviously they got pitched and in their place I used a sleeve of saltine crackers smashed up. Second, instead of using straight salt, I used garlic salt instead, it's what I do. Third, I added two eggs, I don't know why, I just felt compelled to use two eggs. Also, I didn't do the whole put them in the freezer and then roll them in flour deal. I just rolled them and fried them, didn't have time to mess around with that step, I had a Husband who said he had been hungry all day when I asked him if he was ready for me to start dinner, it was an emergency situation people! Now when it came to the sauce I pretty much stuck to the original with the exception of the Tabasco, I added a dash of red paper flakes instead.

These were definitely winners although Daniel said it tasted just like meatloaf which is understandable because I pretty much use the same ingredients when I do make meatloaf. I served mine along with mashed potatoes, tator tots for Daniel, and fried zucchini chips which I will share with you later.

Down Home Comfort

I love macaroni and cheese, there is just something about pasta and gooey cheese that makes my mouth water and tingle with anticipation. I have tried what seems like 850 different macaroni and cheese recipes and I have yet to find the "one".

This is one that I tried a few months back for one of our Sunday night dinner dates. Not sure if I have ever mentioned our dinner dates before but I can't even begin to tell you how much I enjoy them. Since Daniel works second shift during the week that means we don't have the normal sit down dinners like most married couples have. It also doesn't help that Saturday nights are dedicated to the family dinners, which by the way, I wouldn't trade for the world. Due to the fact that 6 of the 7 nights of the week are taken, I put into affect several months ago that Sunday nights would be our date nights. We would plan a special meal, usually something we have never tried before, and together we would prepare and cook it. There is just something special about standing next to your special someone in the kitchen preparing a special meal. Lord help me when this man ships off to Afghanistan for a year.

Anyway, I made this a few months ago to go along with Daniel's baked cod recipe. It was super yummy and definitely different from your standard mac and cheese. It has lots of ingredients and lots of steps so this probably won't be a weeknight recipe for you, but give it a shot sometime on the weekend and I can guarantee you won't be disappointed.


Macaroni and Cheese with Caramelized Onions and Bacon

Ingredients:
1 (16 ounce) package elbow macaroni
1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup sour cream
1 egg, beaten
2 tablespoons cream cheese, softened
4 cups grated Asiago cheese
4 cups grated Vermont Cheddar cheese
4 slices bacon
2 tablespoons butter
1 large onion, sliced thin
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/8 teaspoon brown sugar
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
1/4 cup panko bread crumbs
2 tablespoons butter
5 tablespoons all-purpose flour
3 cups milk
1/2 teaspoon ground mustard
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 tablespoon hot pepper sauce


DIRECTIONS:
1.) Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil, add macaroni and cook for 8 minutes (noodles will still be slightly hard). Drain noodles and transfer to a large bowl with 1/4 cup of butter and toss to coat. Whisk together the sour cream, egg, and cream cheese; add to the pasta and mix well. Stir in 3 cups of grated Asiago and 3 cups of grated Cheddar cheese, reserving the remaining 2 cups of cheese for the topping.

2.) Place the bacon in a large, deep skillet, and cook over medium-high heat, turning occasionally, until evenly browned, about 10 minutes. Drain the bacon slices on a paper towel-lined plate and chop into small pieces.

3.) Preheat an oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).

4.) Stir 2 tablespoons butter, the onion, and garlic into the bacon drippings in the pan and cook and stir for 2 minutes. Reduce the heat to medium-low, and add the brown sugar. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 10 to 15 minutes until the onions are very soft and golden brown. Mix the cooked bacon, parsley, and panko breadcrumbs into the onions, transfer mixture to a small bowl and set aside.

5.) Return the skillet to the heat and melt remaining 2 tablespoons butter over medium-low heat. Whisk in the flour, and stir until the mixture becomes paste-like and light golden brown, about 5 minutes. Gradually whisk the milk into the flour mixture and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Cook and stir until the mixture is smooth and thickened. Stir in the ground mustard, paprika, salt, pepper, and hot sauce. Remove sauce from heat and let cool for five minutes.

6.) Pour the sauce over the macaroni mixture, stirring well. Transfer to a greased 9x13 inch pan and sprinkle with the remaining 2 cups of Cheddar cheese. Top cheese with the onion breadcrumb mixture.

7.) Bake in preheated oven until bubbling, hot and golden brown on top, about 30 minutes.

Now folks, I realize that this is not very figure friendly, but when you are in need of comfort sometimes you just have to push that thought aside.

Recipe: Allrecipes.com