Balsamic Glazed steak rolls

So I realize that I suck at this blogging thing. My husband was just commenting on the fact that I haven't blogged in a while, and a while is actually a long long time, but as we were making dinner together tonight with our new pots and pans he said you should blog this recipe since it's quite interesting and tasty. So here is today's recipe.

Ingredients
Steak (we used four thinly sliced steaks that I cut in thirds to make them smaller)
Veggies of your choice (we used, carrots, green beans, red peppers and green onions)
Olive oil
Garlic (I used about 4 cloves)
Worcestershire sauce
salt and pepper
Steak spices

For the sauce
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup beef broth
green onion
olive oil
1 tbsp brown sugar

1. Marinate the steaks. I prepared them (cut them) and then I sprinkled salt and pepper on each piece and then sprinkle some Worcestershire sauce on it. They marinated in the fridge for about 2 hours.
2. Prepare the vegetables, you want them to be really thin and small so that you can fit as much as you can in the rolls.
3. Heat the oil with two garlic cloves crushed, cook the vegetables (not the green onions), we cooked them for about 5-10 minutes but we like our veggies crunchy. (Side note: I don't like cooked peppers so I cooked the carrots and green beans and then the peppers, so if you have some picky eaters you can cook all your veggies separately and have personalized rolls for everyone)
4. Once the veggies are cooked, don't forget the uncooked green onions, roll them up in one piece of steak and thread a toothpick through the meat to keep the roll together.
5. In the same pan used for the veggies put a little more olive oil and garlic and cook the rolls. Since the meat is very thin, you don't really need to have it that long so about a couple minutes per side is sufficient, while they cook sprinkle steak spices on them. This time we left the toothpicks in until they were ready to eat, but next time I think I would take them off and try to cook it seam down and see if they stay together nicely.

My husband bought me some much needed pots and pans (Lagostina 3-ply commercial clad from Canadian Tire) and they were worth the expense. So look for some more recipes in the next few weeks as I love using new things and this is definitely pushing me to try new recipes..hehe..

Making the glaze
While your meat is cooking, heat up some olive oil in a sauce pan, add a green onion finely chopped, let it cook for a little while until onion is soft. add the other ingredients and bring to a boil, it will boil fairly quickly and it does get bubbly so keep an eye on it and keep stirring until it thickens.

Place rolls on a plate and put the glaze on top of the rolls and there you have it.

Note: If you are making a lot and they don't all fit in the pan (like we ran into) just warm up your oven very low and put them in there while the rest cooks, then serve them on a plate and put the glaze on. Make sure your oven is not too hot or they will keep cooking. We also said that these would be amazing with asparagus so I'll update that next time we try that.

Enjoy!!

* This recipe is strongly inspired, actually pretty much stolen from, http://picturetherecipe.com/index.php/recipes/balsamic-glazed-steak-rolls/

Ribs

Well here is another post, I am so excited about this one! I absolutely love ribs and I finally found a recipe that is easy and that was so amazingly good.

Here is the recipe!

Ingredients (for two or three)
1 rack pork ribs
1 cup water
1 cup BBQ sauce of your choice
1 tbsp worcestershire sauce
salt and pepper to taste

1. Place ribs upright in slow cooker.
2. Pour in the water.
3. Sprinkle with the salt and pepper and worcestershire sauce.
4. Pour BBQ sauce over ribs and cook on low for about 8 hours
Tomorrow I will provide you with the recipe for the coleslaw in this picture. There is nothing better than ribs and coleslaw.

Hope you enjoy this yummy and super fast recipe.

* Adapted from this recipe  http://teamhess.blogspot.ca/2011/07/recipe-barbecue-ribs-in-crock-pot.html

Chicken Alfredo Rolls

As promised here is the very good recipe with the Alfredo sauce I was talking about last night! 

I made these just last night and Jay could barely stop eating to leave me enough for lunch. Although I have to admit these weren't bad for lunch but they were definitely better fresh. 

Ingredients

2 cups cooked chicken (you can do whatever, I had some precooked chicken in the freezer so that's what I used)

2 cups Alfredo sauce (if you use the recipe from yesterday, one recipe will do)

9 lasagna noodles

oregano

Mozzarella cheese

1. Cook the lasagna noodles, you can make the recipe for the Alfredo sauce at this point or just use a bought one too. 

2. Cover the bottom of your buttered oven-proof dish (I used my 9x9 pyrex) with Alfredo sauce.

3. Once the pasta are cooked rinse them under cold water and pat them dry. 

4. Spoon about 2 tablespoons of Alfredo sauce on one lasagna noodle, sprinkle with Oregano (if you don't use my recipe for the sauce, you can add garlic powder or salt at this point). 

5. Put chicken on the lasagna noodles and roll (it's more like fold).

6. Place seem down, squeeze them in the dish. 

7. Pour the sauce over the rolls and put the grated mozzarella cheese on top. 

8. Put in the oven to melt the cheese. I usually start by putting it at 400 while I do the dishes and then once I am done I put it on broil until the cheese is started to brown a little bit*

* Funny story I actually burnt mine because I left them on broil too long while I was on facebook...haha..I will update the picture when I make them again. 

*This recipe was adapted from http://mmmcafe.blogspot.ca/2012/01/chicken-alfredo-roll-ups.html

Alfredo sauce

So for my second post of the day, I thought I would give you the best recipe for Alfredo sauce. Seriously! Everyone I have made this sauce for wants the recipe. This is not a healthy recipe, but oh my is it ever worth it for your taste buds. I found this recipe years ago one the internet and it was called Better than Olive Garden Alfredo Sauce and I have to agree with it. It's the best. Unfortunately over the years I have made it mine and I don't even follow a recipe anymore so I won't be able to give you that link.

Here it goes, I am sharing my secret alfredo sauce recipe, the only downfall, it doesn't make great leftovers because the ingredients separate.

Ingredients
1/2 cup butter
garlic (I usually use about three cloves, but if you want more add more, or less)
a pinch of pepper
2 cups of heavy cream (Milk will do but you'll have to thicken it)
1/4 cup of shaved or grated parmesan
1/2 cup of mozzarella

1. Start your noodles.
2. Melt butter and cook garlic for 10-15 seconds
3. Add the cream and the pepper.
4.Let it simmer for about 4 minutes, then add the parmesan and keep simmering on medium for 5 minutes.
5. Add the mozzarella and let it melt and simmer. It is pretty important to keep stirring the sauce otherwise your mozzarella might melt and stick or cook and your sauce won't be smooth.

Serve over hot noodles. I usually add chicken pieces to it if I'm making it as a meal.

Enjoy!

Come back tomorrow where I will give you a recipe with this sauce that I just made tonight and that my husband would have had a third serving if I hadn't stopped him!

Meatball Stroganoff

So I missed yesterday, but in my defense, people were at my house past midnight, yes it made for one short night, but here is how I will make it up to you! I will give you two recipes today!!

This is a recipe for meatball stroganoff, I LOVED it, but my husband didn't like it. The only reason he didn't like it however is because he doesn't like meatballs, I always try to make him love it because I love them! I guess that is one thing I will make for my lunch only!

I hope you will like it!

Ingredients
Frozen meatballs (whatever kind you have or like)
Olive Oil
2 cups of broth (I think I ended up using chicken 'cause I didn't have any beef, but beef would be better)
Parsley
Oregano
Basil * I used dry, you could use fresh
1 cup sour cream
1 cup milk
Noodles

1. Start cooking the noodles.
2. Cook meatballs in a little olive oil.
3. Add the beef broth
4. Season it with the spices, you can use those or you can use a lot more, it all depends on what you like.
5. Let it simmer for a while.
6. Add the milk to the meatball mixture, you could also use some cream to make it thicker.
7. Bring to a boil until it thickens some, if it doesn't look thin enough, feel free to use a thickener.
8. Add the sour cream, mix it up.
9. Now you can add the noodles and you are done!

I think it took me about 20 minutes from the time I got up until everything was ready and we started eating.
If you are not a fan of frozen meatballs, you could make your own, I am sure it would be just as good!!

There are many ways we could change this a little bit, you could add some cheese or you could replace some the sour cream with cream cheese. If I try that I will let you know how it turns out, or if you try it, please feel free to comment and tell me how it turned out!

* This recipe was adapted from http://menumusings.blogspot.ca/2011/06/meatballs-stroganoff.html

Baked Brie

So the day just got away from me today! I have five minutes to post this or I miss my deadline. So I thought of doing something very simple. Here is a recipe for something my husband and I love A LOT!! Baked Brie.


This will probably the simplest thing you'll ever make!

Ingredients*
Brie
Cherry or grape tomatoes (although I think the pictures has normal tomatoes, must have been whatever I had)
Garlic
Olive oil

I chop my tomatoes, mix them with the garlic and olive oil, put it on top of the brie, and put in the oven at 350 for about 10 minutes, if you find that it's not melted very well then you can put it a little longer, but you almost want to check it every minute otherwise it'll be too melted (like in the picture), you want it very soft but not liquid.

Serve on warm bread or with crackers!

This is really good, and it's always nice as a dinner or just an appetizer!

* You can really do whatever, I have seen people put pecans and maple syrup or anything, you could do it with nothing too.
I made it, it's 11:59.

P.S. So in my haste to post this before midnight, I forgot to mention that we have a brie baker (which I think we got at think Kitchen) but you can put it in anything that goes in the oven.

Fruit pizza

It's almost the end of the day...but I didn't miss it! Still good on my challenge (Fridays are tough...so so busy)

Anyway, I thought I would share a dessert recipe. I made this for the Superbowl party with young adults from our church. This was totally the best thing ever. I promise you will not be able to eat just one. We had left over toppings (fruit and dip) and my husband and I attacked it in one night. Now I'm thinking I'm gonna have to redo this recipe soon.

Ok enough talking, let's get to good stuff! Sorry for the photo, I forgot to take one before cutting it up and starting to eat it! 

Ingredients*
For the crust:
1/2 cup butter, soft
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1 1/4 cup flour
1 tsp cream of tartar
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt

Sauce:
1 pkg cream cheese (8oz), softened
2 cups of whipped cream (I make my own but if you want you can use bought)
1/2 cup sugar
1 tbsp vanilla extract 

Homemade Whipped cream:
In an electric mixer, beat together 2 cups of heavy whipping cream, 1/2 cup sugar and 2 tsp vanilla (my mom use to make hers without vanilla, but I like the taste better. I use normal sugar but you could use powder, I would avoid using brown sugar or young whip cream might have a weird look) Leave the mixer on until it forms little peaks when lifted, that's how you know your whip cream is ready. Be careful not to leave it out on the counter too long or it will sort of melt. If that happens you can just beat it a little bit more. BTW I use this whip cream on absolutely everything, it's not more than to buy the ready made one and it tastes much better. 

Okay now for the pizza. 
Preheat oven to 375
Crust:
In a large bowl, cream the butter and 3/4 cup sugar until smooth, mix in the egg. In another bowl, combine the flour, the cream of tartar, the baking soda and the salt; stir into the butter and sugar mixture until just mixed. Press the dough somewhat thinly on a pizza pan (i have a stone and it worked great on there) into a round shape. 
Bake in the oven for 8 to 10 minutes, I think it took me more like 12-15 minutes with the stone, or until lightly browned. Let it cool a little while. 
Sauce:
In a bowl, beat cream cheese, sugar and vanilla together, fold in the whipped cream. Spread on cooled crust (you want it to be cool otherwise it will liquefy your sauce mixture. 

Now you are ready to put your cut fruits on top, I had strawberries and grapes on hand so that's all I used, but you could pretty much use anything you want. And you can even have fun and make cool designs and what not, use your imagination. I thought of making a football, but I couldn't think of a brown fruit, plus my husband thought that was taking it overboard (I wanted to make brown deviled eggs also). 

*If you wanted to make it easier, you could also just use pre-made sugar cookie dough.

*I basically followed this recipe to the T http://www.misshomemade.com/easyfruitpizzarecipe.html

Home made Pizza

Here I am again, I am doing good, second day of 14 (I can totally do this). So today I thought I would like to share my favourite quick pizza dough recipe!
I make this quite often, I even used it for calzones!

Ingredients for pizza dough*
With this recipe I am usually able to make 2 pizzas.
2 1/2 cup flour
2 3/4 tsp. baking powder (you can substitute with baking soda, only use half that amount and don't use salt)
1 tsp. salt
1 tbsp. oil
1 cup water

Warm oven at 400
Mix all dry ingredients, then add the water and oil. Stir until it forms a balls. If you are having a hard time and it's flaky just add more water (I find that most of the time I am adding a little bit more). The dough shouldn't be sticky, knead for a few minutes (3 or 4 minutes) and then roll.

Top with your favourite toppings and put in oven for 15 minutes for a softer crust, up to 25 minutes.

I promise that once you start using this pizza dough recipe, you will never again buy that pre-made one!

And just in case you ever want to make me pizza, I love putting mushrooms, olives and lots of cheese and of course pepperoni!

*I took this recipe straight from this link, I didn't even change one ingredient http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,2341,157183-233201,00.html 

Cranberry Chicken

Hi people, wow has it ever been long since I have posted something on here, so I think it's about time I give you some more recipes. I am challenging myself and I am committing to making a post every day for the next two weeks.

So today's post is Cranberry Chicken. I made this recipe shortly after Christmas. I was planning on making it while my parents were here but I never did end up making it for them.

Ingredients
Chicken (I used bone-in with skin, 'cause I have a lot of that in my freezer and I want to use it up - I had 8 pieces, thighs, but use as much as you need)
1 can cranberry sauce
1 package of onion soup mix
1/2 cup California salad dressing

1. Heat oven to 350
2. Place chicken in oven-proof dish
3. Mix other ingredients together and pour over chicken (make sure chicken is well coated)
4. Bake for one hour or until ready.

As you can see I served this with rice and with the cranberry sauce it was very good. If I remember correctly I also served it with a salad.

*Recipe was taken from http://www.kraftcanada.com/en/recipes/catalina-cranberry-chicken-114749.aspx

Scalloped potatoes

So a few days ago when I posted the prosciutto brie pasta, I realized that I never made good on my promise of posting my scalloped potatoes recipe. Oh and they are just so good! I only discovered scalloped potatoes after moving out, I guess my mom never made them, but I had been missing out! 

Here is the easiest yummiest recipes

Ingredients

1/4 cup butter
2 tbsp all-purpose flour
2 cups milk
2 cloves garlic crushed
2 1/4 cups shredded cheese (I had on hand cheddar and mozzarella but any kind would do)
5 large potatoes, thinly sliced (I used a mandolin to do it, so much easier and you're not afraid of slicing off your finger with the last few slices)
*If you like onions, go ahead a put some in there

Preheat oven to 375. In the meantime, make the sauce for the potatoes. Melt butter (medium heat should do, we don't want to cook it) in a saucepan (if you are putting onions, this is where you would cook them). Stir in the flour, add the milk and garlic. keep stirring until it thickens (I never changed from medium heat). Stir in 2 cups of the cheese and stir until it melts. Remove from heat. 

In a buttered or sprayed oven proof dish (I used my 9x9 Pyrex), layer the sliced potatoes. Once the potatoes are all layered, pour the sauce on top. Give your dish a little shake, this will allow the sauce to disperse. Add remaining cheese on top and put in the oven for about an hour, until is is brown and bubbly. I looked at it after about 50 minutes and mine was ready but I know my oven tends to heat a little hotter. 

Enjoy! 

Prosciutto and brie bowties

I absolutely love cheese!!! I bought this big round of brie to make baked brie when my parents were here for the holidays but with everything we didn't end up using it and it was too big for just me and my husband, so I looked up recipes with Brie. I came across one called Fettucine With Brie and Bacon. I modified it a little bit, here is what I did.

Ingredients
Bowties (or any pasta of your choice)
Brie, rind removed (I used 5 thin slices - but you can use as much or as little as you want)
Prosciutto (I used about 5 slices cut up in little pieces)
1/2 cup cream (half and half is what the site recommended but I had 35%)
1/2 cup chicken broth
1 cup grated parmesan
Pepper to taste

1. While pasta is cooking, cook prosciutto for about 5 minutes.
2. Remove from pan and add cream and broth to same skillet until slightly boiling.
3. Add parmesan and keep stirring until cheese melts.
4. Add prosciutto and pepper.
5. Reduce heat to low, add brie and keep stirring until cheese melts
6. Add cooked noodles and toss until coated with the sauce.
7. ENJOY!

This recipe was a hit with my husband and roommate!!

* Modified from this recipe http://www.yummly.com/recipe/external/Fettuccine-With-Brie-And-Bacon-Sauce-Recipezaar