Grillin!

Saturday night we had guests for dinner, and then we all went to watch some fireworks (the only useful thing I see out of my township taxes).

It was so nice out that I couldn't see cooking inside and decided to make kabobs on the grill.

I used 1 lb cut up beef stew meat, 1 quartered onion, 5 diced potatoes, and a handful of grape tomatoes.

The grape tomatoes were placed in a bowl with some Italian dressing to marinate.

The potatoes and meat each mixed with olive oil, steak seasoning, salt and pepper and let sit for about 15 minutes.

Then just stick on the kabobs! I alternated meat chunks with the onion quarters, and the tomatoes were alternated with some of the potatoes. The rest of the potatoes got put into a foil packet to cook. The potatoes cooked for approximately a half hour and the kabobs for about 15 minutes on the grill on medium. And they turned out great! Josh has already requested them again.

I also made pasta salad earlier that day.

2 cups ziti noodles, cooked and cooled

handful of grape tomatoes, halved

handful of sliced olives

as much mozzarella cheese as you want, diced

mix together with Italian dressing and balsamic vinegar until covered.

Chill.

So easy and so good.

Only the best.

Josh will eat one kind of steak no matter how many times it is offered to him - filet mignon.

Especially if I am the one preparing it. I picked up this recipe the first time I purchased filets from L.D. Weaver Meats at the Farmer's Market. They had this on a card on their counter, and I swear by it!


1 lb of filets (usually 2)
4 tablespoons melted butter
salt and pepper to taste


Heat oven to 425 degrees, place filets in shallow baking dish with melted butter and turn until coated. Season with salt and pepper. Cook for 25 minutes, turning and basting frequently.


They turn out perfectly every time.


I also made Josh's favorite Ranch potatoes (see potatoes label) and green beans with bacon for me.


I chopped up 2 pieces of bacon, sauteed them in a small pan on the stove top, added some onions, sauteed them as well, then added about 1 cup of chicken broth, and several handfuls of green beans. (Love 'em!) Season with salt and pepper, and boy are they yummy!

Love me some Apps!

Last night's dinner had to be something quick, easy, and able to be eaten with minimal distraction from the Wii acquired earlier in the day. (We were so lucky, we just happened to go to Best Buy on a day they had gotten a shipment of 30. There were 3 left when we were there around 3 PM!)

So I thought making little appetizer type things that Josh could just shove in his mouth would be perfect and he could eat in between songs on Guitar Hero.

His step mom always has the best recipes, and this was no exception.

1 package of mini phyllo cups

1/2 lb ground beef or sausage (I used beef)

enough Ranch salad dressing to coat said ground meat

handful of shredded cheddar cheese

Brown the ground meat while heating oven to 350, or whatever your package of phyllo cups says.

Drain meat, and transfer to bowl.

Mix in Ranch dressing and cheese.

Distribute mix evenly among phyllo cups, and place on baking sheet.

Bake at 350 for 5 minutes.

So easy, so good, so fattening!

We only ate a few because he was pretty into the game, but they actually reheat pretty well too!

London Broil and Orzo

Last time I was at the grocery store they had a sale on London Broil - buy one, get one free. So I got two. Now my problem is that I usually don't think about what to make for dinner until I'm at work, so needless to say, this one wasn't marinated.

Instead I used a dry rub that I threw together that consisted of dried oregano, salt, pepper, McCormick's steak seasoning and garlic powder. Instead of using the broiler, I pulled out the George Foreman grill that we got for Christmas, and put it on there for approximately 17 minutes until it was medium. Then let it sit for 5 minutes, and slice. It was pretty tender, and had good flavor, but I can't wait to marinate the other one, and see if that's better.

I also made orzo for the second time last night. I followed the instructions on the box, using chicken broth instead of water (bring it to a boil, add orzo, cook until it soaks up all the broth) and then mixed in two wedges of Laughing Cow Garlic & Herb cheese, and some leftover peas from the chicken pot pie. It was so yummy, but Josh isn't a big fan. So I steamed some broccoli for him and didn't push my luck!