Steak Pizzaiola

It's fun to say (Steak Pete's-eye-Ole-uh), easy to make and less expensive than it sounds!  I discovered steak pizzaiola by watching reruns of Everybody Loves Raymond.  I also discovered braciole by watching this show, which I haven't tried yet since it looks kind of hard and messy.

Steak Pizzaiola
Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• cooking oil 
• 4 small steaks (I used chuck steaks I found on sale)
• 1 large onions
• 2 garlic cloves
• hot cherry peppers (I didn't use these, but I did add a dash of red pepper flakes) (optional)
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 1 28 oz can or 2 14 oz cans peeled plum tomatoes or diced tomatoes
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 teaspoon oregano
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• pepper, to taste

Directions

1. Heat the cooking oil in a large skillet over high heat.  Don't use olive oil at high heat because it scorches and tastes gross. 
2. Add the steak and brown well on both sides.
3. Meanwhile slice the onion and mince the garlic.
4. Remove the steak from the pan and reduce heat to medium.
5. Add olive oil if you need it, the onion and garlic and cook for about one minute.
6. Add the hot cherry peppers, if desired, and then the tomato paste.
7. Roughly chop or squeeze the tomatoes and add to the pan along with the spices.  The recipe was vague, so I didn't drain the tomatoes, which worked out well. 
8. Bring to a boil, put the steak back in the pan. Cover and lower to a simmer.
9. Cook for 45 minutes to 1 1/2 hours until extremely tender.  This depends on the amount of meat you have.

We cooked up some pasta to eat with this.  It was good!  

NOTE:  Because you're cooking the heck out of the meat, you can use really tough ie: cheap steaks.  The recipe originally said to use one 3 lb steak, but we used 4 quarter-pound steaks (there's only 3 of us after all) so we only needed to simmer it for 45 minutes.

 

Chicken Divan or What Am I Going To Do With All This Leftover Turkey??

With Thanksgiving over, I find myself with about eight pounds of frozen turkey sitting in my freezer.  I have made about a billion turkey sandwiches and a couple of gallons of turkey soup.  So, now I am on the hunt for good recipes that will use up that turkey.  This is one that has been a family favorite forever and translates well from chicken to turkey.  I recently tried a recipe for chicken a la king, which didn't work out so well, but I will keep trying and will share the good ones here.  So, to business.....

Chicken (or Turkey) Divan
Serves 4-ish

Ingredients:

2 cups cubed cooked chicken breast (about 2 breast halves)
1 12-16 oz package frozen broccoli
1/2 c mayonnaise
1/4 c lemon juice
1 can cream of chicken soup (cream of mushroom works ok too)
1 tsp mild curry powder (or more if you like)
cheddar cheese
croutons (optional)

Method:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F

1. Cook frozen broccoli.
2. Mix mayo, lemon juice, soup and curry powder in a small bowl
3. Put chicken and cooked broccoli in an 8 x 8 baking dish
4. Pour soup mixture over top.  At this point I usually stir things up a bit, so the sauce gets all over everything
5. Grate cheddar cheese over the top (In my house, if you can still see broccoli or chicken, there's not enough cheese :) )
6.  Add croutons if you want.

Bake for 20 to 30 minutes till cheese is melted and bubbly and a litte browned.
Serve over rice

French Fruit Pie

Yum! This is my favorite pie! My brother loves it so much that he requests this for his birthdays instead of cake!

Ingredients:

2 tbsp sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla

1 c. whipping cream (the real stuff you whip yourself)

1 can (1 lb 4 oz) pineapple chunks

1 lg. pkg vanilla pudding mix (not instant)

1 can (11 oz) mandarin orange slices

1 tbsp cornstarch

1 c. milk

1 banana, sliced

1/4 tsp. almond extract

1 graham cracker crust (regular size, not large)

Follow these carefully- ignore the directions on the pudding packet, because this recipe uses a different amount of milk than regular pudding.

Combine pudding mix, milk, and 1/2 cup only of cream in a small saucepan. Cook on medium hight heat, stirring constantly, until mixtrue is thick. Chill. Beat remaining cream with sugar and vanilla until stiff in medium bowl. Beat chilled pudding until creamy-smooth, then mix into whipped cream slowly (don't beat hard- use a slow setting on mixer or just stir it by hand). Pour mixture into graham cracker crust and chill. Drain and measure juice from the pineapple and mandarin orange cans to make 3/4 cup (usually just the juice from the pineapple is enough). Stir a little of the measured juic into cornstarch until smooth in small saucepan, then add remaining juice (from the 3/4 cup). Cook, stirring constantly until mixture thickens and boils (it will go from foggy to fairly clear). Let cool slightly while arranging fruit. Arrange pineapple chunks, orange segments, and banana slices into 6 even wedge-shaped sectons on top of pie filling. Spoon warm glaze over fruit and smooth evenly. Chill at least 2 hours. Enjoy!

** can also make this recipe with mixed berries for a yummy variation. I have used raspberries, strawberries, blackberries, and pomegranate seeds. When I use berries, I mix them all together for the topping, rather than doing sections. Fresh berries are great, but defrosted frozen berries also work well- and provide you with the juice you'll need to make the glaze.

The Best Mint Brownies on the Planet!

For those of us that went to BYU, I'm sure you'll remember the Fantastic mint brownies at the Creamery.  This is the official BYU mint brownie recipe (don't ask me how I got it.......ok it's posted on their website) and it is my new favorite dessert.  I'm a chocoholic and I ALWAYS keep brownie mix in the house in case of chocolate emergencies.  My poor husband is sick of brownies because of this, but when I found this lovely recipe, he didn't mind the brownie-baking so much.

BYU Mint Brownies

MAKES ONE 9-BY-13 PAN OF BROWNIES.
PREP AND COOK: 90 min. COOL: 1 hr.

Ingredients:

BROWNIES:
1 c. margarine
1/2 c. cocoa
2 Tbsp. honey
4 eggs
2 c. sugar
1 3/4 c. flour
1/2 Tbsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 c. chopped walnuts
12 oz. chocolate icing (Use your own icing recipe or purchase some chocolate frosting. You can also search the Internet for chocolate icing recipes.)

MINT ICING
5 Tbsp. margarine
dash of salt
3 Tbsp. milk
1 Tbsp. light corn syrup
2 1/3 c. powdered sugar
1/2 tsp. mint extract (Note: don't accidentally buy peppermint extract...it just isn't the same)
1-2 drops green food coloring

Method:
1. Melt margarine and mix in cocoa. Allow to cool. Add honey, eggs, sugar, flour, baking powder, and salt. Mix well. Add nuts. Pour batter into a greased 9-by-13 baking pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes. Cool.
2. Prepare mint icing: Soften margarine. Add salt, corn syrup, and powdered sugar. Beat until smooth and fluffy. Add mint extract and food coloring. Mix. Add milk gradually until the consistency is a little thinner than cake frosting.
3. Spread mint icing over brownies. Place brownies in the freezer for a short time to stiffen the icing (Note: by short time they mean at least 30 minutes). Remove from the freezer and carefully add a layer of chocolate icing.


PS:  If you are lazy like me, you can just do a box mix and then follow the recipe for the icing. It turns out almost as good as the "from scratch" recipe.  Also, the corn syrup isn't super-important in the mint icing, so you can skip it if you want and just add a little extra milk if it's too stiff.

Double Chocolate Almond Cookies

I made this today for the ladies in my ward and it was a BIG hit! I even had left overs to give to some of the Primary kids as they walked out of the room.

* The dough is thick! You may even have to mix a little by hand at the end. The cookies do harden when cooled...and they are SO yummy!

I got the recipe from Ida Garten on Food Network.

Ingredients

• 2 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup Dutch-processed cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/4 cups (2 1/2 sticks) salted butter, softened to room temperature
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup firmly packed dark or light brown sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 cup white chocolate chips
• 1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
• 1 cup almonds, chopped

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

In a medium bowl, combine the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment cream the butter and sugars. Add the egg and vanilla and mix together. Add the flour mixture and continue mixing until just combined.

Add the chocolates and almonds and mix until combined. Using two tablespoons or a small ice cream scoop, drop the dough two inches apart on sheet pans lined with parchment. Bake for 15 minutes.

Cool the cookies on the cookie sheets. The cookies should be very soft when they are removed from the oven. They will firm up as they cool.

Tater Tot Casserole.

I like this recipe on cool days and with ketchup on the side :o) There are many ways to make this, but this is my way.

Ingredients:
1lb ground beef
minced dry onions (to taste)
salt & pepper (to taste)
1 bag tater tots
1 can cream of chicken soup + 1 can milk
cheese

Directions:
Flatten out ground beef in 9x13 pan. Sprinkle salt, pepper and minced dry onions over beef to your liking.
In separate bowl, mix cream of chicken + milk. Line tater tots in rows over beef, pour cream of chicken mixture over tater tots. Put in 375 degree oven for 1 hour.
About 10-15 min before the hour is up, pull the pan out and sprinkle cheese over it. Put back in oven for the remainder of the time, or until the cheese is melted to your liking.

Serve and Enjoy!

Ground Beef and Everything

Hi! I'm Crystal Farnsworth, Kira's mom. I hadn't cooked this recipe in probably 25 years, but I needed something good and hearty for the fire department dinner last month and it was a hit! It is easy, rib-sticking, very flavorable, good for a large group, and freezes really well.



2 lbs. lean ground beef

1 medium onion, chopped

1 green pepper, chopped

1 can mild Ortega chilis, chopped

2 fresh tomatos, chopped

1 can sliced mushrooms

1/2 lb. Mozarella cheese, grated

1/2 lb. cheddar cheese, grated

Brown and drain ground beef. Salt and pepper to taste. Add the rest of the ingredients. Cook until cheese is entirely melted, stirring often. Serve on French rolls or pita pocket bread.

Serves 16