Fresh Strawberry Pie

For our third anniversary I made Tyler one of his (and my) favorite desserts: a fresh strawberry pie.  It could of used a few more strawberries but we ate it so fast there was really no time to complain!  This would be a great easy recipe for 4th of July, served with cool whip or vanilla ice cream!

Fresh Strawberry Pie

1  graham cracker crust or pre-baked pastry pie crust
2 lbs (approx 4 cups) ripe strawberries washed and sliced
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup water
3 Tablespoons cornstarch

Crush 1 cup of fresh strawberries and cook on stovetop with 1 cup of
water until it boils for about 2 minutes.  Sieve (put a strainer over
a bowl so you can save all the juice and toss the strawberry pieces).
Combine 3/4 cup of suger and 3 T cornstarch and stir it into the berry
juice.  Cook and stir juice/sugar/starch combo over medium heat until
it thickens.  Place 1 1/2 cups fresh strawberries in the bottom of the
pie crust and pour half of the sauce over top, layer another 1 1/2
cups of strawberries over that and top with the remaining sauce.  Let
chill in the fridge for a couple of hours, serve with cool whip and
enjoy!

INGREDIENTS (Nutrition)

1/2 cup olive oil

1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce

6 tablespoons soy sauce

1/4 cup minced garlic

1/2 medium onion, chopped

2 tablespoons salt

1 tablespoon pepper

1 tablespoon crushed dried rosemary

3 tablespoons steak seasoning

3 tablespoons steak sauce (e.g. A-1)

4 (10 ounce) Delmonico (rib-eye) steaks

DIRECTIONS

Combine the olive oil, Worcestershire sauce, soy sauce, garlic, onion, salt, pepper, rosemary, steak seasoning, and steak sauce in the container of a food processor or blender. Process until well blended.

Prick steaks on both sides with a fork, and place in a shallow container with a lid. Pour marinade over steaks, cover, and refrigerate at least 3 hours, or overnight.

Preheat an outdoor grill for medium heat, or light charcoal, and wait until coals are completely white. Soaked wood chips may be added to the coals when ready for a smoky flavor, if you like.

Remove steaks from marinade, and discard the marinade. Lightly oil the grilling surface, and place steaks on the grill. Cover, and grill steaks for about 10 minutes on each side, or to your desired degree of doneness.

We celebrated our third anniversary with steaks grilled on our new gas grill.  They were so delicious no steak sauce was necessary!  KC Strip is not cheap but it was delicious!  We will definitely use this recipe again

Delmonico Steak Marinade (from allrecipes.com)

INGREDIENTS (Nutrition)

1/2 cup olive oil

1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce

6 tablespoons soy sauce

1/4 cup minced garlic

1/2 medium onion, chopped

2 tablespoons salt

1 tablespoon pepper

1 tablespoon crushed dried rosemary

3 tablespoons steak seasoning

3 tablespoons steak sauce (e.g. A-1)

4 (10 ounce) Delmonico (rib-eye) steaks

DIRECTIONS

Combine the olive oil, Worcestershire sauce, soy sauce, garlic, onion, salt, pepper, rosemary, steak seasoning, and steak sauce in the container of a food processor or blender. Process until well blended.

Prick steaks on both sides with a fork, and place in a shallow container with a lid. Pour marinade over steaks, cover, and refrigerate at least 3 hours, or overnight.

Preheat an outdoor grill for medium heat, or light charcoal, and wait until coals are completely white. Soaked wood chips may be added to the coals when ready for a smoky flavor, if you like.

Remove steaks from marinade, and discard the marinade. Lightly oil the grilling surface, and place steaks on the grill. Cover, and grill steaks for about 10 minutes on each side, or to your desired degree of doneness.

Steak Tacos of Yumminess

We have a grill ya’ll.  A bonafide gas grill with three burners.   One of the many priveledges of being a homeowner!  So far we have made hamburgers and steak tacos.  I foresee much more steak in our future now that we have a fabulous way to cook it!  Tyler picked this recipe out and made it himself.  Delicious!  We did not actually make the salsa, I chose to make guacamole instead since I had the ingredients on hand and love guac!

Grilled Flank Steak Soft Tacos with Avocado-Lime Salsa (adapted from Cooking Light)

Ingredients:

• STEAK:
• 1  tablespoon  chili powder
• 2  teaspoons  grated lime rind
• 1/2  teaspoon  salt
• 1/2  teaspoon  chipotle chile powder
• 1/4  teaspoon  freshly ground black pepper
• 1  (1-pound) flank steak, trimmed
• Cooking spray
• SALSA:
• 1  cup  diced peeled avocado
• 3/4  cup  finely chopped tomato
• 1/3  cup  finely chopped Vidalia or other sweet onion
• 1/4  cup  chopped fresh cilantro
• 1/2  teaspoon  grated lime rind
• 2  tablespoons  fresh lime juice
• 1/4  teaspoon  salt
• 1/4  teaspoon  hot pepper sauce (such as Tabasco)
• 
  
• 8 corn tortilas
• lettuce

Directions:

1. To prepare steak, combine first 5 ingredients in a small bowl. Score a diamond pattern on both sides of steak. Rub chili powder mixture evenly over steak. Cover and chill 1 hour.

2. Prepare grill to medium-high heat.

3. Place steak on a grill rack coated with cooking spray; grill 8 minutes on each side or until desired degree of doneness. Remove from heat; let stand 10 minutes. Cut steak diagonally across grain into thin slices.

4. To prepare salsa, combine avocado and next 7 ingredients (through pepper sauce) in a medium bowl.

5. Warm tortillas according to package directions. Spoon steak mixture evenly over each of 8 tortillas. Top each taco with 1/4 cup salsa and 1/4 cup cabbage.

Garden fresh pizza!

Well we are certainly on a garden kick now that ours is yielding all sorts of goodies.  We even have a banana pepper about ready to be picked!  I had some leftover cherry tomatoes to use up and my favorite way to eat cherry tomatoes is roasted, with some olive oil, salt and pepper.  Even better is when they are on a salad or pizza.  Mmmm pizza, my favorite food.   So I decided to get creative!  I made pesto using basil and parsley from our garden, used that as the sauce on our pizza and then topped it with cheese, chicken, and roasted tomatoes!  DELICIOUS!  I really don’t have a recipe but here’s how I threw it all together.

pillsbury thin crust pizza + mozzarella cheese + leftover grilled chicken

+ pesto: basil, parsley, EVOO, salt, pepper, parm, toasted pine nuts all mixed together in the food processor

+ roasted cherry tomatoes: drizzled with EVOO, salt and pepper, roasted at 400 degrees for 10 minutes.

= ONE DELICIOUS PIZZA!

A taste of the garden

Now that our garden is starting to yield wonderful herbs for us such as basil, parsley, and cilantro, we have been planning our meals around what we can pick in our own backyard!  I had some leftover tomatoes from a meal earlier in the week (store bought, too early for home grown tomatoes!), so I decided to whip up a batch of salsa to make use of our cilantro.  No real recipe here.  I just threw some tomatoes, onion, garlic, cilantro, fresh lime juice, and salt and pepper into the food processor and voila!  Delicious salsa!  I can’t wait to have jalapenos and tomatoes from my garden to spice this up!

Spectacular Salad with Salmon

I discovered this recipe last summer and I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve made it!  To change it up a bit we added salmon, which we had a ton of left over from dinner earlier this week.  This was a great way to liven up leftovers!  I was unable to find arugula this week so that was the only other change I made to the original recipe.  This salad is perfect for summer nights when you don’t want to heat up the kitchen!  I think it would be a great addition to a summer picnic or a special Father’s Day celebration!

tasty tasty robots!

I hosted a baby shower for the lovely Emily of Cast Sugar.  She and her husband gave her baby the cute nickname of “robot”, which sparked this great idea for the cake.  Using these cupcakes as inspiration, Sam Combs re-created them in both white and chocolate for Nemmie’s shower.  I squealed when I saw them, they are SO CUTE!  And amazingly tasty, fondant and all!  Amazingly affordable too, I couldn’t be more pleased!

Strawberry Salad

 

The latest copy of Cooking Light is chock full of amazing looking recipes, many utilizing one of my favorite foods: strawberries!  I saw this salad and while I typically try to avoid fruit in my salad (sweet things with salty things tend to bug me), I decided to try it and I am so in love with it!  This may be our go-to salad for the summer!  You can add all kinds of things to it to make it a very filling meal.  We’ve had it two nights in a row now, it’s that good!

Chicken and Strawberry Salad (adapted from cooking light)

• Ingredients:
• DRESSING:
• 1  tablespoon  sugar
• 2  tablespoons  red wine vinegar
• 1  tablespoon  water
• 1/8  teaspoon  salt
• 1/8  teaspoon  freshly ground black pepper
• 2  tablespoons  extra-virgin olive oil
• SALAD:
• 4  cups  torn romaine lettuce
• 4  cups  arugula
• 2  cups  quartered strawberries
• 1/3  cup  vertically sliced red onion
• 12  ounces  skinless, boneless rotisserie chicken breast, sliced
• 2  tablespoons  unsalted cashews, halved
• 1/2  cup  (2 ounces) crumbled blue cheese

Preparation

1. To prepare dressing, combine first 5 ingredients in a small bowl. Gradually drizzle in oil, stirring constantly with a whisk.

2. To prepare salad, combine romaine and next 4 ingredients (through chicken) in a bowl; toss gently. Place about 2 cups chicken mixture on each of 4 plates. Top each serving with 1 1/2 teaspoons cashews and 2 tablespoons cheese. D

Thai Chicken with Cashews

Last weekend I finally went through my google reader to get inspiration from my starred recipe.  I’ve had this one starred since last summer and Tyler cooked it up for dinner on Monday night.  It was good but a little too spicy for me (I blame that on Tyler who often dumps spices in without measuring!)  I enjoyed it, but with a big glass of milk to cool my tastebuds!  I love munching on the leftover cashews!

Thai Chicken with Cashews (from Annie’s Eats)

Ingredients:

1 bunch scallions

1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken thighs

½ tsp. salt

¼ tsp. pepper

3 tbsp. vegetable oil

1 red bell pepper, chopped

4 garlic cloves, finely chopped

1 ½ tbsp. finely chopped peeled fresh ginger (or 1 ½ tsp. dried)

¼ tsp. roasted red pepper flakes

¾ cup reduced-sodium chicken broth

1 ½ tbsp. soy sauce

1 ½ tsp. cornstarch

1 tsp. sugar

½ cup salted roasted whole cashews

cooked white or brown rice for serving

Directions:

Chop scallions, separating white and green parts. Pat chicken dry, then cut into ¾ -inch pieces and toss with salt and pepper. Heat a wok or 12-inch heavy skillet (not nonstick) over moderately high heat until a drop of water evaporates immediately. Add oil, swirling to coat, then stir-fry chicken until golden in places and just cooked through, 4 to 5 minutes. Transfer to a plate with a slotted spoon. Add bell pepper, garlic, ginger, red pepper flakes and scallion whites to wok and stir-fry until peppers are just tender, 5 to 6 minutes.

Stir together broth, soy sauce, cornstarch and sugar, then stir the mixture into the vegetables in the wok. Reduce heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, until thickened, 1 to 2 minutes. Stir in cashews, scallion greens and chicken along with any juices accumulated on plate. Serve with rice.

Sesame Chicken Pasta Salad

Tyler made this recipe last Saturday as a bit of a Valentine’s surprise.  I had to work that day and informed him that I did not want to have to do dishes at the end of the day, so while a nice elaborate romantic dinner would be great, I’d rather we just get pizza!  Instead he chose to make this pasta salad which was filling and required minimal cleanup.  He knows me well!  Tyler made this salad with canned chicken but you could use the “real” thing too of course.  It was delicious and I think it would be great for picnics and bbqs in the summer months.  You can add different veggies to it as well, we just used what we had on hand, which was sugar snap peas.

Sesame Chicken Pasta Salad (adapted from allrecipes.com)

Ingredients:
1/4 cup sesame seeds
16 oz pasta
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup light soy sauce
1/3 cup rice vinegar
1 t sesame oil
3 T white sugar
1/2 t ground ginger
1/4 t ground pepper
3 cups shredded chicken meat
1/3 cup fresh chopped cilantro
1/3 cup chopped green onion

Directions:

1. Heat a skillet over medium-high heat. Add sesame seeds, and cook stirring frequently until lightly toasted. Remove from heat, and set aside.
2. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add pasta, and cook for 8 to 10 minutes, or until al dente. Drain pasta, and rinse under cold water until cool. Transfer to a large bowl.
3. In a jar with a tight-fitting lid, combine vegetable oil, soy sauce, vinegar, sesame oil, sugar, sesame seeds, ginger, and pepper. Shake well.
4. Pour sesame dressing over pasta, and toss to coat evenly. Gently mix in chicken, cilantro, and green onions.