Chipotle Steak Tacos with Pineapple Salsa and Peach Cobbler

Ah, another Friday! I find more reasons to look forward to the weekends now!


This week I was emailed a recipe for Chipotle Steak Tacos with a Pineapple Salsa and thought, 'hmm, this might be interesting'... Oh, it was VERY interesting and delicious!


Ingredients:
-12 Soft Corn Tortillas
-1 Tsp Extra-Virgin Olive Oil
-1 Tsp Chipotle Chili Powder
-1 Tsp Kosher Salt
-1 Lb Flank Steak beef
-1 Pineapple, peeled, cored, and cut into 1/2 inch rings
-1 Red bell pepper, finely diced
-1/2 cup Red Onion
-1/4 Cup Chopped Fresh Cilantro


Preheat a grill to medium heat. Combine oil, Chipotle powder and 1/2 tsp salt in a small dish. Rub the mixture on both sides of the steak.


Grill the steak 4-6 mins per side or until desired doneness. Grill pineapple rings until moderately charred, 1-2 mins per side (I did just until they were light brown). Remove grill and pineapple from grill and let steak cool for 5 mins before slicing into thin strips.


Dice the pineapple and transfer to a medium bowl. Add bell pepper, onion, cilantro and a pinch of chipotle powder and the remaining 1/2 tsp salt. Toss to combine.
Serve the sliced steak in warm tortillas with the pineapple salsa.
And of course, everyone's FAVORITE time of day, DESSERT!!


This week I wanted to make the EASIEST dessert I know of. When you read this blog you might think it's too good to be true, but I promise you, it is not and I love the dessert.


Ingredients:
-2 (16 oz) cans of sliced peaches with juice
-1 Dry Yellow Cake Mix
-1 Stick of butter


Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lay peaches in the bottom of a 9x13 pan. Top with the cake mix and melt the butter then drizzle it on the cake mix. (I know the picture doesn't depict that but now I know for next time!)

Place in oven and cook for 45 mins or until golden brown. That's all, enjoy! Told you it was the easiest thing huh?

*Note: Not all of the cake mix will be moist or baked, but it will still be delicious!*

Until Next week, ENJOY!

Mexibake and Blueberry muffins

Woohoo! Dinner time again! So, let's get started since I had to wait an extra day to make this beauty of a meal!!
Mexibake! it's a Mexican styled Casserole.

Needed:
-1 Lb Ground Beef or Turkey
-1 Can Diced Tomatos (~14 Oz.)
-1 Can Mexicorn (~12 Oz)
-Taco Seasoning
-Corn Bread (enough for an 8X8 pan)

Brown the meat and add the taco seasoning following the directions per the instructions on the pack. Add in diced tomatos and mexicorn allowing it to simmer for 5-10 mins or until heated.

Prepare the Corn Bread while the meat is simmering. Once the meat is thoroughly heated place it in an 8x8 pan and spread the cornbread on top. I found it helpful to make the cornbread thicker around the edges so that it will cook all the way through.

Cook according to the corn bread recipe. Usually 20-25 mins. And enjoy!

Ok, so after dinner I didn't make dessert because the next morning I had a breakfast to go to. So, instead, I made blueberry muffins with fresh ingredients and they were GOOD!!

Ingredients:

-4 Cups Flour

-2 Cups Sugar

-2 Tsps Baking Powder

-1 Tsp Baking Soda

-1 Tsp Salt

-3 Cups (24 Oz) Fresh or Frozen Blueberries

-4 Eggs--Lightly Beaten

-2 Cups (16 Oz) Sour Cream... I HATE Sour Cream; but this was good

-1 Cup Vegetable Oil

-1 Tsp Vanilla

Preheat oven to 375 Degrees.

In a large bowl combine the Flour, Sugar, Baking Powder, Baking Soda and Salt; Add berries and toss GENTLY! (If using FROZEN berries they do NOT have to be thawed.)

Combine Eggs, Sour Cream, Oil and Vanilla and mix well. Stir into dry ingredients until just moistened.

Line Muffin Tin with muffin papers or spray with cooking spray and fill 3/4 full. If you want a full muffin I would fill it just slightly more than 3/4 full.

Bake for 20-25 mins or until golden.

Delicious!!!! Hope you enjoy! Until next week...

Beef Chili and Valentines' dessert

I've done Chicken meals so much this past month of blogging about dinners that I figured it was time for a change; yes Chicken is healthier, but c'mon. There is such a thing as TOO much Chicken.

So, Beef Chili was actually pretty good for something so simple and all just me going, 'I think this would be good... ' or 'yummy, lime juice!'

(Once again I'm mad at blogger for flipping my picture!!)

Ingredients:

-Vegetable Oil

-1 lb Ground Beef

-1/4 Medium Red Onion

-3 Cloves chopped/pressed Garlic

-1 Medium Red Pepper

-1 Medium Yellow Pepper

-3 Jalapenos

-14 oz diced tomatos (I did diced tomatos with green chilis)

-14 oz light red (or dark red) Kidney Beans

-1 Lime's juice

Begin by cooking the ground beef, you can season it with black pepper or chili powder; I actually did neither (Next time I will try to simmer the meat in the Lime juice).

Remove the beef, sepearating the fat from it and discarding. Allow the meat to sit off of heat but you do not need to refrigerate it.

Put about a tablespoon of oil in the bottom of a large skillet or wok sized pan and heat until it has the consistency of water or until it pops when water is flicked in it (a trick I mentioned in the second post when I made stir-fry).

Add the diced Onions and garlic to the wok until they become translucent. Add in ALL of the peppers allow them to cook for 2-3 mins followed by undrained diced tomatos. Finally add the meat and Kidney beans.

If you would like to add Lime juice to set off the spice of the peppers I would recommend it (again, I'll try next time to cook the meat with lime-juice and let you know how that goes).

Allow the whole wok to simmer for a few minutes, serve hot and with a side of cornbread for best experience.

Smoothies were pretty good too and rather healthy I believe.

Ingredients:

-3/4 Cup Skim Milk

-1/2 Cup berries (Combining raspberries, strawberries, blue berries)

-1/4 Cup Nonfat yogurt

Place all ingredients in a blender and blend for 1-2 mins adding more milk to improve on the consistency.

Chocolate Covered Strawberries were presented to me for two reasons; 1-It's actually a semi-healthy dessert, only 70 calories from the chocolate and it's fresh fruit, and 2-It's Valentines day. What says Valentines like Chocolate and Strawberries?

Things you'll need:

-15-20 Strawberries (I was lucky enough to find long stemmed strawberries which I would recommend if you can find too)

-5-6 oz semi-sweet bakers chocolate (You can also use white chocolate if that tickles your fancy)

Place the chocolate in a heat-proof bowl (I cut them into smaller chunks to make it a faster melt).

Wash the strawberries and pat them dry. Lay out a sheet of wax paper on a cookie sheet for easier transportation to the fridge when you are done.

Put 1-2 inches of water in a small sauce pan that the bowl will be able to act as a top for and bring the water to a boil. Remove the water from heat and place the bowl of chocolate on top to simmer.

Stir the chocolate until you get a smooth chocolate completely melted. Leave the bowl on the pan to make sure it does not turn hard.

Take the dry Strawberries and dip them in the chocolate making sure to cover them to your heart's content.

Place on the wax paper and store in the refrigerator to harden. Eat after about 10 mins of cooling or until chocolate has hardened.

There you have it. A relatively easy dinner and dessert idea for anyone.

Until next week, Enjoy!

Schnitzel, Lime-ade and Cookies you don't BAKE!

Is it FRIDAY already? I guess so...

So, last week I thought I'd be making Chili this week but looking in my fridge I realized that I had Chicken Breast I needed to use before it went bad so the final decision was.... SCHNITZEL!!

That's right, I just got back from Germany about 3 weeks ago and already I'm making one of the most popular meals from there. I can't help it. It is so good! (As long as you don't fry it in a half gallon of Crisco)

You will need:
-Meat Tenderizer
-3/4 Cup Vegetable Oil
-2 Boneless Chicken Breasts
-1/3 Cup Flour
-2 Large Eggs
-1/2 Cup Plain Bread Crumbs
-1 Large Lemon

Begin by 'tenderizing' or POUNDING the chicken breast unti the thickness is about 1/2 INCH.

Heat the OIL in a WOK sized pan (If you want a CRISPIER Schnitzel use LESS OIL) on MEDIUM HEAT.

In THREE SEPERATE bowls place the FLOUR, EGGS and BREAD CRUMBS. After the CHICKEN is the right thickness coat the CHICKEN with FLOUR and THEN place the FLOURED CHICKEN in the EGGS followed by the BREAD CRUMBS.

Place the CHICKEN in the OIL and allow to cook about 7 MINUTES each side or until GOLDEN BROWN or the right CRISP-NESS.

Remove from the OIL and allow to cool. SERVE with a LEMON-WEDGE (Allows for GREAT flavor) and SHOE-STRING FRIES.

And of course I had to have something to DRINK!!! It was LIME-ADE night!

You will need:
-1/3 Cup SUGAR
-6 Small/Medium Limes
-8 Oz. Water

Begin by softening the LIMES; roll them on a hard surface, squeeze them by hand; just get them soft for an easier time.

Cut the LIMES into WEDGES and then squeeze the JUICE into a small PITCHER.

Add 8 Oz of WATER and start with 1/3 Cup SUGAR; add more SUGAR as needed.

Serve COLD! Good, easy, delicious!

Onto DESSERT!

Standing in front of OIL all night what is better than NO-BAKE COOKIES?
You will need:
-2 Cups Sugar
-5 TBS Cocoa
-1/2 Cup Milk
-1/2 Cup Butter (1 Stick)
-1 tsp Vanilla
-1 Cup Coconut
-3 Cups Oatmeal
-Wax Paper

Put SUGAR, COCOA, MILK AND BUTTER in a large pot. Bring to a BOIL; add VANILLA.

Remove from heat and add COCONUT and OATMEAL; MIX well.

Lay WAX PAPER on a flat surface and drop them COOKIE-SIZED onto the WAX PAPER.

Place in the FRIDGE to cool for BEST results and ENJOY!

Until Next week...