Steak and Potatoes

I know I've made this dish before but it's just so delicious I can't help but make it again. I was at bristol farms and I was looking at the meat department and said to myself I want some steak. They had some beautiful rib-eyes so I picked one up. The butcher couldn't believe I was going to eat the whole thing by myself since "every other girl always asks me to cut these in half" so I responded to the butcher "I don't know who you've been hanging out with but they're the wrong type of girl" haha. So I must say I was quite proud when I finished that whole steak.

This steak takes a bit of patience but if you do the steps below and you take your time, it'll turn out really delicious. I actually thought my steak was as good as one in the restaurant and with practice yours can be too!

When it comes to steak I'm a relative purist. I like seasoning it up with lots of spices but I don't put any fancy sauce on top. I want to taste the beef not any sauce. Once you get the method down of cooking steaks like this you can conquer just about any type of steak. I suggest practicing on a smaller/cheaper type of steak for your first few times so you don't waste money.

When it comes to spicing your steak up, use whatever spices you have handy. There's no need to go out and buy 10 diff kinds. Just mix what sounds good together to you and put just a sprinkle of each spice so nothing over powers the flavor.

Ingredients:
1 rib-eye steak (about 1 lbs)
1 baked potato
butter
salt
pepper
garlic powder
onion powder
grill seasoning
cumin
red pepper flake
paprika

Directions:
1. pull meat out of fridge 20 minutes before cooking. Preheat oven to 300.

2. Wash potato and pierce with a fork all over. Microwave on high for 5 minutes. Place in oven to finish (don't leave in longer than 15 min)

3. Heat a cast iron skillet up on high heat (or pan that can go into the oven safely). You want it to be really hot. Place spices onto beef and press gently so it stays on meat and will form a crust.

4. Once pan is hot, pour a drizzle of canola oil and place meat onto pan. It might smoke up a bit so be prepared but it'll be ok. Now don't touch it, turn it, or even peek at it for 4 minutes. This will give it a delicious crust. Then flip the steak and cook it for another 4 minutes. no peeking!

5. If you have a thermometer stick it into the thickest part of the meat as close to the center as possible. Place beef into oven and allow to finish gently. The temp should read 130 before pulling it out of the oven to let it rest. Let it rest at least 5 min, covered with foil and leave thermometer in place.

6. Pull potato out of the oven and serve with sour cream, butter, chives, bacon, and cheese if you have it. Place the steak on a large plate put potato on the side and your ready to eat.

Salad

There's nothing like a simple salad. It makes you feel good and you can eat as much of it as you want. I made this salad really basic. I just chopped up some cucumber, took some lettuce from a bag and drizzles both with ranch dressing. You can add any other veggies you like or other dressing. Salads are great because their versatile so just put things that you like on it and enjoy!

Crescent Roll Pizza

This dish uses kitchen staples I keep around all the time. I made it as a snack during a hockey game and it was a hit with my friend. I decided to try both marinara and alfredo sauce as a base. I also wasn't sure if I wanted chicken on it so I only put it on one half of each pizza. Feel free to top this with whatever you like or have on hand.

Ingredients:
1 tube of crescent rolls
marinara or alfredo sauce
shredded mozzarella cheese
shredded parmesan cheese
toppings of your choice

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 375. Unroll crescent rolls onto a parchment lined sheet pan.

2. Spread a very thin layer of sauce over the dough.

3. Evenly distribute about 1/4 cup of both cheeses combined per 2 flat crescent rolls

4, Place toppings on top of cheese. Make sure not to over do it on the toppings, you want room for each ingredient to shine.

5. Bake 5-10 minutes or until crust is golden and cheese is melted. Cut into slices and allow to cool slightly before eating.

Chicken Noodle Soup

I feel like crap today because I'm sick so I decided to make some quick and simple soup. It was easy for me because I happened to have all the ingredients. I know I never want to go to the store when I'm sick so it's nice to stock up on chicken broth and heat that up for a soothing concoction.

I didn't have many veggies at my house but you could add tomatoes, onions, potato, carrot, celery. If you want a bit of freshness you can add a squeeze of lemon right before serving.

Ingredients:
1/3 cup diced chicken
2-3 cups of chicken broth
10 strands of spaghetti

Directions:
1. Place broth in a small pan and bring to a simmer.

2. Once liquid is hot, snap spaghetti into bite size pieces right into the broth. Cook as long as spaghetti directions say to cook, usually about 10 minutes.

3. Then throw in the diced chicken and cook another minute to heat chicken and serve.

Chicken Fried Rice

Fried rice is a quick cooking dish that is great for left overs. Make sure everything is cut up and prepared before you start cooking because everything happens really fast. I love eating it because you feel full and it's relatively healthy.

Ingredients:

1 - 2 green onions, if you have them
1 large eggs
Salt and Pepper to taste
2 tablespoons oil for stir-frying, or as needed
2 cups cold cooked rice
1 - 2 tablespoons light soy sauce or oyster sauce
1 cooked chicken piece like thigh or breast cut into bite size pieces

Directions:

1. Wash and finely chop the green onion. Lightly beat the eggs with the salt and pepper. Cut up chicken.

2. Heat a wok or frying pan and add 1 tablespoon of oil. When the oil is hot, add the eggs. Cook, stirring, until they are lightly scrambled but not too dry. Remove the eggs and clean out the pan.

3. Add 1 tablespoon of oil. Add the rice. Stir-fry for a minute, using chopsticks or a wooden spoon to break it apart. Add chicken pieces and cook for another minutes. Stir in the soy sauce or oyster sauce as desired.

4. When the rice is heated through, add the scrambled egg back into the pan. Mix thoroughly. Stir in the green onion. Serve hot.

Chicken, Bean, and Cheese Nachos

I wanted a quick snack and while scouring my fridge I found all the above ingredients and I though NACHOS! haha. Instead of piling all the chips up and dumping everything on top so there are a bunch of naked chips in the middle I did them in a single, spread out layer. There are lots of other things you can put on nachos like jalepenos, sour cream, salsa, guacomole basically anything that sounds good haha. The sour cream and guacomole shouldn't be put under the heat but be added right before eating.

Ingredients:
Tortilla Chips
Refried beans
Shredded Chicken
Shredde Cheese (I suggest a blend of swiss and american but you can use monterey jack or just about any cheese you like)

Directions:

1. Lay chips out in a single layer on a foil lined sheet pan. Preheat oven to 400

2. Spread a small amount of beans onto each chip.

3. Add a piece of the shredded chicken to each chip. Make sure to press chicken into beans because beans act like a glue so chicken doesn't fall off when trying to eat them.

4. Sprinkle a small amount of cheese on top of each chip. This should be the top layer so it gets melty as everything heats up.

5. Place into the oven just until beans are heated through and cheese has melted. Make sure it doesn't burn.

S'mores

We bought these for the BBQ during spring break but got distracted and never made them. So last night Axel and ryan brought over the ingredients and we made s'mores at my house. I don't have an outdoor fire so we just stuck the marshmallows on a long knife (or skewer if you have one) and roasted them over my stove burner.

Ingredients:
Graham Crackers
Chocolate Bars
Marshmallows

Directions:

Do I really need to put these on here? It's a smore. I hope everyone has a childhood memory of sitting around the fire making one. Just remember: marshmallow goes in the middle

Meatloaf and a Baked Potato

For this dish I used my basic meatloaf recipe. We've had this recipe for a really long time and this time I had to be creative because I didn't have milk but I had heavy cream. I combined 1/16 cup of cream to 3/16 cup of water. This seemed to work really well and the meatloaf tasted exactly the same. Instead of mashed potatoes I went for the baked potato because it was faster which sounds strange. It's quick because I microwave it for 5 minutes after poking it with a fork (if there isn't vent holes for the steam in the potato, it will explode!) This is such a homey meal that makes you feel good deep down inside.

Pasta Bianco

This is Italian for white pasta haha. Everything in this dish is white like the spaghetti, chicken, alfredo sauce, and parm cheese. I also love this dish because I bought everything in the store so it was super fast and it's impossible to mess up. It is a heavy dish so don't eat it on a warm summer day, try more for a cold evening.

I love getting the roast chicken because you can serve the chicken with sides like potatoes and other veggies and then use the left overs in this dish. If you have veggies I say through them in too though it won't be a bianco pasta anymore.

Ingredients:
1 cooked roast chicken
1 jar alfredo sauce
1 pound spaghetti
parmesan cheese

Directions:
1. boil water. Cut large pieces off of chicken, enough for how ever many people your serving.

2. Add 1/8 cup salt to the water once boiling. Drop in pasta an stir gently until noodles are completely submerged. Stir noodles every once in a while during cooking.

3. Half way through pasta cooking add chicken to a saute pan with a little butter. Cook over medium heat for a minute or 2 or until heated through. Then add alfredo sauce to the pan, reduce heat slightly and allow to heat while pasta finishes.

4. Add pasta to sauce and stir to coat pasta. Grate some parm cheese on top and plate. I suggest serving this with some rolls or fresh bread and butter.

Tri Tip Spaghetti

For this dish I used the left over tri tip, store bought pasta, and jarred marinara sauce so it was super quick. I love making simple and quick things that satisfy me at the same time.

Ingredients:
tri-tip, cut into bit size pieces
1/2 cup marinara sauce
handful of whole wheat spaghetti
parmesan cheese

Directions:
1. Place water in a large pan and boil over high heat. Cut beef into bit size pieces

2. Drop pasta into boiling water. Add a lot of salt (you want the water to taste like sea water)

3. After about 3 minutes add 1 tbs butter to a medium saute pan. Add beef and saute until heated through and slightly browned. Add marinara sauce and turn heat down to low.

4. Once pasta is al dente add to saute pan and cook another 2-3 minutes.

5. Sprinkle on a ton of parmesan cheese, plate, and enjoy.

Tri Tip Tacos

I have a ton of left over beef which is fantastic for me because I LOVE BEEF! haha. I decided to make something simple so I decided to make some beef tacos. For sides I did cheese, secret sauce,refried beans, and onions marinated in lime juice. If you have left over marinated onions you can chop them up small and they're great in salads.

Just follow the recipes for all my other tacos and enjoy! I know I did! haha