What we ate....Menu #4....and Macaroni and Tomato Juice

Another week....another menu :)

Monday:  Chicken Taquitos
Tuesday:  Crock Pot Cheese Tortellini Soup
Wednesday:  Macaroni and Tomato Juice (below) with homemade bread
Thursday:  Leftovers
Friday:  Grilled Steak, Pasta w/browned butter and Parm Cheese, and Fresh Veggies
Saturday:  New England Clam Chowder with Italian Bread Bowls

Sunday:  Biscuits and Gravy, Fruit Smoothie

I can't wait to eat some leftover clam chowder for lunch today!!  It was SO good and the bread bowl....mmmm!!!  

When I was a kid, I LOVED it when my mom would make macaroni and tomato juice!!  It was one of my favorite things and one of the first things I could cook.  In fact, I would make this for dinner every time I got to babysit my siblings.....they would all groan, because they didn't appreciate it as much as I did ;)

I usually season mine with Nature's Seasons seasoning blend and fresh ground pepper.  I LOVE this seasoning!!....on everything:)....but I was out.

Sometime if I don't have Nature's Seasons, I will just use celery salt and pepper.  This time I used Mrs. Dash Original Blend and pepper.  I love my macaroni and tomato with or without the ground beef....so if you don't have it, or just don't want it, leave it out....it will still be delicious!!

Adjust ingredients to fit your needs.  The measurements below fed my family of 6 with just a small amount of leftovers for one lunch the next day.

Macaroni and Tomato Juice

Ingredients:

~ 1/2-1 lb ground beef

~3/4 lb pasta... I like shells or elbow macaroni for this

1- 46 oz can/jar of tomato juice

seasonings to taste

Directions:  Brown your ground beef, drain off fat and set aside.  Prepare pasta according to directions.  Combine pasta, ground beef, tomato juice and seasonings.  Heat and serve.

Crispy Southwest Wraps

I found this recipe at Mel's Kitchen Cafe.  Mel used chicken in her wraps, but I had some bottled beef in the pantry that I used.  These wraps are SO good.  If you have some canned or bottled chicken or beef they are very simple and FAST to put together.  We really LOVED these!!

Crispy Southwest Wraps

Ingredients: 

1 cup cooked rice, warm or at room temperature

1 cup cooked, shredded chicken (or other leftover meat, like shredded pork or beef)

1 can black beans, rinsed and drained

1 green onion, finely sliced (white and green parts)

1/2 red or green pepper, diced

1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped

juice of 1 lime

1/2 tablespoon chili powder

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon garlic salt

2 cups shredded cheese

Sour cream (optional)

6 burrito-sized flour tortillas

Directions:  Mix rice together with chili powder, cumin and garlic salt. Add remaining ingredients except for cheese and sour cream. Sprinkle cheese over tortillas, leaving 1/2-inch border around edges, then arrange chicken and rice mixture down the center of each tortilla.  Optional: I like to spread a little sour cream over the tortilla before I sprinkle with cheese and  before arranging the chicken and rice mixture down the center – it makes the wraps delightfully creamy.) Roll stuffed tortillas, leaving edges open and slightly flatten the wraps with the palm of your hand. Spray seam-side of the wrap lightly with cooking spray.

Heat a large non-stick skillet (or griddle) over medium heat for 1 minute(I used my cast iron skillet). Arrange wraps, seam-side down, in pan or griddle and cook until golden brown and crisp, about 2-3 minutes per side. Cooking them seam-side down first helps seal the long edge so they don’t fall apart. Transfer to a plate and repeat with remaining wraps. Serve warm.

Steak Bites

I found this recipe at The Pioneer Woman blog.  We really like these.  I am not very good at grilling steaks, so I leave that to my husband, but these...I can make :)  Easy and delicious!

 

Steak Bites

Ingredients: 

1 pound Sirloin Steak (without Much Gristle) Or Pre-cut Beef Tips 

Kosher Salt To Taste 

Fresh Ground Black Pepper To Taste 

2-4 Tablespoons Butter

Directions: 

Trim off the large obvious piece of fat that runs along the side of the meat. Next, cut strips less than 1-inch wide. Rotate the meat and cut into small bite-sized pieces. If you see any more large chunks of fat, gristle or long silvery membrane, cut them off.

Sprinkle generously with kosher salt and freshly ground pepper. Toss the meat around a bit to thoroughly coat with the seasonings.

Next, turn on your ventilation fan overhead. Heat the skillet over medium high to high heat. As the pan heats, add about 2 tablespoons butter to the skillet. Allow the butter to melt, then brown, before you add the meat.
Place some of the meat in the pan in a single layer. It should sizzle loudly when it hits the pan – if it doesn’t, the pan isn’t hot enough. Don’t stir or disrupt the meat for 30-45 seconds. You want it to sizzle and brown on one side. Scoop as many steak bites as you can with your spatula and flip them over. Repeat until all the meat is turned.  Cook for an additional 30 to 45 seconds—just long enough to sear the outside of the meat but NOT cook the inside.

Remove the meat to a clean plate. Add a little more butter to the pan and repeat the cooking process with the next batch just as before. Lastly, when all the meat is nicely browned and removed to the plate, pour all that browned/blackened butter all over the meat. And enjoy!

Ranch-Style Steak Kabobs

Wow!! It has been a fun and busy summer so far. We just got home from a fun 2 week trip to Utah. My boys and I LOVE to go 'home' to visit family and friends:)

Now that we are home and vacation is over at least for a couple of weeks, I'm getting back to cooking and blogging. This is another recipe that I got from Kraft Foods. My family REALLY enjoyed this one.

Ranch-Style Steak Kabobs

Ingredients:

• 4 new potatoes, cut in half **
• 1/4 cup KRAFT Ranch Dressing, divided
• 1 lb. boneless beef sirloin steak, cut lengthwise into 1/2-inch-thick slices
• 8 cherry tomatoes

Directions: HEAT grill to medium-high heat. Cook potatoes in saucepan of boiling water 12 to 14 min. or until tender; drain. Cool slightly. RESERVE half of dressing. Thread meat, accordion style onto 4 skewers, alternating potatoes and tomatoes between folds of meat; brush with remaining dressing. GRILL 10 to 12 min. or until meat is done, brushing with reserved dressing the last 2 min.

**I used red potatoes that were a little large, so my son cut them into smaller pieces. Then, we had more potatoes than would fit our skewers....so we just tossed the extra potatoes on the grill, brushed them with some extra ranch dressing and they were DELICIOUS!!

Beef and Black Bean Burgers

These little burgers were SO yummy! This is a great recipe to make your beef stretch. And the black beans add some extra fiber.

I actually made my little burgers with elk meat, but of course beef would be equally great(or more great depending on your taste:)). I have a freezer full of buffalo, elk and venison...so I use wild game in most of my recipes. I do occasionally buy beef if I am cooking for someone other than my family. My husband is a hunter, so we are always well supplied with red meat.

I thought I took several pictures of these little burgers, but only had a couple. I was in a hurry to get these to the family and the battery on my camera was almost dead. We will be eating these again soon, so I'll try again:) Sorry this one is SO blurry!

Beef and Black Bean Burgers

Ingredients:

• 1 lb. ground beef
• 1 cup black beans, rinsed, drained and slightly mashed
• 1 cup cheddar cheese
• 1/4 cup grated onion
• 1 jalapeno, grated or chopped
• 1 1/2 t. McCormick's Grill Mates Montreal steak seasoning
• buns (I used Molly's roll recipe and made mini buns)
• Your favorite burger toppings

Directions: Mix first 6 ingredients together. Form into patties and grill. Place the patties on the buns and top with your favorite burger toppings. Makes ~5-6 servings

Beef Fajita Quesadillas

This is how we used up our leftover beef fajita meat, peppers and onions. These were SO good! I think the boys enjoyed these more than the fajitas, since the peppers and onions weren't so noticeable:)

Beef Fajita Quesadillas

Ingredients:

• Beef fajita leftovers, chopped
• pinto beans
• cheese
• lime
• tortillas
• salsa
• sour cream

Directions: Place tortilla on griddle. Layer with beans, fajita meat, lime juice(squeeze a lime wedge over meat and beans), cheese and top with another tortilla. Cook until the bottom tortilla starts to brown. Flip over and finish cooking until heated through. Serve with salsa and sour cream.

Beef Fajitas

We loved these fajitas!! I found the marinade recipe here at the Culinary Cafe. The meat was very flavorful. Unfortunately, I didn't get any good pictures of this. I find it hard to get a good picture of dinner when my 5 boys(including my husband) are starving and in NO mood to wait for the pictures. I saved a little of the marinade to saute with the peppers and onions.

Beef Fajitas

Ingredients:

• 2 lb. skirt steak
• marinade(below)
• 2 bell peppers, sliced
• 1 onion, sliced
• tortillas

Directions: Marinade beef for at least 4 hours. Grill or broil until cooked through. Saute peppers and onions in oil. Add a little of the reserved marinade to the vegetables and cook until heated through. Slice steak and add to the vegetables. Serve in warm tortillas with cheese, cilantro, salsa, sour cream and a squeeze of lime juice.

Marinade

Ingredients:

• 4-5 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1/4 cup freshly squeezed lime juice
• 2 t salt
• 1 T chili powder
• 1/2 t red pepper flakes
• 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
• 2 T dark soy sauce
• 1/4 cup cilantro, chopped roughly

Directions: Mix everything above together. Let beef marinade in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours and chicken for at least 2 hours. Then grill over charcoal for best results but it is also good in the broiler.

Shredded Beef Taquitos

I made these with my leftovers from the crock pot roast, any shredded beef will work. These were SO simple and SO yummy!!

Shredded Beef Taquitos

Ingredients:

• Shredded beef
• Corn tortillas
• Canola oil
• Cheese

Directions: Fry corn tortillas in a little canola oil for a few seconds on each side. Let drain on paper towel until all tortillas are done. Place shredded cheese in the corn tortilla, place shredded beef on top and roll up. I place the rolled tortillas in a small amount of oil and turn them as the bottoms brown. Place finished taquitos on a paper towel to drain. Serve with sour cream and salsa.

I'm BACK...w/ Roast and Carrots

We had an 'issue' with our laptop and it has been gone for awhile getting fixed. I am SO happy to have it back!! I thought I'd share with you my FAVORITE way to cook roast and carrots!! My kids don't like cooked carrots and I never have either, but we all love these. The recipe for the roast is SO yummy!! It is great for French dip sandwiches or use the liquid to make gravy.

Crock pot Roast

Ingredients:

• 5 lb. boneless rump roast (pretty much any cut of meat will work)
• 1 T garlic powder
• 1/2 t seasoned salt
• 1/2 t cayenne pepper
• 1/2 t oregano
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 envelope dry onion soup mix
• 2 cups beef broth

Directions: Put everything together in the crock pot. Cook on low for 8-10 hours or high for 4-6 hours.

To make gravy: Melt 2 tablespoons butter in a medium saucepan. Mix in 2 tablespoons flour. Whisk in 2 cups of the liquid from the roast. Cook until it thickens to desired consistency.

This is also great for French dip sandwiches. Shred your meat, place in on bread of your choice and dip in the juice. We like to butter crusty rolls, sprinkle on some parmesan cheese and place under the broiler for a couple of minutes(until the cheese melts) before we put our meat on them and then dip. YUM!!

Sweet Carrots

Ingredients:

• 1 pound carrots, peeled and sliced
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 1 T butter
• 1 T sugar
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions: Place everything together in a small saucepan. Bring to boil and cook until carrots are tender.

Caramelized Beef Skewers

This is a quick and easy summer dinner. I served these skewers with some yellow summer squash sauteed with a little butter, garlic salt and a lot of fresh cracked black pepper. I also sliced up some fresh garden tomatoes, cucumbers and some homemade wheat bread w/butter. Yummy and light meal.

Caramelized Beef Skewers

Ingredients:

• 1 lb. beef sirloin, thinly sliced
• 1/4 c A1 Steak Sauce, divided
• 1/4 c. BBQ sauce
• 1 tsp. Dijon mustard
• veggies(I used gr. bell pepper and zucchini)

TOSS steak with 2 Tbsp. of the steak sauce; let stand 10 min. to marinate. Meanwhile, combine remaining 2 Tbsp. steak sauce, the barbecue sauce and mustard; set aside.

PREHEAT grill to medium-high heat. Thread steak(and any veggies you have on hand) onto eight long soaked wooden or metal skewers.

GRILL skewers 6 min. or until steak is cooked through, turning after 3 min. and brushing generously with the barbecue sauce mixture.

(recipe from Kraft Foods)

Taco Salad

It sure seems like we eat A LOT of Mexican food!! We love tacos! They are fast, easy and cheap.

Taco Salad

For the shell: Place a flour tortilla over a large(empty and clean) can. Spray the tortilla with cooking spray and bake at 375 for ~10 minutes. Keep an eye on it and when it just starts to turn brown and is crispy. After you take it out of the oven it will crisp a little more, so if it is still a little pliable when you take it out, that's okay.

Taco Meat: Cook 1 pound of hamburger. Drain off grease. While taco meat is cooking mix together the following(or you can just use a package of your favorite taco seasoning). 2 t. chili powder, 1 1/2 t. salt, 1 t. garlic powder, 1 t. corn starch, 1 t. ground cumin, 1 t. cayenne pepper(more or less according to taste). Add the seasoning to the meat and add approx. 1/4 cup water. Cook until hot.

Assemble: Use whatever you like and have on hand. I serve mine with lettuce, meat, beans(if I have them), cheese, sour cream and LOTS of salsa. This would be great with some of Amber's Pico!

We are finally starting to get a lot of tomatoes off our garden plants!! I am so excited to get making salsa, marinara, and spicy vegtable juice!! I have also been given a lot of zucchini! Tomorrow I will share 2 sweet and tasty zucchini dishes! This picture makes it look like I have more cheese than anythings else. Ha, Ha, maybe I do:)