My Good Eats Blog

All Blogs	Page 1 Of 2	Next

Cheap and Easy Cookout Posted On 2009-08-28 , 2:12 PM Cheap and Easy Cookout For the first time that I can remember, I am on vacation with no actual plans to go anywhere. This is a completely foreign concept to me. Since my hubby and I are in Hawaii, vacations are now more expensive than before. Gone are the road trip days :) Since my husband is in the military, they are having a palm period for people to take time off before their upcoming deployment and we found that we were not the only ones with nothing to do for a whole week. We decided to have friends over often to occupy our time. We all love to play games, so we had a good time playing games and eating food. With all my extra time off I thought . . . when would there be a better time to try a whole bunch of new recipes! My husband and I added another animal to the family, a little kitten we named Olivia. She needed a kitty condo to call home when she wanted to get away from our dogs. We had some friends come over and while Coty helped build the cat condo, Chelsea and I found ourselves passing time while baking things . . . good for the taste buds, bad for the waistline. First, we found a great recipe for marinated chuck steak! I was able to buy three and a half pounds for 1.99/lb!! What a great price. The marinade was as follows: Marinated Chuck Steak: 1/2 cup red wine vinegar 1/2 cup soy sauce 2 Tbsp. lemon juice 1 Tbsp. brown sugar 1 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce 2 garlic cloves, minced 1/4 tsp. onion powder 2 lbs. boneless chuck steak We doubled the marinade recipe and put each chuck steak in its own ziploc bag because they were very large. After eight hours we drained off the marinade and grilled the steaks, covered, over medium heat for 8-10 minutes on each side. they came out medium, we had to adjust time to get the steaks right for everyone's preferences. They were delicious!! To add to the meal Chelsea and I made some vegetable skewers to grill with the meat. We layered onion, red peppers, grape tomatoes, and asparagus. We sprayed them with a little olive oil and added some salt and pepper. We grilled them longer than the meat so they could cook through. Last but not least, we made Chocolate and Peanut butter pie. It is one of my husbands personal favorites and mine since it is so easy and inexpensive to make!! Chocolate-Peanut Butter Pie: 1 package Chocolate pudding mix (3.4 oz) 1 package Vanilla pudding mix (3.4 oz) 1/2 cup peanut butter 2 1/2 cups milk, divided 1 9" graham cracker crust (store bought is fine) Cool whip or whipped cream Mix vanilla pudding mix with 1 1/4 cups milk. Stir for two minutes, add peanut butter and mix well. Pour into crust. Place into fridge for a few minutes, while preparing the other pudding to harden. Mix chocolate pudding with 1 1/4 cups milk and stir for two minutes. Spread on top or vanilla layer. Be gentle, otherwise you may mix the two layers instead of keeping them separate. Cover and place in fridge until ready to serve. When ready to serve, top with whipped cream or cool whip, whichever you like best. Serve and enjoy!! It is the perfect summer dessert. If you would like to lighten the recipe, you can use sugar free pudding and nonfat milk. We had a great time and the steaks turned out wonderful. Hope you try them soon! Enjoy! comment
Herb Butter Posted On 2009-08-17 , 10:55 PM Herb Butter Herb butter . . . what is it? Have you ever been to a restaurant where they served warm bread or biscuits and an amazing butter spread infused with some secret ingredient to make it incredibly delicious? Well I have and I was pleasantly surprised to find that herb butter doesn't just taste amazing, it is also amazingly easy to make! All you need to make you own creation is butter (of course) and some herbs or other readily available condiments. Your only limit is your imagination. It can be a great way to use up some leftover fresh herbs from a recent dinner recipe. To make herb butter: let the butter sit at room temperature for about 30 minutes to soften. When butter is soft just stir in the flavor! Some flavor suggestions include: chopped olives, garlic, and rosemary mustard and fresh dill grated lemon, lime, and orange peel chopped sundried tomatoes and parmesan cheese roasted red peppers Let your creativity show! It doesn't always have to be herb butter. You could make some sweet flavorings as well. My family's favorite is honey muffins with: vanilla, cinnamon, and honey butter or try fresh blueberries and maple syrup Note: if you don't have time to let your butter soften, then break out the food processor! For storage, roll butter in plastic wrap and store in fridge for two weeks. You can also freeze it in a ziploc bag for up to six months. My family has some fun creating our own signature herb butter. The nice thing about is is that we aren't limited to serving just one at a time. We can put out two or three different flavors at dinner time to add some variety and keep everyone happy. I hope you enjoy creating your signature herb butter! Honey muffin recipe: 2 cups all purpose flour 1/2 cup sugar 1 Tbsp baking powder 1/2 tsp salt 1 egg 1 cup milk 1/4 cup butter, melted 1/4 cup honey In a bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. In another bowl, whisk egg, milk, butter, and honey; Stir into dry ingredients just until moistened. Fill greased or paper-lined muffin cups three-fourths full. bake at 400 degrees for 15-18 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Remove from pan to a wire rack. comment
Using Leftovers Posted On 2009-08-10 , 2:46 PM Using Leftovers Unfortunately my husband and I have a really hard time using all of our leftovers. I come from a family of six and I definitely struggle to cook for two. My mission this week was to cook less and reuse more! On Monday I bought a salad mix and a turkey breast. We had a large salad with grape tomatoes (yum), shredded turkey, candied pecans (I made them myself with pantry surplus), and a delicious raspberry vinaigrette. Alright one day down! When I have left over meat I try to make a dish that is completely different from the first so we don't get burned out on one ingredient. So on Tuesday I made Turkey enchiladas. The thing I like most about enchiladas is that they become a pantry cleaner dish for me. All you really need is a meat (we often use leftover roast), enchilada sauce, tortillas, and cheese. They make some fabulous canned enchilada sauces nowadays! I also look through my pantry and typically find a can of beans, corn, and maybe some olives. I also like to throw in some salsa for added spice! Note: when you buy the tortillas, the soft taco size fits perfectly in the baking dishes! The enchiladas usually make a 13x9 pan, but since it is just the two of us I make two 8x8 pans and freeze one for later use. An 8x8 would probably be ok for a family with two smaller children too, it just depends on how much you eat and if you make a side dish or not. Spanish rice would probably be fabulous! We usually have enough for lunch the next day for both of us without a side dish. I ran out of turkey on Tuesday night, but we had only bought a small ready to eat turkey breast at the store. The other dish I was prepared to make was pot pie. Pot pie is another dish I tend to clean out my pantry with. Is my pantry the only one overflowing with canned goods? When I make pot pie, I will admit that I tend to use canned vegetables because they are convenient. I like to add the meat, peas, carrots, potatoes, and green beans. I use refrigerated pie crust. I know, I know. Not super homemade, but the store bought pie crusts are delicious. Tip!! Don't throw away that unused pie dough!! Use the trimmings of unused crust from the pie plate for crackers. Just roll out the extra dough and cut them up into squares of use your favorite cookie cutter. Sprinkle with some garlic powder and bake until golden brown. So in all I did succeed. I made two completely different meals and did not waste the leftovers and I had a backup plan if I had a third day of leftovers! Don't forget that if you really do get sick of that meat of whatever you have as a leftover, don't forget you can most likely freeze it too! comment
Cooking for our furry friends Posted On 2009-08-10 , 1:48 PM Cooking for our Furry Friends What a week I had last week! My hubby is in the military and they left for the whole week last week. Now, it's not that I can't go on for a week when he leaves, but could it be worse timing! I am now 17 weeks along in my pregnancy and had been doing good so far. The morning he left, I woke up with terrible head congestion. I have had some congestion throughout my pregnancy, but nothing this bad. To top this morning off, one of our precious furry children got sick as well. This is when I began to feel a little irritated at my situation. Beau had woken us up four times that night to go outside. I spent the day at work trying to drink as much water as possible and looking up meds that would be ok to take. Needless to say, I wasn't comfortable taking any medications, so I settled drinking decaf tea with lemon honey and hot showers. Since our doggy Beau was sick, I had to cook her special meals to help her digestive system return to normal. After much research, I found out that bland meals could consist of 2/3rds bland grain such as rice or oatmeal and 1/3rd protein like chicken, turkey, eggs, or even cottage cheese with no seasonings and as little fat as possible.( A word of caution on the oatmeal . . . only use the plain kind that comes in the cardboard tube and start off with a little bit to test it out. Some dogs can be allergic to oatmeal so keep an eye out for allergy symptoms such as itching, skin problems, digestive disorders, and respiratory distress.) I also found that pumpkin is a great addition to a dogs diet to aid digestion. I happen to have some left over cans of pumpkin from thanksgiving time. Make sure it is canned pumpkin and not pumpkin pie filling! I found that cooking for Beau wasn't as much of a hassle as I thought it would be. I made rice, boiled some chicken breast, and stirred in some pumpkin. That lasted about two days. I started using oatmeal after that because it was easier and quicker for me to make a single meal size. In the morning I might use oatmeal, two eggs (scrambled), and some pumpkin. All in all we had both recovered from our illnesses just in time to welcome my hubby home! What a lucky guy :) comment
Friends and Food Posted On 2009-07-22 , 5:59 PM Friends and Food This weekend seemed like the perfect weekend for a classic barbecue get together! The weather was beautiful and our yard was finally clean. Not to mention we finally finished our small pond water feature, we just had to show it off. We invited a ton of friends over. My hubby is military and many of his fellow sailors are single. So when a home cooked meal or BBQ offer is given, they usually jump at the chance to take a break from restaurants and mess hall food. My biggest obstacles: make sure I have enough food for everyone to eat as much as they like Keep it budget consious! Last time we ran out of burgers, I didn't know they would be such a hit! Our menu for this BBQ would include: Honey Mustard Potato Salad, Mouth-watering home-made burgers, ribs (OK that was the splurge), some cold watermelon, and a delicious ice cream sundae bar! (recipes to follow) To make sure we saved a little bit of money at least, we started our shopping at the nearest bulk store ( ours happens to be Sam's Club). We bought our meats and potatoes there. We even happened to find the watermelon for a great price and a huge can of baked beans for much less than we would have spent at a normal store for the same amount. The rest of our ingredients that we didn't need or couldn't feasibly use in bulk we got at the normal grocery store. We try to cut down on the necessary host duties by making everything super accessible so no one feels like they are poking through our cupboards. We always break out the coolers and create as much of a buffet atmosphere as possible! Plastic cups and plates are well worth the cost. To cut back on costs a little, we do ask our guest to provide their own drinks. We provide staples like iced tea, lemonade, and water. Soda and alcoholic drinks are just to expensive to buy for a huge crowd, especially when all their drink preferences are different. We also usually ask for them to bring something small like chips and dip. Our ice cream sundae bar consisted of vanilla ice cream, (we only used vanilla, less choices for guests and we don't have to worry about running out of one kind of ice cream), sliced strawberries, chocolate and caramel sauce, whipped cream and sprinkles. We also happened to have some bananas left over that needed to be eaten so we through those in too. We had a great time! I hope you are able to enjoy these recipes! The honey mustard potato salad is a unique twist on traditional recipes and is always a hit at our get togethers! The burgers we something that I threw together last time we had a BBQ and they have been requested ever since. We saved some money on the burgers by splitting the meat we used as half ground beef and half ground pork. Enjoy! Honey Mustard Potato Salad 5 pounds red potatoes 2 cups chopped celery 1 cup chopped sweet red pepper 4 hard-cooked eggs, chopped 2 green onions, chopped 1/2 cup mayonnaise 1/2 cup honey mustard 1/2 cup prepared mustard 1/4 cup sour cream 3/4 teaspoon salt 1/4 teaspoon pepper Place potatoes in a saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and cook for 15-20 minutes or until tender. Drain and cool. Cut potatoes into quarters; place in a large bowl. Add the celery, red pepper, hard-cooked eggs and onions. In a small bowl, combine the remaining ingredients. Pour over potato mixture and toss to coat. Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour. Yield: 16 servings. Mouth-watering Home-made Burgers 2 1/2 lbs ground beef 2 1/2 lbs ground pork 1 can tomato sauce 1 egg 1 medium onion, diced 1/2 cup seasoned bread crumbs (you can play a round with the different types, I like italian seasoned) 1 Tbsp parsley, dried (or to taste) 1 Tbsp oregano, dried (or to taste) 1-2 tsp garlic powder 1/2 cup shredded parmesan cheese ( more or less to your taste, remember cheese has plenty of salt in it) Salt and Pepper to taste Mix all ingredients except meat and bread crumbs together in large bowl until well mixed. Crumble in meat mix until combined. Add bread crumbs and mix until combined. Shape into patties. Yield: Approx. 24 4 to 5-inch patties Fall apart ribs Ribs (we used pork ribs) 1 bottle of your favorite beer, ( I find that light beers tend to lack the flavor I desire though) Cut racks of ribs in halves or thirds so they can fit easily in your pan. Although they can overlap, they more they do the longer they will need to cook. Pour beer into bottom of pan. Cover tightly with foil. Cook at 250 degrees for 3-5 hours of until internal temp reads 160 or so. (You will finish cooking on the grill.) Move to grill when ready and baste with your favorite sauce, until BBQ'd and delicious. Be sure that the internal temperature reads 170 degrees before you serve them to anyone. Enjoy! comment
All Blogs	Page 1 Of 2	Next