Broiled Marinated Steak

I walked into the house to see my kitchen and family room completely disheveled. Carl decided to install the rear surround sound speakers in the ceiling today, nice. Good thing my dinner was a relatively simple and easy one. Again, not much of a recipe, but it was good...so it gets a post :)

Marinated Steaks:
2 top sirloin steaks
1 c BBQ marinade

We marinated them for about 3 hours. Then I broiled them for about 7 minutes on each side for me (I like it pretty rare) and 8 minutes for Carl (more medium rare). I really like broiling steaks when the grill isn't an option. (Carl was busy, it was drizzling...broiler it was)

Then I just steamed some green beans and made some butter noodles with the help of Lipton :).

Pumpkin Choc Chip Cookies

I yanked this recipe right from Shawna on Daily Deliciousness. As much as I am not ready for fall, these pumpkin cookies jumped off the computer screen at me.

Pumpkin Choc chip cookies
allrecipes.com

INGREDIENTS
* 1 cup canned pumpkin
* 1 cup white sugar
* 1/2 cup vegetable oil
* 1 egg
* 2 cups all-purpose flour
* 2 teaspoons baking powder
* 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1 teaspoon baking soda
* 1 teaspoon milk
* 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
* 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
* 1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)


DIRECTIONS
1. Combine pumpkin, sugar, vegetable oil, and egg
In a separate bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, ground cinnamon, and salt. Dissolve the baking soda with the milk and stir in.
Add flour mixture to pumpkin mixture and mix well.
2. Add vanilla, chocolate chips and nuts.
3. Drop by spoonful on greased cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for approximately 10 minutes or until lightly brown and firm.

Yield 3 dozen cookies


My notes- I used both the chocolate chips and walnuts. Next time I will try just the walnuts...but like double the amount. To me, I couldn't get into the chocolate/pumpkin mix, but the pumpkin/walnut bites were delicious! I also took Shawna's advice and baked them at 365 degrees for 12 minutes. That was perfect, but I'm not sure that the 10 minutes at 375 degrees wouldn't have been.

Tropical Chicken Fajitas

I told Carl to pick tonight's dinner. He chose chicken fajitas. He's been missing his grill. Really, this isn't a recipe, but I'll throw in my few tips for fajitas here. We used 2 large chicken breasts, Kroger's Spicy Tropical Mango 30 Minute Marinade, a quarter of each of a green, red, orange and yellow pepper, a 1/4 red onion- sliced, sour cream, cheese and salsa. We grilled both the chicken and vegetables for about 10 minutes. I also made Zattarans Black Beans and Rice. It was pretty delicious if I do say so myself!

A food saving tip! When you don't need to use the whole pepper or onion- wrap it in a paper towel before putting it back in the bag. Trust me...it will last so much longer!

Molly's Mexican Dip

I've made this dip so many times and when my sister said she was lacking appetizers for my nephew's birthday party, I jumped at the opportunity to make it.

Ingredients:
1/4 c sour cream
8 oz cream cheese
1 jar of salsa
2 cups shredded monterey jack/colby cheese
1/4 c chopped olives
1/4 c sliced green onions

Instructions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Mix together the cream cheese and sour cream in a small mixing bowl until smooth. Spread the mix into a 9 inch pie plate. Cover with salsa, then cover with the cheese. Sprinkle with the olives and place in the oven for about 15 minutes. Remove and sprinkle the onions- serve with tortilla chips.

Please forgive me for the craptastic picture. I knew this dip wouldn't last long so I took it while it was in the oven...before I even put on the onions. It was a good thing I did...it got devoured immediately!!!

Monica's Peanut Butter Squares

Ok, so tonight's food consisted of all knottie inspired items. Monica posted this on her blog today, and it read Carl from top to bottom. Not to mention it looked super easy- which reads Molly all over! We've still be on a dessert kick (not the best "kick" to be on but whatever) and so I wanted something better than our oreos and milk from yesterday. Although, this one also needs a glass of milk on the side!!

Ingredients
3/4 cup melted butter
2 cups graham cracker crumbs
12 oz crunchy peanut butter
2 cups powdered sugar
12 oz melted chocolate chips

Instructions
Combine butter and graham cracker crumbs, mix in sugar and peanut butter. Spread in 13 x 9 pan. Pour chocolate over the mixture. Chill.

My notes: Yes, I made this the same, and yet Carl said "Monica's looked thicker" (insert pouty look here) Whatever. It still tasted delicious!

Lindsay's Taco Bake

Ok, I needed something that didn't take much effort, and when I say not much effort I mean taking extra time to search for a recipe. This one has been raved about on The Knot thanks to iheartkeith, and I finally decided to give it a whirl.

Ingredients

* 1 lb ground beef (or ground turkey, or ground chicken)
* 1 packet taco seasoning
* 15 oz. tomato sauce
* 8 oz. seashell pasta
* 8 oz. package cream cheese, softened in microwave
* 1/2 cup sour cream
* 8 oz. shredded sharp cheddar cheese

Directions

1. Brown ground beef, drain. Add taco seasoning and tomato sauce. Bring to a boil and then simmer for 20 minutes.
2. In the meantime, cook pasta according to directions. Drain.
3. Mix softened cream cheese and sour cream in separate bowl.
4. Spray bottom of 9x13 pan. Put pasta in bottom of pan.
5. Spread cream cheese mixture over pasta.
6. Spoon ground meat mixture over this.
7. Sprinkle shredded cheese on top.
8. Bake @ 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Let cool 15 minutes before serving.

My notes: I cut the entire recipe in half and it was perfect. Other than that...I'll just let this last picture do the talking:

Ground Beef Casserole

1 lb ground beef
1 small onion diced
1 large can of tomato soup (regular can works too...)
1 can green beans
1 can corn (really you can use whatever vegetables you want, these are just my favorites and I always have them around)
Mashed potatoes for about 6 people (instant is ok too)
Salt/Pepper
Other spices (you'll see my suggestions below)

Make the mashed potatoes. Heat the oven to 350. Brown the ground beef and throw in the onion. Drain the beef. Feel free to add whatever spices you have laying around- I like garlic powder and chili powder but really...whatever you've got. And season with salt and pepper! And of course a package of onion soup mix is always approved per monica if you really want it.

Spread the beef into a 9x13ish casserole pan (i use my pampered chef deep dish baker- because it is biiiiig). Then spread the uncooked green beans and corn over that. Then poor the tomato soup over the entire thing and add about a half a can of water to make sure the whole thing has some juicy goodness going on. Top with the mashed potatoes over the top and bake for about 25 minutes or until the edges start to get brown.

I really love this casserole...but definitely add the salt and pepper- it needs it! As you can see...I really don't have set amounts. We'll call this Shelly Cooking...or grandma cooking. My sister gave me an actual recipe but I used it like 2 times and then never needed it again. You can blame me if it turns out bad...but I haven't had that happen yet.