Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Not your average Hamburgers


Last night was my night off of cooking (sort of). My BF makes great hamburgers so we decided that he would cook those. I was just going to throw some oven fries in the oven (duh), but he reminded me that we had gotten a deep fryer for Christmas. While we don't usually do deep fried food I decided to live a little and make some fries. I don't really have a recipe for his burgers (he makes me leave the kitchen while he mixes the mixture, LOL) I do know that he uses tabasco sauce and lots of seasonings. Plus he helped me take the picture and was picky about it. And YES that is regular bread instead of buns because I forgot buns at the store and we added bacon.


For the fries I just cut up potatoes and seasoned them with seasoning salt before frying them.


Weekly Menu

I usually make my menu on the weekend and then finalize it when I shop and see what is actually on sale and looks good at the store. Here is my weekly menu:

Monday: Hamburgers, fries, salads
Tuesday: Brats and fries
Wednesday: Saucy oven ribs, roasted potatoes, and steamed broccoli
Thursday: Beef Fajitas and Spanish Rice
Friday: Pizza Night

Wednesday, June 4, 2008

Stuffed Peppers


My Boyfriend loves my stuffed peppers. That is great because it is the one recipe that I do on my own. It is a great way to use up leftover taco meat too. I don't use exact measurments for the seasonings just to taste.


Ashley's Stuffed peppers


3 Bell Peppers

1lb ground beef (or turkey)

1 bag of boil in a bag rice (I can't make good rice otherwise)

1 8oz can of tomato sauce

salt

pepper

onion chopped

minced garlic

garlic salt

crushed red pepper flakes


1. Cook the ground beef in a skillet with onions and garlic. Sprinkle with garlic salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.

2. While meat is cooking boil the rice.

3. Cut the top of the peppers off and clean out the seeds. Then cut them in half and put on a microwavable safe plate. Microwave for about 2 minutes. Place in baking pan or on baking sheet when they are done.

4. Once the meat and rice are done combine them in a bowl. Add the tomato sauce. Mix together. Add more seasonings to your liking.

5. Fill the pepper halves. Once filled place in oven and bake for 15 minutes or until pepper tenderness is to your liking.


Chicken Marsala

Last night I tried to cook Chicken Marsala. I don't like mushrooms but I cooked them in the sauce anyways. I have been looking forward to making this. Unfortunately I was done to late and could not get a good picture. I got my recipe from cookinglight.com. Sorry for no Pic hopefully next time I make it I can add a picture to this post. I also added garlic salt and used more wine.

Chicken Marsala
Source: Cooking Light

Ingredients
4 (6-ounce) skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup presliced mushrooms
1/2 cup Marsala wine
1/2 cup fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley

Preparation

Place chicken between 2 sheets of heavy-duty plastic wrap; pound each piece to 1/2-inch thickness using a meat mallet or rolling pin. Sprinkle both sides of chicken evenly with salt and pepper. Place flour in a shallow dish. Dredge chicken in flour, turning to coat; shake off excess flour.
Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken; cook 3 minutes on each side or until browned. Remove chicken from pan; keep warm. Add mushrooms, wine, broth, and juice to pan; reduce heat, and simmer 10 minutes or until mixture is reduced to 2/3 cup. Return chicken to pan, turning to coat well. Cover and cook 5 minutes or until chicken is done. Sprinkle with parsley.
Yield
4 servings (serving size: 1 chicken breast and about 2 1/2 tablespoons sauce)
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Nutritional Information
CALORIES 241(21% from fat); FAT 5.6g (sat 1g,mono 3g,poly 0.9g); IRON 1.8mg; CHOLESTEROL 99mg; CALCIUM 26mg; CARBOHYDRATE 4.9g; SODIUM 308mg; PROTEIN 40.7g; FIBER 0.5g

Going Bananas


I saw that I had 2 bananas that needed to be used. I love peanut butter and bananas so what is better than peanut butter banana muffins. These muffins were good but I think that next time I will do the strusel topping which I didn't this time. I would probably use more peanut butter.


Peanut Butter Banana Muffins

Source: Allrecipes.com


INGREDIENTS
1 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup quick cooking oats
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 cup milk
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup mashed ripe banana
1 egg, beaten
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons butter, melted
2 tablespoons packed brown sugar
DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease 12 muffin cups or line with paper muffin liners.
Combine 1 cup flour, oats, 1/3 cup brown sugar, and baking powder. Whisk together milk, peanut butter, banana, egg, oil, and vanilla. Add banana mixture to dry ingredients, mixing just until moistened. Fill prepared muffin cups 3/4 full.
In a small bowl, stir together 1/4 cup flour, melted butter and 2 tablespoons brown sugar. Sprinkle topping evenly over muffins.
Bake in preheated oven for 18 minutes, until golden brown. Serve warm.

Monday, June 2, 2008

MMMM Meatballs


I've always wanted to make meatballs, but could never get up the nerve too. I decided to try today with my blog for inspiration. I am serving it with spaghetti sauce and spaghetti. I may make them again for meatball sandwiches. I could sit here and just eat the meatballs with marinara sauce, mozzarella cheese, and parmesan and be happy. What could be better than meat and seasonings. Sorry I didn't really measure stuff out I just added stuff together


Ashley's Meatballs


1lb ground beef

chopped onion

1 egg

some breadcrumbs

Oregano

basil

pepper

garlic salt

grated parmesan cheese


1. Pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees.

2. Mix together all the ingredients

3. roll into balls and place on a broiler pan. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until done to your likeness.

4. Then add to sauce and simmer.

5. Enjoy

Sunday, June 1, 2008

Not homemade, but just as good!!


Otis Spunkmeyer Chocolate Chip Cookies

In highschool I remember every morning going to get some otis spunkmeyer cookies. I loved them. When I found a way to order them and help a child I was all for it. So I bought a container. Tonight I was in the mood to bake, but when I went to get the ingredients my cabinet was a mess. I took everything out and then cleaned and reorganized. Once I was done with that I was out of energy, but still wanted something sweet. I remembered my frozen cookies and ta da cookies without the fuss.