Grill Surf and Turf recipe….with pizza appetizer

July 16, 2014 / Winnie / Leave a comment

Dave and I had a friend, Chris, over for dinner last night. I wanted to make something super yummy for him, as he is in town from Germany. After a quick couple of comments from Chris – I decided on a Surf and Turf menu with a pizza appetizer (cooking for my audience).

4 to 6 Steaks
1 can or bottle of Beer
spices
20 jumbo shrimp
2 packages prosciutto
1 onion – sliced
handful of mushrooms (or more if you love them)
band of asparagus
butter
splash of olive oil
splash of lemon juice
dash of dill

Our dinner started with a pre-made BBQ chicken pizza as an app. As we were snacking on that, I continued with making the rest of the meal.

PREP WORK – Pre-heat grill

Marinate the steaks in the beer and your favorite spices for no less than 2 hours. Overnight is best. Take out of the marinade, add salt and pepper ……AND a pat of butter on each steak….you know you want to. Place on grill. Keep on until your desired ‘doneness’.

Place your asparagus in a grill basket and while on the grill – mop with a mixture of olive oil, lemon juice and dill. Pull when they turn tender.

Saute the onions and mushrooms in some butter and get ready to layer that yummy awesomeness all over those steaks.

Peel and de vein the shrimp, removing the legs but keeping the tail. Wrap each piece of shrimp in prosciutto and thread on the skewer. Repeat until all shrimp are done. Set aside and place on grill when steaks are only a few minutes from done. Flip once after roughly 2 to 3 minutes and pull from the grill when both sides are pink.

Timing is everything. Steaks first, then asparagus, then get your saute on, lastly the shrimp……pull off the grill or get off the stove and place on your plate and fill your face. You will be glad you did.

We had a great time with Chris….it gave me a wonderful excuse to try something new and we got our conversation on……wish it could have lasted longer.

Chicken with Orzo and veggies

July 1, 2014 / Winnie / 1 Comment

New recipe experiment. I bought a bunch of wheat Orzo that has been sitting in my cupboard…while I have been using the same old, same old recipe for it. NOT TODAY. Here is what I did:

2 chicken breasts – cooked and sliced up
2 cups cooked Orzo
1 cup sauteed broccoli florets
1 cup sauteed pepper slices (red, yellow or green)
corn (from a can or boiled/grilled on the cob and then sliced off)
lemon juice
salt and pepper to taste

I started with cooking the Orzo – 1 cup uncooked Orzo into boiling, salted water. I cooked for roughly 9 minutes – stirring every once in awhile. I then drained and set aside. In my skillets, I made the chicken and broccoli/peppers (roughly 10 minutes). I then added all (including the corn) to the same pot –

I added lemon juice, salt and pepper to taste. I also had 1/2 a loaf of sourdough bread that I toasted.

This made WAY more than my family of 4 needed…..but I saved 1/2 as a freezer meal. It will be a nice dinner on another night when I am running short on ideas/time.

Candied Pecans – 3 ways

June 25, 2014June 30, 2014 / Winnie / 1 Comment

I love candied nuts….love, love, love them. BUT I do not have them very often, and random factoid about me….I can’t eat cashews or spanish peanuts…they make me seriously sick. Anywho, back to candied nuts……..So in a moment of perfect kismet….I realized that I had an abundance of pecans and nothing planned for them What?!!! It’s fate. Time for me to try a few candied pecan recipes and pick my fav. Yes!

First recipe:

Honey Maple Pecans

3 Cups Pecans
1/2 cup sugar (I did not use the whole 1/2 cup….so I think that 1/4 would be better)
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp clove
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 honey
1/4 maple syrup

Preheat oven to 350 degress. Grab a cookie sheet or a bar pan. Mix the nuts with the honey and maple syrup. Lay out on the cookie sheet and roast for 10 minutes. Mix the remaining ingredients. Remove the nuts after 10 minutes and when slightly cool add to the dry ingredients and coat with the sugar mixture.

Second Recipe:

Honey Butter Pecans

2 cups pecans
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup butter
sprinkle of salt
1/2 cup of sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a saucepan, heat the butter and honey together…mixing thoroughly. When butter is thoroughly melted and incorporated into the honey, add in the pecans. Spread the sticky pecans onto a cookie sheet/bar pan. Bake in oven for 10 minutes. Remove after 10 minutes and allow to slightly cool. Sprinkle with salt. Allow to cool some more….then coat with the sugar (pic is before the sugar).

Third recipe:

Honeyed Pecans

2 cups pecans
1/2 cup honey
1 tsp vanillla
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup butter

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a saucepan – melt together all the ingredients, leaving out the pecans. Allow the mixture the bubble for a few minutes, then add in the pecans. Once the pecans are coated, lay them out on the cookie sheet and bake for slightly less than 10 minutes.

Anyone want to guess my fav???

Number 2! With Number 1 a SUPER close second. So close that I almost can’t tell.

This was a fabulous experiment.

06/30/2014 UPDATE – Dave decided to weigh in. His winner is #3.

Cookies for the Neighbors

June 23, 2014June 23, 2014 / Winnie / Leave a comment

Just a few things about my neighborhood…..it’s the best. We live on a quiet street, with amazing people and I feel comfortable letting the girls have the run of the neighborhood. Jules has been wanting to do something for our neighbors for awhile…..so last week I got organized and we made cookies. I found an Oatmeal Cookie recipe that I wanted to try, The Pioneer Woman’s Brown Sugar Oatmeal Cookies. They turned out great.

We wrote a note for each neighbor and the whole family signed them.