Oatmeal Cranberry Cookies January 24, 2007

I’ve never been a baker, but I’ve always wanted to be one. Cooking is easy, you just through some ingredients together and ta-da you have a meal. Baking is very intricate you have to be precise about you measurements and the order you do things. And no matter how hard I try, baking doesn’t come easy. But that doesn’t stop me, I keep on baking and maybe one day I will be able to call myself a baker.

Ingredients:
1-cup butter, softened
1-cup brown sugar
½-cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 tsp orange juice (you could use the zest of 1 orange if you prefer a bolder citrus flavor, I didn’t have an orange so I just used juice)
1 ½-cup flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
½ tsp ground cloves
½ tsp ginger
½ tsp salt
3 cups rolled oats
1 ¼-cup dried cranberries

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Cream together the butter, sugar, eggs, vanilla, and orange juice. In a separate bowl stir together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, and salt and stir into the sugar mixture. Then stir the oats and cranberries into the sugar mixture. Drop rounded teaspoonfuls onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 10 minutes until light and edges are beginning to brown. Cool 2 minutes on cookie sheet and continue cooling on a rack. Makes 40 cookies.

Screwdriver Steak Salad January 23, 2007

During our return from our honeymoon, husband and I discovered the duty free liquor store at the airport. It was amazing, the same brands we have in the States but at a fraction of the price. We decided to purchase a few bottles, we couldn’t pass up these bargains. One of our purchases was Absolut Peppar Vodka. Neither of us had tasted it, but we figured we’d give it a try. We got it home and excitedly opened it up, curious to what this vodka was going to taste like. Needless to say, it didn’t taste good. We tried several different concoctions, Bloody Mary, Peppar Tea, straight, but nothing could save this vodka. But I can’t just waste the vodka by throwing it away, so it has been demoted to a cooking vodka. It makes a pretty good vodka sauce. But husband has been craving steak, so I came up with a Screwdriver Steak Salad.

Ingredients:
¾ – 1 lb strip loin steak, sirloin would work too, but the strip is a bit more tender
4 cups lettuce
1 carrot, chopped
1 tsp ground peppercorns

Marinade:
½-cup Absolut Peppar Vodka
¾-cup orange juice
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper

Dressing:
½-cup orange juice
1 Tbsp Dijon mustard
dash hot sauce
½ tsp salt
½ tsp pepper
3 Tbsp olive oil

Mix together the ingredients for the marinade. Place steak into a resealable plastic bag and pour marinade on top. Place in a pan to catch any possible leakage and place in the refrigerator for 1 to 8 hours. Cook the steaks to your liking (husband likes his steak rare inside, so I cooked his over medium heat about 2 minutes on each side). Once cooked, slice against the grain into thin strips. Place on top of salads.

To make dressing combine the juice, mustard, hot sauce, salt, and pepper. Once mixed, slowly drizzle in the oil while mixing swiftly. Toss the dressing with the salad and carrots. Then sprinkle ground peppercorns onto lettuce. Serves 2.

Black Bean Burgers January 20, 2007

I cook a lot with black beans, they’re easy to use, plus they are really quite healthy for you. When I look for black bean burger recipes, I only find recipes that are made solely out of black beans, but I really wanted one that incorporated beef, so I created mine own.

Ingredients:
1 lb ground beef
½-cup blacks beans, rinsed
1 chipotle in adobo sauce, seeds removed and chopped
1 tsp salt
4 hamburger buns
2 Tbsp sour cream
2 Tbsp ranch dressing
2 Tbsp salsa

Mash the black beans and add in the beef, chipotle, and salt. Form into four patties and cook over medium heat, 3 to 4 minutes on each side. Meanwhile, combine the sour cream, ranch dressing, and salsa. Once the burgers are cooked, place on buns and top with sour cream dressing. Serve.

Tortilla Chicken January 18, 2007

A local restaurant makes a wonderful dish called Tortilla Chicken. I have a hard time not ordering the Tortilla Chicken when we are there. Since I love it so much, I took a whack at making my own version of Tortilla Chicken. I don’t think it is as good as what I get served at the restaurant, but I think the getting served part of it makes the dish taste a little more wonderful.

Ingredients:
2 cups rice, uncooked
1/3-cup sour cream
1 tsp – 1 Tbsp hot sauce, depending on how hot you like your food
1 can black beans, rinsed
1 red pepper, diced
15 pickled jalapeño rings
4 chicken breasts
seasoning salt
1 flour tortilla
cayenne pepper

Cook the rice as directed. Once cooked add the sour cream, hot sauce, black beans, pepper, and jalapeño, stir to combine and keep over low heat to keep warm. Meanwhile, season the chicken with the seasoning salt according to your tastes. Cook the chicken over medium heat in a skillet about 5 minutes on each side, until no longer pink in the middle. Divide rice among plates, top with chicken and tortilla crisps, and serve. Makes 4-5 servings.

To make tortilla crisps: Cut tortilla into thin strips with a pizza cutter. Spray with nonstick cooking spray and sprinkle with cayenne pepper. In a skillet heat 1 Tbsp oil until hot, add the tortilla strips and cook until crisp.

Double Stuffed Tortilla Pizza January 17, 2007

Tonight was a night to use up leftovers. I love leftover night. You get to throw a combination of things together to make something that you’ve never had. Tonight’s leftover meal was rather successful, at least husband enjoyed it, he said that it reminded him of a thin crust pizza.

Ingredients:
1 ½-cup mushrooms, roughly chopped
½ red pepper, diced
½ Tbsp olive oil
4 flour tortillas
1-cup shredded cheese of your choice
4 Tbsp pizza sauce

In a skillet sauté the mushrooms and red pepper in olive oil until tender, about 10 minutes. While the vegetables are softening, spray each side of the tortillas lightly with nonstick cooking spray and place on a cookie sheet, bake in a 325-degree oven for 5-7 minutes or until beginning to turn crisp. Once the tortillas are done take out of the oven and place 1/3 cup of cheese on top of two tortillas, top the cheese with the other two tortillas, kind of like a quesadilla. Then spread the pizza sauce on top of each stuffed tortilla and top off with vegetable mixture and remaining cheese. Bake in the oven for about 7 minutes, until the cheese has melted. Makes 2 servings.