Wednesday, July 27, 2011

First Christmas Cards of the Year

In efforts to jump-start my holiday card-making and celebrate "Christmas in July", I participated in a swap hosted by the fabulous Dusti of Scrappin With Cricut. Here are two of the three cards I make using the Cricut Lite cartridge Jolly Hollys. When it was released just before Christmas, this cartridge was impossible to find. Fortunately, Cricut released it on their website just in time for "Christmas in July" projects. The paper is leftover from last year, but I if you like it, so retailers may still have some on clearance.

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Details
Jolly Hollys Cricut Lite Cartridge (images cut at 3.5")
Bella Road - Everybody Loves Christmas collection pattern paper
Papertrey Ink cardstock and twine
EK Success Large Slim Paper Punch - Journal Plate & Bracket
Stampin 'Up Scalloped Border Punch
My Pink Stamper Happiest Moments stamp set
Misc buttons and ribbon

RR Grilled Flank Steak

This is one of the first recipes I ever tried from the internet (or from a celebrity chef) and having been using for more than 5 years now. According to Food Network, this recipe aired in Season 5 (2004) of 30 Minutes Meals, with Rachael Ray, of course. Although I've tried other flank steak marinades, this ones is always my go-to recipe. I think it's all the garlic plus the smokiness of cumin and paprika that I like. This is excellent as a main dish, as well as in salads or fajitas, which is how I usually finish the leftovers. Tonight I accompanied the dish with roasted baby red potatoes which were as cute as they were yummy.

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3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 tablespoon grill seasoning blend (recommended: Montreal Steak Seasoning)
1 teaspoon smoked paprika,
1 tsp cumin
2 tsp hot sauce, if desired
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 pounds flank steak

Whisk together garlic through olive oil. Pour over steak and marinade for about 20 minutes (probably no more than an hour since there's vinegar), flipping half-way through. (I often use a ziploc bag for easy cleanup.)

Grill about 5-7 minutes per side for medium rare, depending upon the thickness of the meat.

Remove from grill and let rest for 5 minutes. Slice thinly against the grain.

Serves 4.

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Saturday, July 23, 2011

Stuffed Bell Peppers

As a kid, for whatever reason I could not stand this dish. Possibly because it was made with minute rice, which I despised. This time I loved it!

This recipe is from a neat blog that I only discovered after leaving Chicago called "What's Cooking Chicago?" I made only minor adaptations, mainly subbing in brown rice for white rice and leaving out a topping. The original post recommends freezing before baking. I, however, froze the leftovers. Just asked my husband how the frozen one was and he said there was something funky about it, but (a) I don't know whether he shares his mommy's aversion to bell peppers that you can see or (b) whether he heated it to the proper temperature. Thus, I probably would freeze again if I had leftovers.


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4 green bell peppers
1/2 cup cooked brown rice
1 med onion, chopped (about 1/2 cup)
3 garlic cloves, minced
1.25 lb ground beef (fairly lean works)
splash of Worcestershire sauce (about 1 tbs)
14.5 oz drain tomatoes, chopped (drain and reserve 1/4 c liquid)
1/4 c ketchup (I omitted)
1.5 c of shredded cheese (I used a cheddar mexican mix)
2 tbs fresh parsley (or 2 tsp dried)
salt, pepper, olive oil

1. Bring a large pot of water to boil, deep enough to fully submerge your peppers. Salt the water. Slice the top off of each pepper and remove seeds and membranes. Cook each pepper for about 3 minutes--they should still be fairly crisp. Drain and place in 9" square pan.

2. Preheat oven to 350°F.

3. Saute onions in olive oil until softened. Add ground beef, season with salt and pepper, and cook until browned. Stir in garlic and splash of Worcestershire sauce in the last minute. Remove from heat.

4. In a separate bowl, mix rice, beef, 1 c cheese, tomatoes, and parsley. (If using ketchup, in a small bowl mix with reserved tomato juice). Spoon evenly into peppers. Top with reserved cheese (and ketchup mixture, if using).

5. Bake for 30 minutes or until browned.

Serves 4

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Thursday, July 21, 2011

Strawberries and Cream Popsicles

This summer I've been on an ice cream kick. It quickly expanded to popsicles! This recipe is from Our Best Bites. They're a little icy, but quite yummy. Over the weekend I tried them with raspberries and chocolate pudding. The raspberries were a bit too tart, but the chocolate pudding was quite good.

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1 small box instant vanilla pudding (I used fat free)
1 C skim milk
6 oz vanilla yogurt (fat free)
2 c strawberries, roughly chopped
2-3 T sugar

1. In a blender or food processor, pulse strawberries with 2 tbs of sugar. Taste and add more sugar, if desired.

2. In a small bowl, whisk together pudding mix, milk, and yogurt.

3. In pudding molds, layer strawberries and pudding. Swirl with a spoon, if desired.

4. Freeze overnight.

Makes 6 large popsicles or 8 smaller ones.

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Buttermilk Oven-Fried Chicken

This is an adaptation of the Bisquick oven-fried chicken recipe that has long appeared on the box. Growing up, we called it "shake-a-shake-a" chicken. I was also inspired by this Ina Garten recipe to use up some buttermilk in the fridge. The result was super!

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2-3 lbs assorted chicken pieces (I used leg quarters)
2 c buttermilk
1.5 c all purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1.5 tsp paprika (or more to taste--I use heaping tsp)
1/2 tsp ground pepper
1 tsp garlic powder (I used toasted garlic powder)
4 tbs melted butter

1. Marinate chicken in buttermilk for two hours up to overnight. (Alternatively, skip this step and simply dip the chicken in buttermilk before dredging in the flour mixture).

2. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

3. Whisk together flour, salt, paprika, pepper, and garlic powder in a plastic bag or bowl/tray large enough to accommodate chicken.

4. Drain chicken and coat liberally in flour mixture. Shake off excess flour.

5. Place chicken on a rack in a 9 x 13 baking pan or jelly roll pan. The rack allows the fat to drip away and makes for crispier chicken. Brush or drizzle liberally with melted butter.

6. Bake 30 minutes, turn, and cook for another 20-30 minutes or until cooked through. If chicken becomes too brown, cover loosely with tinfoil.

Serves 4.

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Sunday, July 10, 2011

First Mickey Layout

As you may know, I bought both the Pooh and Friends cartridge, as well as the Mickey and Friends cartridge. Here's my first layout--a super simple Mickey. He's cut at 8" and the grass at 1.75". The fence appears on the My World cartridge, as well as the Potpourri cartridge (thank you Mycutsearch.com!) and is cut at 3.5".

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Monday, July 4, 2011

Happy Fourth of July!

We're running out the door to my auntie's for a bbq, but I wanted to post the banner I made for her. I used the Stand and Salute and Cricut Essentials cartridges, K&Co Marines paper pack, Bazzil cardstock, My Pink Stamper and Scrappy Mom stamps (set names to be added later) and twine from Papertrey Ink.

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Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting

Happy Fourth of July! I had the best of intentions to make my red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese icing and dye the icing red white and blue. However, first I was out of cocoa powder, then the icing did not turn out for whatever reason. Probably because I used fat free cream cheese which has a different consistency than the low fat version I used here. Thus, I turned to my jam-filled cupcakes recipe and searched the web for a chocolate frosting recipe without cocoa powder. This one fit the bill, adapted well to substitution, and is fantastic! They're in the fridge right now waiting to go to a bbq. Hopefully, they'll be able to sit out for a bit but either way the taste is definitely worth it.

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8 oz cream cheese (I used 1/3 less fat)
1/4 c whipping cream (I used FF 1/2 and 1/2)
1/4 c confectioner's sugar
1 c semi sweet chocolate chips

Melt chocolate chips and cream in double boiler. Remove from heat and beat in cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Refrigerate for 15 minutes until thickened.

Frosts 12-15 cupcakes

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