Beef Fajita Nachos

It's almost Football season! Go Broncos!!! I am so flippin' excited for this season. #1, Peyton Manning. #2, for Father's Day, I got my hubby the NFL Sunday Ticket with Direct t.v. this year, so we will be able to watch every single Bronco game on t.v. Hallelujah!
Anyway...back to these nachos! They are the perfect game-time dish. I saw them over on Pioneer Woman's blog and had to make them. They're not your boring old nacho, they're kicked up with an awesome marinated steak. Top them with your favorite salsa, guacamole, or sour cream (or if you're a heffer like me, all 3).

For the Steak, you need:

1 whole Flank steak
1/3 cup olive oil
2 whole limes, juiced
4 whole canned chipotle peppers, with a little sauce
4 cloves garlic, peeled
A handful of cilantro

For the Nachos:
1 large white onion, sliced into strips
1 red bell pepper, cored and sliced into strips
1 green bell pepper, cored and sliced into strips
olive oil, for frying
Tortilla Chips
2 cups shredded cheese (I used sharp cheddar, but you can use pepper jack, colby, etc.)
Guacamole
Salsa
Sour Cream

Your steak needs to marinate for a good 24 hours. Combine the olive oil, lime juice, chipotle peppers, garlic, and cilantro in a blender.

Blend everything together and pour into a resealable plastic bag. Add the steak and refridgerate over night.

When you're ready to make your nachos, heat your grill outside, or a stove-top grill pan. Also preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Grill your steak at a high temp for about 4 min on each side. Remove from heat and set aside for 5 min. Slice steak into strips.

In a large skillet, heat olive oil to a high heat. Add the onion and peppers and cook for 3-4 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.

Put a layer of tortilla chips onto a big cookie sheet, then top with half of the cheese. Put them in the oven for 3 minutes, just long enough to melt the cheese.

 Add the sliced steak...

Add the peppers and onion...

And add the rest of the cheese. Return to oven just for a minute or two.

Top with sour cream, salsa, and guacamole. Enjoy!

"Bloomin' Onion" Rings

This recipe comes from my "Top Secret" cookbook. It's a replica for Outback's Famous Bloomin' Onion, but I altered it just a little so that we could make onion rings out of it instead. I also have the sauce recipe here for you. Most likely, you'll have everything you need for this right in your pantry and fridge. I didn't have to go to the store for a single thing!

When you make these, you may think the breading on the rings is too delicate, but that's exactly how the Outback Steakhouse does it, and that's exactly how I wanted it :)

Sauce-

1/2 cup mayo

3/4 tbsp. ketchup

2 tbsp. horseradish sauce

1/4 tsp. paprika

1/4 tsp. salt

pinch of black pepper

pinch of cayenne pepper

combine all ingredients and chill until ready to use.

For the Onion, you will need:

1 large white onion

1 cup milk

1 egg

1 cup flour

1/2 tsp. garlic powder

1 1/2 tsp. salt

1 1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper

1/2 tsp. black pepper

1/4 tsp. dried thyme

1/4 tsp. dried oregano

1/8 tsp. cumin

2 qt. vegetable oil

Combine the egg and milk in a bowl...stir...

In another bowl combine the rest of the ingredients (except for the onion and vegetable oil)...

Slice the onion into rings. 1 onion goes a loooooong way...

Heat the vegetable oil in a big pot, to 350 degrees...



Dip sliced onion into the milk/egg wash, then drop into flour mixture. I put a lid on my bowl and just shook it...

Drop into the oil and fry just until golden brown. You will want to do this in at least 2 batches, if not more, to keep the onions from clumping up...

Lay the fried rings on paper towels to soak up some of the oil. Sprinkle with a dash of salt.

Use that sauce for dipping, Enjoy!

 

Pizza Outside the Box

We make pizzas at least once a week, if not more often. I haven't blogged them all step by step, because once you get the dough down, topping them is all up to you. We try ideas we see on tv, or just pair up things we think we will go good together. The idea is to think about pizza "outside the box". So here are a few we've recently made! I will continue to post these unique and delicious pizzas as we make them.

My new favorite pizza, Mashed Potato pizza.
You have no idea how good this is! I mean, potatoes on pizza? It works though, it works really really well :)
A creamy mashed potato spread, topped with bacon, chives, parmesan reggiano, and mozzarella.

Mac n Cheese pizza. Need I say more?
Here is the recipe for this creamy mac n cheese we used to top the pizza-
Creamy Mac n Cheese (this will make almost twice as much as you need for one pizza, so top the rest with bread crumbs and bake the next day for lunch!
1/2 pd. pkg. of lg. elbow macaroni (half of a 16 oz. bag)
1/4 cup butter
3 tbsp. flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp garlic powder
2 cups milk
1 pd, sharp cheddar, shredded

Cook macaroni. In a saucepan, melt butter. Turn heat to med-high. Add flour, garlic, and salt, whisk til smooth. Gradually stir in milk. Keep whisking! Add cheese and stir until melted. Add macaroni.

Prosciutto and Arugula pizza.
Olive oil, Parmesan Reggiano, sliced prosciutto. Baked, and topped with fresh arugula.

Chicken Alfredo pizza.

Seasoned sauteed chicken, diced tomatoes, fresh spinach, alfredo sauce, and mozzarella.

Broccoli & Roasted Red Pepper pizza.

Fresh broccoli florets, roasted red bell pepper, alfredo sauce and mozzarella cheese.



Garlic Monkey Bread

Hot Damn these are good! I saw these little cuties over on Life As A Lofthouses's blog, and I just had to make them. At first, I wanted to wait til this weekend when I had time to make my own dough, but I decided to try them the way they were presented, with Rhodes frozen dinner rolls. Glad I did! Rhodes dough is sooooo light and fluffy, they're perfect for these. They're so fun to eat too, like monkey bread, they just pull apart.

You will need: (for 8 "muffins")
12 frozen Rhodes dinner rolls
1/2 cup butter
3 cloves of garlic, minced
4 tablespoons fresh chopped parsley
fresh parmesan cheese, about 4 tablespoons or so
garlic powder, for sprinkling
muffin pan

Follow instructions on the Rhodes bag for thawing out your rolls...I did the 5 hour defrost.

Once they are thawed, preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Spray your muffin pan with cooking spray.

Melt the butter in a saucepan, add the minced garlic and the parsley, stir...

Take each roll and cut it ito 4 pieces...

Dip each piece into the melted butter mixture and place 6 pieces into each muffin cup...

Once you've got your 8 muffins done, sprinkle the fresh parmesan over them all...

Bake at 400 for 12 minutes, or until golden brown. When they come out, season with garlic powder if you want :)

Enjoy!







Bulgogi (Korean Beef)

I love Chinese food. I love Japanese food. I love Thai food. My husband, however, is not a fan. Although the other day he said he likes Korean food, go figure. I took this as a green light to make something new, delicious, and ethnic! I read a few Bulgogi recipes, and adapted my own.

We scarfed down a few plates of this stuff last night, it was awesome.

An authentic bulgogi recipe uses flank steak for the most part, but the day I went shopping the butchew was out of flank steak. that was fine by me though. When all else fails, go with ribeye! Ribeye is my favorite cut of meat. It's so versatile. It's obviously a great steak to grill on its own, but it's tender and packed full of flavor since it's a fattier cut of meat.

Also, all the recipes I read through, used a Red Leaf lettuce, I opted for romaine.

So for my version of Bulgogi you need:

"about" 1 1/2 pounds boneless ribeye

1/2 cup soy sauce

5 green onions, chopped

3 tablespoons white sugar

2 1/2 tablespoons minced garlic

2 1/2 tablespoons sesame seeds

2 1/2 tablespoons sesame seed oil

1/2 - 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (make as hot as you want)

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

Slice up your meat...





Combine the rest of your ingredients in a bowl...

Pour the marinade mixture over the meat and let it marinate at least 2 hours, and as long as over-night...

When you're ready to cook, heat a skillet to a high heat and pan fry for about 5 min, or until no longer pink...



Serve the meat with white rice and romaine lettuce. Top with additional soy sauce or hot sauce (I prefer Sriracha sauce).

Enjoy!