OMG! These are so amazingly good! Just found these at Trader Joe’s. Place them in a baking dish at 335 degrees (i did 350) for about 20 to 30 minutes and turn once during the cooking process. They have such a great flavor.
It was a win win for our family! 
We love vegetables and I was uber excited to grill some up on our new grill. We went from propane to charcoal and I couldn’t be happier! I have always wanted to have a charcoal grill and fortunately (hee, hee, hee) our grill was shot and we had to get a new one. I somehow convinced my Star to go with charcoal. Actually, it wasn’t really that hard. He is so amazing, “if that is what you want and you will be happy, than that is what you will get. Love him!
So this is what we made the first day we got it. Grilled vegetables and steak kabobs. Yummy!
Ingredients:
1 green pepper
1 yellow pepper
1 orange pepper
Some baby bella mushrooms
Small heirloom tomatoes
Filet Mignon (cut into bite size pieces) or any type of steak meat
Extra virgin olive oil
McCormicks Perfect Pinch Southwest flavor
Cut the steak into bite size pieces. You can marinate the steak or season with the Perfect Pinch. Keep the meat separate from the vegetables.
Chop the peppers into bite size pieces and place in bowl with mushrooms and tomatoes.
Drizzle EVOO and sprinkle with the McCormicks Perfect Pinch. Toss gently and place on skewer. I usually put the meat on a skewer all by itself. Don’t really like the raw meat touching the veggies.
On a side note….the platter is stainless steel made in Sweden. It was my mom’s until my last visit when I asked my mom if I could have it. She has a few of them and they just remind me so much of my childhood that I wanted to take one home. It’s what she always used when grilling up some food and I shall treasure it and pass it on to my daughter someday (maybe).
Grill over medium heat and turn as needed. This can be a difficult task, as trying to get them all to turn at the same time. Just be patient and do the best you can. Not a huge deal.
Serve with rice. Such a simple, quick and easy dinner. Enjoy!
I know I haven’t posted any new recipes lately, mainly based on the fact that I have started a new job a few months ago and it’s been crazy busy! I basically come home from work late and it has been “just find something to eat.” OK, kinda wrong as I am not providing good meals for the family, but let’s face it…sometimes your work life gets in the way and at the end of the day you just don’t feel like making dinner. My daughter has said to me “let me guess Mom, it’s make your own tonight?” Ugh! It hurts my heart to hear that, so I am vowing to my family to get back to “cooking dinner!”
But today I digress and bring you another great find at Trader Joe’s. The traditional vanilla cake with chocolate frosting.
This was yummy! I made this into a bundt cake, but you could easily make it into a layered cake or even cupcakes.
The family loved it! I took a picture of the final product, but it totally stunk! So you will have to trust me and know this is “a good find!”
Please stay with us, as more delicious home made recipes will be coming! Thank you!
I had heard how great their chicken salad is and on this trip I decided to give it a try. I will say I was a little hesitant, because as far as I am concerned “The Cheeseboard” (which is a quaint cheese/gourmet sandwich shop near where I live) truly makes the best chicken salad in the world, yes the world! So I was a skeptic.
But it was super delicious! Their salad consists of white chicken, celery, pecans and cranberries in a yogurt based dressing. The dressing is very light and marriage of the cranberries and pecans is simply wonderful.
Get a box of their Multigrain Crackers add some chicken salad on top and say hello to pure yumminess! This is definitely a must try!
We are huge fans of Trader Joe’s! We travel about an hour every two weeks to pick up our certain favorites and also see what is new that we can try. We frequently speak with this one lady who goes over each item in our cart at check out and will “ooh and ahh” over the items that we bought and she will share what she does with it or “have you tried this with that.” Another wonderful thing about this store….everyone is so friendly and helpful. If there is an item that we love and want to make sure we get it, we can call ahead and they will hold it for us.
Since we find so many great things there, I will start sharing all of these wonderful goodies, as well as recipes we create. I know not everyone is fortunate enought to have a Trader Joe’s near them, which is so stinky, so I apologize in advance, as you will have to see these wonderful treasures (yes, I truly feel that way) and not be able to enjoy them.
I found this bag of popcorn on one of their end cap displays that always seem to draw me in. It was such an enormous display of popcorn with a chalkboard indicating the item and for how much. It was $1.99, not bad and so I tossed it into the cart. My Star said “I knew that was going in the cart.” That is pretty much how we both buy things there. “Oh, that looks good” and there it goes being tossed into the cart.
This popcorn is quite tasty! Its organic popcorn that is popped with hot air and finished with organic extra virgin olive oil and then lightly dusted with sea salt. I have to say I like it better than buttered popcorn. Very yummy!
This is the first time I made Corned Beef and Cabbage in the crockpot. It came out super moist and delicious. I bought the corned beef brisket by mistake, so I was worried about the flavor, but I just added my own spices and it was perfect. If you are wondering what the difference is between corned beef and corned beef brisket, the corned beef has been salted and preserved and comes with the pickling spice packet. Not a huge deal, you can brine your brisket the night before or as I did, just throw in some spices.
Ingredients:
1 (3 lb) corned beef brisket (trim off most of the fat on the bottom)
4-5 potatoes peeled and cut in cubes
1 onion cut in chunks
1 cup water
1 bottle dark beer
2 cloves of garlic (whole)
1/2 head of cabbage
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon ground mustard
1 teaspoon all spice (whole pimiento)
2 bay leaves
salt & pepper to taste
Place onions and potatoes in the bottom of the crock pot and top with the corned beef. Pour water and beer around the brisket and sprinkle the top with the seasonings.
Cook on low for 6 hours. Add the chunks of cabbage, sprinkle with salt and pepper and cook for an additional 2 hours.
Serve with some horseradish sauce or, as I prefer Dijon mustard. Yummy!
I have been a little busy this past week. My Star proposed to me on my birthday, March 7th! It was so sweet. We went to a very nice dinner and as they were bringing out the dessert, he was playing “Marry Me” by Train on his iPod. The ring was placed on top in the strawberry.
I was crying, he got a little teary eyed and the whole restaurant was clapping. It was such a wonderful night. Now the planning comes, as we want to get married this summer. Lots to do, but such a very exciting time for the both of us. I will keep you all posted on our pending nuptials.
This is such a quick, simple, and tasty side dish. We made this along side Star’s famous Chicken Cordon Blue and it was absolutely perfect!
2 heads of broccoli (chop into florets)
3 tablespoons finely grated Parmesan cheese (or more, if you are like us, we just grate till one of us says “that’s good”)
1 teaspoon brown sugar
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes (if desired)
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Directions:
Chop the broccoli into florets. Fill a pot with water and bring to a boil. When the water comes to a boil, add the broccoli. Allow the broccoli to cook for 1 to 2 minutes until just tender.
Heat extra virgin olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the broccoli and season with red pepper flakes, salt and pepper. Stir to coat the broccoli and cook for 1 to 2 minutes, stirring frequently.
Grate Parmesan cheese, add brown sugar and combine.
Remove from heat and sprinkle with the Parmesan cheese mixture.
We frequent Trader Joe’s at least once a month. We love that store and cannot get enough of it! This particular day they were giving samples of Cookie Butter and Toasted Coconut Cookie Thins. OMG! I can’t even begin to tell you how delish they are! What a nice, sweet snack. I am thinking of putting the cookie butter on some artisan bread and making a panini. Hmmmm….I must create a dessert with this.
I make this sauce quite often and my family always says “it is so good, how did you make it?” I never have an answer, as I just add this, a little of that, a pinch of this. There is no recipe for this people! So this time, I actually took note and measured each ingredient.
After my Star enjoyed this dish he said “did you cook this in the $80 pot?” “No, I said, I cooked it in the $70 pot.” OK, let me explain this pot. I have always wanted a Le Creuset pot, but never wanted to spend $145! So, we were at Marshall’s a few months ago and I saw the Le Cruset for $125, Ugh..and then I saw another brand Chantal for $70, so I bought it! My family jokes with me about it and says “oh, this dish must have been cooked in the $70 pot, because it tastes so good.” Ha! Yes, it does. It was a great investment and it is also pretty!
Ingredients:
2 Cloves garlic, minced
1/4 Teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/4 Cup of red wine (any kind you have on hand, I used Shiraz)
1 29 oz. can tomato sauce
1 Can tomato paste
1 Tablespoon dried basil (or fresh, I didn’t have any on hand today)
1/2 Teaspoon onion powder
1 Tablespoon of sugar
Pinch of salt
Freshly ground pepper (to taste)
Saute garlic and red pepper flakes in a little bit of extra virgin olive oil.
Deglaze the pot with wine.
This is the wine that I used for this dish.
Add tomato sauce, paste, basil, onion powder, sugar, salt and pepper.
Let it simmer on low for a few hours so the flavors can develop. Serve over pasta with some freshly grated parmesan cheese.
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