Details Diary

Yummy.  While hubby and I are not football fans we do enjoy kicking back and watching Superbowl and along with it, eating tasty food.  So I decided to make us fajitas and I am happy I did.

Beef Fajitas
Serves 4

Ingredients:

1/2 lb flank steak
1/3 cup olive oil
Juice from 2 limes
3 tsp chipotle chili pepper
4 garlic cloves
1/2 onion, chopped
1 yellow bell pepper, chopped
1 red bell pepper, chopped
20 small mushrooms, sliced
Sour cream, dollop for each fajita
Shredded cheese (cheddar, jack, pepper jack, whatever you prefer)
LaTortilla Factory white corn tortillas

Directions:

First combine olive oil, lime juice, garlic, chipotle chili pepper in blender and mix until totally combined.  Place flank steak into ziploc bag and pour marinade over steak.  Seal the bag and then coat the meat with the marinade by smooshing it around in the bag. Leave the meat marinading for at least 4 hours.  I am sure if you had time to soak it overnight it would be even better.

Next, pour a bit of olive oil into a skillet and grill the meat over very high heat.  I cooked each side for about 5 minutes before turning and then cooked a few more minutes on each side.  Remove the steak from the pan and set to the side.

Now in another skillet, heat 2 teaspoons of olive oil.  Add onions, peppers and mushrooms and cook for approximately 5 minutes or until the veggies are soft and onions are translucent.

While the veggies are cooking, slice the meat into thin strips against the grain.

Warm your tortillas one by one in a pan over medium heat just enough to make them crispy.  Now grab a plate, your tortilla, add some cheese, veggies, meat strips and top off with a sprinkle of cheese and dollop of sour cream.  Enjoy!

Oh. my. goodness. I made this for dinner tonight and blew myself away! I found the recipe at The Pioneer Woman and I only changed a few items.  The recipe is below, please make it tomorrow. It is pure heaven. I promise. Hubby even gave it a 9.5 out of 10.

Ingredients

• 1 pound Flank Steak, trimmed of fat and sliced very thin against the grain
• ½ cups Low Sodium Soy Sauce
• 3 Tablespoons Cooking Sherry
• 2 Tablespoons Brown Sugar
• 2 Tablespoons Cornstarch
• 1 Tablespoon Ground Ginger
• 8 ounces, Sugar Snap Peas, ends trimmed
• 3 Tablespoons Olive Oil
• Crushed Red Pepper, for sprinkling
• Cooked Brown Rice

Preparation Instructions

In a bowl, mix together soy sauce, sherry, brown sugar, cornstarch, and ginger. Add sliced meat to bowl and toss. Set aside.

Heat oil in a heavy skillet or wok over high heat. Add sugar snap peas and stir for 1 minute. Remove to a separate plate. Set aside.

Allow pan to get very hot again. With tongs, add half the meat mixture, leaving most of the marinade still in the bowl. Spread out meat as you add it to pan, but do not stir for a good minute. (You want the meat to get as brown as possible in as short amount a time as possible.) Turn meat to the other side and cook for another 30 seconds. Remove to a clean plate.

Repeat with other half of meat, allowing pan to get very hot again first. After turning it, add the first plateful of meat, the rest of the marinade, and the sugar snap peas. Stir over high heat for 30 seconds, then turn off heat. Mixture will thicken as it sits.

Serve immediately over rice. Sprinkle crushed red pepper over the top to give it some spice.

My fab friend Lindzee over at Cordon Pink came up with this incredible recipe.  I have stolen it and adapted it slightly to my fam’s tastebuds and wanted to share.  It is perfectly simple to cook and tastes INCREDIBLE!

Soupendous Chicken Enchilada Stoup: Serves 8-10

1 lb Skinless/Boneless Chicken breast chopped into 1” pieces
2 Tablespoons of Olive Oil
1 cup white onion diced
1 Green Pepper diced
1 Red Pepper diced
4 teaspoons of minced garlic
14.5oz can of Chopped Tomatoes
14.5oz can of Black Beans
½ Bag of Frozen Petite White Corn
14.5oz can of Red Enchilada Sauce
3 tsp Chipotle Chile Powder
2 tsp Chile Powder
1 cup of water
2 cups Jalapeño Cheese or Pepper Jack
½ cup of 2% Milk

Heat the oil in a large skillet.  Toss in the onion and garlic and saute for 2-3 minutes.  Add the chicken and peppers and cook until browned.  Throw the chicken mixture into the slow cooker on low heat.

Then add the tomatoes, black beans, corn, enchilada sauce, spices and water.  If you set your slow cooker to low, allow around 8 hours.  If you are in a time crunch, crank the heat up to high and let it cook for about 4 hours.  I have made this both ways and cannot tell a difference.  It is super yummy regardless.

Once you are about ready to serve, add the cheese then milk.  Stir and let it cook for about 10 more minutes.  Whirl around a final stir and enjoy!  Thank you Lindz for such a fab recipe!

PS- Don’t forget to make the bad boys below to go along with the stoup.  Hubby and I are addicted to them and they do not last more than 1 day at our house.  Yes people, I admit to eating 6 corn bread muffins in one day.  They are that good.

Jalapeno Cornbread Muffins

1 box of Jiffy Cornbread muffin mix 
2 cups shredded Jalapeño Cheese
1 egg
1/3 cup milk (I have used skim and 2%)
1.5 Tablespoons of Honey
Pinch of Kosher Salt

Mix all ingredients together and pour into your favorite size muffin tin.  I have tried making them in all sizes, mini-normal-jumbo, and found that the normal muffin size works best for my fam.  Bake according to the instructions on the box. Yum.

I have been craving lemon cookies for 3 weeks — every since Celia brought them to Lindzee’s cookie party and I ate my share that day. Oh my, they were amazing. So I asked Celia to share her recipe and she graciously did.

I altered just a few things and they still turned out delish. Below is the recipe, enjoy!

FROSTED LEMON COOKIES
Makes 4 dozen

Cookie:
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup unsalted butter (softened)
2 eggs
Zest of one lemon
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 1/2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt

Glaze:
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cup lemon juice

Directions:
1. Heat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Combine salt, baking soda, cream of tartar, lemon juice, lemon zest, eggs and butter in mixer. Mix until smooth.
3. Add in flour and sugar. Mix until well blended.
4. Drop dough (spoonful), 2 inches apart, onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake for 7 minutes or until edges are slightly browned.
5. Meanwhile, combine glaze ingredients in mixer and mix until smooth. Frost warm cookies with glaze.

Enjoy!

Each year one of my dear friends, Lindzee, throws a holiday cookie party.  This  year I decided I wanted to stray from the cookie and make cupcakes.  So I found a recipe that added some holiday spice but wasn’t too complicated.

It was overall pretty easy and I even used my mixer we got at our wedding for the first time.  I do not know why on earth I have not been using this for the past 2 years, pure crazy.  The mixer is amazing and is now my new best friend.

Below is the recipe enjoy!

Servings: 18 mini cupcakes

Ingredients: Cupcakes

• 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup unsulfured molasses
• 1 egg
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon Hershey’s cocoa (Special dark with dutched cocoa)
• 1 1/4 teaspoons ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 cup hot milk  (I used skim and they turned out great, but I am sure whole or 2% would be even tastier)

Directions: Cupcakes

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line mini cupcake tin with paper liners.
2. Cream 5 tablespoons of the butter with the white sugar. Add the molasses and the egg and egg yolk.
3. Sift together the flour, cocoa powder, ginger, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg and salt. Add the flour mixture to the creamed mixture and stir until just combined.
4. Dissolve the baking soda in the hot milk.  Stir in the hot milk mixture to the rest of the batter.
5. Pour the batter evenly into the prepared tin.
6. Bake for 17 minutes or until slightly springy to the touch. Allow to cool a few minutes in the pan and remove to a rack to cool.

Ingredients: Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting

• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
• 2 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 2/3 cup confectioners’ sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon lemon extract

Directions: Frosting

1. Cream the 2 tablespoons butter and the cream cheese together.
2. Beat in the confectioners’ sugar until fluffy.
3. Add the lemon extract and beat.
4. When the cupcakes are cool, frost the tops with the frosting and serve.  I used a cake decorating tip to make a swirl of frosting on top and then added a candied ginger to each of the cupcakes.  I used the Spice Island Crystallized Ginger.

A friend at worked shared this recipe with me and boy am I glad she did!  It is super simple to make and soo tasty.  I used 6 mini loaf pans and it was the perfect amount.

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour 6 mini loaf pans.
2. In a large bowl, combine sugar, pumpkin, oil, water, and eggs. Beat until smooth. Blend in flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, and salt. Fold in chocolate chips. Fill pans 3/4 full.
3. Bake for 45 minutes, or until an inserted knife comes out clean. Cool on wire racks before removing from pans.

So last night my hubby was craving a home cooked meal after driving around in a car for 8 hours. I didn’t have much on hand, but thought I could pull off some spaghetti. Lucky for me, I found this recipe.

I only made a few tweaks and it was super easy.  I must tell you this sauce is incredible!  It has a kick to it, so if you don’t like a hint of heat, then this dish probably isn’t for you.

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 3 teaspoons minced garlic
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/2 tablespoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 1 (28 ounce) can crushed tomatoes
• 1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste  
• 1/2 cup brown sugar