Steak Marinade

I love to marinate steaks. I like steaks fine without being marinated, but I love all the extra flavor you can give a steak. This marinade has a hint of sweetness from the brown sugar but the garlic, pepper, and liquid smoke give it that savory, smoky flavor. Perfect combination.

(for 2 or 3 steaks)
-1/2 c. A-1 Steak Marinade
-1 t. garlic powder
-1 t. ground black pepper
-1 T. brown sugar
-1/2 t. liquid smoke
-Lawry's Seasoning Salt
Sprinkle both sides of the steak with the Seasoning Salt. Poke with a fork a few times on each side. Mix all other ingredients together in a bowl. Pour marinade over steaks in a shallow dish. You can also put the steaks in a large ziploc bag in the marinade, if you don't have a dish that will accommodate the steaks. Let marinate for at least a day in the fridge. I've marinated them for about 3 days before and they had sooo much flavor! Then just grill as desired.

give them a good sprinkling of seasoning salt

mix marinade

pour over steaks

Who's hungry?!

Cookie Dough S'Mores

This isn't as much of a recipe as it is an idea. Thought of this one while trying to sleep the other night. We went to the lake this weekend and tried them out. Faaaaaaabulous!!!! All we did was use a square of prepared chocolate chip cookie dough instead of Hershey's chocolate for the s'more. Buy a package of the "break n bake" chocolate chip cookie dough in the refrigerated section at the store. You could make your own cookie dough if you wanted, of course. We used cinnamon graham crackers as well. I would suggest flattening down the cookie dough just a little (not to the edges of the graham cracker otherwise it will spill over once it starts melting from the marshmallow), before putting on the toasted marshmallow. Sorry there's no photos to go with this. We must have been too busy eating them to take a picture :-)

Molasses Cookies

These molasses cookies are deliciously soft and chewy, the way I make them. You can probably bake them a little longer if you like crisp, crunchy cookies. These are my father in law's favorite cookie. Maybe they're just high in the rankings- not really sure. Anyway, his birthday and Father's Day were just a couple days apart so that warranted a batch of molasses cookies for him. This recipe will make A LOT of cookies! It is super easy to divide in half though. Around Thanksgiving and Christmas (I LOVE CHRISTMAS!), I make full batches and they go like crazy, just a little FYI.

-4 1/2 c. flour
-1 T. plus 1 t. ginger
-2 t. baking soda
-1/2 t. salt
-1 1/2 t. cinnamon
-1 t. cloves
-1 1/2 c. butter (3 sticks)
-1 c. sugar, plus more for rolling
-1 c. brown sugar
-2 eggs
-2 T. water
-1/2 c. molasses
Sift all dry ingredients together. Cream butter and sugars together in a mixer. Beat in eggs. Mix in water and molasses. Scrape down the sides to make sure everything is mixed well. Add dry mixture to creamed mixture slowly. Refrigerate dough in bowl for 1 hour. I refrigerate the dough to make it easier to roll into balls. After the dough is chilled, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Roll dough into 1 inch balls. Roll in white sugar in a bowl. Bake on an ungreased cookie sheet for 8-10 minutes or until the tops start to crack. Let cool a minute before moving to a wire rack to cool.
*I've made the dough a few days ahead as a time saver, and it worked out great. I put the dough in a large ziploc bag and sealed out all the air. So just make sure that the dough is properly sealed if it's going to be sitting in the fridge longer than an hour.

Double Chocolate Pudding Cups

If you made my ChenChelseas, then you've probably got some Won Ton Wrappers left to use up. Here ya go! Make a dessert with them! I thought of this idea while I was working out today (weird and a little backwards, I'm sure). But these really aren't too "bad" of a dessert. You just can't eat 12 of them if you're wanting to keep the ol' calories down :-) You could use waffle bowls or waffle cones if you'd rather. I really liked the taste of the won ton mixed with the sweetness of the puddings, topped with the toasted pecans, though! You could top these with sliced fruit (strawberries or raspberries, probably) also.

-1 small box Fat Free, Sugar Free Chocolate Fudge Instant Pudding
-1 small box Fat Free, Sugar Free White Chocolate Instant Pudding
-3 1/2 c. milk, divided
-1 c. Fat Free Cool Whip
-Chopped Pecans, for topping
-Won Ton Wrappers or Waffle Bowls/Cones
Make chocolate pudding according to box directions, using 2 cups of the milk. Cover and refrigerate. Mix white chocolate pudding with 1 1/2 c. milk and beat for a couple minutes until smooth. Cover and refrigerate. If using Won Ton Wrappers, place a square in each of 12 muffin cups. Push down in the middles to make a "bowl". Bake at 275 degrees for about 15 minutes or until golden and crisp. Allow to cool. Place pecans on a baking sheet. Toast in the oven for about 5-7 minutes. Remove from oven and let sit on the baking sheet until you're ready to use them. Remove both puddings from the fridge. Fold cool whip into the white chocolate pudding with a rubber spatula. You can spoon about a tablespoon of each pudding into a won ton "cup" at this point. Top with toasted pecans.

**If you want to make them swirled like mine: Tear a piece of plastic wrap off the roll about a foot long. Spoon about half of the chocolate pudding into the center of it. Fold in half and roll up the long way. Tie a knot in one side. Repeat with the white chocolate pudding. Snip the untied end off so there's about an inch or so left. Cut about 2 inches off the end of a piping bag. Place both "bags" of pudding in the piping bag evenly. Squeeze the piping bag in a circular motion into the won ton "cup" or waffle bowl, and it will come out swirled! Top with toasted pecans.

Put the pudding in the middle, fold over.

Roll up and tie knots in the end.

Place both bags in a piping bag. The smaller the tip you cut off the piping bag, the more swirled effect you can get, but it may be kind of difficult to get each color out perfectly. So, just practice a little bit (if you care haha)!

hallllllelujah!

Cheesy Chicken and Rice

The other day when I made Chicken Spaghetti, I went ahead and put a couple extra chicken breasts in the crock pot to cook. I knew I would probably want them later in the week for something. This recipe is so basic. You can get more creative with spices and stuff I'm sure. You can add a vegetable in it if you want, too. I make another variation of this recipe where I use Nature's Way Long Grain and Wild Rice instead of Instant Rice. When I do that, I actually make the rice according to the box directions, then mix it with a can of cream of chicken soup but I omit the oil. Everything else is the same except the baking time. I just keep it in the oven until the cheese is melted. Both ways are good. I actually like the Long Grain and Wild Rice way a little better, but the Instant Rice is much faster and simpler! Try 'em out and see what you think!

-1 c. instant rice
-1 can Cream of Chicken Soup
-2 T. Extra Virgin Olive Oil
-2 cooked chicken breasts, cubed or shredded
-3/4 c. shredded cheese (cheddar, casserole, fiesta, colby jack, pretty much whatever you want/have)
-salt/ pepper, to taste
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix dry rice and soup together in an 11X7 or 8X8 pan. Stir in EVOO. Spread rice around pan evenly. Sprinkle salt and pepper on rice (you probably won't want much salt, just a sprinkle-ish). Put pieces of chicken on top of rice mixture. Sprinkle with cheese. Bake for 15 minutes.

Scrambled Cheeseburgers

Tonight's dinner WAS going to be Hamburger Helper, but then I decided I was too tired to even make that. Is that possible? Too tired to make Hamburger Helper? Yep, it is. BUT, I did have a pound of hamburger already thawed so I thought I'd better do something with it. I thought I would just patty it up and throw em on the grill. But then I'd have to go turn on the grill...patty the burgers...seasoning...blahhh...oh, and we had HOT DOG buns but no hamburger buns = hamburgers are out. Meet Scrambled Cheeseburgers. Yes, I put them in hot dog buns. Bun is a bun is a bun. It works just the same! While I was getting the hamburger browning for these, I decided I'd better just toast the buns because that's pretty delicious :-)  Austin actually said that toasting the buns was what made these cheeseburgers perfect. TOAST YOUR BUNS! :-)

-1 lb. ground beef
-4 slices American cheese
-1/2 c. ketchup
-1 teaspoon(ish) mustard
-buns
-any additional hamburger toppings you'd like
Brown hamburger. Drain grease, if any. Tear (or cut, if you want to be fancy) up the slices of cheese into a little bit smaller pieces and put in the skillet with the hamburger. Turn burner to low (2 or 3 on the dial). Stir so cheese is evenly distributed and can melt. Stir in ketchup and mustard once cheese is melted. Keep mixture on low for about 5-10 minutes to let everything heat up together. While the meat is sitting, toast the buns! Put a little spray butter or butter spread on the middles. Sprinkle with a little garlic salt. Broil on LOW until they're golden on the edges. Spoon meat mixture onto buns. Top with any other toppings you would like.
*You don't HAVE to toast the buns, so I didn't list butter and garlic salt as ingredients for this recipe. You just should toast them, because it'll taste that much better!

toasty buns!

Bean Dip

This is not the "7 layer bean dip" everyone and their mom makes. It's even simpler. All it is is refried beans, Rotel, and Velveeta Queso Blanco. I have developed a recent obsession with that cheese. That is all THANKS TO BRANDON for introducing us to that marvelous stuff! I made this bean dip for Bunco last night. Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of it after I made it, so you'll just have to make it for yourself to see what it looks like. I'm sure I'll be making it again though, so someday there will be a picture of it :-)

-1 can Refried Beans
-1 can Original Rotel
-1 bag (2 cups-ish) shredded Velveeta Queso Blanco Cheese
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix beans and rotel together in an oven safe bowl. **If you're like me and don't like the chunks in the rotel, blend it up before mixing it with the beans** Sprinkle cheese on top. Bake for about 10-15 minutes, or until cheese is melted. The cheese doesn't have to be melted all the way, if you're okay with stirring it into the bean dip. It doesn't look as "fancy" when you serve it, but it still tastes great! Serve with chips. Or put it in a burrito. Or a taco. Or whatever makes you happy.