Filipino Beef Steak

If you're looking for a different way to make steak, you have found it. This is easy and very tasty if you live it marinating over night. 

I was going to cook this steak on Monday but my plans shifted and we ended up eating out. I already had my meat seasoned and just ready to cook so I just put it back in the refrigerator and used it yesterday night for my guests. It turned out great!!!

Filipino Beef Steak

Ingredients:

 1 lemon, juiced

 3 tablespoons soy sauce

 1 teaspoon white sugar

 Salt and pepper to taste

 4 pounds New York strip steak, sliced thin (any steak will do)

 1 tablespoon cornstarch

 1/4 cup vegetable oil

 3 tablespoons olive oil

 1 onion, chopped

 2 cloves garlic, chopped

Directions:

Whisk the lemon juice, soy sauce, sugar, salt, and pepper together in a small bowl. Place the sliced steak in a large bowl; pour the lemon juice mixture over the steak and toss to coat. Sprinkle with the cornstarch and lightly mix. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 1 hour, up to overnight.

Heat 1/4 cup vegetable oil in a large skillet. Remove the beef slices from the marinade, shaking to remove any excess liquid. Fry the beef slices in batches in the hot oil until they start to firm, and are reddish-pink and juicy in the center, 2 to 4 minutes per side(Don't over cook it because they will turn out very hard.). Remove the beef slices from the skillet and set aside on a serving platter.

Heat the olive oil in a small skillet over medium heat. Cook and stir the onion and garlic in the hot oil until the onion is golden brown, 5 to 7 minutes; pour over the beef slices.

As usual I made some changes to make it easier for me. Instead of whisking the ingredients for the marinade I just pour all of them in the meat and mixed it. I also added some of my special seasoning. Another thing I did was cook the onions in the same pan I fried the meat so the onions got all the flavor too. 

My husband enjoyed it very much and my brother in law ate them and asked for seconds. I recommend this dish, it's really good. We had it with roasted potatoes covered with cheese and bacon, a salad and biscuits.

Have a good day and happy cooking!!!

Dump Cake

Yes, the name says it all. Dump this and dump that!!!

Yesterday I had my sister and her family come over for dinner and I wanted to make a quick but yummy dessert to enjoy with them. Looking through my favorites online and my pinterest I came across this recipe that I tried making one time while dating my husband but it didn't come out right, so I said this is it, it's time to redeem myself.

I got busy and went to Walmart to get all my ingredients which were only four; yes!!! besides easy it's also inexpensive.

This all you need:

1 can (21 Oz) cherry pie filling
1 can (15 Oz) crushed pineapple
1 box of yellow cake mix
1 1/2 stick of butter or margarine (I used 1 stick margarine and 1/2 stick butter)
Whipped Cream (optional)

Preparation Instructions:

Dump cherry pie filling and crushed pineapple into baking dish. Stir together.

Sprinkle dry cake mix over the top of the fruit. Slice margarine and butter and distribute over the surface of the cake mix.

Bake this delicious dessert at 350 degrees for 45 minutes to 1 hour. 

Then, to redeem myself from the first time I made this I got some whipped cream and put a dollup on top. My husband, guests and I enjoyed it very much and I for sure will be making it again.

I know it's not the healthiest dessert on planet earth but pretend it’s cobbler if you want. But most importantly: enjoy! That’s all I ask of you.

Cheesy Bacon Biscuits Pull-Aparts

Let me start my post by saying, SUPER EASY!!!!!!

OK, now that I got that out of my system I also have to tell you that besides easy its very good. You can have it as breakfast, lunch, snack or dinner which ever you want it's perfect for any occasion.

I made it for dinner with a small salad and of course I also made my own little changes on the original recipe.

Easy Cheesy Bacon Biscuit Pull-Aparts

2 tablespoons melted butter

One roll refrigerated biscuit dough, 8 count

6 thin slices fresh mozzarella, 1/4-inch thick

1 cup Smithfield cooked, crumbled bacon

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. and brush a 9-inch cast iron skillet with melted butter.

Unroll biscuits from can and place into bottom of skillet. Top with slices of mozzarella cheese, bacon crumbles then shredded cheddar. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until cheese is melted and biscuits are cooked through. Serve warm.

I just gave you the original recipe but here is what I did with my biscuits.

First, after unrolling my biscuits from the can I placed them in the baking pan. I used 2 rolls instead of one because my biscuits were small.

Second, I used some chopped onions and sprinkled it on top of the biscuits, I didn't have bacon so I used ham or lunch meat. Also sprinkled some dry parsley and a little bit of garlic salt. Ohhh!!! and I also spread one beaten egg on them.

Before spreading the cheese I added two tablespoons of butter cubed so the biscuits wouldn't stick on the bottom of the pan and so they could come out very moist ( which they did).

And after spreading cheese, yummy cheese on these delicious dish I put it in the oven on 350 degrees for 20 minutes. 

And Voila!!!!! 20 minutes after :)> Ready to serve and be eaten by me and my hubby.

This was soooooooo good and tasty that I wanted to eat more and more but only had one serving and saved the other one for tomorrow's lunch. My husband really enjoyed it and saved some for his lunch too. 

This is crazy good specially if you like bread and cheese like I do. 

Beefy Mac & Cheese

Yesterday I was planning on making a lasagna for dinner and even got my beef out and seasoned it like I always do. When it was time to start making dinner I realized I didn't have enough tomato sauce to make it so decided to go another route. I had elbow shape pasta and plenty of cheese so my plans changed and decided to make a beefy macaroni & cheese. It sounded delish to me!!!

There are several ways of making this dish but I did it my own way which I thought it was pretty easy. 

I basically cooked my pasta in boiling salt water, and in another pan cooked my meat. Then in my baking dish layered everything. First the pasta, then sprinkle some salt and pepper for more flavor, then the meat,then some cubed butter, then lots of cheese and repeat the steps again. Put it in the oven at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes. 

This is how it should look after you layered it. I didn't give any amounts because it varies on the amount of people you want to feed or the amount of ingredients you have at home. Also you can add more things if you want, I cooked some onions with my meat but you can add peppers and so on. 

This is the top of my dish before it went in the oven. I love cheese so I put a lot of it. 

And voila!!!!! Here is the finished dish ready to be eaten by me. I had it with some lettuce, pretty simple plus I didn't have any tomatoes to put together with the lettuce. 

It was very good and it had a really good flavor, but the best thing was that it was pretty cheesy. Let me remind you to season your meat pretty well when your cooking it because if you don't your dish might come out flavorless. Add your favorite dry seasonings and herbs, get creative I know it's in you!!!!

4th of July Celebration!!!

Yesterday was a very fun day, even though the forecast showed a lot of rain coming our way. We decided to do a small picnic at the beach and have some family fun time. It was awesome and it didn't rain!!!!

I was in charge of the desserts so I decided to bake a cake, after all it was USA birthday!! The cake was decorated with the american flag.

I also decided to bake an apple pie, an all time american dessert. That pie is always wanted by my very pregnant sis in law and she asks for it to be made with the granny smiths apple because she loves the tartness in them.

But I didn't just make desserts I also made a pasta salad to take to the beach and eat it together with the chicken and loaf of bread my brother and his wife had bought. It was so good that there was no left overs. Some people use tuna for this type of salad but I prefer chicken, it tastes better like that and not everyone likes tuna.

It was so good to have family over at our house and seeing their approvals on the apple pie and cake. Celebration ended with some small fireworks and laughter!!!! It was great. :)

Happy 4th of July everyone!!!!

Chicken Noodle Soup on A Rainy Day!!

We've had a rainy week and what's better then a delicious homemade chicken noodle soup!!! 

Besides the rain my husband has been sick with a head cold and I have been fighting something too, so yesterday I felt like having soup for dinner and that is strange for me because I'm not a soup eater. 

To tell you the truth it was my first time making soup and I was excited about it. I wanted to make a very traditional kind of soup that's why I decided to go with the chicken noodle. I was missing some ingredients so I went to Walmart to get them but while I was there I got into buying some other stuff  for my house, specially for my dining table. I was tired of the centerpiece I had on it so I decided to change it.

 

 




I got the table runner the vases and flowers, Doesn't it look nice!!!






As soon as I got home and set up the things I had bought on my dinning table, got busy with my cooking. The first thing I did was season my chicken so it could have a good flavor when I went to mix it in with the rest of the ingredients.

This a basic recipe for this soup, but you can change it a little bit by adding your own touch (just like I did to mine)

Ingredients:

 1 tablespoon butter

 1/2 cup chopped onion

 1/2 cup chopped celery

 4 (14.5 ounce) cans chicken broth

 1 (14.5 ounce) can vegetable broth

 1/2 pound chopped cooked chicken breast

 1 1/2 cups egg noodles

 1 cup sliced carrots

 1/2 teaspoon dried basil

 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

 Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

In a large pot over medium heat, melt butter. Cook onion and celery in butter until just tender, 5 minutes. Pour in chicken and vegetable broths and stir in chicken, noodles, carrots, basil, oregano, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer 20 minutes before serving.

Let me tell you that it was soooo good and tasty!!! My husband enjoyed it very much and I did too. I sent a picture to my mom and she said that it made her mouth watery and one of my sisters in law ask me if I could send her some. Those were nice compliments :) :) 

Today is Wednesday and it still looks like is going to be a rainy day, but on the bright side the lawn and plants are getting beautified and fed. Thank you Lord for that!!!

Have a good day!!!!

Pulled Pork for Dinner!!!

Friday night is usually our date night, but this time we decided to eat at home since we were going to a resort for the weekend with the in laws. 

We love barbecue pulled pork and I wanted to surprise my hubby by making it for the first time. I had heard my sister's way of doing it in the slow cooker but since I have the Wolfgang pressure cooker I thought it would be easier to just put it in there, I just had to press meat and set the timer for one hour. 

Homemade Pulled Pork

Ingredients:

1-2 lbs Pork Loin

1 teaspoon garlic powder

salt and pepper to taste

1 tablespoon of my special seasoning

1 cup of water

Directions:

Plug in your pressure cooker, put your meat, water and seasonings in the pressure cooker. Put the lid, set it to meat and adjust the time to 1 hour. Cook for 1 hour. Release the pressure and drain off juices, reserving about 2 cups. Shred the pork and mix with barbecue sauce, adding reserved juice if needed to reach your desired consistency. 

It came out so good that my husband's eyes rolled in every bite he took. I enjoyed it very much too, it was delicious. I would definitely make it again and I recommend you to make it too.

The 4th of July is coming, What are your plans?

Have a nice week and happy cooking!!!!