Mom's Pepper Steak

Photos taken from last night's dinner!

This is one of my favorite Pepper Steak recipes which of course I found on Pinterest...I have made it a few times and we all love it! Nick likes the meat super tender so I do all the steps and when it says to "cover and simmer for 45 minutes" I transfer it to the crockpot and let it cook a couple of hours on low...then when we are ready to eat I transfer it all to a pan and mix in the cornstarch and soy sauce...anyways, here it is!

Ingredients:
1½ pound Sirloin steak (½ inches strips)
1 tablespoon paprika
2 each garlic cloves, crushed *this is the only change I make...I love garlic so I mince a few cloves instead
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup onions, sliced
2 each bell peppers, sliced
2 large tomatoes, diced
1 cup beef broth
¼ cup water
2 tablespoon cornstarch
2 tablespoon soy sauce
3 cup hot cooked rice

Directions:
Season steak with paprika and rest at room temperature while preparing remaining ingredients.

Sautee crushed garlic, add steak, and brown gently. Careful not to burn the garlic.

Add sliced onions and bell peppers. Continue to cook until vegetables are wilted.

Add diced tomatoes and beef broth.

Cover, and simmer for about 45 minutes.

Combine water, cornstarch, and soy sauce.

Stir into steak and cook until thickened.

Serve over freshly cooked rice.

Found the recipe HERE

One more thing...last night when I made it I added a can of Rotel tomatoes instead of the 2 large tomatoes...that worked nicely too!

Flat Bread Breakfast Sandwich

click on photo to enlarge

Ingredients:

Flat Bread
Ham
Egg
Cheese
Veggies (I used peppers/onions

Scramble egg, cook ham, saute veggies...assemble on flat bread, pop in the oven to heat and melt cheese...eat!

El Torito Enchilada Sauce

not my photo, borrowed from El Torito's Website....

One thing I miss from Ca is great Mexican food. For a sit down Mexican restaurant, El Torito was one of our faves. I found this recipe for the enchilada sauce and have made it a few times, it's the BEST!

EL TORITO ENCHILADA SAUCE
Makes 1 quart

2 tbsp vegetable oil
2 tbsp flour
1/4 cup red chile powder, mild
2 cups beef broth, fresh or canned
2 cups tomato puree, canned
1/2 tsp Mexican oregano, dried, crumbled
1/4 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp granulated garlic
1 tsp salt (to taste)

Heat oil in large saucepan. Add the flour to the oil and made a roux. Stir and cook over medium heat for 2 minutes until it becomes brown in color.

Add the chile powder, beef broth, tomato puree, oregano, cumin, garlic and salt to taste to the roux and simmer over low heat for 15 minutes.

Favorite Pasta Salad

I'm not a huge fan of heavy mayo based salads. A little bit is ok, too much will make me gag. So a mom brought this delish pasta salad to our football banquet and I loved it so I've been making it ever since. I made one little adjustment and added fresh basil and freshly minced garlic because I can :)

Here ya go:

1 box of twirly tri-colored pasta cooked al dente then rinsed in cold water
about 1/4 cup of mayo, maybe even less, I just guess
chopped roma tomatoes
chopped bell pepper
chopped black olives
chopped cucumber
about a half cup of fresh parmesan cheese
about a tbsp of fresh chopped basil
clove of minced garlic

put as much of the veggies in as you like, no rules! i also like red onion in it too sometimes.

mix together and enjoy! i can seriously eat the whole bowl :D

Panko Crusted Mashed Potatoes

I know, I've pinned things like crazy, just haven't done anything or had time to tell about it. I've cooked a few things. Every time I plan my menu, I add something new. Like these. These potatoes were super, duper good! Serious!

Here's the recipe, from Allrecipes:

INGREDIENTS:
2 cups chilled mashed potatoes
2 eggs, slightly beaten, (separate bowls)
2 tablespoons chopped onion
1/2 tablespoon black pepper
1/2 cup flour for dredging
1 cup Kikkoman Panko Bread Crumbs
3 tablespoons vegetable oil for pan frying
DIRECTIONS:
1. In a medium bowl, combine potatoes, one egg, onion and black pepper. Divide potato mixture into 8 equal portions. Use your hands to form 1/2 inch thick patties. Dredge patties in flour, then in egg and coat with Panko Bread Crumbs. Meanwhile heat vegetable oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add potato patties to the hot oil. Cook until well browned, turn with a spatula and brown on the other side.

8 servings

The only alterations I made was the egg. I didn't mix egg into my mixture after reading some reviews. I did use an egg to dip the potatoes in.

You can find the original recipe HERE!

Patty Melts

(photo from Saveur Magazine online)

I was scrolling through Pinterest one day, imagine that lol, and Braden (one of my 10 year old twins) was walking by and saw this pic of the Patty Melt and said "That looks good" so of course I pinned it because I'm all about pinning stuff that my kids might like, and I had to agree, it did look good. I've never had a Patty Melt before but it looked like something worth trying and that it was!

Here's the recipe:


1 1⁄2 lbs. ground beef
Kosher salt and freshly
ground black pepper, to taste
5 tbsp. canola oil
2 yellow onions, halved and thinly sliced
12 slices rye bread
12 thin slices cheddar, swiss,
or american cheese
8 tbsp. unsalted butter, softened

1. Season the beef with salt and pepper. Divide meat into six 1⁄4"-thick patties that are slightly wider and longer than the bread.

2. Heat 2 tbsp. oil in a 12" cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onions, season with salt and pepper, and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened and browned, about 12 minutes. Transfer the onions to a bowl; wipe out skillet. Working in 3 batches, heat 1 tbsp. oil in skillet over high heat. Add 2 burger patties; cook, flipping once, until well browned, about 4 minutes total. Transfer patties to a plate.

3. Top each of 6 bread slices with some of the onions, a cheese slice, and a burger patty. Top each burger with a cheese slice and a piece of bread. Using a table knife, spread butter over the top and bottom of each sandwich.

4. Heat a 12" nonstick skillet over medium heat. Working in 3 batches, cook sandwiches, flipping once, until golden brown and hot, about 6 minutes.

And here's how I did it...I mixed the ground beef like it said to and cooked on my griddle. I separately cooked my onions up in a small skillet and I buttered my sliced rye break. Once my patties were cooked, I sat it on the un-buttered slice of rye and topped that with the cooked onions and then topped that with the cheese (I used American because I knew my kids would like that) then I topped that with the other slice of buttered rye, buttered side up and cooked it on the griddle like a grilled cheese. Oh these were so yummy and my kids and husband all liked them. I seriously could have ate 2 because I thought they were that good!

I took pictures of mine but they turned out really sucky! (the pictures, not the sammies!)

Linking once again to

Bacon. Egg and Cheese Pull-a-Parts

Weekend mornings we usually have a big breakfast. It is, after-all, the only time of the week that we are all together in the morning to eat, or usually anyway. I'm always looking for something new to try that everyone will like and this seemed like it would do the job, I mean it has bacon, biscuits, cheese and eggs...who doesn't like that stuff?

Sooo, tried it on Sunday and it was purty delish! The boys really liked it a lot and had seconds even.

Here's the recipe:


Ingredients

1 egg
2 tbsp milk
1 (16.3-oz.) can Pillsbury® Grands!® Flaky Layers Refrigerated Original Biscuits
1 (2.1-oz.) pkg. precooked bacon, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
3 oz. (3/4 cup) shredded Cheddar cheese
1/4 cup finely chopped green onions (4 medium)

1) Heat oven to 350°F. Spray 11x7- or 12x8-inch (2-quart) glass baking dish with cooking spray. In large bowl, beat egg and milk with wire whisk until smooth.

2) Separate dough into 8 biscuits; cut each into quarters. Gently stir biscuit pieces into egg mixture to coat evenly. Fold in bacon, cheese and onions. Spoon mixture into sprayed dish; arrange biscuit pieces in single layer.

3) Bake at 350°F. for 23 to 28 minutes or until golden brown. Cut into squares.

2 things I changed: I used about 6 pieces of regular bacon, just cooked it up then crumbled into the mixture and I didn't use green onion. I just wasn't in the mood for them :)

The original recipe is found here!

Linking up with the first ever Pinned It, Made It! Check out more Pins that folks have tried out this week!