Memorial Weekend

Happy Memorial Weekend to everyone! Take a moment this weekend to remember the soldiers in your life, both past and present. There is no sacrifice more special and heartfelt than that of our soldiers and their families. I can certainly vouch for that.

Fajita Burritos

I don't know about you guys, but we love Mexican food and I am constantly trying to cook it at home. Spicy, spicy, spicy is great. I was gonna' grill steaks tonight and do some risotto, but Donnie had a different idea- hence the yummy dinner. Give it a shot because this one is quick, easy, healthy, and delicious.


This is what everything looks like when you finish grilling. Just roll it up and enjoy. Donnie like to top his with salsa and munch on his grilled peppers while he eats.






Pictures of grilled peppers. It really makes thema bit milder if you grill them, so try it out. This is a cubanelle and a jalapeno.

Cooking Ingredients:
2 ribeye steaks with nice marbeling
2 tablespoons Lowry's Seasoning Salt
2 tablespoons Teriyaki Sauce
1 tablespoons Worcestershire Sauce
1 tablespoons garlic salt
pepper to taste
red pepper flakes to taste
1 Vidalia onion
1 green pepper
1 jalapeno
1 cubanelle pepper
2 tablespoons of Canola Oil
4 whole wheat tortillas
1 cup of Daisy Sour Cream (light)
1 avocado

Cooking Instructions:
About and hour before you want to start cooking, marinate your steaks. Add the Lowry's, pepper, and Teriyaki sauce to one side. Flip the steaks and add the garlic salt, pepper, red pepper flakes, and Worcestershire. Let the steaks come to room temperature while marinating.

Meanwhile, slice your onion and green pepper. Add the canola oil to a cast iron skillet, then add the onion and pepper slices. Top with a sprinkle of garlic salt and crack some freshly ground black pepper over the vegetables, also add a pinch of red pepper flakes for spice and let it sit until you head to the grill. Wash and lightly brush your jalapeno and cubanelle with canola oil as well before adding to the grill.

Preheat your grill to medium heat. Add the steaks (they should sizzle when they touch the grill), your skillet of green pepper and onion, and your jalapeno and cubanelle on the top rack. Cook your skillet vegetables until they are slightly softened. Grill your hot peppers until they begin to blister. Grill your steaks to the desired temperature, but we like medium.

Just before you turn your grill off, throw your tortillas on and grill them until slightly warm. This will take about 30 seconds.

Slice a fresh avocado. Slice your steaks into long strips after you have let them rest for about ten minutes, making sure to trim excess fat. Build your burritos in the following order. Tortilla, provolone, steak, avocado, sour cream, salsa (if you like it). Yum!

Mexican Spinach Dip

Holy yum, yall'! My friend, Kim introduced me to this recipe at our 128th Spouse's Group Cinco de Mayo party. I made it today for the Braves game and it was just as delicious as the first time I had it.

Cooking Ingredients:
1 16 ounce jar of Pace's Hot Salsa
1 10 ounce package of frozen, chopped spinach (thawed and drained)
2 cups of shredded Monterey Jack cheese
1 package of softened Cream Cheese
1 cup evaporated milk
1 4 oz can of chopped black olives, drained
1 tablespoon of red wine vinegar
salt and pepper to taste

Cooking Instructions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

In a medium baking dish, mix together salsa, spinach, Monterey Jack cheese, cream cheese, evaporated milk, black olives, red wine vinegar, and salt and pepper.

Bake mixture until bubbly and serve with tortilla chips.

Infant Swimming Resource

My baby boy is graduating from the first phase of ISR next week. Cohen is nine months old and can roll to his back in the water and float successfully! It is very reassuring as a parent to know that if he finds himself in the precarious situation of being in the water unexpectedly, he will know how to survive until help can get to him. Please check out the ISR website at http://www.infantswim.com/ and consider enrolling your children. Great exercise for your kids, great knowledge to have as a little one, and I can honestly vouch for the program. It's a win-win for everyone.

Look at My Garden

Check out my hydrangeas. They are looking so good this year. These are called Blushing Brides. Look how white they are!

Glazed Chicken and Leftover Corn on the Cob

Yum. This recipe is great, guys. I had leftover corn from last night, so I reused that to save myself from prepping a vegetable. So, the "side items" will look pretty familiar, but the main dish is much different. This recipe came from my Mom, but I changed it up a bit and made it more Asian inspired. Glazed Chicken with Spicy Corn on the Cob, Sugar Snap Peas and Potatoes.....

Cooking Ingredients:
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 stick of butter
1/2 cup of flour
garlic salt and pepper to taste
1 tablespoon of Lite Soy Sauce
1 tablespoon Worcestershire
1 tablespoon Teriyaki
1/2 tablespoon of liquid smoke
1/4 cup of honey

Cooking Instructions:
Season your chicken breasts with garlic salt and pepper to taste. Roll the seasoned chicken breasts in 1/2 stick of the butter (melted), then in the flour. Bake at 350 F for 30 minutes in your favorite casserole dish. Melt remaining ingredients together and pour in top of the chicken after 30 minutes. Cook for an additional 25 minutes at 350 F.

Vidalia Onion Soup with Fontina

It's Vidalia onion time in Georgia and I couldn't be more excited. And if you have never had Fontina cheese before, it is a must. It really melts beautifully and has an incredibly mild and rich flavor. It is great on bagels with bacon and eggs in the morning, too.

Cooking Ingredients:
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 medium sized Vidalia onions
salt and pepper
2 stems of fresh organic basil
1 box of organic beef broth
8 toastpoints
4 ounces of Fontina cheese

Cooking Instructions:
In your favorite sauce pan, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Once the olive oil is warmed, add the sliced onions, then season with salt and pepper. Cook the onions until they are tender. Add the basil and beef broth. Preheat your oven to 350 F. Simmer the soup for about 12 minutes. Place four oven safe bowls on a cookie sheet and ladle the soup into each bowl. Top each with 2 toastpoints and a slice of Fontina cheese. Place in the oven until the cheese melts.

Cast Iron Skillet Burgers

A sudden rain shower threw a wrench in my grilling plan tonight. Anyways......had to improvise. Cast iron skillet mushroom and provolone burgers with potatoes and snap peas and spicy corn on the cob. I promise to produce something more culinarilly inspired next go round.

Cooking Ingredients for Burgers:
1 lb. hamburger meat
2 tablespoon Worcestershire
2 tablespoon Teriyaki
2 tablespoon garlic salt
1 tablespoon pepper
1 tablespoon of Light Soy
pinch of red pepper flakes
1 tablespoon of Canola Oil

Cooking Instructions for Burgers:
Mix all ingredients on the above list (except for oil) in one large sized Pyrex Bowl making sure not to overwork the meat. Once combined, form the meat into a ball in the bottom of the bowl and score it with your hand. Half across, then half vertically. This will give you nice and even sized burgers. Form each quarter into patties. Meanwhile, heat your skillet on medium high with 1 tablespoon of canola oil. Place your hamburger patties in your skillet once it is HOT and the meat sizzles. Cook to desired temperature.

Where do the mushrooms come from?

I used leftover Homemade French Onion Soup (see recipe following this) and a jar of Green Giant mushrooms to ladle into my skillet while my burgers were cooking. If you don't have leftoever soup..........in a sauce pan, strain your mushrooms and mix with one diced onion, 1 teaspoon of bouillon granules, and 2 tablespoons of butter. Cook until your onions are tender and spoon on top of your burgers once they are cooked to the desired temperature.

Top your burger with onions, mushrooms, and with Provolone and watch it melt......

Cooking Ingredients for Corn on the Cob:

Corn on the Cob- Shucked and silks removed
3 tablespoon of Zatarans Concentrated Shrimp and Crab Boil
2 tablespoons butter
salt
pepper
pinch of red pepper flakes
8 cups of water


Cooking Instructions:
Bring all of the above ingredients (except for the corn) to a boil in your favorite pasta boiler. Add the cleaned corn. Cook for 20 minutes. Strain and serve along with your favorite dish.

It turned out to be a really yummy dinner, guys, and Donnie ate it up!!!!!! Boys seem to love this kind of food.