SZECHUAN BEEF AND BROCCOLI

This dish was amazing! I found it in the Biggest Loser Family Cookbook that I just purchased at Barnes and Nobles. This even got me a high five and knuckle bump from my Honey! He LOVED it! It is so very simple to make, but packed with a ton of flavor. A little on the spicy side, but not too much. We all have different tolerances for spice, and this pleased the whole family. This one will be making an appearance on our family dinner table again and again! I purposely made extra with lunch in mind for the next day. But..... after dinner was 'over' everyone just sat around 'picking' at the leftovers in the dish, until it was completely gone. It was just so tasty. 2 thumbs up from the whole family!

*This dish cooks up quickly, so be sure to have all of your ingredients prepped before you start. Watch the meat - if you overcook it or the pan isn't hot enough when you put it in, the beef could turn out tough.
I also added sliced zucchini and summer squash to this dish and it was DEElicious!


SZECHUAN BEEF AND BROCCOLI

1 lb of chuck steak, sliced against the grain, into thin strips (1/4")
1 tsp. garlic powder
Salt to taste
Ground black pepper, to taste
Olive oil spray (or cooking spray)
1 (14 oz) bag frozen broccoli (about 5 cups) (I used fresh broccoli)
1 Tblsp. freshly minced garlic
2 tsp. toasted sesame oil
1/4 cup bottled Szechuan stir-fry sauce (I used 'House of Tsang' brand)

In a large bowl, combine the steak, garlic powder, salt and pepper and toss until will combined.
Place a large non-stick skillet or nonstick wok over high heat. When hot, mist it with the olive oil spray. Add the broccoli and garlic and cook, stirring, for 4 - 6 minutes, or until the garlic softens and the broccoli is heated through and crisp tender, being careful not to burn the garlic. Transfer to a large bowl and cover to keep warm.
Return the pan to high heat and add 2 tsp of the sesame oil. When hot, add the steak in a single layer and cook, stirring occasionally, until lightly browned on both sides, 2 - 3 minutes. Return the veggies to the pan with the meat, and remove from the heat. Add the Szechuan stir fry sauce and mix well to coat. Divide among 4 bowls and serve.

Calories: 191
Carbs: 10 g
Fat: 6 g
Fiber: 2 g
Protein: 25 g

UPSIDE DOWN PIZZA

This is another "hurry up" picture. I didn't have time to garnish it. I made this for my Fall ladies meeting this month and the ladies really liked it. It was so quick and easy to throw together and the variations on it are endless. It would make an easy weeknight dinner for your family too. You'll have to give this one a try. I promise you'll like it. It's relatively inexpensive too, depending on how many, and what sort of toppings you choose to put on it.

UPSIDE DOWN PIZZA

1 1/2 lbs ground chuck
1 onion chopped
1 (15 oz) can pizza sauce
1/2 tsp. garlic salt
1/2/ tsp. dried oregano
Pepperoni
Cooked deli ham, diced
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1 Tblsp oil
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup flour
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese

Brown beef and onion in skillet. Drain and return to skillet. Stir in pizza sauce, garlic salt and oregano into the beef. Spread beef mixture into a greased 9 x 13 baking pan. Top with pepperoni and ham pieces (and any other pizza toppings you like). Sprinkle with mozzarella cheese. Set aside. In a separate bowl, combine eggs, milk, oil, salt and flour. Pour over meat mixture in baking pan. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese and bake at 350 for 30 minutes. Serves 12.

SMOTHERED STEAK

Have you ever eaten at Texas Roadhouse? I love that place! And the funny thing is, one of my favorite picks on the menu is this dish called "Roadkill." It sounds horrible, but it is so stinking good! The last time I was there, I asked the waiter what it was and he said "Ground sirloin." So...... I decided I could make it at home too. And it's SO easy and so simple, you won't believe how good it is though!
P.S. You don't "have" to make your steaks 8 oz portions. Feel free to make smaller 4 oz steaks if that is what you prefer. Just remember, it will shorten your cooking time.

SMOTHERED STEAK (because I refuse to call it "roadkill")

1 lb Ground sirloin
1 large onion, sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 stick butter
1 large can sliced mushrooms, drained

First you get your onions sliced and cooking in your skillet. Heat up your skillet, plop in about 1/2 stick of butter and let it melt, then drizzle in a little olive oil with it. Dump in your sliced up onion and minced garlic and let it cook until they are nice and soft and slightly browned. Mmm! They smell so good!

Next you drain your mushrooms and dump those into the cooked onions and garlic. Give it a good stir until they are heated through. Keep this warm until the steaks are done.

Patty out your ground sirloin. There were 4 of us eating tonight, so I used 2 lbs. I get 2 steaks out of a pound. Heat a separate skillet over med - high heat and drizzle with olive oil. Remember sirloin is very lean , so some moisture is needed to compensate for the lack of fat. Coat your skillet with extra virgin olive oil or another favorite light oil. Place steaks in pan and season with salt, black peppercorn medley, Garlic powder, and Lawry's. Cook over medium heat. Sear the steaks quickly on one side to seal in its natural juices and then reduce the heat to med or low. Try 3 - 4 min for the first side (after searing for 30 seconds) and 2 - 3 minutes for the second side. Minutes really count here, so don't leave your steaks unattended. Take your steaks off the heat early. They will continue to cook when removed from the heat. They can go from perfectly cooked to OVERcooked in less than a minute.

Once you remove them from the heat. Load them up evenly with the cooked onions and mushrooms. Right in the skillet. Once you have all the onions and mushrooms on... see that buttery goodness left in the bottom of the skillet? Go ahead.... drizzle it right over the steaks!

Top each steak with a slice of mozzarella or provolone (whichever is your favorite) and cover until cheese melts. Serve on a bed of mashed redskin potatoes. Mmm!! Aren't you hungry now?

BIFE A' MILANESA (Breaded beefsteak)

This is pronounced "Beefy." I know that sounds ridiculous, but that's really what the Brazilians call it! LOL And I know this is the same pic as the Feijao, but I serve them together. They just sort of go together. It's one of our favorite Brazilian meals! This is so easy - it's just breaded cube steak, but it's really tasty with the Feijao (Fay-jown).

4 cube steaks
olive oil
Flour
Thyme leaves
salt and ground black pepper to taste

Season the steaks with the salt, pepper, garlic and thyme. In a separate bowl, to the flour, add 1 Tblsp of thyme leaves. Roll the steaks, coating both sides well, in the seasoned flour.
Fry in hot oil over med - high, for about 10 to 15 minutes or until done. Remove steaks from skillet, drain on paper towel and serve with Feijao.

SALSA BURGERS

I love burgers, but am not too fond of plain ol' boring burgers. LOL I found this recipe a couple years ago and we just love them. They are SO moist and flavorful. They don't do real well on the grill though, because they fall apart easily. I like to do these ones in the skillet. My Honey has done them on the grill before, but usually there will be pieces falling off into the grate. I topped these with Provolone tonight and WOW, they were so good! For those of you that are dieting, you could easily replace the beef with ground turkey and use low fat cheese.

SALSA BURGERS

1 lb ground chuck
1/2 cup salsa (mild, medium or hot, it's your choice)
1/2 cup shredded cheddar
1/4 tsp. ground Cumin
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. fresh ground pepper medley
Sliced provolone cheese

Salsa
Ranch dressing

In a mixing bowl, combine the ground chuck, 1/2 cup salsa, shredded cheddar, Cumin, salt and pepper. Mix with hands and form into 4 patties. Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Spray it with cooking spray. Carefully lay the patties in the skillet and cook over med - low heat for several minutes on each side, until done. This is what they look like as they are frying in the skillet. You can see the flecks of veggies in the salsa, and the little shreds of cheese. Mmm! When the burgers are done, top with a slice of Provolone cheese and cover with a lid (or if you don't have a lid that big, use a pizza pan like I do). Butter your hamburger bun and toast it nice and crisp on a griddle. In a separate small mixing bowl, combine equal parts of salsa and prepared ranch dressing. Place burger on bun and top with the salsa/ranch dressing.
Serves 4

*WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE?* Now will you share with me, what your favorite burger is? Everybody does something different and I just love to hear your ideas! And don't be afraid to include the recipe in your comment. *hint hint* LOL

LET'S TALK STEAK

My Honey is the KING of the grill in this household! He says "Real men don't let women do the grilling!" I think it's because he thinks women CAN'T grill! LOL I just honestly don't do it because he seems to enjoy it so much. And plus he's stinking GOOD at it! You can see, on the steaks in the pic, where he was playing with the branding iron that the kids bought him for Father's day one year. We bought him a smoker for Father's day a couple years ago and he can make that thing stand up and dance! He used it to fire grill these steaks. He didn't use gas or charcoal to cook these babies! It was wood!
He makes a mean steak and it's about the only time I truly enjoy eating steak, when he cooks it.
He can buy the absolute cheapest cut of steak and make it so tender, it will practically melt in your mouth. He always uses Lawry's meat tenderizer on it first. He sprinkles it liberally with the tenderizer and then pokes it with a fork everywhere. Then he pours Stubbs steak marinade over it and lets it sit and come to room temperature before he grills it. But if we are out of Stubbs, he just drizzles it with olive oil, sprinkles it with kosher salt and fresh ground black pepper and rubs it into the meat. It's just as tasty that way.

Some things to remember when grilling steak:

Choose a well marbled cut of meat, such as a rib-eye, T-bone, or New York strip. Or you can be cheap like us and buy chuck steak. *hehe* Seriously though, if you can find a better cut of meat on sale, it's SO worth it to get the better one. Chuck steaks can tend to be kind of fatty though. If your steak has a large amount of fat around the outside, make cuts in 2" intervals around the outside edge. Cutting just through the outer layer. Make sure not to cut into meat. This will help keep the steak from curling during grilling. And for goodness sake, DON'T stick a fork in it while you're grilling! Use tongs to turn it. After you grill it, let your steak rest, uncovered for at least 5 minutes. This allows the juices to redistribute and settle before you cut into it.

TIME TABLE for grilling steak.

3/4" steak:
Med rare: 2 min each side
Medium: 3 min each side
Medium well: 4 min each side
Well: 5 min each side

1" steak
Med rare: 3 min each side
Medium: 5 min each side
Medium well: 6 min each side
Well: 7 min each side

1 1/2 " steak
Med rare: 6 min each side
Medium: 7 min each side
Medium: 8 min each side
Well: 9 min each side

* Times will vary slightly depending on outside temperatures, wind conditions, and heat fluctuations in grill.

SOUTHERN POT ROAST

I LOVE Sunday dinner! My family LOVES Sunday dinner. It is a BIG deal in our home. Our son and his family live next door and we all eat together every Sunday. I just LOVE it! There are usually 9 of us that eat together every Sunday, but now we've added a Summer guest, so it's 10. We always decorate the table in some fun way, seasonal or whatever strikes our fancy. And I've done that since my children were very small. My girls always got a big kick out of helping "decorate" the Sunday dinner table. We did a patriotic table for today.

This is what happens when you try to fit 18 people in my little dining room! LOL But we had a wonderful time with our guests today. You can't get to really know someone, when you only see them at church. But if you invite them over and sit down to dinner together and fellowship and laugh, THEN you really get to know them! This is how we did it. It was wall-to-wall people, but we all fit and had a fun time doing it! My Honey and I aren't in the pic. I was taking the pic and he was standing behind me making people smile! LOL That's our son & daughter in law & oldest daughter on the left. On the right are our guests, our youngest daughter and then other various and sundry friends and family members!

Anyway.... I'll usually fix roast chicken, ham, pork roast, a turkey or a nice beef roast (when I can find it on sale!). I was so thankful to the Lord when I did my shopping the other night. We had this new family from our church, over for dinner today, and I wanted to make Southern pot roast for them. When I got there, all the roasts were on clearance! WOOHOO! If you like beef that is fall apart tender, you have GOT to try this. It's DEElicious!

SOUTHERN POT ROAST

1 (3 - 4 lb) boneless chuck roast
1 tsp. Lawry's seasoning salt
Salt & pepper
2 Tblsp canola oil or olive oil
1 Tblsp beef bouillon granules
1 Cup thinly sliced onions
3 cloves garlic, crushed
2 bay leaves
1 (10 3/4 oz) cream of mushroom soup
1/2 soup can of water
1 cup beef broth
2 Tblsp Worcestershire sauce

Preheat oven to 350. Rub the roast with the Lawry's, salt and pepper. Heat the oil in a large skillet and brown the roast, searing it on both sides. Place the meat in a roaster pan. Sprinkle the bouillon granules over the meat, and cover it with onions, garlic, and bay leaves. Combine the mushroom soup, half soup can of water, beef broth and Worcestershire sauce, and pour this carefully over the roast. Cover tightly with foil and bake for 2 to 2 1/2 hours, or until fork tender. Remove and discard the bay leaves. If the gravy is not thick enough, remove the meat from the pan and pour the gravy into a saucepan. Bring it to a boil and thicken by adding a little flour mixed with cold water. I use a small Mason jelly jar for this. I fill it half way with cold water, add a couple tablespoons of flour, screw the lid on, and give it several good shakes. If there are any lumps in the thickening when I take the lid off, I fish them out with a fork. Pour slowly into the boiling gravy while stirring with a whisk.
Serve roast with mashed potatoes and gravy.

OPTIONAL: I have added mushrooms to this roast on several occasions and I don't know why I didn't today, because we all really like it that way! LOL Oh well, next time!

STEAK AND ONION HOAGIE

OK those of you who lurk on the same cooking sites I do, have probably already figured out that this recipe isn't original with me. But it's a new family favorite in our home! I like to take recipes like this one and make it my own by changing a thing here & there. With this one, I added FRESH mozzarella cheese. One of the neat things about this recipe is, you can substitute chicken! we have a Summer guest, that cannot eat beef, so I prepared a small portion for her tonight, using chicken, and it is equally delicious! But be sure NOT to overcook your chicken. I used the BS chicken breast tenders. You also don't want to overcook the cube steak for this either, as that will make your meat too tough. I served this with a big ol' batch of roasted veggies! YUM!

STEAK AND ONION HOAGIE

2 - 3 lbs Cube steak, tenderized round steak
1 large onion, sliced
4 Whole wheat bolo's (smaller than a sub bun)
Butter
Lawry's seasoned salt
1/2 cup Worcestershire sauce
5 - 6 shakes Frank's hot sauce
Fresh mozzarella cheese, sliced (or provolone is good too)
*Optional: 1 can sliced mushrooms
In large skillet, over medium heat, melt 2 Tblsp butter. Add sliced onions and cook until soft and slightly carmelized. If you are adding mushrooms to the hoagies, add those to the onions now and stir until they are warmed through. Remove onion mixture from pan and set aside.
Slice cube steak against the grain, in strips as you would for stir fry. Season with Lawry's.
In same skillet you prepared the onions in, add 2 Tblsp butter and strips of beef. Cook beef in single layer in pan. Cook one side until it's brown and then flip and cook other side. About a minute or two for each side.
Add 1/2 cup Worcestershire sauce, 5 - 6 shakes of Frank's hot sauce (or tabasco), a little more butter (1 or 2 Tblsp). Add cooked onions to the skillet with the meat. Stir to combine.
Slice your bolo rolls nearly in half, but keeping them intact. Butter them liberally. Heat a griddle pan good and hot and brown the rolls until they are good and crisp, but not burned. You need them as crisp as you can get them, because if they aren't, the juice from the meat will make them a soggy mess. To assemble: lay browned roll on plate, crisp side up. Place steak and onion mixture on roll, followed by a spoonful of juice. Now lay 2 slices of fresh mozzarella cheese on top and close the bun. Cut in half and be prepared to enjoy!