Garlic Steak

It has been hot here in Kansas lately.  How hot?  Really hot.  It's been over 100* for the past several days, with 100's forecasted for the next week.  The heat index has ranged from 105*-120*.  As a side note, even though I'm complaining about the heat, I know that I am lucky to have air conditioning.  I'm not working outside.  I can wear shorts, tank tops and sandals.  I'm not wearing 60 or so pounds combat gear walking patrols in the Middle East.  So while it's hot in Kansas, it's really not that bad.

http://www.goarmy.com/
 
So anyways...it's hot in Kansas.  Too hot to fire up my oven...even too hot to use my stove.  So last night for supper we had garlic steak, potatoes, corn on the cob...cooked on the grill.  We also had broccoli and cauliflower salad and cole slaw.  Yum! 

Garlic Steak
1/2 c. butter, softened

4 cloves of garlic, minced
1 t. garlic powder
1/8 t. Worcestershire Sauce
1 T. parsley
1/8 t. pepper (fresh ground is great!)
Steak (your choice...we usually have ribeyes)

Preheat your grill for high heat.  Mix the softened butter with the garlic, garlic powder, Worcestershire sauce, parsley and pepper.  Sprinkle both sides of the steaks with salt and pepper.  (I like Penzey's Smoky 4/S Special Seasoned Salt)  Grill steaks 4-6 minutes per side, or to desired doneness.  Baste each side of the steaks with the garlic butter while grilling.  When steaks are done, remove from grill and brush the steaks liberally with the garlic butter.  Allow to rest 2-3 minutes before serving.  Enjoy!  


The garlic butter is also really great on bread, potatoes, or anything that you want a garlic-y taste! 

Helen's BBQ Meatballs and a Walk Down Memory Lane

June 17, 1995

BBQ Meatballs

1-1/2 pounds ground beef

1-1/2 c. oats

½ c. milk

1 egg

½ chopped onion

1/2 t. garlic powder

¾ t. pepper

1 t. salt

Mix all ingredients together and form into 12 meatballs.  Place in a greased 9x13 baking pan.  Pour sauce over meatballs.  Cover with tin foil and bake at 350* for 1-1/2 hours. This recipe is easily doubled (or even tripled!)  just remember to double (or triple!) the sauce.  Enjoy~

BBQ Sauce

1 c. ketchup

¾ c. brown sugar

1 T. liquid smoke

1/2 t. garlic powder

½ onion, chopped

Mix all ingredients together and pour over uncooked meatballs.

This is my mother-in-law Helen’s recipe.  She made these meatballs one of the first times I visited their house in Iowa.  16 years later, I still enjoy when she makes them!  Since Jeff and I just celebrated our 16^th wedding anniversary, I decided to take a walk down memory lane.  We didn’t have the typical dating life, engagement, wedding or even first year of marriage.  (I think most military families can relate!) I’m not sure what I expected, but my life has turned out far better than I ever imagined! 

Dating:  Jeff and I met in Wiesbaden, Germany.  We were both in the Army and lived in the same barracks building.  One Saturday night in February 1994, Jeff and I went to a party together.  Two days later, he left for Norway for about 3 weeks.  The day he returned from Norway, there he was knocking on my door, still smelling like wood smoke, asking if I’d like to watch a movie. And the rest is history!  During the months we dated, we spent time apart due to Army life…field problems and work schedules.  (Throw in two broken arms from a bike accident and a 30 day convalescent leave to Maine)  

Engagement:  In March of 1995, Jeff’s two years in Germany were up and he was on his way to Ft. Rucker, Alabama for training and then on to Ft. Benning, Georgia.  I was due to move to Ft. Riley, Kansas in January 1995.    One night shortly after Jeff left Germany, I got a phone call from him.  You have to remember that this was before everyone cell phones…in my barracks there was one phone per floor, which was sitting on the floor in the hallway.  No table, no chair, just a phone sitting on the floor.  So there I was, in my pajamas, sitting on the floor in the hallway talking on the phone when Jeff asked me to marry him!  We decided to get married on June 17, 1995 in Maine and he would send me my engagement ring.  A week or so later, I got my engagement ring in the mail!  While I was waiting for my ring, I stalked the mail room every day.  I would check it at lunch, just in case, and then beg to leave work just a little bit early so I could check again.  Then one day, it was there!  I was officially engaged, ring and all!  I have never run into anyone else who received their engagement ring in the mail!    

Our wedding:  My parents pretty much planned our wedding (thanks Mum and Dad!)  I told them the date, the church I wanted to be married in, the color of flowers for bouquets and away they went!  I flew to Maine on Sunday, bought my wedding dress on Tuesday, Jeff flew in on Wednesday, bought our wedding rings on Thursday, his parents few in on Friday and we got married on Saturday.  I flew back to Germany on Thursday and Jeff flew back to Georgia on Friday.  Call it a whirl-wind wedding, but it was perfect!  Beautiful weather, beautiful church, beautiful reception at my parent’s house on the ocean.  I have such happy memories of our wedding…even though my mum fell down in the church and hurt her thumb.  In all of the pictures, she has her thumb up, Fonzie style…not because she thought she was cool, but because her thumb hurt!

Our first year of marriage:  We lived apart for the first 6 months of being married.  I lived in Germany, Jeff lived in Georgia.  On Christmas Day 1995, I left Germany.  Thanks, Kathy Silver for driving me to the airport!   I finally arrived in Iowa Christmas night and Jeff and I had our first married Christmas together.  1996 began with us living in a small apartment in Columbus, Georgia.  Jeff was on flight status and had a crazy schedule with lots of TDY’s, schools and field time…in short, he was gone a lot!  However, he was home on our first anniversary, 17 June 1996, which was spent with dinner out and tickets to an Olympic softball game a few weeks later.

And so there you have it,  the highlights of dating, getting engaged, getting married and our first year together!  All brought to you by my mother-in-law’s meatballs.

These are not my meatballs, they are from PW.

 I am at the car dealership...waiting for my car to be serviced and I forgot my SD card with my meatball pictures!  So, PW's picture will have to do!  :)

Salisbury Steak

For those of you who don't know, I married a small-town Iowa dude almost 16 years ago.  Growing up, Jeff's mom, used a lot of Iowa products to make supper.  Beef, corn, potatoes....  Being from Maine, I didn't have the same influences:  my mum cooked dinner instead of supper and we ate a lot of seafood and chicken.  So it's been an adjustment...a 16 year adjustment...to include beef, corn and potatoes in our menu!

Jeff, his brother Craig, his sister Julie, his brother Steve and parents Leonard and Helen

I few years ago, I found a recipe online for Salisbury Steak.  It sounded pretty easy, and I was sure that Jeff, the Iowa dude, would like it...especially if I made mashed potatoes and corn.  I changed it up a little (no surprise here!)  And I was right...it was good!  This recipe (along with the mashed potatoes and corn) has become something that I make fairly often.   

Salisbury Steak


1 pound ground beef (I use 97%)
1 packet of Lipton's Onion Soup mix
3/4 c. water


1 c. beef broth
1 can cream of mushroom soup


Mix the ground beef, onion soup mix and water together well.  It will be soupy.  {hahhahhaaha  I crack myself up!}  Seriously, the meat will be mushy.  Form into 4 patties.  


Preheat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat.  Place the patties into the hot skillet and cook the patties, turning to brown both sides.  


In a bowl, combine the beef broth and the cream of mushroom soup.  Pour over the patties.  Cover the pan and lower the heat to medium low and simmer for 30-40 minutes.  Turn the patties occasionally.


In 30-40 minutes you have Salisbury Steak and gravy!  Mashed potatoes, corn, a small green salad and a hunk of crusty bread complete the meal!  Yum!  Enjoy~

Crock Pot Roast

I have a love/hate relationship with my crock pot.  Well, my crock pots.  I have 3.  I love that I can just throw ingredients in the crock pot and forget about it.  But I hate that if I don't plan it right, it takes a long time to cook.  I love that I can have serve hot appitizers and they stay warm (as long as I leave the crock pot turned on/plugged in.)  But I hate that meat becomes so overcooked that it shreds when I try and cut it....which is a good thing for some recipes, but not so good for others.  I love that I can throw in apples and it a few hours, I have applesauce.  I love that during the summer, I don't have to turn on the oven, but I hate that when a crock pot is on for many hours, it still heats up my kitchen.  I could go on and on, but I guess that over all, I love my crock pot...  ok, crock pots.

I made a roast in the crock pot a few days ago.  It's yummy, it's easy, it's wholesome, and the whole family loved it.

Crock Pot Roast
1 3-4 pound roast (any kind...I usually buy the cheapest roast I can find)


1 packet Good Seasons Italian Salad Dressing mix
2 T. dry Ranch salad dressing mix
1/2 c. flour
1 beef bullion cube, crumbled
1/2 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, pressed


1-1/2 c. water
1 c. white wine
1 can crushed tomatoes, undrained

4-5 potatoes, peeled and quartered
4-5 carrots, peeled and cut into 1/3rds
1 onion, cut into 1/8ths, or 5-6 pearl onions, peeled
1/2 cabbage, cored and cut into 2 pieces (optional)


Spray the crock pot with non stick cooking spray.  Trim the roast of excess fat and place in crock pot.  Mix the Italian and Ranch mixes together with the flour, bullion cube, onion and garlic.  Add the water, wine and crushed tomatoes.  Mix well.  Pour over the roast.


Cook on medium for 4-5 hours.


Remove the roast from the crock pot.  Add the potatoes, carrots, onion, and cabbage (if using) to the liquid.  Place the roast on top of the veggies.  Cook on high 3-4 hours, or until fork tender.  Remove the roast and slice into pieces.  Serve with the cooked veggies and the "gravy."  Enjoy~

Review:  JP told me that the roast was the best roast ever.  Enough said.

BBQ Beef from Kelli

I made BBQ Beef on Friday night for my inlaws.  It was a new recipe and it was good!

For those of you who don't know, I am a full time grad student.  I'm also a full time GTA (Graduate Teaching Assistant), a full time mama and a full time military wife.  Those of you who are military wives (or military husbands) know what I mean when I say I'm a military wife...you get what all of that implies.  And yes, I'm very busy!  Soooo anyways, in my research class, we had a potluck on the last night of class.  Cassie brought Black Bean & Corn Salsa.  Check out her recipe on her blog, Thoughts from Casablanca.  It was good!  Kelli brought the BBQ Beef.  As soon as I took a bite, I knew I'd need the recipe.  It was good.  It was better than my BBQ Beef and as soon as there was a break during class, I asked her for the recipe.  And so Kelli sent out an email to everyone in the class with her recipe for BBQ Beef.  It's easy!  It's good!  It's easy!  It's good!  Make it this week!  You'll be glad you did!


BBQ Beef
1 boneless beef chuck roast (about 3 lbs)
1/2 c. ketchup
4 T. brown sugar
4 T. red wine vinegar
2 T. Dijon mustard
2 T. Worcestershire sauce
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1/2 t. salt
1/2 t. liquid smoke
1/4 t. black pepper

Place the beef in a crock pot.  Mix the sauce together and pour over the beef.  Cover and cook on low for 8-9 hours.  Shred the meat and serve with crusty rolls for a BBQ beef sandwich.  Easy Peasy.

Kelli suggested not to use the bigger crock pots because it doesn't cook the same.  So I stuffed the beef into my medium sized crock pot.  Kelli also said that she mixes up the sauce the night before, so she can just put everything together quickly in the morning.

Review:  It was good!  The meat was very tender.  The sauce was a little watery, but still flavorful.  I didn't use a beef chuck roast...I used a rump roast instead and it was fine.  Next time:  Before I shred the meat, I'm going to drain most of the sauce/liquid.  I will make another batch of the sauce and add it to the shredded beef, stick it back in the crock pot and voila!  This is an quick and easy recipe to put together, and oh, so good!  Enjoy~