Easy Pepper Steak

The bell peppers in my garden did really well this year.  It's finally supposed to freeze tonight, so I pulled the rest of the peppers out of the garden this week.  So now I need to use peppers for everything!

So when I picked up some marked down steaks at the store - don't ask me what kind; I don't remember - I figured pepper steak would be just the thing.  Easy pepper steak is even better.

Easy Pepper Steak
adapted from Gimme Some Oven

Ingredients:

• Marinade:
  * 1/4 cup soy sauce
  * 1/3 cup water
  * 2 T  white wine vinegar
  * 1 T corn starch
  * 1/4 tsp. black pepper
  * 1/4 tsp. ground ginger
• 1 lb. thinly sliced steak, cut diagonally across the grain into thin strips
• olive oil
• 2 bell peppers, thinly sliced
• 1 medium onion, sliced
• 2 garlic cloves, minced

Directions:

1. Mix all marinade ingredients in medium bowl. Add the sliced steak and toss to coat. Cover and refrigerate for at least 15 minutes.
2. Heat large pan over medium high heat; add a little olive oil. Remove steak from the marinade with a slotted spoon (reserving the marinade) and saute about 2-3 minutes until browned, stirring occasionally.
3. Add onions, peppers, and garlic; saute until onions start to soften (about 3 minutes), stirring occasionally.  Add reserved marinade and cook for a minute or two, until thickened.
4. Serve immediately with rice.

This really is an easy recipe.  I changed it up a little and just cooked everything together.  Who has time for cooking the vegetables, removing them from the pan, and then cooking the meat - only to put everything back into the same pan in the end?  Not me!  OK, maybe it would make a difference, and maybe some day I'll try it just to see.  Maybe.

I will definitely be making this again.  Next time I think I'll add a few more veggies.  You can never have too many veggies!  I'd especially like to add a bit more color, but the peppers were what I had, and the peppers were all green.  Next time maybe some red.  And some carrots for the orange.  And... whatever veggies happen to be in the fridge.  Isn't that how it's supposed to work?

Slow Cooker Pepperoncini Beef

I'm in the middle of planning dinner menus and shopping lists - and trying to figure out how it's all going to get done - for a week-long camp that is coming up very very soon.  Thankfully I do have help, and it will get done - and we are going to feed a lot of hungry people!

Somewhere in the search, I came across this recipe.  The person who mentioned it said these sandwiches were fantastic and 'could not be easier' and they sounded like exactly the sort of thing I was looking for.  But, of course, I needed to try them first, right?  Right.  So we had these sandwiches for dinner tonight, and they really are fantastic.  Of course, I didn't exactly follow the recipe because what would be the fun in that? (I'm guessing that the original recipe is really good; I just thought I'd add a couple things)

Slow Cooker Pepperoncini Beef
adapted from A Year of Slow Cooking

Ingredients:

• 2-3 lb. Chuck roast
• 1 T onion soup mix
• 1 cup pepperoncini juice
• 1 cup beef broth
• 10-12 pepperoncini peppers 
• sliced Provolone cheese
• crusty bread, rolls or buns

Directions:

1. Place roast in the bottom of crock pot
2. Sprinkle with onion soup mix; pour pepperoncini juice and broth into crock pot and add pepperoncinis.
3. Cover and cook on low for 8 hours.
4. Shred beef with two forks and stir.  Serve on bread, rolls, or buns with a slice of cheese.

The original recipe called for just pouring a 16-oz. jar of pepperoncini over the roast - that's it, just a roast and a jar of pepperoncini.  So I complicated it a bit by adding the onion soup mix and beef broth, but this recipe is still super simple.  Also, I'm not sure how many peppers and how much juice is in a 16-oz. jar, because I buy them by the gallon ($6.99 at GFS!).  So I just guessed.

This ended up quite juicy, but that's OK because you want some of that oh-so-tasty broth along with your beef because it soaks into the bread and comes pretty close to absolute perfection.  Messy perfection, but perfection nonetheless.  Just be sure to have some napkins handy, and hold over your plate.

For those worried that this might be a bit spicy, it really isn't.  There's a nice tang to it, but it's really not spicy.  Of course those who like a little spice will want one (or two) of the warm pepperoncinis on their sandwiches.  (it doesn't really add much heat, but the flavor is great)  I would recommend removing the peppers before shredding the beef - which I did not do.  Otherwise you will end up shredding some of the peppers too, and then it's really hard to serve up a sandwich without some pieces of pepperoncini in it.  Also, you'll end up with random stems floating around that nobody wants to eat.

We had a nice garden salad to go along with our sandwiches.  Did I mention that I'm getting lettuce, lettuce, and more lettuce out of my garden?  My husband skipped the salad and just had another sandwich.  I had more salad - but then I couldn't help snitching a few pieces of this beef as I cleaned up the kitchen after dinner.  So good!  I'd definitely recommend this recipe.  So much flavor with so little work - I think we have a winner. 

Crockpot Tapioca Pudding

I've always liked tapioca pudding, but for some reason I haven't been able to make a tapioca pudding that I've been happy with.  I've tried the recipes on the packages (a couple times), and I tried making it in the crockpot one other time.  It just didn't turn out the way I thought it should. So, obviously, I haven't tried all that many times...

This time, I was going to make my husband his favorite chocolate pudding - there are only the two of us, and we don't go through a gallon of milk quite as quickly as we used to when the kids were living at home, so there was milk that needed to be used - but I really did not have time to stand over the stove and stir that pudding.   That's when I remembered the tapioca pudding my friend Brian made last month, and his turned out quite good, so I thought it was worth another try.  I definitely had time to throw the ingredients in the crockpot and stir it once in a while, in between all the other things I was trying to get done.

It turned out great!  This is the recipe - good flavor, good consistency, and so easy.

Crockpot Tapioca Pudding
adapted from allrecipes

Ingredients:

• 3 eggs
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 tsp. salt 
• 2 tsp. vanilla
• 6 cups milk
• 3/4 cup small pearl tapioca

Directions:

1. In 5-6 quart crockpot, beat eggs.  Add sugar, salt, and vanilla and mix well.  Mix in milk and tapioca.
2. Cover and cook on High for 3 hours (or Low for 6 hours), stirring occasionally.  (Every 1/2 hour for the first 1-1/2 hours and then every 15 minutes for the last)

I'm not sure what recipe I used the last time; this is just one I found when I searched online for one.  I took the recipe and incorporated some of the suggestions from the reviews - adding a bit of salt and some vanilla.  And that was it.  Super simple.  Oh, and the recipe is basically 1-1/2 times the original because I needed to use the milk, and it was a better amount for the size of my crockpot.

For me, I think the key to a good tapioca pudding is stirring it enough that the tapioca doesn't clump up in big clumps, while not stirring it so much that the tapioca breaks down completely.  So, start out stirring every half hour, but as soon as you notice the tapioca starting to clump, make sure you stir it more often - and even get a bit aggressive with it to break those clumps up.  Not too much because you still want those fun little clear balls that make tapioca pudding special.  Did that make sense?  I used a silicone scraper which seemed to work really well.

Also, this got quite thick.  I may cook it a little less next time to see if I can get it to be just a bit creamier.  I don't know that will work, but I think one of the reviewers on the original recipe mentioned it.  Stirring a bit more often toward the end will help with keeping an eye on it and knowing when it's at the right consistency.

Crock Pot Chicken w/ Potatoes and Green Beans

I've seen pictures of this recipe (or a similar one) going around on Facebook or Pinterest (I'm not sure exactly which), and it looked easy and tasty.  I had never actually looked at the recipe until I went searching on Pinterest today.  Why not, right? 

There are quite a few variations of this recipe out there, some of them are baked in the oven and some are for the crock pot.  The yard really needed mowed this afternoon because it has been raining so much and the grass has been growing and growing - and today was the only day all week that didn't call for more rain.  The grass probably would have been knee high by the next time I could have gotten to it.   So I needed something I could throw into the crock pot in the morning and be able to have dinner tonight.

I really liked that this recipe uses a fresh homemade sauce to cook the chicken and vegetables.  But don't let that scare you away, because it's really simple - olive oil, lemon juice, and some seasonings.  Yum!  Put the chicken and vegetables into the crock pot, pour the sauce over the top, and come back at dinner time for a delicious meal.

Crock Pot Chicken w/ Potatoes and Green Beans
adapted from The Magical Slow Cooker

Ingredients:

• ¼ cup olive oil
• ⅓ cup fresh lemon juice
• 1 tsp. dried oregano
• 1 tsp. salt
• ¼ tsp. pepper
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 onion, sliced
• 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
• 4 cups diced red potatoes
• 8 oz. green beans (fresh or frozen)

Directions:

1. In 1 cup glass measuring cup (or small bowl), mix olive oil, lemon juice, oregano, salt, pepper, and garlic with whisk.
2. Put sliced onion on bottom of 5 to 6 quart crock pot.  Put chicken in the middle with potatoes and green beans on either side.  Pour seasoning mixture evenly over the top.
3. Cover and cook on Low for 7 to 8 hours (or High for 4 hours).  
4. Shortly before serving, slice chicken breasts and allow to sit in the broth for a few minutes.  Enjoy.

I didn't really change a lot from the original recipe.  I threw some sliced onion in the bottom of the crock pot, and I used frozen green beans because I didn't have any fresh ones.  The chicken breasts were also still pretty much frozen when I put them into the crock pot.

I used a bit more lemon juice than the recipe called for.  The juice from one lemon wasn't quite enough, so I squeezed another one and that was too much.  I really should have checked after squeezing the first half of that second lemon.  But I didn't think about that until after I'd squeezed the second half.  It turned out really good, extra lemon juice or not.  Just be sure to use fresh lemon juice and not the stuff that comes from a bottle.

Fun fact: if you measure the olive oil into the measuring cup and then squeeze the lemon juice on top, the lemon juice will go to the bottom, allowing you to measure it, too.  Did that make sense?  I really should have taken a picture, but I didn't think about it.  Maybe next time.

I really love how simple and flavorful this is.  It's definitely my kind of recipe.

Roasted Potatoes with Thyme

I found this recipe several years ago in my Vegetarian Times cookbook.  It's hardly an actual recipe, because all you do is toss some potatoes with olive oil, add some salt & pepper and fresh thyme, and bake.  What could be simpler?

But, of course, simple does not mean boring, and these potatoes are really really good.  We all love them, and they are a Passover tradition around here.  I decided the menu needed simplified years ago.  We have leg of lamb, these potatoes, peas, and unleavened bread.  We might have some pickles and olives and sometimes a salad - depending on who's coming and what they want to bring - but the main meal is just really simple, and it's just perfect that way.

Roasted Potatoes with Thyme
adapted from Vegetarian Times

Ingredients:

• Red Potatoes
• Olive Oil
• Salt & Pepper
• Fresh Thyme

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375°
2. Toss potatoes and olive oil together (1 T oil for each pound of potatoes) in baking dish
3. Add salt and pepper and then top with sprigs of fresh thyme (about 8 sprigs per pound of potatoes)
4. Cover baking dish and bake potatoes for 45 minutes (or longer), giving the dish a shake a couple times during baking.
5. Cool slightly and serve.

The small red potatoes are best, but if you use bigger ones they'll still taste good.  They may just take longer to bake, and you will probably want to cut them in half to serve.  The oven temperature can be adjusted.  For instance, I bake the lamb at 325°, and I just bake the potatoes right alongside it.  And, the longer these bake, the better they seem to get.  The potatoes almost melt in your mouth, and they're really good mashed slightly with a fork and drizzled with some of the flavored oil from the bottom of the pan.

I could not find this actual recipe on the Vegetarian Times site when I searched, but I did find a couple more recipes that look pretty good - these Salt & Vinegar Roasted Potatoes and these Garlicky Mashed Sweet Potatoes.

Grow Sprouts in a Glass Jar

I never had sprouts until I went to college, and then I fell in love with them.  After college and marriage, I occasionally bought alfalfa sprouts in the grocery store, but then I stopped because they were fairly expensive and not always good.  Then I mostly forgot about them until a couple years ago when a friend of mine mentioned that she had been growing her own sprouts, and she gave me some seeds so I could try it too.

Since then I've been growing my own sprouts regularly.  It's easy.  Very, very easy.

Grow Your Own Sprouts

You will need:

• A glass jar - a wide-mouth pint jar works great.
• Sprouting seeds of your choice - I use The Sprout House Organic Sprouting Seeds Salad Mix Broccoli, Clover, Radish, Alfalfa along with some lentils. 
• Cheesecloth or nylon to cover the top of the jar and a canning ring or rubber band to hold it in place.
• Water 

Directions:

1. Place about a Tablespoon of sprouting seeds in jar, and put the cheesecloth or nylon over the mouth of the jar and secure it in place.
2. Cover seeds with water and allow to soak overnight, or 8-12 hours.
3. The next morning, pour water out and add more water.  Swirl seeds around in the water a bit to rinse them and then pour the water back out, draining well so that there is no excess water.
4. Let the jar sit on your kitchen counter, rinsing and draining them a couple times a day, until they have sprouted and begin to have small leaves.  You want to be sure they don't dry out, but you don't want them sitting in water either.
5. Once the sprouts have reached the point you like them - usually in 5 days or so, rinse them one more time and place them in a container and refrigerate.  I usually put a folded paper towel in the bottom of the container to absorb any excess water.

Enjoy!  and repeat the process as needed.   Sprouts are good on sandwiches or salads or just eaten by the handful with a sprinkling of sea salt.  So good, and good for you too!

sourdough biscuits make great sandwich buns for lunch

 This isn't exactly a recipe, though in the end you get something really good to eat, so I guess it kind of is after all.  I posted this a couple years ago on my other blog, but when I went looking for it, I had a hard time finding it.  I finally did, so I'm posting here - and fixing the images that somehow disappeared.  (Note: do not link directly to pictures you've posted to Facebook.  They may work for a while, but eventually you will end up with a missing image in your post.)