March 2023

Stir fry is something relatively new to my kitchen. Growing up, this was a dish that was never served. My sister has a dislike of rice, and my dad is not a fan of veggies, which meant any stir fry had ingredients in it that half the family wouldn’t eat. After marrying Cole, he always enjoyed the food I made, but after about five years, he started asking why I never made stir fry. I took a step back and started looking at some recipes, but I was pretty intimidated. The flavor palates were something I was completely unfamiliar with since I had only eaten at Chinese restaurants a small number of times. However, I had eaten Beef Lo Mein, so I knew I wanted my steak stir fry to taste similar to that. Cole isn’t a fan of Lo Mein noodles, so I knew my dish needed to be combined with rice instead. Because I wasn’t super familiar with the flavors of soy sauce, ginger, and sesame seeds, this dish took quite a while to be blog ready, but I am finally happy with the product I have created. 

*This dish serves three people with normal dinner-sized portions, or four people with smaller lunch-sized portions.

1 lb Flank Steak

2 tbsp Soy Sauce

2 tbsp Cornstarch

2 tsp Olive Oil

½ tsp Minced Onion Flakes

⅔ cup Beef Broth

2 tbsp Brown Sugar

¾ tsp Garlic Powder

¾ tsp Ground Ginger

1 ½ tbsp Soy Sauce

1 tbsp Sesame Seeds

20 oz Frozen Broccoli Florets

2 cups Minute Rice

**Optional – Sliced Baby Bella Mushrooms – see Kitchen Tip between Directions 8 and 9

1. Trim the fat off the flank steak and cut the rest of the meat into ½ inch cubes. 

2. Combine the steak, 2 tbsp of soy sauce, and 2 tbsp of cornstarch in either a Ziploc bag or bowl. Set aside to let it marinate while preparing the other ingredients.

3. Place the sesame seeds in a small frying pan. Turn heat to medium and stir the seeds continuously until they start to brown, then immediately remove them from the pan so they don’t burn. 

4. Steam the broccoli according to the directions on the bag. Directions on these bags come in minute ranges. Use the lowest time increment and subtract a minute. This will allow the broccoli to be semi-steamed, which will stop it from becoming mushy when added to the rest of the stir fry. 

5. Make the rice according to the instructions on the Minute Rice box – make enough for four people. 

6. Heat the beef broth in the microwave and combine all the other sauce ingredients into it. Make sure the brown sugar dissolves completely into the mixture by stirring with a whisk.

7. Heat the olive oil over medium-high heat in a large saucepan or wok. When heated, add in the flank steak bits and cook while stirring continuously for five minutes. 

8. Add the semi-steamed broccoli to the pan/wok, then pour the sauce and toasted sesame seeds in. Simmer on low heat for 4-5 minutes to let the flavors combine. 

**Kitchen Tip: I only use broccoli in this stir fry because Cole has an aversion to mushrooms, but if I was making this dish for just me, I would definitely add in a package of Sliced Baby Bella Mushrooms. This would also increase the size of the dish to possibly make it feed more people.

9. Serve the stir fry over the top of the Minute Rice in bowls.

Even though I may have needed multiple attempts of trial and error to perfect this dish, it is now a staple in our home. There is one thing to note about this recipe that is a bit different from most of the entrees on my blog. This stir fry has an element of sweetness. Most foods on my site have more of a zip to them, but this one sticks strictly to sweet and savory at Cole’s request. 

Chicken Parmesan is a dish that is usually served over pasta, and I have tried this chicken baked with pasta and marinara sauce instead of veggies; however, lately I have been trying to eat healthier and have less carbs, so the last time I made it, I decided to roast some veggies instead. After eating this healthier option, Cole and I decided we preferred the recipe served with green beans and mushrooms, but if you aren’t a vegetable lover, you could definitely cook up some pasta, mix it with sauce, and use that as the base of your 13×9 pan instead.

32 oz Green Beans – Fresh

8 oz Whole White Mushrooms

Olive Oil

Garlic Salt

Lemon Pepper

1 lb Chicken Breast

1 Large Egg

½ cup Flour

¼ cup Panko Bread Crumbs

½ cup Parmesan Cheese

1 tsp Dried Basil

2 tsp Dried Parsley

¾ tsp Garlic Powder

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. 

2. Place the green beans and mushrooms in a 13×9 inch baking dish. Wait to coat with olive oil until right before the dish is put into the oven, otherwise the oil will soak into the mushrooms. Lightly sprinkle with lemon pepper and garlic salt. Roast the veggies for 25 minutes. 

3. Cut the chicken breasts into 1 inch wide strips (lengthwise). 

4. Set up a dredging station by cracking the egg into one dish and whisking it. Use a second dish to mix the flour, panko, parmesan, basil, parsley, and garlic powder together. 

5. Coat the chicken strips in the egg, then cover them with the flour mixture. 

6. Pour olive oil into a large frying pan until the bottom of it is completely coated. Heat on a medium to hot temperature. 

7. Sear the chicken for 1 ½ minutes on each side until they are golden brown, then place on a paper towel lined plate. 

8. Once the timer goes off for the veggies, place the chicken strips on top of the veggies and cook for another 15 minutes.

This is a nice light meal, but it also has a slightly fancy feel. I think it makes a great date night meal if you want to have a date night at home. If you want to make this recipe feel even fancier, I recommend whipping up a batch of my Garlic White Wine Sauce to pour over the top. This sauce definitely adds an extra layer of flavor, and gives it a gourmet vibe.

Both the image above and below this text shows the finished recipe with the Garlic White Wine Sauce poured over the top.

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Tacos, fajitas, enchiladas, or burritos – no matter what the food of choice is, most people have one of these items at least once a month. Heck, I know there are some people that religiously participate in Taco Tuesday every week. No matter what item is on the menu, one thing remains the same forContinue reading “Slow Cooker Jalapeno Black Beans”

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It is an age old debate…do noodles truly belong in chili? It’s also a debate that we have in my house every time I pull the chili ingredients out from the pantry. Personally, I love chili just the way it is, but my husband believes chili is only worth eating when it has noodles inContinue reading “Chili Two Ways”

Cole and I typically only have steak a couple times per year on special occasions such as our anniversary and New Year’s Eve. It’s the one red meat that Cole truly seems to enjoy. Because of this, I typically buy too much when I’m shopping for these special occasions, and we end up with some leftover tenderloin. Tenderloin by itself doesn’t reheat well as leftovers, so this year, after our anniversary, I decided to experiment with different ways to reuse the meat since it’s pretty much a sin to throw out a great cut of meat. I ended up with the result of a steak quesadilla, which Cole now loves. 

If you want to make this recipe, but don’t feel like using tenderloin, there is no need to fear! A cheaper cut of meat such as a flank steak could easily be used. I only used tenderloin in my example since I was looking for a way to use up meat I already had cooked up. If I were to pick up ingredients with the intention of only making quesadillas, I would definitely use a flank steak instead.

8 oz Steak

4 tsp Taco Seasoning

4 Flour Tortilla Shells (8 inch)

1 cup Shredded Cheddar Cheese

2 tbsp Ranch Dressing

Kitchen Tip: If you are not using leftover steak from last night’s meal, step number one is to grill the meat. When I grill steak, I shoot for a goal of having it done to medium or medium well. This means I take it off the grill when it has reached an internal temperature of 145-150 degrees. Let the steak rest for at least 5 minutes before cutting it up. 

1. Cut the steak into either super thin strips or into small ¼ inch cubes. While cutting, try to work around the fatty pieces of meat to avoid the insides of the quesadillas being too chewy. 

2. Sprinkle the taco seasoning on top of the meat and stir until all of the pieces of steak are coated. 

3. Divide the meat equally onto the four shells, keeping the meat on only half of the shell. 

4. Sprinkle ¼ cup of shredded cheese on top of the meat on each shell, then squirt about ½ tbsp of ranch on top of the cheese on each quesadilla. 

Kitchen Tip: Cole and I really like ranch dressing, so I tend to be a little more generous with this ingredient. Be aware that the more ranch put in, the messier this meal will be! 

5. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees and lay tin foil on top of a large cookie sheet. Fold the tortilla shells in half, and place them on the cookie sheet. 

6. Bake the quesadillas for 5-6 minutes or until the edges start to get brown and crispy. 

7. Let the quesadillas rest for about 3 minutes before cutting them into triangles with a pizza cutter. 

This recipe is extremely easy to make, and is a delicious spin on traditional quesadillas. Cole and I are watching our portion sizes this summer, so we typically cut this recipe in half and only have one quesadilla each; however, I could easily see people wanting more than one quesadilla to fill them up. If you are making this recipe for a family of four, you may want to double it to make sure that everyone is full, or serve it with a side such as chips and guacamole. You can find my recipe for guacamole here! 

Sometimes, I like to eat these dipped in my Hot Sour Cream Sauce. You can find the recipe for this sauce here!

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 If your family is into spicy foods like mine is then there is one perfect side to all your meals – a corn muffin. Whether it’s tacos, Cajun cooking, chili, or even BBQ sauce with a zing, the corn muffin is the perfect supplement to your meal. Of course, because I like to spice up food, there is one way to make this side even better, jalapenos, and because I’m from Wisconsin why not add in some cheese while you’re at it? Some people get scared away when they hear the word jalapeno, but the cheddar and the sugar in the muffins tames the jalapeno enough to give it a zip without it being overwhelmingly spicy. .

1 ⅔ cups Flour

⅔ cup Cornmeal

1 ½ tsp Baking Powder

¼ tsp Salt

½ cup sugar

¼ cup Softened Butter

1 cup Milk

2 tbsp Olive Oil

2 Large Eggs

1 cup Shredded Cheddar Cheese

9 slices Pickled Jalapenos (middles and seeds removed, and then diced up)

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, then combine the flour, cornmeal, baking powder, and salt into a medium sized bowl.

2. Next grab a large bowl and cream your softened butter and sugar together.

3. Once the butter and sugar is creamed, add in the milk and oil and mix it together, then add the eggs and beat them in. 

4. Now it’s time to incorporate the two mixing bowls into one. Slowly add the cornmeal mixture in, mixing them with a fork until combined. This mixture will end up being slightly lumpy and sticky, and that’s entirely okay. 

5. After the batter is mixed it’s time to prep the jalapenos. Remove the middles and seeds from them, then dice the slices into very small pieces. If you don’t dice them small enough there will have some bites that will have a lot of spice in them and other bites that won’t have much spice. Mix in the diced jalapeno and shredded cheddar cheese.

6. Now the batter is completely done, so fill up 12 muffin tins. They will be pretty full, but that’s a good thing because then it means the muffins will be nice and large. Bake the muffins for 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. They should be golden brown on the top. These muffins can be served with butter or eaten with any soup. 

This corn muffins go excellent with my chili recipes!

Chili Two Ways

Harvest Turkey Chili

When I visit my parents, we almost always end up eating out in Stevens Point, WI because it has an abundance of delicious restaurants. Usually we end up eating at Father Fats, an incredible tapas restaurant. However, the last time I went out with them, we went across the street to the chef’s sister restaurant instead, Chef’s Kitchen. This place is interesting because the menu changes frequently based on what type of cuisine is being featured. We decided to eat at Chef’s Kitchen that weekend because the cuisine of choice that evening was Caribbean, a personal favorite of my mom and dads. For an appetizer I got a soup called jug jug, and I fell in love with this amazing, flavorful, and fiery dish. After researching, I realized the chef had put his own personal spin on it because it seemed like most of the jug jugs I found on the internet were green and had a pea base, and his seemed more tomato-based. I definitely wanted to try to replicate the dish I had at Chef’s Kitchen, so I was glad I had a picture of his menu, which listed some of the main ingredients. After a little experimentation of my own, I think I have gotten as close to mimicking it as I can. Warning, this stew definitely has a kick behind it. If you aren’t a fan of hot and spicy cuisine, check out my Beef Bourguignon instead for a more savory beef stew.  

¾ cup Diced Yellow Onion – about 1 small onion

¼ cup Diced Jalapeno – about 3 small peppers

½ cup Diced Green Pepper – about 1 pepper

4 tsp Minced Garlic

6 oz Bacon – cooked and chopped

13 oz Beef Stew Meat or Chuck Roast chopped into ¾ inch pieces

¼ cup Flour

½ tsp Black Pepper

½ tsp Salt

3 tbsp Olive Oil

4 cups Beef Broth

6 oz Tomato Paste

½ tsp Dried Thyme

1 ½ tbsp Worcestershire Sauce

1 tbsp Cajun Seasoning

2 tsp Hot Sauce

1 can Corn

1 can Red Beans

1 can Navy Beans

1. Dice the onion, jalapenos, and green pepper. Try to dice them into pieces that are about 1/4th of an inch or smaller to avoid having a super chunky stew. 

2. Cook the bacon. 6 oz is about 5 thick slices. After it is fully cooked, chop into small pieces. 

Kitchen Tip: I personally prefer to bake my bacon. This can be done pretty easily. Place a sheet of tin foil down on a cookie sheet and lay the bacon out on it. Make sure the bacon isn’t touching. Set the oven to 400 and put the bacon in right away so it is cooking while the oven is warming up. I have a convection oven so it takes between 13-15 minutes for my bacon to be done to my desired crunchiness, but this might take longer if you have a regular oven. Once the bacon is done, set it on a paper towel lined plate to remove some grease. The best part of this cooking method is that the tin foil can be crumpled up once the grease hardens and there is no mess to clean up! 

4. Put the flour, salt, and pepper in a Ziploc bag and shake until combined. Add in the beef stew pieces and toss until it is completely coated. 

5. In a large frying pan, heat the olive oil and then sear the beef stew cubes until all of the outsides are partially cooked. Set on a paper towel lined plate to remove some grease from them. 

6. Use the same frying pan to mix together the broth, tomato paste, thyme, Worcestershire sauce, cajun seasoning, and hot sauce. Simmer until everything is combined and the tomato paste is blended in, about 10-15 minutes. 

7. Mix together all of the ingredients in either a large pot or slow cooker. Simmer on low for five and a half hours. 

Overall, this stew is the perfect dish for people that like a kick to their food. I recommend serving it with some Jalapeno Cheddar Corn Muffins. They taste absolutely amazing dipped into the broth of this stew!