Steak with creole spice rub

Dinner tonight was NY strip steak seasoned with Cooking Light's creole spice rub. The recipe is for tenderloin, but we had strip steak so we improvised. We cooked them on the outdoor grill and served it with yellow rice. Spicy and delicious!

12.24.08 Maple cream sweet potato soup

My contribution to our family Christmas Eve dinner was Rachael Ray's maple cream sweet potato soup. We all get together for a big meal at my Aunt Vicki's, and she is the executive chef of the whole affair. Now that I enjoy cooking, I have started contributing to the spread. I started slow last year with an appetizer, and upped the ante this year to the starter course - soup. It was my first time to make it, and it was a huge success. I doubled the recipe to feed 11 people, but since we used it as a starter soup and not an entree, I think one recipe would have been enough. It is delicious, and there were lots of second servings taken at the table.

12.21.08 Chili and cheddar biscuits

Dinner tonight is Jamie's Chili from the Food Network. This is from Jamie Deen, Paula's son, and is my favorite chili recipe of all time. I know there are lots of variations on chili, but this has a little bit of everything and makes a HUGE pot. I'm serving it with cheddar-bacon drop biscuits from Cooking Light.

12.19.08 Pork tenderloin with chimichurri

Dinner tonight was Tyler Florence's grilled pork tenderloin with chimichurri. I halved the recipe, but made no substitutions, and served it with Cephie's famous salad. Robert LOVED the chimichurri sauce and threatened to drink it - try this recipe!

12.18.08 Cookie dough truffles

Okay, so this recipe is actually dessert, but I made these for a cookie swap and they are delicious! Pretty simple to make, as long as you have time to chill the dough before you dip them in chocolate. I mixed the dough, divided it into balls with a small cookie scoop, and chilled them overnight. The next morning I dipped them in melted chocolate - so yummy!

12.15.08 Baked meatballs and easy marinara

The menu tonight was chosen because it didn't require a trip to the grocery store - it's cold outside! I had some ground pork and ground beef, so my first thought was - meatballs! I found this recipe from the Food Network for baked meatballs. I halved the recipe (as usual), and didn't have frozen spinach or lamb on hand so I omitted them. I was afraid jarred marinara would be too heavy for this, so I made a quick and easy marinara from Rachael Ray. I had a couple of substitutions because I was trying to use what I already had - no anchovy paste, used dried parsley instead of fresh, and added a small amount of diced onion. I added extra red pepper flakes because I like my food spicy, and served it over whole wheat spaghetti.

12.12.08 Chipotle chicken and tomato soup

Dinner tonight was chipotle chicken and tomato soup. It was simple to make and has few ingredients - great for a last-minute meal idea. We topped it with sour cream and pan-fried a flour tortilla to dip in the soup!

Note: You'll notice that a lot of my recipes call for chipotle chiles in adobo sauce (twice this week)! They come in a can, and you can find them on the international food aisle in the grocery store. There are about 8-10 peppers in a can, so a great tip is to divide them into pairs, along with some of their sauce, and freeze them individually in plastic bags.

12.07.08 Steak and potatoes

We had a meat and potatoes kind of dinner tonight - steak with bacon-chipotle twice baked potatoes. One look at the ingredient list for the potatoes and you know it's going to be delicious - cheese, scallion, chipotle pepper, and bacon!! I mean, seriously.

12.03.08 Taco Soup

This recipe is from my mom - it makes a large pot, so we froze some for another night.

1 pound Laura's Lean ground beef

1 onion chopped (more or less)

1 bell pepper chopped (more or less)

1 clove garlic pressed or minced

1 pkg ranch dressing mix

1 pkg taco seasoning mix

1 can corn undrained

1 can black beans drained and rinsed

1 can red beans drained

1 can diced green chiles

1 28 oz can diced tomatoes

spicy V8 (you could also use tomato sauce or paste)

Sour cream and grated cheese for topping

Brown ground meat. Add onion and pepper, and saute until tender. Add remaining ingredients and enough V8 to your desired consistency.

12.01.08 Chicken parmesan

This chicken parmesan recipe is from Ellie Krieger on the Food Network. It is a healthier version than regular chicken parm because it is breaded in wheat breadcrumbs and baked in the oven. The mix of parmesan and mozzarella cheese is very flavorful, so a little goes a long way, which also helps improve the nutritional value of this dish.