Show us your life - Main Dishes

I am linking up with Kelly's Korner again this week for show us your life friday.  This week is all about recipes for main dishes.  I love to cook!  I especially love to cook foods that impress my husband and have guests asking for the recipes afterward.  Here are two of my favorites:

1.  Pepper steak

I don't have a picture, so this is a picture from Paula Deen's magazine of her version of pepper steak, and it will basically look like this.

This is one of my most favorite dishes that my mom would always make growing up.  It is always the dish my brother and I request for her to make when we visit.  She doubles this recipe, by the way, but this should yield between 2-4 servings.  I have started adding this to my cooking repertoire since  getting married and it has now become my husband's favorite dish as well.  It is an Asian stir-fry type of meal.  I have altered it a little and usually add in extra garlic powder.  Enjoy :)

Ingredients:
3/4-1 lb round steak (freeze for about 15 minutes and cube)
2 Tbs veg. oil
2 large green peppers (sliced in thin strips)
1 large tomato (peeled and coarsely chopped)
1 jar sliced mushrooms
2 Tbs soy sauce
1/4 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp garlic salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/8 tsp ground ginger
1 Tbs cornstarch
1 can beef consomme
Hot cooked rice (I usually make enough for 4 servings)

Directions:
1.  Cook steak in oil in a large skillet until brown - drain.
2.  Stir in green pepper, tomato, mushrooms, soy sauce, sugar, garlic salt, pepper, and ginger.
3.  Cover and simmer 15 minutes.
4.  Pour out enough consomme to add in the cornstarch and mix it up - then stir into steak mixture.
5.  Cover and simmer 30 minutes or so (I usually cook it until my peppers are no longer bright green and crispy.
6.  Serve over rice.
*When finished, combine the rice and steak mixture - it is great leftover too!


2.  Poppy Seed Chicken

I didn't have a pic for this either, so this is from a google image search, but it will look exactly like this.

A lot of people I know have their own version of this, but it is still one of my favorites and thought I would share for people that may not have a recipe for this.

Ingredients:
4 chicken breasts - cooked and shredded
1 cup sour cream
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 sleeve Ritz crackers - crushed
1/2 stick butter - melted
poppy seeds -  around 1 Tbs, but I just shake them in to my liking

Directions:
1.  Preheat oven to 350
2.  Lightly grease baking dish (you can use a 9x13 dish, but because I like my casseroles a little thicker I use a little smaller dish - I think mine is 7x11.  Often I make this as a meal to take people, so I do 2 8x8 pans)
3.  Put shredded chicken in an even layer on bottom of dish.
4.  Mix together the sour cream and soup and spread over the chicken.
5.  Mix together the crushed crackers, butter, and poppy seeds, and spread in an even layer of the top.
6.  Bake for about 45 minutes - top will start to get golden brown.

I usually serve this with green beans and roasted red potatoes.

*Just as a tip - If you are making a large dish or multiple dishes with shredded chicken, you can cook your chicken (I usually boil mine) and then throw them in your standing mixer with the paddle attachment on low for a minute or two = perfectly shredded chicken every time.  And, what a time saver! 

Enjoy!

Favorite Side Dishes

I'm linking up with Kelly's Korner today to share a favorite side dish of mine.  I love to cook, and this is a category I had a hard time narrowing down because I love to make casseroles for side dishes in the fall, but here is one of my favorites that is quick, simple, and delicious! 

1.  Corn Casserole
This is so delicious and easy and it seems people always ask for the recipe.
Ingredients:
1 stick of butter - melted
2 eggs - beaten
1 pkg corn bread mix (I use the Jiffy corn muffin mix in the small blue and white box)
1 can whole kernel corn - drained
1 can creamed corn
1 cup sour cream

Directions
1.  Preheat oven to 350 and grease a round or 9x9 baking dish
2.  In a bowl, combine all ingredients and pour into dish
3.  Bake for about 45 minutes - top will be golden brown

 

This photo is just from a google image search because I didn't have a picture, but this is exactly what it looks like :)

Crockpotalooza 2

With fall and winter approaching, not to mention a newborn on the way, I love to start breaking out my slow cooker/crock-pot this time of year and find new recipes that make a few of our dinner times a little easier.  Last year I linked up to Crockpotalooza at Kelly's Korner and shared some of my favorite crock-pot recipes - you can find the link here for my recipes for crock-pot Chicken BBQ and Chicken Nacho Dip - so yummy!

Here are two other meals I make in the crock-pot:

1.  Salsa Chicken
It seems like a lot of people have their own version of this, but this is so simple and so easy to make a large batch to use for taco salad, quesadillas, fajitas, etc.
Ingredients:
3-4 Chicken breasts
Your favorite salsa
1 pkt taco seasoning

1.  Place chicken in the crockpot
2.  Sprinkle taco seasoning over chicken
3.  Cover chicken with salsa
4.  Cook on low around 6 hours - I usually shred the chicken with an hour left to cook


2.  Slow Cooker Mashed Potatoes
I originally found the recipe at allrecipes.  It works great when making mashed potatoes for a crowd and tastes really yummy!
Ingredients:
1.  5 lbs red potatoes, cut in chunks
2.  1 Tbs. garlic, minced (If you cook with fresh garlic much, you have to get a garlic press - makes it so much easier!)
3.   3 chicken boullion cubes
4.  sour cream (8 oz)
5.  1 pkg cream cheese (8 oz) softened
6.  1/2 cup butter
7.  salt and pepper to taste

1.  In a large pot of lightly salted boiling water, cook the potatoes, garlic, and bouillon until potatoes are tender but firm, about 15 minutes. Drain, reserving water. In a bowl, mash potatoes with sour cream and cream cheese, adding reserved water as needed to attain desired consistency.
2.  Transfer the potato mixture to a slow cooker, cover, and cook on Low for 2 to 3 hours. Just before serving, stir in butter and season with salt and pepper to taste.


Be sure to check out Kelly's Korner to find lots of other slow cooker recipes!

Crockpotalooza/Diptacular!

I am linking up to Kelly's Korner and Boomama's blog to share some of my fav recipes. I have made these several times and can't remember the original sources because i just wrote down the recipes and eventually memorize them and adjust them to my family's liking, etc.

1. Chicken nacho dip
This is a crockpot dip that is probably a little bad for the hips, but o-so-delicious for parties, etc. The only negative is that you have to cook the chicken before hand.
-3-4 chicken breasts (cooked and shredded)
-1 pound velveeta (cut in cubes)
-taco seasoning
-1 can rotel (drained)
-1/2 c green onions
-1 jalapeno (diced)
-1/3 c sour cream
-1 c black beans (drained and rinsed)

Combine all ingredients except the beans in the crockpot for 1.5-2 hours on high (stirring occasionally) and add in the black beans for the last 20 minutes.
Serve with tortilla chips!

2. Crockpot chicken barbeque

-6 chicken breasts
-1 (12-16 oz) bottle of fav bbq sauce
-1/2 c Italian dressing
-1/3c brown sugar
-2 Tbs Worcestershire sauce

Cook on high 3-4 hours or low 6-8 and shred the chicken about an hour before done.
We love to serve this with green beans, potatoes, and texas toast.