Peppered Beef Tips

I put this together this morning before I went to Chapel. We should have an early dinner! I'm so thankful for my mom's blog: Beth's Favorite Recipes where I can find all the recipes I need! This is one of my favorites. Also, crockpot liners are a lifesaver! 

Peppered Beef Tips

http://bethsfavoriterecipes.blogspot.com/search?q=peppered+beef+tips


1 lbs. beef sirloin tips
2 cloves garlic minced
Black pepper
1 can (10 3/4 oz.) condensed French onion soup**Jenna used this
1 can ( 10 3/4 oz.) condensed cream of mushroom soup** Jenna used this

Place beef tips in slow cooker. Sprinkle with garlic and pepper. Pour soup over beef. Cover; cook on Low 8-10 hours. Yield: serves 4

(This is when I put it all together this morning!...the meat is still cooking)

"Cream of" Soup

I bought some beef tips the other day from Sams and seperated it into 1 pound packages to freeze. I was in the mood for my mom's beef tips, but when I went to make them, I realized I didn't have cream of mushroom soup on hand. I searched and found this recipe from Center Cut Cook and it is tasty by itself!

Cream Soup Substitute

• 2 tablespoons butter
• 3 tablespoons flour 
• 1/2 cup chicken broth
• 1/2 cup milk (I used 1%)
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1. In a small sauce pan, melt butter over medium-low heat. Whisk in flour and let cook for 1-2 minutes.
2. Slowly stir in chicken broth, then milk. Whisk until it begins to thicken. Let it simmer for a few minutes. Season with salt and pepper.
3. Jenna's notes: It gets thick really quickly, so I probably added another 1/4 cup of milk to it. It still was the consistency of a canned soup! 

Condensed French Onion Soup

Today when Kathleen and I left Chapel. we realized we were pretty hungry! I needed a condensed French onion soup recipe for the beef tips I wanted to make so we just doubled this recipe and had some to eat! The cheese powder really does add to it!

Condensed French Onion Soup

http://bethsfavoriterecipes.blogspot.com/2011/08/condensed-french-onion-soup-substitute.html

1 small onion(about 1/2 cup chopped)
1 TB olive oil
1 TB Molasses

2 beef bullion cubes
3/4 cup boiling water

2 TB cornstarch
1/4 cup COLD water

Dissolve bullion cubes in boiling water
Add broth to onions

In a medium sauce pan heat oil and molasses over medium heat. Add onions and saute for 5-7 minutes until the onions are soft and sticky.

Dissolve cornstarch in cold water
Add to onion mixture

Season with salt and pepper to taste

Recommended 1 TB dried cheddar cheese powder if available! (this is an ingredient in the store version, but IMO it does not really make or break the soup, it does, however, give it a certain "something")

Bring it all to a boil and stir until thickened.

Cooking in a College....Apartment!

Hey everyone. If you still follow this blog after a year of me not posting, kudos to you!

I am back at school now (just until December when I graduate!) and living in senior housing on campus. Senior housing means being able to have a cute little apartment with a stove/oven! See? 

Even though I haven't kept up with this blog so well, I hope to post some of the fun dishes I try in the coming weeks. I don't have a huge desire or need to go to our school cafeteria so I am looking forward to cooking healthy and easy meals! 

Stay tuned...

Seasoned Sour Cream

I had some sour cream that I needed to use up and I wasn't sure what to eat today for lunch. I ended up making this today after church to go on some nachos but I think it would be good on anything! Um... YUM! It is really good! For the green chilies, I used what I had left from my grilled Serrano pepper (from the hummus recipe). This was really good!

(Sorry the picture isn't the greatest!)

Seasoned Sour Cream

Makes about 1/2 cup

The seasonings in this sour cream enhance the flavors of a fajita or other tortilla wrap. . It could also be used as a dip for fresh vegetables. The recipe can easily be doubled.

* 1/2 cup sour cream

* 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin

* 1/2 teaspoon dried cilantro

* 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

* 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

* 1/8 teaspoon onion powder

* 2 tablespoons chopped green chiles (optional)

Mix all ingredients together until well combined. Let set about 30 minutes before use.

Championship Bean Dip

So, I don't remember what cookbook this is from... I was in the back of my friend's car yesterday and she had a cookbook laying on the seat... I was looking through it and found this recipe, and took a picture of it so I could remember what it was!

I didn't make it in the crock pot... I had to improvise! Here is what I did:

one can of refried beans

1 cup of Mexican cheese, shredded

3/4 cup of salsa (my mom's home made :-))

1/4 cup sour cream

1/2 tablespoon chili powder

1 teaspoon cumin

salt

pepper

Mix all together, stir and microwave until melty and hot! About 7 minutes.

Here's what it looked like. It was really cheesy; the original recipe calls for 2 total cups of cheese, I don't know if I would add that much. 

This was really good. I think the sour cream really adds something to it! 

Curried Hash Browns

Curried Hash Browns
Inspired from here

I thought I was buying hash browns but it turned out I bought shoe string potatoes... oh well!

1 bag hash browns
curry powder (1 1/2 tablespoon)
onion (1/2 onion, chopped)
garlic (2 cloves)
salt (1/2 tsp)
cumin (just a dash)
pepper
cilantro, chopped
olive oil

I cooked the onion a little bit on my George Foreman before I added them to the potatoes. I just wanted them to be tender. I added the hash browns, curry, garlic, salt, pepper, cumin, and onions to a big bowl and just mixed them together. I added a splash of olive oil, but I don't know if it was necessary.

I had to cook them in batches, but I added the cilantro to the top when it was done cooking.

Apparently one could smell them cooking 3 floors down and the whole building smells like garlic and curry. Oops!!

I realized before I cooked them all that there was WAY too many. So I got a quart bag and filled that with the mix-uncooked- and I froze them. I'll see if they freeze well! I have a feeling I will have to freeze some of the cooked ones. It's hard to cook for one person.

I loved them. They turned out a little more like fries than hash browns, but that was my fault. They still tasted delicious. I had to cook them about 5-7 minutes, but that was because they were frozen.

(<-- I froze some this way - pre-cooked.)

I tried this trick tonight:
 After serving the grilled food, make sure your grill is
unplugged, put a wet cloth, that can be washed, and
reused in the grill and close the lid. In 10-30 minutes,the grill will almost wipe clean.

It really worked! I left the rag on there for about 20 minutes and the grill was really easy to clean. 

Roasted Jalapeño and Lime Hummus

Roasted Jalapeño and Lime Hummus
Roasted Jalapeño and Lime Hummus
Makes about 2 cups

1-3 (or more!) jalapeños
2 cups cooked chickpeas or 1 15-ounce can chickpeas
3-4 tablespoons lime juice
2 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
2 tablespoons tahini (or substitute extra-virgin olive oil)
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon coriander
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoons minced cilantro (optional)
Pita wedges or tortilla chips for serving

Roast the jalapeños under the broiler, on the stove top, or on the grill. Flip every few minutes until the peppers are charred all over. Move them to a heat-proof bowl and cover with plastic wrap for about 10 minutes.

When the peppers are cool enough to handle, slip off the skin, split the peppers, and strip out the seeds. Slice the jalapeños into thin strips and set aside. Take care while working with these peppers because the jalapeño oils can really burn if you rub your eyes or touch your mouth. Wear gloves if desired.

Warm the chickpeas in the microwave for about a minute (this helps make the hummus creamier). Pour them them into the bowl of a food processor along with 3 tablespoons of lime juice, garlic, tahini, and spices. Begin processing and stream in the olive oil through the top of the machine. Scrape down and process again until the hummus is very smooth.

Transfer to a serving bowl and stir in the sliced jalapeños. Taste and add more jalapeños, more lime juice, or more seasonings to taste. Cover and refrigerate for at least 20 minutes before serving. (This hummus can also be made several days ahead.)

Garnish with minced cilantro and serve with pita wedges or tortilla chips.

Jenna's Notes: 

I did not have Tahini so I added a tablespoon of olive oil in its place. I also didn't have coriander so I just left that out. Instead of buying Jalapeños, I bought Serrano peppers on accident. I added only this much -->

(I still grilled it on my George Foreman...) 

and it was plenty! I guess Serrano's are a little stronger than Jalapeños so I aired on the safe side! 

I didn't have a food processor here at college, so I did warm up my can of (drained...even though the recipe doesn't say!) chickpeas which made them easier to mash. I just added a little but of olive oil and lemon juice to begin with and it made it easy to mix together. Other than my few little notes, I followed the recipe to a T and it is g.o.o.d! I could eat it all in one sitting. I'm already thinking about going to buy more chickpeas!!!

Fajita Marinade

I bought Fajita meat the other day at the store and threw it in the freezer. I have everything for fajitas so I took it out of the freezer this afternoon and found a marinade on Allrecipes.com.

All recipes has a serving calculator so I typed in "2" (because I had 8 oz. of meat... I plan on freezing the rest after I grill it). If you click on the link, you can go to AllRecipes.com and make it for a bigger serving size. This recipe below contains the amount for 2 servings sizes.

I did everything according to to this recipe, except I didn't have a garlic clove. I added some garlic salt instead of the regular salt.

Fajita Marinade

1-1/2 teaspoons lime juice (I doubled this)

2 teaspoons water

3/4 teaspoon olive oil

1/2 clove garlic, crushed

1/4 teaspoon soy sauce

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon liquid smoke flavoring

1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper

In a large resealable plastic bag, mix together the lime juice, water, olive oil, garlic, soy sauce, salt, and liquid smoke flavoring. Stir in cayenne and black pepper.
Place desired meat in the marinade, and refrigerate at least 2 hours, or overnight. Cook as desired.

I looked at a lot of the reviews and made a few changes. I added some cumin, beef bouillon, and chili powder. My meat was frozen so I placed it in the bag and put it in the fridge for 3 hours and then I grilled it on the George Foreman. It was very good, but I will add less lime juice next time.

Raspberry Sweet Tea

This will make 2 Quarts. Just double everything for a gallon. I made this in my ice tea maker. I put 4 tea bags (I like it a little stronger) and my 2 quarts of water in to brew. I added the sugar to the pitcher so it would dissolve. After it was done brewing, I added the lemon juice and the raspberry syrup. I did not have a 1/3 cup measuring cup so I found out that by using 5 tablespoons and 1 teaspoon, I could get an exact 1/3 cup! I may or may not have added a little more raspberry syrup... you'll never know for sure. Very yummy! My iced tea maker has a line where it suggests adding ice after the tea is brewed. So, I did that and put it in the fridge!

Raspberry Sweet Tea

8 cups water
3 tea bags
3/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup bottled lemon juice
2 T. raspberry flavor syrup (such as Torani or Davinci)
Bring water to boil , remove from heat add tea bags, cover and steep 1 hour.

Pour sugar into 2 quart pitcher - add steeped tea, lemon juice and raspberry syrup.

Cover and chill.