Coffee and Chili-Rubbed Steak

'Cause if you're gonna eat a steak, why not make it a flavor bomb? Am I right?

This is one of the quickest and easiest ways to prepare beef. I'm actually a big fan of marinating when you have the time to do it, and that is usually what I do, but I wanted to try this just to see what happened. I'll admit that the steak wasn't quite as tender as when I take the time to marinate, but the flavor was amazing! 

Ingredients:

1-1/2 to 2 pound steak (whatever your favorite family-style grilling steak--sirloin, flank, skirt, etc.), about 1 to 1-1/2 inches thick

1-1/2 teaspoons chili powder

1-1/2 teaspoons finely ground coffee

1 teaspoon coconut sugar

1/4 teaspoon dry mustard

1/4 teaspoon ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon Tony Chachere's seasoning

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

Instructions:

1. Preheat cast iron or griddle to medium-high heat and spray with non-stick cooking spray.

2. Mix all dry ingredients together and rub generously over steak on both sides.

3. When pan or griddle is VERY HOT, sear steak for approximately 5-6 minutes per side. (This will obviously vary depending on the thickness of your steak and the temperature of your pan. Just don't overcook and lose the juiciness!)

4. Remove steak from heat, cover with foil to keep warm and allow to rest for 5 minutes. (Again, this is just a way to make sure it stays nice and juicy.)

5. Serve over salad or with  your favorite sides. Enjoy!


The Good List

10.  Watching American Ninja Warrior with Grace. We're pretty much addicted. Team USA!!!

9. Grace's latest Lego creation:

8. We've had some nice warm days this past week, and all the little birdies have been loving it! I snapped all of these pictures within just a few minutes of each other Saturday morning, and there were many more.

7. Handwritten cookbooks and recipes.

6. Recently, Macy seems to really enjoy cooking and helping me in the kitchen. LOVE!!!!!

5. This was the *eastern* sky behind my house one night last week during sunset. I don't even understand how this is geographically possible, but it makes me happy.

4. I FINALLY spotted a bluebird on the back deck last week. When my Dad was here visiting last month, we kept looking for one of these guys but never saw one. I hope this little beauty shows up again when Dad is back in March.

3. A night at the symphony. Jared found inexpensive tickets and decided to give it a try for "something different." Turns out they were the best seats in the house. First row *behind* the orchestra, where the sound quality was excellent, and we got to watch the conductor make all of his funny and dramatic faces. :-) But I confess I had my eyes closed much of the time. Just seemed like the best way to enjoy the incredible music. (Pictures weren't allowed during the performance, but here is a glance at the set-up.)

2. Celebrating 12 years TODAY of my niece, Reece! Wishing I could go flip around with her all day. :-)

1. Celebrating 68 years of my Mom this week! (January 31st) She is easily one of the most giving, caring, sharing people I have ever known and also the reason I am completely allergic to the idea of anyone ever leaving my house hungry. Love you so much, Mom!

Loaded Cauliflower Bake

Here I go... pickin' on potatoes again. Sorry. (Not really, though.) Honestly, I wish with all of my heart that potatoes were more nutritious. They are SO DELICIOUS! But until I get to heaven where I choose to believe carbs will be good for me, I'll keep trying to replace them wherever I can.

And THIS is another recipe that makes me not mind so much. It is YUMMY! And easy. And if you're looking for ways to ease off the more carb-y side dishes in your life, this is a really good place to start. 

Ingredients:

1 head cauliflower

2 potatoes (any kind will work, but Yukon Gold is my favorite)

1/2 cup buttermilk (or milk with a splash of lemon juice in it will do)

1/2 cup light sour cream

1-1/2 teaspoons salt

1-1/2 teaspoons Tony Chachere's seasoning

1 cup shredded cheddar

4-5 slices bacon, cooked very crisp and crumbled

1-2 green onions, sliced

Instructions:

1. Coarsely chop cauliflower. Peel and coarsely chop potatoes. Add to steamer and steam until fork tender.

2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

3. Pour cauliflower and potatoes into large bowl. Mash to desired consistency. Add buttermilk, sour cream, salt, and Tony Chachere's seasoning. Stir to mix well and taste for seasoning. (Depending on the size of your cauliflower and potatoes, you may need to add a bit more seasoning.)

4. When it tastes good, pour cauliflower mixture into butter-sprayed 9x13" pan and bake for 15 minutes or until cheese is melted and bubbly. 

5. Remove from oven and garnish with bacon and green onions. Serve nice and hot.

Your Friday 4-Course Meal

Appetizer (a quick bite): Orange-Rosemary Seared Salmon. YUM! I'm excited to try this.

Entree (something to chew on for awhile): Reignite Your Prayer Life. This is good advice from Don Whitney for all Christians, whether or not our prayer lives are currently healthy. 

Dessert (just for fun): Well, this is pretty crazy. Who knew pipe cleaners could add up to all of this?

Coffee (sip and savor slowly and repeatedly): "...the glorious presence of God in heaven fills heaven with love as the sun, placed in the midst of the visible heavens in a clear day, fills the world with light." ~Jonathan Edwards

Clam Chowder

Ok, please don't hate me for posting a chowder recipe with no potatoes in it. I know. I KNOW!

But listen--y'all know how I do. :-) And as always, I'm not saying a few potatoes are the end of the world. But if you can replace them with something healthier and make it taste so good that you don't miss 'em, why not?

There aren't many things that I would suggest as a worthy substitute for potatoes, but acorn squash is probably my favorite candidate. The texture is similar enough to offer the same heartiness and creaminess, and the flavor is just as earthy, but even more rich. Almost like a super concentrated yukon gold potato.

Give it a try! My potato-loving family loves this dish, so there's hope for you too!

Ingredients:

1 large onion, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 stalks celery, chopped

olive oil

1 tablespoon coconut flour

2 medium acorn squash, peeled and diced

2 cups water

1 can evaporated milk

1 bottle clam juice

1 container whole baby clams

1 jar minced clams

1 tablespoon Old Bay seasoning

salt, pepper and Tony Chachere's seasoning to taste

Instructions:

1. Drizzle a large soup pot or Dutch Oven with olive oil. Add onion, garlic and celery and saute over medium heat until vegetables begin to become tender and fragrant.

2. Add coconut flour and stir constantly for a couple minutes. Top with acorn squash.

3. Add water, evaporated milk, clam juice, AND juice from both jars of clams. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat and simmer for 15-20 minutes, until squash becomes fork tender.

4. Add clams and Old Bay seasoning and simmer for 5 more minutes.

5. Season to taste with salt, pepper and Tony Chachere's seasoning. Enjoy!

The Good List

10. Good insurance. We are still in the throes of cleaning up and paying a (not tiny) deductible for a flooded basement, but it certainly could have been much worse.

9. Playoff football. So fun! (Even though none of my favorite teams made it all the way through this year.)

8. Folding warm towels while it snows outside. Cozy.

7. Fresh basil. Probably my most favorite herb.

6. When every single avocado I just bought is absolutely perfect. Jackpot!

5. The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern. I kind of wanted it to never end.

4. A roast in a crock pot. So much future happiness. :-D

3. Some of my favorite visitors:

2. Referring back to #10-- I'm pretty overwhelmed by how many people offered to drop everything and come help us when they learned about our flooded basement. We have only lived here for a very short time, but God has already blessed us with some incredibly sweet and special friends that we are so happy to live with during this season of life.

1. I have a brand new baby nephew! Meet perfectly handsome and precious little Andy. I can't wait to smooch and squeeze him!

Avocado Tacos

Ok, this is less of a recipe and more of an idea really. I'm always looking for ways to eliminate (especially simple) carbs from meals without making them any less delicious. Not because I think having a tortilla every now and then is the end of the world. But it really has no nutritional value at all, so if you don't need it, don't eat it! In this meal, you don't need it! (And you probably won't miss it at all.)

Ingredients:

4-6 avocados

2 pounds lean ground beef

1 small onion, finely diced

2 cloves garlic, finely minced

3 tablespoons taco seasoning

salt and pepper to taste

Your favorite taco garnishes (We used shredded lettuce, diced tomato, cheese, sour cream, and black olives)

Instructions:

1. Brown ground beef over medium heat with onion and garlic until cooked through. Drain. Add taco seasoning and a splash of water to help coat the entire meat mixture. Stir to incorporate well. Salt and pepper to taste.

2. While beef is cooking, cut each avocado in half and scoop out some of the flesh, leaving about a half inch shell in each. (You can serve the extra as a topping or even turn it into guacamole.)

3. Fill each avocado shell (to overflowing!) with seasoned beef, and top with all of your favorite toppings! Simple as can be! Enjoy!

Balsamic Glazed Pork

Sometimes you need to drop a nice big chunk of meat into a crock pot early in the day and not even think about it again until it's time to eat. And there are a million ways to do that with delicious results, so if you have your favorites, by all means, stick with them. But if you're looking for a new idea or something a little different, this is SO flavorful and super simple to prepare. And it fits well into almost any healthy eating plan. Low fat, low carb, low sugar, low calorie, etc. I served it with homemade savory coleslaw and ranch style beans in the spirit of barbecue, but with a little twist. 

Ingredients:

2 pounds pork tenderloin, trimmed of fat

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1 teaspoon dried rosemary

1 clove garlic, finely minced

1/2 cup coconut sugar

1 tablespoon cornstarch

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

1/2 cup water

2 tablespoons soy sauce

Instructions:

1. Mix together salt, pepper, garlic and rosemary. Rub over tenderloin.

2. Sear the loin over medium-high heat on all sides and then place in crock pot on low.

3. In the same pan you used to sear the loin, add the water, balsamic vinegar, coconut sugar, and soy sauce. Deglaze the pan and bring liquid to a very low boil. Mix corn starch with 1 tablespoon water and add to boiling liquid. Stir just until the sauce begins to thicken.

4. Pour half of the sauce over the loin in the crock pot and set aside the other half to glaze the pork just before serving (if desired).

5. Cook pork on low heat in crock pot for up to 6 hours. (Unlike fattier meats, pork tenderloin can become dry if it stays in the crock pot too long, so this is not one you want to cook all night or leave alone for a long day away from home.)

6. If you like, you can certainly serve the pork straight from the crock pot. I prefer to create somewhat of a caramel-y glaze with the sauce, which is very easy to do. Just break up the tenderloin a bit and put on a foil-lined baking sheet (it should fall apart pretty easily after cooking several hours), pour or brush the reserved sauce over the top, and broil for 2-3 minutes in the oven. It only takes a few minutes, and it adds a nice layer of texture and flavor.

Enjoy!

Your Friday 4-Course Meal

Appetizer (a quick bite): Bacon and Brussels Sprouts Salad. This looks perfectly delightful.

Entree (something to chew on for awhile): This is an old piece by Dane Ortlund, but still every bit as relevant and remarkable as the day it was written. The Grace of God in the Bible. God's grace. Our only hope. In every single book.

Dessert (just for fun):  Because what's more fun than a barrel (barrow?) of monkeys? ;-)

Coffee (sip and savor slowly and repeatedly): You cannot love Jesus without loving the Bible. If you think you do, you only love the Jesus you invented.  ~Matt Chandler (and John 1:1)

The Good List

10. This awesome new self-draining non-stick griddle that my sister got me as a (completely unnecessary) hostess gift while she was here last month. I told her she should have kept it for herself, but I'm glad she didn't. :-)

9. NOT traveling this Christmas. (This has only happened twice in my entire adult life.) And to be clear, it is always worth it to get my family all together. But to have them all come to me this year was pretty awesome.

8. On a similar note--NOT gaining any weight during the holidays this year. It can be difficult to find healthy food options when I'm away from home for several days at a time (usually at least a week during the holidays), but this year it was much easier to stay on track since most of my meals happened in my own kitchen. (But no worries--there were plenty of splurge-tastic options for those of my guests who don't eat like I do.) :-D

7. Beets. They're very underrated. Delicious, much more versatile than most people think, and so good for your body!

6. THIS! My sister customized a gorgeous piece of slate for me. Such a thoughtful and personal gift! So special to me!

5. My brother-in-law made me a porch swing and hauled it all the way up here from Texas. I can't wait to get it installed on the back porch when the weather gets a little warmer.

4. Hanging out with a bald eagle during the holidays. I haven't seen him in awhile, but he made several appearances last month. So amazing!

3. Getting back into this. It's been set aside for way too long (for pretty good reasons I suppose), but still.... I've missed it. 

2. Sisters. I love 'em.

1. Hosting my WHOLE CRAZY FAMILY for a week-long Christmas/New Year party! This is the first time we've had the space/location to accommodate everyone. It was so good to have them all here!

My Favorite Kitchen Sidekick

Wanna meet him? He's right here:

This is possibly the best $20 I've ever spent for my kitchen. I use this little guy ALL. THE. TIME! Here are some of my favorite ways:

Mexican buffet night: Seasoned beef + seasoned chicken + beans makes a perfect foundation for a Mexican food bar.

Variety appetizers: Put sausage or meatballs in all 3 containers and add a different sauce to each one.

Leftovers: When you only have a serving or two of three different soups or stews, just dump each one into a separate compartment an hour before dinner time, and let everyone serve themselves their favorite.

Side dishes for big meals: When you're preparing a huge meal that requires lots of oven time for multiple dishes, prepare your sides ahead of time and keep them warm here. This keeps the oven free for your main dish(es).

Stocking the fridge or freezer: Cook up a big batch of quinoa, caramelized onions and roasted garlic to keep on hand and throw into recipes throughout the week.

Hot tea: If you are hosting a large tea party, prepare 3 kinds of tea ahead of time and have them ready to go. You can still put the kettle on and have other varieties available, but this will give your guests a ready option in case one kettle of hot water isn't enough to serve them all at once.

These are just a few ideas, but I'm sure there are 1000 more that are just as good or even better. And just to prove to you that you really can get one of these for only around $20, here is a link:

West Bend Triple Slow Cooker

That one is a little different from mine, but it would serve the exact same purpose. I'm sure you could spend ten times more than that for something similar, but that would be completely unnecessary. Mine was only $20. I've had it for years, and it works beautifully.

So no recipe today. Just a suggestion as to how to make lots of recipes easier to prepare and present. Enjoy!

Almond Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

Let me go ahead and admit that I have never been able to get these cookies to *look* as good as their packed-with-sugar-and-carbs cousins. They are not the prettiest cookies I've ever made. 

BUT.

They are possibly some of the healthiest cookies I've ever made. Zero flour. Honey instead of sugar. Mostly all natural ingredients. Not saying you should eat them every day. But if you really need a cookie every now and then and don't want to fill your body with tons of carbs and sugar, this is a good alternative. And what they lack in beauty, they make up for in taste. Every bit as delicious as any other cookie I've tasted.

Ingredients:

1 cup almond butter

1/3-1/2 cup honey (this really depends on how sweet you like your sweets, but I will say that I like things pretty sweet, and I only use 1/3 cup)

1 egg

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup dark chocolate chips (you can leave these out if you want to completely avoid sugar, but if you use dark chocolate, the sugar content is pretty low, and this 1/2 cup dispersed throughout the entire batch is pretty insignificant unless you eat them all at once. ;-) Which... I mean... no judgment if that's what you need to do. Sometimes it's just that kind of day. I get it.)

2/3 cup chopped roasted almonds

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Prepare baking stone (my favorite) or line baking sheets with parchment paper.

3. Mix together first seven ingredients, making sure honey is fully incorporated. (If it isn't, your cookies will turn to lace.)

4. Stir in chocolate chips and roasted almonds. (Alternatively, you could sprinkle the almonds over the top of the cookies after scooping them onto your baking sheets. It makes them look a little better, but it's a lot of extra work that doesn't change the taste. Up to you.)

5. Scoop onto cookie sheet and bake 8-13 minutes or until lightly browned. Let cool before serving.

*These save well for up to a couple weeks, but I suggest storing them between pieces of parchment or wax paper. They stay pretty moist, so they tend to clump together if you just pile them into a container.

The Good List

10. The smells of Christmastime.

9. Amazon Prime. Particularly at Christmastime. ;-)

8. My sister and brother-in-law's new toy and all of the fun family adventures it promises to provide.

7. The mash-up of O Come All Ye Faithful and Sing to the King we sang on Monday night. So so good. Maybe my new favorite Christmas Carol.

6. Our newly reupholstered cushion (thanks to my friend Ann Gordon) for the church pew we brought with us from Vermont. This is a treasure to me.

5. The sunset that greeted us immediately upon arrival into Hutchinson Monday evening. I didn't have my good camera with me, but this is what I captured with my phone (with no filter), and I can assure you this does it no justice. Just glorious.

4. The sweet little deer that I get to enjoy almost any time I take an extended walk around the lake. LOVE!

IMG_0066.jpg

3. Indoor skydiving. I pretty please want to do this every single day...

...even though it completely wrecked my hair. :-D

2. Crestview Bible Church. Such a welcoming and caring group of people. And so eager to know Christ and understand the Gospel better. What a joy and blessing to spend time with them this week!

1. Ephesians 1:3-14, in which we learn among other amazing truths that we are SEALED with the promised Holy Spirit. I can't read or remind myself enough. It's beyond comprehension really.

Stuffed Jalapenos

True story-- When we lived in Vermont, every single time I made these peppers, I would make enough for an extra tray to put into the freezer of some of my favorite people, Mark and Jeff. These were their favorite.  After we all moved away from each other, I stopped making them, because it made me too sad. But Mark came to visit last month, so I got to make them again! YAY! So yummy and so much fun to share!

Ingredients:

1 lb. ground hot Italian sausage

20ish jalapenos, cut in half lengthwise, seeds removed

1 8-oz. block cream cheese, softened (I use Neufchatel, which is a little lighter but still with all the creaminess.)

1 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1 medium onion, diced

3 cloves garlic, finely minced

1/2 to 1 cup cooked red quinoa

sriracha to taste

Tony Chachere's seasoning to taste

shredded cheddar and/or Parmesan for topping peppers

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

2. Place seeded jalapeno halves into shallow glass baking dish. If desired, pre-cook for 10-15 minutes to soften and mild. (The longer the peppers cook, the milder they become, so use your judgment as to how much you might like to mellow the heat. You can start from raw or pre-cook up to 15 minutes.)

3. Cook sausage until browned and set aside.

4. Discard excess oil, and then use same pan to caramelize onions and garlic.

5. In large bowl, mix cream cheese and Parmesan.

6. Add sausage, garlic and onion, sriracha, Tony Chachere's, and quinoa, and mix well.

7. Fill peppers and top each with shredded cheese of your choice. My favorite is cheddar, but use whatever tastes best to you.

8. Bake for 20 minutes or until filling is fully heated and cheese is bubbly and browned.

Stuffed Pepper Soup

This is one of my favorite soups of all time. It is so hearty, so healthy, so flavorful and so filling. It freezes beautifully, and it tastes even better leftover, so there's no such thing as too much. Get out your biggest pot. You'll be glad you did.

Ingredients:

1-1/2 to 2 pounds lean ground beef

3-4 peppers, any color, diced (but use variety if you can) My favorite thing to do is use 1 of each--green, yellow, orange and red

1 large onion, diced

6 cloves garlic, finely minced

4-6 tomatoes, finely diced (or you can use 2 cans petite diced or crushed tomatoes)

2 cans tomato sauce

2-4 cups low sodium chicken broth (use as much or as little as you like to get the consistency you prefer.)

3 cups pre-cooked quinoa (red is my favorite, but any kind will do)

sriracha, Tony Chachere's seasoning, and salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:

1. In large soup pot or dutch oven, brown ground beef and drain.

2. Add peppers, onion, and garlic and cook just until vegetables become very fragrant and begin to soften.

3. Add tomatoes, tomato sauce and chicken broth and simmer for at least 30 minutes over medium heat or up to several hours on low heat. (You can't really overcook this. The longer is simmers, the better the flavor. Just make sure the heat is low enough to avoid any scorching.)

4. Add Sriracha, Tony Chachere's seasoning, salt and pepper to taste.

5. When ready to serve, ladle into bowls and top with cooked red quinoa. (You could really add raw quinoa to the soup at the same time you add the tomato sauce and broth and let it cook in the soup. I like to use pre-cooked and add it right when the soup is ready to eat just to make sure it maintains the texture I like best, but it would be delicious either way.)




Pan-Roasted Shrimp with Jalapeno-Cream Sauce

My husband started searching for a good, authentic Cajun food restaurant almost the minute he moved to Kansas City. It took awhile, but he finally found one that feels exactly like my great Uncle Dave's back porch (which probably sounds weird, but I promise that's a compliment). Basically, it's the epitome of good food, friends and family and that whole "Laissez Les Bon Temps Rouler" vibe. (Let the good times roll.) 

And because I'm me, I am now on a mission to recreate all of our favorite dishes from there at home. ;-) This is the first attempt. I wouldn't say it was exactly the same, but my whole family agreed that it was delicious and worth sharing. So here you go! See if you agree!

Ingredients:

1 pound shrimp, peeled and deveined

1 large jalapeno, seeded and finely chopped

2 tablespoons leek, finely chopped

1 teaspoon minced garlic

4 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 tablespoon olive oil

1/2 cup seafood stock

2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice

zest of one lime

3/4 cup heavy cream

salt to taste

Tony Chachere's seasoning to taste

Instructions:

1. Add 1 tablespoon butter and 1 tablespoon olive oil to nonstick or cast iron pan. When melted together (over medium heat), add shrimp and saute until just pink. Remove from pan. (Don't overcook. You will add the shrimp back to the sauce later to finish the cooking process.)

2. Add another tablespoon of butter to the pan and throw in jalapeno, leek and garlic. Saute until wilted and fragrant.

3. Add seafood stock and increase heat to bring to a boil. Add lime juice and zest and stir together. Add cream and return to boil. Reduce until cream thickens to desired consistency.

4. Reduce heat and add butter. Stir until melted, then season with salt and Tony Chachere's seasoning.

5. Add shrimp, toss to coat and allow to simmer until cooked through. (This should only take a minute or two.)

I served this over seasoned red quinoa, but it would be great over rice or pasta or even a steak or a piece of fish.


Sweet and Savory Ham Steak

This is so simple, it hardly seems right to call it a recipe. But y'all are busy, and you need some simple, yummy recipes. Am I right? This is a good one. It takes about 2 minutes to throw together, and if you scramble up some eggs and wash some fruit or veggies while it's in the oven, you can have a complete healthy and delicious meal in a matter of minutes.

Ingredients:

Ham Steaks (about 1-1/2 to  pounds)

6 tablespoons coconut sugar

6 tablespoons water

4 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

2 tablespoons mustard (I used Dijon, but any kind would work.)

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon Tony Chachere's seasoning (optional)

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees.

2. Mix together all ingredients except ham and Tony Chachere's.

3. Place ham in baking dish and pour basting liquid over the top.

4. Bake for about 10 minutes, until ham is heated through and sauce is bubbly and slightly thickened.

5. Serve by sprinkling with Tony Chachere's (if desired) and spooning a bit of pan sauce over the top.