Filet Mignon for dinner and a review

I am a proud member of the Foodie Blogroll and through them I was able to sample some product from Certified Steak & Seafood Company.

A little bit about them in their words...

Our commitment to our customers is simple: Offer the highest quality products at the best price and back it with a 100% guarantee. We source directly with no 'middle man' making our supply chain the shortest in the industry. This allows us to maintain the highest quality standards all the way to your plate. On top of this, we sample all products at the moment of final packaging and have a world-renowned laboratory test for various types of adulteration or contamination. This ensures that the food you purchase from us is pure and safe.

Certified Steak and Seafood Company was formed by the three Frisch boys, Mark, Adam, and Steven; all of whom thought that everyone should be able to buy the highest quality steaks and seafood direct. The brothers experience comes from a three generation family owned wholesale company that is one of the largest seafood importers in America.

They have vast experience in sourcing and selling high quality seafood and meat products to the commercial trade — and bring you the same grade of products fine restaurants, resorts, hotels, and high-end retail stores demand – and at a direct price that gives you tremendous value for every purchase.

I was lucky enough to be sent several of their Prime Angus Filet Mignon to sample and review and I have to say they were delicious.  This is like the steaks we used to get in our restaurant days.  Sure do miss those days but at least now I know where I can get good steaks again!  

All we did was season them with our standard grill spice (recipe below) and grilled them on a charcoal grill to medium rare. 

Grill Spice 

Can be used to season steak, chicken, seafood, pork and veggies

Ingredients:

1 Tbsp granulated garlic
1/2 tsp black pepper
1-1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
1/4 tsp cayenne
1/2 tsp paprika

Directions:

Sprinkle to taste on any meat that you are about to grill, bake or broil.

A bit about the meat in their own words just in case you don't believe mine...LOL!


Buttery Prime Angus Filet Mignon

If there was ever a steak that you will believe can “melt in your mouth” the Certified Steak and Seafood Prime angus Filet Mignon is it. With a delectable almost sweet beef flavor, and a strong buttery undertone that only Prime angus offers, it has to be tasted to be believed.

Each Prime angus filet is slow aged,  custom cut and trimmed for consistency in color and quality. It is a flavor you will remember long after your meal is over. Great accompanied by grilled root vegetables and horseradish mashed potatoes.

Be sure to visit Certified Steak & Seafood Company to learn more and see all the wonderful product that they offer and while your there use the below coupon code to get $25 off your order!  You can also follow them on their Facebook page, Twitter and Pinterest

This sponsorship is brought to you by Certified Steak & Seafood Company who we have partnered with for this promotion.  All opinions are my own...

Skillet Queso Dip (Chili's copy cat recipe)

Love, love, love Chili's Skillet Queso Dip and I was in need of an appetizer to take to a party this week.  As luck would have it Tony came home with this recipe and all of the ingredients for it! 

You have to try it.  It's dead on...

Chili's Skillet Queso Dip (Cheerios and Lattes)

Ingredients:

• 16-ounce box Velveeta Cheese
• 1 c. milk
• 2 teaspoons paprika
• ½ tsp. ground cayenne pepper
• 15-ounce can Hormel Chili (No Beans)
• 4 tsp. chili powder
• 1 tablespoon lime juice
• ½ tsp. ground cumin

Directions:

1. Cut the Velveeta into cubes. Combine the cheese with the remaining ingredients in a medium saucepan over medium heat.
2. Stir frequently until cheese melts.

Serve hot with tortilla chips

A Day of Social Media Silence In Honor of Newtown, CT

Apple Pie Oatmeal in my Slow Cooker

Christmas is coming!  Bet you knew that already...*sigh* and I am so far behind already.  No cookies made, no presents wrapped and the house only half decorated.  But on the plus side I already know what I am making for Christmas morning breakfast!

I have wanted to test the slow cooker method of making oatmeal for a while and last night seemed like a perfect time to do it.  And I sure am glad that I did.

When I posted on FB this morning about making it... "I made apple pie oatmeal in the slow cooker last night.  Not only did I get to smell it all night long but I got to wake up to a ready made breakfast!  It's a good day..." I ended up with many recipe requests for this.  So hence the hasty post!

Apple Pie Oatmeal in the Slow Cooker

I made a double batch because I wanted it to last more than one day but this is the single batch which will feed 4 easily.

Ingredients:

• 3 Cups of water
• 1 Cup of Steel Ground Oats
• 2 apples peeled and diced
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon or apple pie spice

Directions:  

• Using a 3 quart or larger slow cooker combine all ingredients
• Allow to cook on low for 5-6 hours.  (I woke up during the night and turned it onto the warm setting and allowed it to sit the rest of the night but it could have easily cooked the night.)
• Serve with butter, brown sugar and a little bit of milk

***Love, love, love this recipe and will be making it again and again.  I would love to try adding raisins and cardamom, dried apricots,  or any other dried fruit.

Happy Thanksgiving

May your stuffing be tasty
May your turkey be plump,
May your potatoes and gravy
have nary a lump.

May your yams be delicious
and your pies take the prize,
and may your Thanksgiving dinner
stay off your thighs!

–Unknown

Cilantro and Onion Salsa

It seems that we end up eating tacos quite often.  Usually once a week at least.  Sometimes it's just regular tacos with ground beef.  Other times it's pork or chicken.  Regardless of what type of filling our tacos have I always like to have something fresh to go with them, so generally we have tacos on Thursday nights because the Farmer's Market is Thursday morning.  I will make guacamole, pico de gallo, or salsa depending on what I can get that looks good that particular week.

Well this past week sucked for produce.  In Florida we're at that in between stage.  The farms in GA are just about done and nothing here has started producing yet.  Grrrrr.  I was able to get some nice cilantro but the tomatoes were crap.

So what was I going to do for tacos tonight?  Then I remembered a delicious condiment type thing we had when we were in Cozumel that came with the carnitas.  I think I did a pretty close re-creation and Tony loved it...

Cilantro and Onion Salsa

Ingredients:

1 red or white onion, diced
1 bunch of cilantro, picked and rough chopped
1 jalapeno, small diced (more or less depending on the heat you want)
juice of 1 lime
1 tsp garlic powder
salt to taste

Directions:

Mix all ingredients in a bowl.
Cover and refridgerate for about 2 hours to allow the flavors to meld.
Serve with any type of tacos, nachos, or with chips.

Chicken Alfredo Lasagna

Every once in a while you make a meal that is good.  I mean so good that you think maybe you should start a food blog so that you could blog it.  You know, post pictures and post the recipe?  And then you realize that Hey!  You already have a food blog to do all that on but the last month was too crazy and you didn't get a chance to photograph or post any of the great meals you made...

Last nights dinner was enough to make anyone start a food blog.  I had been texting a friend (Love you!) on Sunday to try and give her some dinner inspiration when I found some myself.  Took til Tuesday night to follow through but it was worth the wait.

I was inspired by a pinterest post for Chicken Alfredo Roll-ups but seeing as it was a busy weeknight I knew this was gong to be too much time invested for me so I had to change it around and this is how it went...

Chicken Alfredo Lasagna

Ingredients:

• 6 no boil lasagna noodles 
• 2 1/2 Cups alfredo sauce (you can make your own but I was tight for time so used some Bertoli garlic alfredo sauce)
• 2 Cups cooked chicken, cut or shredded into bite sized pieces (I had roasted a chicken the night before but rotisserie chicken would work well for this)
• 1 Cup thawed frozen spinach, drained and squeezed dry
• salt 
• pepper
• 3 Cups shredded mozzarella cheese
• parsley for sprinkling on top to make it look pretty

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350º
• Grease a 8X8 casserole dish and spread a small amount of alfredo sauce on the bottom of the dish
• Place 3 lasagna noodles on the bottom (you'll have to break them to fit) and spread alfredo sauce on the noodles.
• Evenly spread the chicken and spinach, salt and pepper to taste and sprinkle with about half of the mozzarella cheese
• Cover with the remaining 3 lasagna noodles, top with the remaining sauce and cheese.  Sprinkle with some parsley to make it look pretty
• Cover and bake for about 45 minutes, uncover and bake for about 15 more.
• Allow to rest for about 15 minutes and serve with a salad for a delicious week night meal.

I used the baking time to help out with homework and finish the laundry so it was time well spent!

Perfect Cupcakes for Back to School!

I bake.  I bake alot...

One of the reasons that I bake so much is that I like for the kiddos to have snacks to take to school in their lunch that isn't completely full of artificial ingredients.  When I bake something for them I generally know what they are eating.  But I have always had a problem when trying to send cakes or cupcakes with them to school.

Then it hit me!  All over Pinterest (follow me there) I kept seeing posts of Mason jar cupcakes.  Great idea but I didn't have any mason jars and wasn't going to go and buy some just to make cute cupcakes in. Then it hit me.  I can use the same idea using the cute little Mini Round Glad® Food Storage Containers!!!

Banana Cupcakes

Genius I say!  And the kids love them.  Lauren asks for them everyday!!!  They get to take cupcakes to school with no mess or worries about squishing and gooeying eveything up!!!

Simply make your cupcakes as you usually would in the oven using a cupcake tin (not these Glad® Food Storage Containers!!!) and once they are cooled remove the paper line and drop them into your Glad® Mini Round container.  Do not put the frosting on them until you have put them in the Glad® Mini Round.  Once they are in there then you can put the frosting on them using a pastry bag!

Be sure to attach a spoon to the Glad® Mini Round container so your kiddo will have something to eat it with at school.  A ribbon would have been really cute but an elastic band works just as well!

Banana Cupcakes (from Mom’s Who Think)

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 large eggs, beaten
2 cups flour, sifted
1/2 tsp. of salt
1/4 tsp. baking powder
1/2 cup milk
1/4 tsp. vanilla
3/4 tsp. baking soda (add to pureed bananas)
3 pureed bananas, very ripe

Cream Cheese Frosting:

1/2 stick butter, softened
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
1 box powdered sugar (1 lb.)
2 tsp. vanilla extract

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line muffin cups (2-1/2 inches in diameter) with paper bake cups.
2. Cream butter, sugar and eggs. Sift flour several times, then add the salt and baking powder to the flour.
3. To the creamed butter mixture, add the milk and flour (alternating, beginning and ending with flour).
4. Add vanilla and mashed bananas (with the baking soda added to the bananas) to this mixture.
5. Fill cups 1/2 full with batter. Bake 20 to 23 minutes. Test with a toothpick for doneness. Cool completely. Peel off paper baking cups and place in Glad® Mini Rounds and frost

Frosting Directions:
1. Mix cream cheese and butter until smooth, add sugar and vanilla and blend well. Spoon into a piping bag with tip and frost cupcakes.

**If you have any really cool Back to School recipes, tips or ideas head on over to Glad's Facebook page for a chance to win a "Lunch Kit" for your kids entire class just by sharing!!!

I have partnered with The Glad Products Company through DailyBuzz Moms to help promote their Food Storage products. I have been compensated for my time commitment to review this product. However, my opinions are entirely my own and I have not been paid to publish positive comments. Thank you GLAD!

Mediterranean Quinoa Salad

I keep trying to eat healthier.  I know I should but the cakes, cookies and candies just keep screaming my name.  I've gotten so bad that I even put frosting on muffins and cookies half the time right now.

But I was craving something that was good for me so I wanted to make this Orzo Mediterranean Salad and bought all the ingredients to do it (sort of).  When I went to make it for my lunch I found I was out of orzo.  Coulda sworn I saw some just the other day :-( But I did find some Quinoa...

Mediterranean Quinoa Salad

Ingredients:

1 cup uncooked quinoa
1/2 cup zucchini , cubed ( I threw it in with the quinoa to cook in the last 5 minutes of cooking)
1/2 of a red pepper, chopped
1/2 cup black olives, pick your favorite, coarsely chopped
8 pieces of sundried tomatoes, finely chopped 
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil  
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar (you could use white)
1/2 tsp. dried basil (or 1 tsp fresh, chopped)
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
1/2 tsp. black pepper
feta cheese, crumbled, to taste (I like ALOT!!!)

Directions:

1. Cook  1 cup of quinoa in 2 cups of water for about 10-15 minutes or until cooked. Add the zucchini in the last 5 minutes of cooking.  Allow to cool.
2. Combine red, pepper, olives, sundried tomatoes, olive oil, vinegar, basil, salt and pepper in a large bowl.  Add cooked and cooled quinoa and stir well.  Stir in feta cheese and basil just before serving.

Banana Walnut Muffins

I love a simple recipe.  I mean a recipe that doesn't require me to pull out any special equipment, hunt and gather any hard to find ingredients, and comes together quick and easy and still tastes delicious.  Especially now that the kids are back in school (YES, already!).  And that's actually how this recipe came together.  School lunches...

I found a half eaten banana in Lauren's lunch box last night.  Cut off the chewed end and saved it.  Then remembered that I had some others in the freezer and a bag of California Walnuts that was sent to me while I was away on vacation last month.  So this morning I gathered everything together and made these delicious little banana walnut muffins!

Fast, simple and delicious...

Banana Walnut Muffins (from Simply Recipes)

Ingredients

• 3 or 4 ripe bananas, smashed
• 1/3 cup melted butter
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 Tbsp espresso or strong coffee (optional/I skipped this but would love to try it next time)
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• Pinch of salt
• 1 1/2 cup of flour
• 1 cup chopped walnuts (toasted or raw)

Directions

1 Preheat the oven to 350°F. With a wooden spoon, mix butter into the mashed bananas in a large mixing bowl.

2 Mix in the sugar, egg, espresso (if using)  and vanilla.

3 Sprinkle the baking soda and salt over the mixture and mix in.

4 Add the flour, mix until it is just incorporated. Fold in the chopped walnuts.

5 Pour mixture into a prepared muffin tin. Bake for 25-30 minutes. Check for doneness with a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin. If it comes out clean, it's done. Cool on a rack.

Yield: Makes 12 muffins.

***A big thanks and shout out to the folks at California Walnuts for supplying me with walnuts!!! Check out their website for some cool ideas and info.

So we were away for a while...

We hit the highway July 1st and didn't stop til July 28th...
4700 miles, time with family and friends, many shared meals, and countless rest area breaks.  Here's the month in photos...

Swimming with cousins at Grandma's house in PA...

 

 4th of July Fun...

Racing in Pittsburgh for the Stars N' Stripes National

More family in Toronto...

More BMX at Milton BMX in Canada...

Dinner at La Cantina in Toronto with friends old and new...

Onto Illinois and fun reconnecting with an old friend...

Onto the Midwest National in Rockford, IL...

Cottage life somewhere in Wisconsin...

Heading home with a quick pitstop at Derby City BMX in Louisville, KY...

And yes, I'd do it all again tomorrow!  Nothing in the world like a road trip with just me and my girls!!!

Winner of the Comet Stainless Steel Cleanser Caddy is...

Mami2jcn

Congratulations!  Hope you love it as much as I do!