Steak with Mashed Sweet Potatoes

It was one of those days where you have perfect weather and you want to stay outside as long as possible to soak up the sunshine and warmth. I LOVE those kinds of days!

Dinner Menu:

Steak
sauteed mushrooms and onions
chopped spinach
mashed sweet potatoes


Starting with the sweet potatoes, you cook them almost the same exact way you cook regular potatoes. Sweet potatoes tend to be a lot harder, so pop them in the microwave for 30 seconds to soften them up. I learned this lesson the hard way and one day I cut my finger and had to get stitches. Needless to say, it took a while for me to get the courage to cook with sweet potatoes.

 Once the sweet potatoes are finished cooking (should be fork tender) drain them. I use coconut oil and a tad bit of butter when I am mashing them. I have used just milk and butter. I don't add salt, just because I don't think it needs it. You will know what you like best.

 Got 2 steaks put on the grill. I grill each steak for 7 minutes each side. Make sure your meat is room temperature before putting it on the grill to ensure it cooks evenly.

 Here is the finished product. I cooked up a frozen package of chopped spinach as well as sauteed onions and mushrooms in olive oil and garlic. 

It was delicious. Mike and I barely got any of the mashed sweet potatoes because Mason kept eating off our plate. He LOVES mashed sweet potatoes. 

Here is my little partner in crime. He is trying to eat peas with a fork. Even I can't do that! 

Just a thought...

So Melissa and I were talking yesterday about how the girls came home saying "Mom, tomorrow is picture day!" Well she had just gotten finished paying for books at the book fair so to have another unexpected expense of pictures was a tad irritating to her. I know the majority of our blog friends have great cameras and know how to use them well. So here is what I suggested to her: take your own picture of your child. Upload it onto a picture editing software (picnik, photoshop, etc) and let the kids make their own designs on the picture. Send the picture to Walgreens when you are done and print off as many pictures as you need to send to family members and friends. I can tell you that I would rather get a homemade picture of one of my nieces than a school picture. I know the kids would love to decorate their picture with their name, flowers, peace signs, the year...whatever their little heart desires.

When you are done, put them in a scrapbook and one day you will be able to look back and see how the kids minds change as far as their decorating and personal taste.

The economy is hitting people hard, look outside the box to see how you can save each and every penny. My mom told me a package of bacon was $8.99 at the grocery! WHAT??? What kind of pig did they slaughter to get such expensive bacon? Ridiculous!

3 pictures for $25.00 is insanity...you could print 30 homemade (with love) pictures through Walgreens in a wallet form if you want for $2.00!

Ok, I am done ranting! :o)

Besides, they get one shot...you really want to look at something like this forever???

Salmon & Salad

So I don't have a particular recipe to share with you, but in case you needed an easy healthy dinner idea I am posting this.

Tonight I made pan-seared salmon over a bed of quinoa with a side salad.

Tonight I made the quinoa with 2 cups of chicken stock to give the quinoa more flavor. Once fully cooked I stirred in a tablespoon of coconut oil. The salmon was seasoned with salt & pepper and cooked in coconut oil.

It was delicious! Give it a shot!

Chicken and Wild Rice Soup

Ingredients:

2 chicken breasts
5-6 small/medium carrots, chopped
3 celery stalks, chopped
1/2 large onion, diced
8 mushrooms, sliced
1 (32oz) box of chicken stock
8 cups of water
1/2-1 tsp minced garlic
1/2 cup wild rice
1 tsp salt (more or less to your liking)
1/2 tsp black pepper (more or less to your liking)

In a large pot, add water and chicken, and bring to a boil.  Boil the chicken until fully cooked, about 20-30 mins.  Heat a sautee pan on medium (spray pan, or you can use a little oil), add the carrots, celery, and onions.  Cook only until the onion is transparent (do not allow to carmelize).  Remove from heat and set aside.



Once, the chicken is fully cooked, remove from the pot and cut up in to chunks.                              

Finally, add to your pot (the pot should still have the juices/broth from the boiled chicken) the box of stock.  Add the chicken, veggies, garlic, salt, pepper, and wild rice.  Bring to a boil.   Cover, reduce heat to low, and simmer for 55 mins (look on the package of the rice to see how long it needs to be cooked, this will determine the total ramaining cooking time).

**Growing up, we always added dill to my mom's chicken soup, and I have now passed it down to my family, and my kids love it. Don't knock it, until you try it ;)** 

Homemade Mac n' Cheese

Ingredients:

2 Tbsp of real butter
2 Tbsp flour
2 cups of milk
1/2-1 tsp dry mustard (optional)
1/2 lb of shredded cheese, any flavor (you can add more if you like really cheesy mac n' cheese)
1 1/2 cups of elbow macaroni (cooked and drained)

Cook the macaroni according to the package.  While your macaroni is cooking...melt the butter in a saucepan (do not allow the butter to burn), add the four and stir to make a rue.  Gradually add the milk, and stir until smooth.  Add the cheese (I chose mozzarella, and colby cheese) stir until smooth.  Stir in the mustard.  Add the cooked macaroni and mix well!  You can add salt and pepper to your taste.

WOW! We have been awarded!

This is a first and hopefully not a last! Thank you so much Jen from The Life of a Weber Girl! You are too sweet and we appreciate the shout out! We don't have 8 followers yet, but that will change soon (you guys hear us out there???) so I will award the awesome girls that choose to follow us as of now. Besides we have to remember who were there before the stardom right? :o)

1. Sarah Westman @ We Are The Westmans

2. Angel Perry @ This Life is Sweet

3. Kelly Clark @ The Clark Clan 

4. Ambrosia Clark @ Ambrosia Clark

5. Tessa Galindo @ Our Crazy Beautiful Life

8 Facts about us????

1. We are both married with children
2. We love HOT Arizona summers
3. We haven't always been great cooks, we have had some real doozies and the husband's have had to be taste testers whether they liked it or not.
4. We were both born in Southern Arizona. (Ft. Huachuca & Sierra Vista)
5. We had a male calico cat when we teenagers that my mom neutered and could've sold for thousands of dollars because they are rare for breeding (don't usually live after birth).
6. We loved flying in the backwards seats when we would visit our dad in Texas.
7. We were in a jewelry commercial when we were younger.
8. Our families always seem to be on the move!

Hope you enjoy our blog. Thank you again Jen for the award! If you try any of our recipes, please let us know how they work out for you!

Blog Re-Vamp

Please bear with us as we work to make this blog amazing. Since Melissa and I have ZERO idea on how to do this, we are waiting on the master of creation! In the meantime, don't worry your pretty faces, you can still view the blog for recipes {At least I don't think I broke that component} :o)

Red Beans & Rice with Turkey Sausage

Ingredients

1 turkey kielbasa (turkey sausage)

1 can dark red kidney beans, drained & rinsed

1 cup brown rice

2 ¼ cup of low-sodium chicken broth

1 medium onion, chopped

1 red bell pepper, chopped

3 stalks celery, chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

2 tbsp olive oil

1/8 tsp crushed red pepper flakes

Directions

Pour water and chicken broth into rice cooker or 1 quart saucepan with lid. Add the rice. Cook for 30-45 minutes, until rice has absorbed all the liquid.

While the rice is cooking, place the kielbasa on a foil-lined baking sheet and bake in the oven at 350* for 30 minutes, until heated through and casing has darkened.

Once the kielbasa is done, remove from oven and set aside to cool.

Heat olive oil in large frying pan over medium heat. Add the onion, bell pepper, celery, garlic and red pepper flakes and cook until onion is translucent.

Slice kielbasa into ¼” slices and add to frying pan.

Once the rice is finished cooking, add to the frying pan. Stir in all ingredients together, cook another 5 minutes stirring often, and serve.

*You can adjust the red pepper flakes for more or less “heat”. I put in ¼ tsp and didn’t even notice it. 

My Helper today in the kitchen!