Category: OKK MEMES & PRIOR CONTRIBUTORS

IT’S TIME FOR SOME FOOTBALL FOOD!

We’re HUGE football fans!  Well, it’s that time of year again! Football season is already several weeks old (where does the time go?) and that means it’s time for tailgating again at the games, serious football food and game day buffets.  Bring over your best appetizers and your biggest appetite and oh don’t forget the Brewskis to go with it all.  I like mine really cold please with a side of lime!
Tailgating Time will be posted every Sunday at noon and open all week for you to add your football favorites. We’ll play each and every week until Superbowl Sunday. I can’t wait to see what you’ll be bringing!
It’s Tailgating Time!
HOSTED BY:
Martha at Seaside Simplicity 
Tamy at 3 sides of Crazy 
Lyndsey at Tiny Skillet

Would you like to be a host of Tailgating Time too? 
Leave me a comment here with your email or with Martha over at Seaside Simplicity so we can send you the code and add you to the host list – more exposure, more links, more football food!

London Broil with Spicy Chimichurri

First, I must say thank you to Chris for asking me to guest post for him.  I was so excited when I received his email!  I love to grill…actually, love doesn’t even describe it correctly, it’s more than that…grilling is in my blood.  For me, being asked to guest post on Fire Day Friday is like a home cook being asked to star in their own show on the Food Network!!
But enough with this embarrassing gushing, let me introduce myself.  I’m Jenn from Jenn’s Food Journey.  I have a love affair with cooking and, of course, grilling.  I had no desire to cook when I was younger.  Yes, I loved to help my mom or my grandma with certain little tasks in the kitchen, but that was it, I didn’t want to do the whole shebang.  It was much later in life when I found the passion and love I have for it now. Grilling is my true love, though.  When my boyfriend and I moved into our house together, my parents gave us the best house warming gift ever: A GRILL!!  As soon we got it set up, I immediately wanted to start cooking on it.  From that point on, I grilled 6 nights a week for 3 months straight. (Seriously!)  Despite all the hours standing at the grill, I still do not claim to be a master griller (is that an actually word? who cares, I like it)…but every now and then I truly shock myself with my creations……like this one I’ll be sharing with you today…yes, I’m finally getting to why I’m really here!!
I made my first Chimichurri -an Argentinean sauce similar to pesto- back in August.  I had recently come in possession of Steven Raichlen’s Planet Barbecue and knew his recipe for chimichurri would be one of the first ones I would try.  When Chris asked me to guest post my mind immediately started turning…what was I going to make?  I sorted through files with all kinds of grilling recipes and could not come up with a good idea.  Then it hit me.  I had a London Broil in my freezer that I had been wanting to use, why not do something with that?  (And by the way, I found out after purchasing this particular cut of meat, that London Broil is actually the way you prepare the cut of meat, not the cut itself.  London broil is broiling or grilling flank steak.  So even though the cut I bought said London Broil on the package, it’s really a cut of flank steak….I learned something new I guess!  So don’t worry if you can’t find “London Broil”, it’s really just flank steak!!)  Once I knew what kind of meat I was going to use, I started thinking about what to do with it.  Marinating?  Yes, that would be a good start.  A sauce maybe?  Well, yes, of course, I am a self proclaimed sauce lover.  But what kind???  hhhhmmmm… I have jalapenos…what about a fire roasted salsa of some kind??  DING! (that’s the light bulb going off in my head by the way)  The spicy chimichurri was born!  I am one that loves heat, you may not be, so to tone down this recipe, you can just use jalapenos, or better yet, use an Anaheim or poblano pepper instead.  Either way, this chimichurri will work fantastic on any cut of beef, chicken, or pork.  I hope you enjoy it as much as we did!

London Broil with Spicy Chimichurri
Created by Jenn’s Food Journey
Printable Recipe 
Ingredients:
For Marinade:
1 cup lager beer
3 Tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 Tablespoon honey
1 Tablespoon olive oil
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
2 cloves of garlic, smashed and roughly chopped
1/4 teaspoon Hungarian sweet paprika
1 1/4 lbs. London broil
For Spicy Chimichurri-
2 large garlic cloves, unpeeled
2 jalapeno peppers
1 Serrano pepper
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1 Tablespoon lime juice
1/4 cup packed fresh parsley, minced
3 Tablespoons olive oil
1/2 Roma tomato, finely diced (about 1 Tbls) 

Directions:

In a resealable bag or baking dish, mix together all the marinade ingredients.  Place the London Broil in the bag, seal, and marinate for at least 4 hours, but 8-24 is recommended.
Fire roast your garlic and peppers.  For the garlic: place unpeeled cloves in a square of foil, drizzle with olive oil, season with salt and pepper, and seal foil around it.  Place on preheated grill for about 5 minutes, or until the garlic becomes soft.  Squeeze garlic from the skins, mash with side of knife and mince.  For the peppers: rub with a little olive oil and place directly over the fire on the grill grates.  Allow to cook until the skins are black and blistered, about 8-10 minutes.  Place peppers in a bowl and cover with plastic wrap for 5 minutes.  When peppers have cooled a bit, peel skin, remove seeds, and then finely dice.
Heat grill to 350-400 degrees.  In a bowl, combine the garlic, peppers, and oregano.  Stir in the lime juice.  Add the parsley and the olive oil and mix to combine.  Fold in the tomatoes; set aside.
Remove the steak from the bag and discard the marinade.  Place the meat on the grill grate directly over the fire and close the lid.  Allow to cook for 4-10 minutes on each side, depending on your desired doneness. (Rare: 120-125 degrees; MedRare: 130-135 degrees; Medium: 140-145 degrees; MedWell: 150-155 degrees; WellDone: 160 degrees).  Remember to take the steak off about 5 degrees sooner then your desired doneness, they need to rest for at least 5 minutes and they will continue to cook.  Serve with chimichurri and enjoy!

Sloppy Joe Sliders on Green Onion Cilantro “Knot” Rolls

Good Morning my friends!

What a glorious last couple of weeks!  The air has a crispness, Fall is here and along with that is all the excitement of the coming seasons… 6 weeks to Thanksgiving and 10 weeks to Christmas!  I am already plotting Thanksgiving dinner, and these rolls, flavored with a Bobby Flay sauce were a successful experiment.


I posted the secret to that success over on my “real” site today (click HERE).


But the guts to these sliders are my regular sloppy Joe mix.  Don’t bother with the over salted, over processed, over chemical laced cans of goo.  This recipe is much tastier and better for you. 


1 pound lean ground beef
1/4 cup chopped onion
1/4 cup chopped green bell pepper
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon prepared yellow mustard
3/4 cup ketchup
3 teaspoons brown sugar
salt to taste
ground black pepper to taste

  • In a medium skillet over medium heat, brown the ground beef, onion, and green pepper; drain off liquids.
  • Stir in the garlic powder, mustard, ketchup, and brown sugar; mix thoroughly. Reduce heat, and simmer for 30 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

And that’s it…. Quick, simple and tasty… what more could you want?


Dave here from MY YEAR ON THE GRILL. It really is just this easy!  

 … I CAN COOK THAT! 

And so can you!
…

Green Chili Chicken and Lime Soup

I love chicken soup. Actually, I love homemade chicken soup.   
I’ve made this soup a number of times and each time it seems to get better and better.
I often cook a bunch of chicken and have bags of portioned cooked, shredded chicken in the freezer.  I cooked the rice early in the day so when it came time for dinner, this was able to be thrown together very quickly.  

We ate this with a pepper jack peach quesadilla with honey lime sour cream.  It was a wonderful meal!!  Very healthy and incredibly tasty!! 

Green Chili Chicken and Lime Soup Recipe
Adapted from Picky Palate
1 onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 cartons of chicken broth or 64 oz.
1 can Rotel with green chilies
2 – 4 oz. cans of green chilies
2 cups chicken, cooked and shredded
2 cups basmati rice, cooked
1/4 cup lime juice
1 1/2 tsp. cumin
Salt & pepper to taste
Handful of cilantro, chopped
Place onion in pan with cooking spray and cook for about 5 minutes.  Add garlic, cook for one minute.  Stir in chicken broth, tomatoes, green chilies, cooked chicken, cooked rice, lime juice and seasonings.  Cook for 5 minutes, taste and season with salt and pepper as desired.  Right before serving, add chopped cilantro. 
Total calories = 1162
6 servings = 194 calories per serving
Pepperjack Peach Quesadilla & Green Chili Chicken and Lime Soup = 485 calorie dinner
Check out Debbi Does Dinner Healthy for more recipes!

Save Room for Dessert…Pumpkin Pie Crumble Cake

In the past 2 weeks, I’ve received 3 emails from 3 different readers requesting recipes that regular/normal/average people would make.  I replied to all three, asking for a little more clarification, as I didn’t want to assume anything.  I thought I knew what they wanted, but assuming things has gotten me into more awkward situations than I care to admit.  As it turns out, I was correct, what they would like to see are recipes that use items like cake mix, canned soup, etc.  I’m all about making my readers happy; seriously, one of the reasons I do this because I love the interaction with all of you, so I’m happy to oblige.  That said, today’s post is from the Cake Mix Doctor cookbook, published in 1999.  I know that a newer version has recently been published, but I don’t know if this recipe was included.

I love all things pumpkin, be it cake, pie, or cheesecake.  This is a cross between a cake and a pie; I particularly like the crunchy topping.  The author suggests serving it with a sweetened cream, but I think it’s perfect as is; however, I’ve included the recipe for the cream.

Don’t forget to enter my giveaway to win a copy of Steff Deschenes award-winning book, The Ice Cream Theory!  Just make a comment about your favorite ice cream and you’re entered to win!  If you tweet or post about the giveaway, you get two extra entries, just leave me the links!  Good luck!

Pumpkin Pie Crumble Cake
1 yellow cake mix (I used Duncan Hines all-butter recipe)
1 stick butter, softened
4 large eggs
2 15-oz cans pumpkin
5 oz evaporated milk (I used half & half)
1 1/4 cups sugar, divided
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon cardamom*
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg*
4 tablespoons butter, chilled
1 cup chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Grease and flour a 13×9 baking dish.
Crust
Empty cake mix into a large mixing bowl and remove 1 cup of the cake mix and place in a medium-sized bowl; set aside (you will use this for the topping).
To the remaining cake mix, add 1 stick of butter and 1 egg.  Blend with an electric mixer until well-mixed.
Press mixture into prepared baking dish and set aside.
Filling
Combine the 2 cans of  pumpkin, half & half, 1 cup sugar, 3 eggs, cinnamon, cardamom, and nutmeg in a large bowl.
Beat together for 3 minutes.
Pour filling onto prepared crust.
Topping
Add the remaining 1/4 cup of sugar to the reserved 1 cup cake mix and stir. 
Using a pastry cutter or your fingers, knead in the butter and pecans to create the topping.
Evenly distribute the topping for the filling.
Bake for 70-75 minutes at 350 degrees until the center no longer jiggle.
Allow to cool for 20 minutes.
Slice into squares and serve.
If desired, top with sweetened cream.
Store leftovers in the refrigerator.

Sweetened Cream
2 cups heavy whipping cream
1/2 cup powdered sugar

Beat cream and powdered sugar together until stiff peaks form, about 3 minutes.
Use immediately.

**These were my additions – I love cardamom and nutmeg with pumpkin.

ARE YOU READY FOR SOME FOOTBALL????????????

We’re HUGE football fans!  Well, it’s that time of year again! Football season is already several weeks old (where does the time go?) and that means it’s time for tailgating again at the games, serious football food and game day buffets.  Bring over your best appetizers and your biggest appetite and oh don’t forget the Brewskis to go with it all.  I like mine really cold please with a side of lime!
Tailgating Time will be posted every Sunday at noon and open all week for you to add your football favorites. We’ll play each and every week until Superbowl Sunday. I can’t wait to see what you’ll be bringing!
It’s Tailgating Time!
HOSTED BY:
Martha at Seaside Simplicity 
Tamy at 3 sides of Crazy 
Lyndsey at Tiny Skillet
Would you like to be a host of Tailgating Time too? 

Leave me a comment here with your email or with Martha over at Seaside Simplicity so we can send you the code and add you to the host list – more exposure, more links, more football food!

aprons 3

GLAZED SESAME CHICKEN STIR FRY

Food around here has been a little bland and colorless recently.  So, I wanted to spice things up a bit and this recipe did the trick.  Everyone dug in and had seconds too.

GLAZED SESAME CHICKEN STIR FRY
1 pound chicken breasts, poached and shredded
1 red pepper, diced
3 green onions, sliced thin
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups broccoli florets, blanched 2-3 minutes
1 cup pineapple juice
1/2 cup hoisin sauce
1 tablespoon sesame oil
2 tablespoons cornstarch
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1/2 pound spaghetti noodles, prepared al dente’

  • Heat wok or skillet to medium high. 
  • Add oil and coat pan well.
  • Add bell pepper and garlic and cook until pepper is tender.
  • Whisk together the pineapple juice, soy sauce, hoisin sauce and cornstarch.
  • Add to the wok. Cook 2-3 minutes, stirring well.
  • Add chicken.
  • Add broccoli tossing well.
  • Cook until sauce is slightly thickened.
  • Add noodles and toss well.

Beans and Rice

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1 Bag of Pinto Beans
Pork Stew Meat
Seasoned Salt
Garlic Salt
  • Cook in crock pot or stove top until beans are soft – About 12-16 hours in crock pot and 2-4 hours on stove top.
  • Serve over rice.
  • I like Ketchup and Garlic Salt on mine…
    Happy Eating…
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Stuffed Bell Peppers Italiano

It’s Fire Day Friday but you can make this one in your oven too. It’s just not as fun.

I was sitting at my desk at work reading government guidance about performing IT risk assessments (exciting stuff, really) when the idea of this dish popped into my head. I love stuffed bell peppers but they have always been the traditional ones stuffed with a rice and beef/chorizo mixture.

But before I get into that, check out the giveaway package that Robyn is running over at Grill Grrrl. As if the autographed Michael Symon book isn’t good enough, she’s throwing in all of this other great stuff! So get over there and enter.

Okay, back to my idea. I thought that I would make stuffed peppers but make them with an Italian influence. Kind of like a lasagna inside of a bell pepper. Since this was a total off the wall idea, I only made two of them in case they sucked and made our Italian Skillet Slop for the boys.

Stuffed Bell Peppers Italiano
Source: NibbleMeThis

2 ea green bell peppers
5 oz Italian sausage
½ cup ditalini pasta
3-4 oz cream cheese
½ cup shredded mozzarella
1 tsp basil, dried
¾ cup marinara sauce

Cut the tops of the peppers off and remove the seeds. Parboil them for 3 minutes, remove and drain.

Cook the pasta and drain. Ditalini is a small pasta (see pic below) which works perfect for this dish.


Brown the sausage.

Mix the cream cheese, mozzarella, and basil together. I would have used ricotta cheese instead if I had it but the cream cheese worked.

Now assemble your stuffed peppers in layers like this.

A few tablespoons of pasta, about 1/4th of the cheese mixture in each of the two peppers, the sausage, and a few tablespoons of the marinara sauce. Feel free to use your favorite marinara or jarred marinara. I made a quick one.

Quick Pseudo Marinara
1 Tbsp butter
1 Tbsp olive oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 can diced tomatoes
½ tsp black pepper
½ tsp kosher salt
1 tsp oregano, dried
¼ cup marsala wine (I was out of red)

Sauté the garlic for 1-2 minutes in the butter and oil. Add the remaining ingredients and simmer for 30-45 minutes. I hit them with the immersion blender about 30 minutes in.

Set your grill up for an indirect heat cook at 350f (or put in a 350f oven). Put the peppers in a casserole dish or individual baking dishes. I wasn’t sure how this would turn out so I put some of the cheese mixture on one of them and was going to add the other one later.

I baked them on the Big Green Egg for about 20 minutes. Then I added the cheese mix to the other one, put the rest of the marinara sauce in the boats, and tossed in the last of the cheese mix on that.

Meanwhile, Alexis was cooking another garlic bread roll on her Egg. We got this recipe from Rex at Savory Reviews. We had to bend it because it was too big to fit on the pizza stone. That didn’t affect taste at all.


I cooked the peppers for about another 15-20 minutes and then took them off to serve.

These worked great as a concept and was a very good dish. But this is more of a technique than a recipe. You could do the same idea with any of your favorite pasta and sauces and it would come out wonderful. Just doing this technique with leftover spaghetti would be great too.

Plan now to Steal – A recipe for your kid’s Halloween Candy

Save your kids from a lifetime of obesity… Steal their candy and make these little delights for yourself…

Fast and easy… Little baby candy bars and some puff pastry…

Wrapped in a square of puff pastry and you have a nice tasty little treat (and the kids stay fit and healthy).

A couple hints, roll out the puff pastry just about as flat as you can.  The pastry puffs up (duh).  You want these to stay bite size.  And the egg wash I talk about is VERY important.  Without good seals, the guts will blow out the pastry and not look right (tastes fine, but you want the little bundles, not a flatbread treat).

1 4X4 square of rolled out Puff Pastry
1 Egg, beaten for an egg wash to seal edges
a bit of candy bar… I used 1/2 a reese’s and/or 2 of the mini Crunch

And, pretty much that’s it… 

Bring the 4 corners together over the stuffing, press edges to seal and do a twist of the top.  Bake them in a 350 degree oven on parchment paper for 35 minutes and you have a Candy bar in a pastry!


Garnish with some fruit and drizzled chocolate if you like.  Garnish with the fruit just to keep the little darlings away from your stash!


Dave here from MY YEAR ON THE GRILL. It really is just this easy!  

 … I CAN COOK THAT! 

And so can you!







Save Room for Dessert…Coconut Pound Cake

Coconut, how do I love thee?  Truly, I love coconut.  The flavor.  The texture.  The aroma.  In a pie, in a cookie, in a cake, in a drink.  If you’re serving coconut, send me an invitation.  I have noticed, however, that coconut tends to be polarizing.  It’s either one or the other,  “Is that coconut?  Yummmm, I adore coconut.”  or “Is that coconut?  Gross, I hate coconut!”  I can’t say that I’ve heard any noncommittal responses.  Since today’s post is all about coconut, I hope the majority of you are coconut lovers…

Coconut Pound Cake  

3 sticks unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 1/2 cups coconut, divided
1 3/4 cups flour
4 eggs
1 cup Greek yogurt or sour cream

1 vanilla bean
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
Chocolate Ganache
Vanilla Glaze

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
Butter and flour a Bundt pan (this cake will stick, so be sure to use the flour)
In a food processor, process 3 cups of the coconut with the flour, baking powder, and salt.  Process until the coconut has been fully ground into the flour.  Set aside.
In a mixer, cream the butter and sugar until fluffy. 
Add eggs one at a time.
Scrape vanilla bean and add paste to butter mixture.
Add yogurt and mix well.
Finally, stir in flour.
Pour batter into prepared Bundt pan and bake for 1 hour or until tester inserted comes out clean.
Allow cake to cool for 20-25 minutes before inverting, then cool completely before applying glazes.
Pour on vanilla glaze and allow to set.  Once set, pour on chocolate glaze and sprinkle on remaining coconut.
Serve.

Vanilla Glaze
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
4 tablespoons whole milk
1 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon salt
Microwave butter and 4 tablespoons milk until butter melts.  Stir in vanilla and salt.  Add powdered sugar and stir until smooth.  If glaze is too thick, add additional milk until desired consistency is reached.

Chocolate Glaze
1/4 cup heavy cream
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 teaspoon vanilla
Microwave heavy cream and chocolate chips for 60 seconds.  Remove and stir.  Return and microwave for another 30 seconds, stirring and returning to microwave for 30 second intervals until chocolate has melted.  Allow to cool before using.

IT’S TAILGATING TIME!

We’re HUGE Ffootball fans!  We do a count down in August to pre-season every year and never miss a game when at all humanly possible!  Well, it’s that time of year again! Football season is already 3 weeks old (where does the time go?) and that means it’s time for tailgating at the games, serious football food and game day buffets.  Bring over your best appetizers and your biggest appetite and oh don’t forget the Brewskis to go with it all.  I like mine really cold please with a side of lime!
Tailgating Time will be posted every Sunday at noon and open all week for you to add your football favorites. We’ll play each and every week until Superbowl Sunday. I can’t wait to see what you’ll be bringing!
It’s Tailgating Time!
HOSTED BY:
Martha at Seaside Simplicity 
Tamy at 3 sides of Crazy 
Lyndsey at Tiny Skillet
Would you like to be a host of Tailgating Time too? 

Leave me a comment here with your email or with Martha over at Seaside Simplicity so we can send you the code and add you to the host list – more exposure, more links, more football food!