Tuesday 27 March 2012

Philly Cheese Steak

This is a favourite meal of Jordan and mine, and it's not even that hard! I think that I just came up with the recipe for this one based off of philly cheese steak sandwiches that I had at different restaurants, so I apologize if the quantities are a bit off. The nice thing about cooking is that it doesn't really matter :) Enjoy!

Ingredients:
buns
- beef (I buy stir fry strips or stewing beef)
- 1 green pepper
- 1 red pepper
- 1 onion
- 1 package mushrooms
- oil
- mozzarella cheese
- mayonnaise

Directions:

Cut the vegetables into slices/chunks. Fry in a large pan with a bit of oil over medium heat. The mushrooms don't take as long as the other vegetables, so let them cook for a while before you add them in. Stir occasionally. Cook until tender, approximately 10 minutes.


If the beef is raw, fry it in a pan with a bit of oil over medium-high heat until all of the pink is out of it. Approximately 10 minutes


While you're waiting for that to cook, grate some mozzarella cheese (this is Jordan's job :P ), and cut the buns in half.

Put the buns on a cookie sheet, and put the cooked meat, vegetables, and cheese on it. Broil at 500F for 3-5 minutes to get the bun toasty and the cheese melty. Add mayonnaise and enjoy! Serve with sweet potato fries, vegetable sticks, salad, or anything else you would like.

Monday 19 March 2012

The BEST Sugar Cookies Ever!

A few weeks ago I babysat for a family from church for the weekend. The daughter in the family and I decided that we should make some sugar cookies to decorate for something fun to do. I used my googling skills and came across this simple recipe from allrecipes.com, and trust me, it is a keeper!




Ingredients
1 ½ cups butter, softened
2 cups white sugar
4 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
5 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt

Plus icing sugar, milk, and butter for the icing

Directions
In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Stir in the flour, baking powder, and salt. Cover, and chill dough for at least one hour (or overnight). Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Roll out dough on floured surface ¼ to ½ inch thick. Cut into shapes with any cookie cutter. Place cookies 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheets. Bake 6 to 8 minutes in preheated oven. Cool completely. Top with icing.

Note: I couldn't find any cookie cutters, so we just used a glass cup flipped upside-down so they were all circles


Don't forget the icing!

I don't have specific measurements for the icing, but I mixed a large amount of icing sugar with a small amount of milk, and about a tablespoon of butter to thicken it. You hardly need any milk, so don't add too much! I just kept adding icing sugar until it was the consistency that I wanted. I added food colouring to some of the icing and put it in a ziploc baggie with the corner snipped so that we could put designs on the cookies. The ones in the pictures are just white icing with sprinkles.

Friday 9 March 2012

Pita Pizzas

I can't remember where I got this idea from, but it's an easy meal that Jordan and I like to make. Pita pizzas are a quick, easy, and healthier alternative to pizzas, and are super yummy! I imagine that when we (eventually) have kids, this will become a staple at our house.



 Ingredients:
- pitas
- mozzarella cheese
- pizza sauce or ketchup
- toppings of your choice (pepperoni, veggies, chicken, etc.)


Put the pitas on a cookie sheet or pie plate. Spread sauce on the pitas. Add your toppings, and grated mozzarella cheese. Broil at 500 degrees for 5 to 10 minutes, or until cheese is melted. Enjoy!

Sunday 4 March 2012

Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies

This recipe I made closer to Christmas time but haven't had a chance to blog it until now. They were originally called "Grinch Cookies" because they are green, but if you call them Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies then you can eat them whenever you want! My fiance LOVES mint chocolate, so I had to try this recipe- and it was a hit!
 

  Ingredients

1 pouch (1 lb 1.5 oz) Betty Crocker® sugar cookie mix
½ cup butter or margarine, softened
¼ to ½ teaspoon mint extract
6 to 8 drops green food color
1 egg
1 cup creme de menthe baking chips (I used mint chocolate chips)
1 cup semisweet chocolate chunks



Heat oven to 350°F. In large bowl, stir cookie mix, butter, extract, food color and egg until soft dough forms.Stir in the chocolate chips.


Using small cookie scoop or teaspoon, drop dough 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until set.

Cool 3 minutes; remove from cookie sheet to wire rack. Serve warm or cool completely. Store tightly covered at room temperature.


Mine didn't look as green as the original picture, but they were still delicious! This recipe is from Pinterest/Betty Crocker, original link here.


Pinterest vs Reality: Grinch Cookies (mine on bottom)