Grilled Cowboy Steaks with Onions and Green Chiles
When it’s nice out in Seattle you have to grill out – I think it’s actually a law or something. Last night was so beautiful and we were all in the mood for beef so I grilled up some steaks with onions and chiles. I love cooking the onions and green chiles on the grill in a cast iron pan because they pick up some of that smokey campfire flavor that adds a lot to the meal. For these heavily seasoned steaks – topped with an assertive onion/chile mix – I don’t mind using sirloin tip steaks since you don’t need a delicate cut for this dish.
Asparagus season is starting and since one of my all-time favorite foods is grilled asparagus I had to fix that also. I served the steaks and asparagus with a side of steamed white rice (I like to eat the onions and green chiles on top of the rice as well).
Grilled Cowboy Steaks with Onions & Green Chiles
serves 4
4 beef sirloin tip steaks
1 small red onion
1 medium yellow onion
1 7 oz. can whole green chiles
1 medium jalapeno
1 small red chile pepper
cumin
garlic powder
kosher salt
black pepper
vegetable oil for sauteing the onions and peppers.
1. Generously season each steak (on both sides) with the cumin, garlic powder, kosher salt and black pepper.
2. Cut the onions and peppers into thin slices, put them into a bowl and season them with salt and black pepper.
3. When the coals or hot (or the gas grill has preheated for 10 minutes or so) put a cast iron frying pan onto the grate and let it heat up for a minute or two, then add a splash of vegetable oil and the onions and peppers. Mix the vegetables well to separate any onion rings cover the grill to let them cook for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally (you can also prepare the onions and peppers on the stove top over medium high heat if you’d prefer or if you don’t have a heavy cast iron pan that can handle the grill heat).
4. Add the steaks directly over the coals/heat and let them cook for three minutes. Flip them and cook them for another three minutes, then move them to an area of the grill with indirect heat and let them cook for 2-6 minutes more, depending on the thickness of the steaks, the heat of the grill and how done you prefer your steaks. When the steaks are to your liking, remove them from the heat and let them rest on a platter for a few minutes.
5. Keep stirring the onions and chiles occasionally to keep them from burning to the bottom of the pan – they’re done when they’re softened and are beginning to caramelize.
6. Top each steak with a generous scoop of the onions and chiles – you should have some left over to pass at the table as well if people would like more.
I’m sharing this post at some of these great link parties – check ’em out!
Handmade Paper Postcard Collage
The Ultimate Birthday Song Playlist
Ever since my daughter’s first birthday I’ve made a custom playlist for her party, and later for each of her little brother’s parties as well. I try to fit in as many birthday songs as possible and then fill in between the songs with a mix of other music – I like to end up with about 3 cds worth of music so that the playlist doesn’t repeat during the party. Part of the fun is that the songs run through a range of musical styles and cultures and they don’t always sound like a ‘birthday’ song at first listen. My kids and our party guests now look forward to hearing this year’s special playlist, and we listen to the cds after the birthday is over as well.
Here is the playlist of birthday songs I’ve put together over the last 5 years – I’ve also put them into an iTunes playlist so that you can easily preview the songs, download the whole list or just the individual songs you’d like (click the button below to open the playlist in iTunes where you can preview or purchase the songs – disclosure: I will receive a small percentage of the purchase).
1. Happy Birthday (Countdown Kids)
2. Happy Birthday to You
3. Happy Birthday (to the birthday girl) (Ingrid DuMosch)
4. Happy Birthday (to the birthday boy) (Ingrid DuMosch)
5. Who’s Having a Birthday (Happy Crowd)
6. It’s Your Birthday (Justin Roberts)
7. It’s Your Birthday (Nina Storey)
8. Let’s Birthday (The Not-Its)
9. Birthday Bite (Recess Monkey)
10. Happy Birthday (Stevie Wonder)
11. Birthday (The Beatles)
12. Happy Birthday (The Ting Tings)
13. Happy Birthday (New Kids on the Block)
14. Light it Up (Caspar Babypants)
15. Birthday (Kings of Leon)
16. Happy Birthday (Alan Cave)
17. Happy Birthday (Isis and the Wings of Isis)
18. Happy Birthday (reggae) (Delroy Wilson)
19. Hau’oli la Hanau (Happy Birthday) (Alicia Bay Laurel)
20. Happy Birthday (mariachi) (Mariachi Garibaldi)
21. Hoy Es Tu Cumpleanos (Nico & Morlunah)
22. Cumpleanos Feliz (Los Hijos del Rey)
23. Feliz Cumpleanos (Fulanito)
24. Zum Geburtstag (Original Alpen Oberkrainer)
25. Pen-blwydd Hapus (Bryn Fon)
26. Happy Birthday (Jingle Cats)
Do you know of other birthday songs that aren’t in this list? Please let me know in the comments – I’m always looking for more to add and birthday season is coming up around here!
Aguadito Con Cerdo {Cilantro Pepper Pork Stew}
Aguadito is a Peruvian style soup (or stew) that is a great use for leftovers in the kitchen. In fact, it tastes better when you use leftovers. We usually make it with the turkey carcass after Thanksgiving, but you can also make an amazing version using leftover grilled meats from the barbeque, or don’t use leftovers at all. We made it the other day using pork loin and it was incredible. It’s got a deep flavor from the peppers and herbs, and the vegetables add a great fresh note. It’s hearty enough to serve as a main dish with the rice and meat/poultry and is so warming on a cold winter (or here, spring) day.
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| Clockwise from the main photo: red onion, garlic, cilantro, red pepper, green pepper |
This is one of my husband’s specialties, and I’ll have to have him make it again so I can take proper notes and write out the recipe because I want to do it justice. Think of this as a sneak peak!
Kidproofing the Kindle: A DIY Kindle Fire Cover
My husband got a Kindle Fire this past Christmas, and ever since then he’s been tempting fate with it by leaving it around naked (no cover)! I’d been meaning to make a cover for it for awhile but when I accidentally dropped a brush on it over the weekend I thought it was time to get going on that little project. Last year I made a Kindle cover that was more like a book jacket, but since his needs to be protected when he’s not using it I designed his cover as more of a padded pouch.
His only request was that I not make it “too girly” so I looked through my fabric stash to see what I could use and came up with a navy blue fabric for the outside and a cream-colored fleece (from our little guy’s old sleep sack) for the inside.
I measured and cut the fabric by laying the Kindle on top – two blue and two fleece panels. I then added a little embellishment on one of the blue panels – an embroidered heart with our initials inside. I was worried that was crossing the “girly” line, but he likes it so it’s okay!
Next I pinned the panels together (one cover piece + one lining piece) wrong sides out and sewed them together on both long sides and one short side. Then I trimmed each piece close to the hem.
Once the panels were sewn together I pinned the two pieces (front and back) together wrong sides out and sewed them together on the long sides and across the top, then turned the whole thing right side out (notice that the bottom of both the front and back pieces are still open at this point).
I cut stiff pieces of cardboard to fit each panel, then slid the cardboard pieces between the cover and lining of both the front and back panels, pinned the openings closed and hand stitched them shut.
Finally I finished it off with some adhesive velcro to help keep the Kindle in it’s place when it’s stored in the cover.
What A Sad Day
I was all set to write a post about a Kindle cover I made this weekend but I can’t seem to concentrate on it now. All I can think of is the senselessness of the Boston bombing – my heart goes out to all those who were there. Just love on your babies and families tonight all!
Homemade Easy Reader Books and a Free Sight Words Memory Match Game: Fun Ways to Support Literacy Learning
My daughter is a kindergartener working so hard on learning to read at school, and I wanted to come up with some ways to support her learning at home in addition to the suggestions from school. Since I’m sure there are others of you out there in the same position, I thought I’d share what I did this week.
I made little eight page easy reader books for her, with basic stick figure illustrations, easy words and stories about her and her little brother. Here are a few pages from each book:
Now, I’m not the world’s best illustrator (duh!) but you know what? My daughter didn’t care that the pictures were very basic – she enjoyed reading the books and especially enjoyed being able to share them with her brother. Each book only took a few minutes and two books together were only 2 sheets of paper so it was an easy way to support and reinforce the lessons she’s learning in school each week. She can even color in the books if she wants to.
I made the books by stacking two sheets of paper together, folding them in half the short way, then cutting them into two books by cutting the sheets horizontally. I used a few staples in the fold to “bind” each book.
The second thing I did this week was make up some sight word flashcards, using the list of sight words her teacher sent home. I made up a .pdf with the words spaced evenly on the pages so that when they’re cut apart they’re all the same size, and they can be used as a memory match game as well (if you print duplicate words). I’ve linked to the .pdf below if you’d like to use it or know someone else who might. I’d love to hear more ideas about fun learning activities – if you’ve got some you’ve tried with your family, please let me know!
Cook the Collection #4: The King Arthur Flour Cookbook
I also substituted honey Greek yogurt instead of plain yogurt and I think it made the bread a bit drier than usual, which makes sense because the Greek yogurt is thicker than the regular style. I’ll have to keep that in mind for the future because the drier texture actually works better as a bread and for toasting, while the regular moister texture is more cake-like. Besides just eating the banana bread as a snack, I sliced it into thick slices, toasted it under the broiler, then topped it with vanilla ice cream and drizzled caramel sauce over the top (this idea was courtesy of the cookbook, as well) and that was a hit with us and our dinner company.
This cookbook is another good general baking book, with lots of extra information about the ‘whys’ of baking as well as recipes from ranging from quick breads to yeasted breads to cakes, cookies, pies and pastries. This one does get some use in my kitchen and I’d recommend it for beginning to intermediate bakers.
Super Easy Four Ingredient Spaghetti and Meatballs
First off, let me just say this is one of my kids’ favorite meals, and since it’s also a very easy meal to make it’s one of my favorites too! Plus they end up eating a lot of spinach without mentioning anything about yucky green stuff which makes it even better. Ok, here goes (pay attention, ’cause this is gonna go quick)! You need:
- 1 package bulk Italian Sausage (My family likes the mild version, but feel free to use the sweet or hot instead).
- 1 jar Spaghetti Sauce (I like Barilla – use whichever brand you prefer. If you want to be fancy you could use a sauce with sausage in it).
- 1 clamshell package fresh baby spinach (I think its about 10oz. but more or less won’t hurt and you could even use a box of frozen spinach instead).
- 1/2 box of your favorite pasta (if you’re going to use the full box, double the rest of the ingredients).
Roll the bulk sausage into meatballs. The easiest way to do this is to score the meat with a knife in the packaging, going vertically and horizontally with about an inch between each line. Then just grab a square of meat at a time and roll it up into a ball. This will give you uniformly sized meatballs that will cook evenly.
Cook the meatballs in a dutch oven or other deep pan over medium high heat. Turn the meatballs after a few minutes so that they brown on all sides. If the meatballs don’t release from the bottom of the pan and turn easily, wait a minute more and try again.
While you’re cooking the meatballs chop the spinach into little pieces, and after the meatballs are browned add the chopped spinach and stir well. If you’d like to take out some of the fat you could remove the meatballs from the pan (drain them on paper towels on a plate) and pour out the excess fat, then add the meatballs and spinach back into the pan.
Once the spinach is wilted add the jar of sauce, along with a little bit of water (I throw in about 1/2 a jar of water).
Simmer the sauce and meatballs for about 10 minutes, until the sauce has reduced and thickened some and the meatballs are cooked through.
Meanwhile, cook the pasta according to the package directions.
When both the sauce and pasta are done, drain the pasta and either plate it up with the sauce or mix it together with the sauce and meatballs and then serve it. I have a child who likes his noodles plain on the side so I don’t mix the meatballs and sauce with the pasta, but its nice if you do mix it because then all of the pasta ends up evenly coated with sauce.
I find that I don’t need to season the meatballs and sauce with salt and pepper, but you can try them and adjust the seasonings to your tastes.
Liebster Award
Recently I was nominated for a Liebster Award by Justina from Justina Who. . . (Thanks Justina)! The Liebster Awards are a way for bloggers to recognize and support smaller blogs that are getting their start and have fewer than 200 followers. Its very exciting to get this nomination, and to have the chance to pass it on to 11 more great bloggers as well!
There are just a few simple rules (well, kind of simple – it was HARD to come up with 11 random facts about myself):
I’d much rather read a book. I’ve usually got 3 or 4 going at once, and now that I’ve got a kindle it cuts down on the piles around the house a bit.
{1} Why did you start blogging?
{2} What’s the best present you’ve ever gotten?
{3} What’s your guilty pleasure?
{4} If you could live anywhere else in the world, where would it be?
{5} What’s one kitchen or craft tool you can’t live without?
{6} Who would you like to play you in a movie of your life?
{7} Coffee or Tea?
{8} What is your earliest memory?
{9}What’s your go-to karaoke song?
{10} What’s your favorite season of the year?
{11}Do you have any pets?
If I’ve nominated you, please link back to this post in the comments so that I can see your answers!
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