Chopped Dinner: Take 4
08 Mar 2012 1 Comment
in appetizers, at least one kid ate it, beef, chopped dinners, company's coming!, grill, side dishes, vegetables
Whew…this challenge is finally over! No more creative cooking for a little while 
Dinner #4 in the Chopped challenge was Matt’s. His list was longer (because he was the oldest? I dunno.) but overall, pretty easy to work with AND gave me the excuse to try three new recipes!
Ok, so Matt’s ingredient list (which I accidentally leaked for those of you with eagle eyes last week!) was this:
So for the brie, I made these little Baked Brie Bites that were in puff pastry. Simple to make, and they were ok, but I think that Matt and I both prefer to eat brie bites the way I’ve made them in the past, which is these little brie cups. I’m thinking next time I make those for company, I’ll make some with pepper jelly and some with sweet jelly. I just used what I had on hand, which was strawberry jam, and the flavor was good, but so much jam baked out of the inside even though I felt like I sealed them well that the flavor was lost.
However, Luke and Jack Henry loved them and ate a few each, and Bennett had one and thought it was fine.
Moving on to dinner, which was Crash Hot Sweet Potatoes and Garlic Gorgonzola Steak. Oh. My. Goodness. Some of the best food I think I’ve ever made.
I’m not a huge sweet potato fan…not something I’d usually crave, but these were amazing (for the kids, I just used salt and pepper instead of the spice blend). Follow her instructions and you will not be disappointed. I did parboil the potatoes even though mine were fresh, but then they accidentally got left boiling too long when Jack Henry wandered into the kitchen with a fake sore throat and I was distracted away from my job for 5 minutes. Look at this pic compared to the original, and you’ll see what I mean…they fell apart but it mattered not…they were delicious.
The only change I’ll make is cutting my slices of sweet potatoes slightly smaller, about an inch tall. And I substituted regular chile powder for New Mexico chile powder…I don’t know the difference, but I’m thinking it can’t matter much in this recipe. And for the sake of using cashews in dinner per the Chopped list, I chopped them up finely and put the on each side of the potatoes with the spices. But, it really didn’t add anything, and I won’t do it again. (Bennett, however, was elated to see a can of cashews and put those on his plate instead.)
On to the steak. I did not buy ribeye as Matt requested; I got strip steaks, because I found a huge package of them on sale and they were better than ribeye, so I figured he wouldn’t complain. Plus, we almost never grill steaks, and we truly NEVER share with our kids, so this was a special dinner. Luke likes steak; the other two are fine with it, but seriously they’d rather have chicken or a hot dog, so it pains me to hear “how many bites of this do I have to eat?”
I seasoned all of the steaks as recommended in the recipe: rubbing a cut garlic clove over the steaks, drizzling with a tiny bit of oil (I used olive oil), and then sprinkling generously with salt and pepper. Next time, I’ll skip rubbing a garlic clove on them…for me, at least, it did nothing to give garlic flavor. I’ll use garlic salt and black pepper and omit the regular salt so we actually get some garlic flavor.
After that, Matt grilled them to close to medium for me, and as soon as he got them inside, I melted a very small amount of butter on each, and put gorgonzola on Matt’s and my steak and covered them with foil for a few minutes to help the cheese melt. It was recommended that you do this step ON the grill, but it was already dark out, and I was picturing it being too much hassle with falling cheese, etc. Know, though, that tenting foil over the steak will make it continue to cook, so that you don’t accidentally overcook your steaks.
Anyway, it worked for us to put the toppings on inside, off the grill. I topped the gorgonzola ones with the french fried onions, and that was it. Seriously, one of the best steaks I’ve ever had.
The leftovers tonight were great, too.
So there you have it! The kids commented that I didn’t get Chopped on any of my meals, so we need to do something harder next time.
Grilled Balsamic-Garlic Crusted Pork Tenderloin
30 Jan 2012 Leave a Comment
in at least one kid ate it, company's coming!, grill, Pork
Thank you pinterest. Here’s another one from my addiction – pinterest. So so good. Original recipe here.
- 4-5 garlic cloves, finely minced or crushed (I just used minced garlic from the jar)
- 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
- 2 1/2 teaspoons coarse salt
- 1/2 teaspoon ground pepper
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 pork tenderloins
- 2 tablespoons canola oil (if preparing in oven) – we grilled since we are having such a mild winter. wonderful.
Stir together garlic, balsamic vinegar, salt, pepper, and olive oil in a small bowl. Rub the paste all over pork. If you like or have the time, marinate overnight. If not, no worries, it’s still great! I did this in the morning and it was awesome.
Grill preparation:
Sear the tenderloins on all sides, then grill for about 20-30 minutes, rotating every 10 minutes. Grill until internal temp is 160.
Oven preparation:
Preheat oven to 400. Heat canola oil in a large pan over medium-high heat. Working in batches if necessary, add pork, and brown all over, about 4 minutes.
Transfer pan to oven. Roast pork, turning occasionally, until internal temperature is 160, about 20 minutes.
This was so, so good. All three kids tried it. Only one liked it enough to eat more. I don’t know why, but my kids aren’t huge meat eaters unless you count chicken nuggets as meat. Or lunch meat. Seriously, what is wrong with them?!? :)
Hamburger Hint
16 Aug 2011 Leave a Comment
School started today for the Diehl household, and tomorrow for the Reis household. I know that for us, at least, school starting signals better eating and better planning. So be on the lookout for new recipes here at Three More Bites!
Today I don’t really have a recipe, but a tip about making burgers on the grill that I learned from Food Network magazine.
After you patty the meat, push down with the tip of your finger into the center of the burger. It will look like this (note that these were just removed from the freezer so they look strange):
It keeps the center of the burger from getting thicker than the rest of it, without pressing down on the burger and losing the juiciness! If I remember tonight, I’ll take a picture of them after they come off the grill. But don’t hold your breath.
PW’s Chicken Pineapple Quesadillas
08 Jun 2010 1 Comment
in at least one kid ate it, chicken, fruit, grill
When I saw The Pioneer Woman’s recipe for this, I KNEW we had to try it and soon. It did not disappoint (for Matt and me, at least…the kids were underwhelmed by grilled pineapple, which I LOVE, and they chose to take their chicken off the quesadilla and eat it separately from the rest. Fine by me.). Here’s a link to her recipe, which I’ve copied here along with any small changes I made in italics.
8 whole Flour Tortillas
Butter Or Margarine
2 cups Grilled Pineapple, Sliced
3 whole Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts
Salt And Pepper, to taste
3 cups Monterey Jack Cheese, Grated
1 whole Jalapeno, Sliced
Cilantro
3 Tablespoons Barbecue Sauce
(Click over to PW’s website for a quick picture tutorial on grilling pineapple! To grill pineapple: cut wedges, stick on skewers, and grill over low heat. Cut into slices.)
(To pound chicken, place inside a Ziploc bag and pound with a mallet or large can to flatten to uniform thickness.)
Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper and Cajun spice (or cumin/cayenne, etc.) Drizzle olive oil on a grill pan and grill on both sides until done, brushing with barbecue sauce. Set aside and slice into very thin slices. I actually had Matt grill the pineapple and chicken on our grill.
Warm griddle over medium heat and put sizzling butter or margarine in the pan. Slightly warm and toast tortillas on both sides, then remove from griddle and set aside. Because PW loves butter so much, I assumed you needed a lot of butter to make the tortillas cook correctly. Wrong! You really can just melt a very small amount in the pan, swirl the tortilla around on it, and brown it. The one that had a ton of butter ended up being thrown away; it was too greasy.
To assemble, sprinkle four browned tortillas with grated Monterey Jack. Arrange chicken slices evenly over the surface. Add pineapple slices and jalapeno slices. Sprinkle on cilantro. If desired, drizzle extra barbecue sauce over the top. Add second browned tortilla on top of each one. (You’ll have four complete quesadillas at this point.)
Add to oven to warm, or back to skillet to warm, until cheese is melted. Cut each quesadilla into six wedges. Serve with sour cream, pico de gallo, and lime wedges. I just served with sour cream.
I loved these A LOT. I might or might not use bbq sauce again; I like it fine, but I actually think that this would be even better if you just seasoned the chicken more heavily.
PW’s pictures are much better than mine, but here’s what it looked like before I put the tops on the quesadillas and put them in the oven:
Mexican Street Corn
07 Jun 2010 Leave a Comment
in company's coming!, grill, vegetables
A friend gave me this recipe a couple of summers ago. This corn is delicious! And a discussion last night at small group about grilled corn made me think of it.
6 large ears fresh corn, husks and silks removed (leave stalk for handle)
1 T olive oil
1/2 c mayo
2 T fresh minced cilantro
1 T fresh lime juice
1 garlic clove, pressed
1/2-1 tsp garlic powder
1 oz feta cheese (1/4 cup) – I’ve read you can use cotija, too, but I think feta is better!
Adjust oven rack 5″ from broiler and heat broiler. Brush corn with oil and transfer to foil-lined cookie sheet. Broil corn until well browned on 1 side, about 10 minutes. Turn corn over and repeat.
**It would be perfectly fine to grill the corn without oil if you want…the result will be the same.**
While corn cooks, mix remaining ingredients.
Remove corn and roll in mixture. Return to broiler until cheese is warm and slightly toasted, about 1 minute (of course, you don’t want to do this step on the grill). Season with salt and pepper and serve with any remaining mayo mixture.
Cilantro Lime Chicken with Avocado Salsa
01 Jun 2009 3 Comments
in chicken, Cooking for 2, grill, Mexican
This was a new recipe we tried tonight from my cooking light magazine. I had actually forgotten about it until my friend Sarah reminded me of it and told me how good it was. It was yummy. We’ll definitely be having this meal often.
Chicken:
2 tbspns minced fresh cilantro
2 1/2 tbspns fresh lime juice
1 1/2 tbspns olive oil
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/4 tsp salt
Salsa:
1 cup chopped tomato
2 tbspns finely chopped onion
2 tsp fresh lime juice
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp ground pepper
1 avocado, peeled and finely chopped
1. To prepare chicken, combine first four ingredients. Toss and let stand 3 minutes. Remove chicken from marinade; discard marinade. Sprinkle chicken with salt and grill for about 6 minutes on each side or until done.
2. To prepare salsa, combine tomato with the next four ingredients. Add avocado and gently stir. Serve salsa over chicken.
My variations – I marinaded longer than 3 minutes. It was probably in the marinade for 15 minutes. I also didn’t add salt to the chicken before grilling. (side note – Kirk and I “borrowed” this food program from my brother and watched our food intake for a week. It was amazing how high our sodium levels were so I try not to use salt unless I think necessary) I served this with spanish rice. It was a big hit with the adults. The kids wouldn’t try it…..which surprised me with Kayla because she has tried both guacamole and tomatoes before and likes chicken. Give it a try, I think you’ll like it!
Grilled Meatloaf. Yes, I Said Grilled Meatloaf.
22 May 2009 15 Comments
in at least one kid ate it, beef, grill
Since this week’s WFMW is about summer food, I thought I’d link back to this recipe that I posted a few weeks ago, since this just screams summer to me. This is the recipe that made me believe that I could love meatloaf…I had not eaten it for years until my parents convinced me to try this, and it totally won me over. It’s a little bit of a process, but totally worth it! It’s the perfect dinner for having company over in the summertime.
Grilled Meatloaf
3 lb ground beef
2 tsp broiled steak seasoning
1 c ketchup
1 ½ c Ritz cracker crumbs (or just crush one sleeve of Ritz – it’s really close)
2 eggs
3 tsp garlic salt
pepper
1 green pepper, cut into rings
1 large onion, thinly sliced rings
Bacon slices (I use 12)
Mix the first 6 ingredients (it’s easiest if you mix the beef in last) thoroughly until firm. Using a rectangular grill basket sprayed with Pam, cover the bottom with slices of bacon; top bacon with sliced onion. Place meatloaf on top of onion, pressing it evenly to all corners of basket. Lay thinly sliced green pepper rings on top of meatloaf. Top again with bacon slices. Secure cover on basket, all the way down to the top of the meatloaf. Grill about 20 minutes on each side or until done to taste. The grill cover should be used during the entire cooking time. It feeds 6-8.
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- first of all, are you using one of these? they’re great.
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- put meatloaf basket on a cookie sheet and spray with pam.
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- put a layer of bacon on the bottom (i usually use 6 slices; not sure why i didn’t this time)
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- cover with sliced green peppers
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- put all the meatloaf mixture on top of that, and form so it fits in the basket.
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- cover with a layer of onions…doesn’t it look like modern art?
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- aaaaaand another layer of bacon.
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- put the top of the basket down flat on the contents.
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- if some is squishing out the sides, just shove it back in…it’ll be fine.
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- ta-da! 40 minutes later, it looks like this.
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- dig in!
For more great summer recipes, go to We Are THAT Family.
Grilled Bruschetta Chicken
21 Apr 2009 1 Comment
in chicken, Cooking for 2, grill
Ok, another chicken recipe. But, with all the kraft food magazine recipes that Nicole has added recently, it reminded me of this one. Very yummy on the grill. I’ve tried to make this inside during the winter and it just isn’t the same.
1/4 cup sun dried tomato vinaigrette dressing, divided
4 small boneless skinless chicken breast halves
1 tomato, finely chopped
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil or 1 tsp dried basil leaves
Place a large sheet of foil over half of grill grate; preheat grill to medium heat. Pour 2 tbsp of the dressing over chicken in resealable plastic bag; seal. Turn bag over several times to evenly coat chicken with the dressing. Refrigerate 10 min. to marinate. Remove chicken from marinade; discard bag and marinade. Grill chicken on uncovered side of grill 6 min. Meanwhile, combine tomatoes, cheese, basil and remaining 2 tbsp dressing. Turn chicken over; place, cooked-side up, on foil on grill. Top evenly with tomato mixture. Close lid. Grill an additional 8 min. or until chicken is cooked through.
I’ve done this without the basil as well because we were out and it was still great. I’ve always just served this with a potato and veggie, but it also suggests spaghetti which I think would be great. This is also something that you could easily make for just 2 people. Enjoy!
Caesar Burgers
16 Apr 2009 1 Comment
in at least one kid ate it, beef, grill
It’s warming up outside, which means – it’s time to grill out! These burgers are so, so good on the grill. I think that this recipe came from Kraft’s food and family magazine…I get lots of great recipes from there!
1 lb ground beef (we always use extra lean)
¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese, divided
1-2 cloves garlic, minced
4 slices mozzarella, brick or swiss cheese
2 cups torn romaine lettuce
6 T Caesar dressing, divided
4 hamburger buns, split
Preheat grill to medium heat. Mix meat, 3T of parmesan cheese and the garlic. Shape into 4 patties.
Grill 6 min. on eat side or until cooked through. Top with cheese slices. Continue grilling until cheese is melted.
Toss lettuce with 2 T of the dressing and the remaining 1 T parmesan cheese. Spoon evenly onto bottom halves of buns; top with burgers and remaining 4 T Caesar dressing. Cover with tops of buns.
Leftover Chicken Ideas and Grilled Pineapple
02 Mar 2009 Leave a Comment
in chicken, fruit, grill, leftovers, salad
First up, we have the “what do I with leftover grilled chicken” dilemma solved. If you’re like me, and hate leftovers most of the time (there are a few things I like as reruns, but not much), this is for you. I purposely had Matt grill up a bunch of extra chicken breasts last time we had them, and I did two things with the leftovers.
1. Mexican Grilled Chicken Salad. Romaine lettuce, corn, black beans (love them!), grilled chicken, a little shredded cheddar, and whatever dressing you like. This would have been good with some of those crunchy tortilla strip thingies you can get in the crouton aisle. Yummy and very easy. It looked like this.
2. There’s no way my kids were going to eat that for dinner, so I got creative and took a package of reduced-fat crescent rolls out of the fridge, and laid out each triangle. I put a good-sized strip of chicken and a thin slice of muenster cheese on the large part of the triangle, and rolled them up like you would regularly. Then I just baked them as the package suggests. They were good and the kids ate them! In fact, I ate too many and didn’t want all of my salad 
For adults, I think these would be really good if you carmelized some onion and put that in there too. I took a picture of this, too.
Now, onto grilled pineapple. It’s so good; if you’ve never done it, here and here are two recipes to try. We did the second one last weekend, and I have to admit, I like the first recipe better (except that we do pineapple rings instead of quartering it like the picture, and I’ll use chopped walnuts since we don’t have macadamia nuts around the house).
I got all Pioneer Woman Cooks and took pictures of the process, since most of you probably haven’t done this before. Oh, except she takes awesome pictures, photo-documents the whole process (I kept forgetting to take pictures), and would probably laugh her behind off at this totally amateurish attempt.
If you don’t own one of these pineapple-cutter-things, and you eat any pineapple at all, you should get one. Use your 20% coupon at BB&B or LnT, and get it for $8. It works like a corkscrew, and cores and slices the pineapple. Oh, and you can get great pineapple at Sam’s Club (it’s Del Monte brand) for less than $3 a piece.
Here’s me starting the process…my floor is totally sanitary, so this is cool. I have to do this because the counter is too tall.
After a little effort, I realize that I am making the thing go crooked, so I stop and pull out the tool. This is what I’ve got. Three rings of pineapple in about 10 seconds.
But instead of being frustrated with it, I just get someone else’s help. It’s so much easier.
After about 30 seconds, Matt had this:
I am slightly annoyed that I am such a weakling. Anyway, you’re left with tons of pineapple juice (just drink it; or, plan ahead, which I did not do, and use it to make some delicious mixed drink, which you can pour into the hollowed-out shell after you figure out a way to cut the core out). You’ll end up with about 10 slices of pineapple.
Here’s where I forgot to take pictures: while I was making the butter/honey/hot sauce/salt “marinade” for the pineapples from recipe two above. If you use this recipe, I suggest that you use more honey and more hot sauce than the recipe calls for. Mix it all in a bowl, and then pour it over the pineapple slices in a large ziploc bag. Be gentle with it; I wasn’t and a bunch of the pineapple rings broke.
Then, I remembered to grab my camera so you can see what they look like on the grill. Fascinating. Thanks to Matt for being the model.
And here’s the finished product! We ate them for dessert. Would have been good with some vanilla ice cream, but I didn’t think of that either.
Well, that’s probably the first and last time I’ll do all of that picture stuff with recipes. Too much work and no smiley kiddo faces! Let me know in the comments if you try these…
