Easy Chicken Skewers with Peanut Sauce

¼ cup catalina dressing 3 tbsp peanut butter
1 tbsp soy sauce 2 tbsp peanuts, chopped
1 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into lengthwise slices

Mix dressing, peanut butter and soy sauce in large bowl until well blended. Add chicken; toss to coat. Cover; refrigerate 10 min to marinate. Preheat broiler. Remove chicken from marinade; discard marinade. Thread chicken evenly onto 8 soaked wooden skewers. Place on rack in broiler pan. Broil, 4-6 inches from heat, 4 min on each side or until cooked through. Serve sprinkled with peanuts. Serve with cooked rice or ramen noodles.

three-herb steak

Bethany invited me to contribute to this blog a few weeks ago, and now that life is settling back down after the holidays, I'm finally making my first post. I have loved following this blog from when it first started. You all have such wonderful recipes!

This recipe that I'm posting here is actually more of a summer recipe since it's really a grilling recipe (it's from the June 2007 issue of BH&G). Brian and I don't have a grill yet, so we adapted it to the oven and it was delicious. We are having company from out of town on New Year's Day and this is what we are serving. It's quick, simple, and yummy. I am not a big meat eater - this is the first steak I have ever cooked in the seven years of married life - and I love it.

Ingredients:
1/2 C snipped fresh parsley
1/4 C olive oil
1/4 C snipped fresh basil (the best part! I love fresh basil)
1 Tb snipped fresh oregano (we use 1 tsp of dry and it works fine)
1 to 2 tsp cracked black pepper
1/2 tsp salt
2 beef top loin steaks, cut 1 1/2 in thick
2 med red or yellow bell peppers (I use one of each color), cut in 1/2 inch rings, seeds removed
1 Tb olive oil
salt and pepper

Preparation:
1. In a bowl combine parsley, the 1/4 C olive oil, basil, oregano, black pepper, and 1/2 tsp salt. Trim fat from meat. Pat about two-thirds of herb mixture on both sides of steaks. Cover; refrigerate 1 hour. Meanwhile, brush pepper rings with the 1 Tb olive oil. Season with salt and pepper.
2. For charcoal grill, grill steaks on rack of uncovered grill to desired doneness, turning once. Grill pepper rings next to steaks the last 8 to 10 minutes of grilling or until peppers are tender, turning once. Remove steaks from grill and sprinkle with herb mixture. Cover; let stand 5 to 10 minutes.
3. Oven adaption: Broil steaks directly under broiler to desired doneness, turning once. (We don't have a broiler pan, so we rigged up some foil ridges to set the steaks on.) Remove steaks from oven and sprinkle with herb mixture. Cover; let stand 5 to 10 minutes. Meanwhile, broil pepper rings until peppers are tender, turning once.
4. Slice steaks across grain of meat. Serve with sweet pepper rings.

Makes 6 servings.

Using Food Storage

I don't know about you, but now that I've built up my food supply, I'm looking for good recipes that incorporate these ingredients so I can rotate what I've stored.

Here are some sites that I've come to frequent often:

Safely Gathered In

You Can Can

Peanut Butter Chocolate Pie

this pie is so, so good. One of my most favorites.

1/2 cup chocolate chips
3 T. whipping cream
3/4 cup brown sugar
6 T. butter
1/3 cup milk
3/4 cup creamy peanut butter
1 container (regular size) cool whip

Melt chocolate chips and whipping cream in microwave. do this slowly so it doesn't burn.

Pour mixture in the bottom of a baked pie shell.

Add brown sugar and butter (cut into chunks) to a bowl. Heat in the microwave slowly. Try every 30 seconds. mix it up between times. The brown sugar needs to completely dissolve. Let cool slightly

Add milk and peanut butter to sugar/butter mixture. Bet with a mixer until well blended. Stir in cool whip. Blend together completely.

Poor PB mixture into pie shell.

Chill at least 2 hours.

Random Pies

I told a friend I would post a bunch of pie recipes on here. My family loves to make pies for Thanksgiving.

Here are a few that I can link to online sources:

This is the best lemon meringue pie...EVER!
Lemon Meringue Pie

Cranberry Orange Cheesecake

Mark's Pumpkin Bundt Cake

3 1/2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp salt
2 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp cloves
1/2 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp nutmeg
3 large eggs
29 oz can pumpkin
1 cup milk or 1/2 and 1/2
1 cup butter
1 small pack of instant vanilla pudding.

Mix everything together and pour into a bundt pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 65 minutes or until done.

Pecan Pie

3 eggs
2/3 cup sugar
1 c. dark corn syrup
1/3 cup melted butter
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup pecan halves

1. Mix eggs, sugar, corn syrup, butter, and salt. Stir in pecans. Pour mixture into unbaked pie shell.

2. Bake on bottom rack at 375 degrees until center jiggles only slightly when pan is shaken. This will be about 40 to 50 minutes.