In the Kitchen with Jenny

For those who asked, here are recipes and reviews for the things I've made in the past week. I didn't cook quite as much as I'd set out to, but I did try 3 new recipes. The others will have to roll over to this week's menu.

For our steaks on the grill, I used a recipe I found on Food Network's website. It's similar to a recipe I've used on chicken, but I'd never thought to use it on steak. The steaks turned out really tender and flavorful, especially considering we don't have the propane tank for our grill and we ended up cooking them inside on the George Foreman. We'll definitely be having these again!

Marinated Sirloin Steak Recipe courtesy W. Buell 2002 for FoodTV.com's Ultimate Grilling Cook-Off Competition

beef sirloin steak, boneless, about 1 pound 1 cup lemon-lime soda 3/4 cup olive oil 3/4 cup soy sauce 1/4 cup lemon juice 1 teaspoon garlic powder 1 teaspoon horseradish In a large resealable bag, combine lemon-lime soda, olive oil, soy sauce, lemon juice, garlic powder, and horseradish. Add steak and turn to coat. Seal and refrigerate for 8 hours or overnight. Drain and discard marinade. Grill steaks, covered, over medium heat for 4-6 minutes on each side.

I also tried a recipe from my sister Julie, Chicken in Lime Butter. It was really good and really easy! Again, the meat came out really tender and the lime butter was really decadent and had a great flavor. The only problem I had with this one, was that I didn't see Julie's note to cut the chicken into chunks to cook more quickly. I cooked a few tenderloins, and those went quickly, but I didn't have enough for everyone, so I did a couple of whole breasts as well. Those took a really long time to cook, and, according to Jared, who had one, still didn't cook all the way through. So, definitely do the chunks if you want a quick, easy meal! I think I'm going to try this over fish; I really think the flavors would go perfectly!

Chicken in Lime Butter

4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves (4 oz. each) – I usually use two large ones
1/8 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. pepper
2 Tbsp. vegetable oil (I probably wouldn’t use olive oil as the flavor might be too strong)
¼ cup butter (must use real butter)
1 Tbsp. lime juice (I use the juice of one lime)
½ tsp. dill weed
¼ tsp minced chives, optional

Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper. In a large skillet, cook chicken in oil over medium heat for 5-7 minutes on each side or until juices run clear. Remove and keep warm.

Add butter and lime juice to the skillet; cook and stir until butter is melted. Stir in dill and chives. Drizzle over chicken. Yield: 4 servings

Notes: I usually cut the chicken into chunks to cook it quicker. I also usually use a stainless steel skillet so as to brown the chicken better and to retain the little chicken bits for the butter sauce. Lastly, I wouldn’t use the bottled lime juice for this. I’d use the real thing for a better flavor.


I wanted to do something with our leftover steaks, so I found a recipe for Beef Stroganoff on Allrecipes.com. This one was highly rated, and I thought it was great (despite the fact that I had to make several substitutions - my meat was already cooked, so I cut back on the butter a bit, and just added the flour in after the onions were cooked, then added the meat, I had no worcestershire sauce, so I subbed A1, no mushrooms, so I left them out, and had to sub water and beef bouillon for the beef broth). It is pretty heavy on the basil, though, so if you're not a basil lover, you may want to cut back a bit. I am a basil lover, and I thought it was perfect! I love that it doesn't use cream of mushroom soup - made it much less gloppy.

Red River Beef Stroganoff

INGREDIENTS

• 2 pounds sirloin steak, cut into thin strips
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup butter or margarine, divided
• 2 large onions, chopped
• 1 (10.5 ounce) can beef broth
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 (4.5 ounce) jar sliced mushrooms, drained
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 cup sour cream
• cooked rice or noodles

DIRECTIONS

1. Dredge meat in flour. In a skillet, melt 1/4 cup butter over medium heat; saute onions until tender. Remove from pan; set aside. Melt remaining butter and brown meat on all sides. Add broth, basil, salt and pepper, mushrooms, Worcestershire sauce and onions. Cook until mixture thickens, about 5 minutes. Just before serving, stir in sour cream. Heat through, but do not boil. Serve immediately over rice or noodles.

That's all I cooked for dinner this week. One night, Jared had gone out for lunch with some guys from work, and wasn't hungry for dinner, so the kids and I had pancakes. One night, we brought dinner to Jared's sister Alene, who just had a baby - you'd think I'd have cooked something for her, but no, I was a bit frazzled from having friends over and trying to get out the door early enough to get dinner to them, so we just swung by Costco and picked up a rotisserie chicken, salad, rolls and Dunford donuts for them (gotta love Costco!). One night, Jared and I went out while my mom watched the kids - we went to Texas Roadhouse, and it was really good! Highly recommended - everything we tried was great! The other night, we had to pick up milk at Costco and I promised the kids we could get some pizza. Unfortunately, they were out of pizza by the time we got our groceries (it was almost closing time), so we came home and cooked a frozen pizza. The Freschetta Brick Oven ones are actually pretty good! So, now you've got some recipes, and you also know my dirty little secret - I don't cook dinner every night, not even close!

One more recipe - this is a banana bread I made this week. I really love this recipe - it's really moist and delicious, and pretty forgiving. It's also huge. I forgot I usually just make a 1/2 recipe, and I'd already started the whole recipe. I didn't have enough bananas, so I made up the difference with applesauce. I also subbed chocolate chips for nuts. It turned out great! Also, I've always used reduced-fat sour cream, I've never been brave enough to use the heavy cream, although I'm sure it's divine with it!

***Big Time Banana Bread

1 stick plus 2 tablespoons butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
6 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
3 cups mashed, very ripe bananas (about 6-7 mashed by hand with a fork)
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 cup sour cream or heavy cream
2/3 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray bottoms ONLY of 2 loaf pans with non-stick cooking spray. Beat butter in large mixing bowl with mixer set at medium speed until light & fluffy. Add both sugars and beat well. Add eggs and vanilla; beat until well blended. Add mashed bananas and beat on high for about 30 seconds.
In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda, salt, & baking powder; mix until combined well. Add flour mixture to butter mixture alternately with cream. Fold in walnuts. Pour batter evenly between the 2 loaf pans. Bake until browned and toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, about 1 hour and 15 minutes. Cool in pan on wire rack for at least 10 minutes. Remove from pan & cool completely. Slice & Serve. Serve alone, or with butter or with cream cheese.

This tastes even better the next day.