Roasted asparagus

I've finally figured out how to make the perfect asparagus. This is super simple, and you just need to season it however you wish.

If you don't know how to trim asparagus, it's really easy. Just take the end between your thumb and forefinger and bend until it snaps! It's perfect for those days you just want to snap something! It always breaks the wooden end off at the right spot-no more second guessing!

Roasted asparagus

Total time: 20 minutes

Serves 4

• 1 bunch asparagus, trimmed
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place asparagus spears in a 9x13 inch baking dish, doing you best to only have one layer. Drizzle with the olive oil, and toss the spears so they are well coated. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, add more to taste if you wish.

Roast in oven for about 7 minutes, then toss the spears with tongs. Cook for the remaining 7-8 minutes or until tender.

Dinner Bread

I've made this before and have an old blog post about it here. It's my dad's recipe, but what I originally posted was more of, add a bit of this to taste. I actually measured what I put in this time (and used a bit less butter!), so thought I would make a new post. My dad also calls this garlic bread, but there isn't any garlic in it, so I've renamed it.

You can use whatever wine you have on hand, but I recommend a white or a rose. If you use any sort of red, it tends to make the bread turn a purple color. I did forget to take a picture though. It's super easy and absolutely delicious.

Dinner Bread-adapted from my dad
Total Time: 45 minutes
Serves 8

• 1 loaf french bread
• 1 1/2 sticks of butter
• 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon parsley
• 1/4 cup parmesan cheese, grated
• 1/4 cup white or rose wine

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a small saucepan, melt butter over low heat. Once butter has melted, add remaining ingredients and mix well.

Meanwhile, slice french bread into about 1-inch slices and place like a full loaf on tin foil that's on a baking sheet. The tin foil will be wrapped around the loaf in a bit.

Brush the butter mixture on both sides of each slice of french bread. Be generous! Wrap the loaf of bread in tin foil, and bake for 30 minutes.

Teriyaki Venison Steak with mushrooms

For Christmas, Scott's sister and her boyfriend gave us venison steaks. Let me tell you, this was the greatest thing ever. I told Scott he needs to take up hunting so we can have a stock pile of venison year round. This is a really basic recipe, but it's truly all venison needs. Along with the fact that venison is so tender, you essentially just need to sear it to cook it to medium rare.

Teriyaki Venison Steak with Mushrooms
Total Time: 20 Minutes, plus marinading time
Serves 4

• 4 6-ounce venison steaks
• 18 ounce bottle teriyaki sauce
• Seasoned salt and pepper
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1/2 cup red wine
• 8 ounces mushrooms, chopped

Marinade the steaks in teriyaki sauce for 2-24 hours. When ready to cook, season with seasoned salt and pepper to taste. Heat a grill over high heat. Sear, about 3-5 minutes per side, until cooked to your liking.

Meanwhile, melt the butter over a large skillet with the wine. Once melted sautee the mushrooms, about 5 minutes or until browned and tender.

Wheat Thin Cookies

These cookies are a Christmas tradition around our house. My mom has made them every year, and they are Scott's favorite cookies! This year, as one of my Christmas gifts, I made a bunch of cookies for someone's present (he's a dessert fiend). Scott asked that I try making my mom's cookies, and I knew exactly what he meant right away!

I now know why my mom only makes these once a year. They are very putsy to make. Like take a lot of time and repetition. In the end, it's totally worth it, but you want to be sitting at a good table with a good movie on or music or something! As always with classic recipes, I felt like mine just didn't turn out as good as my mom's, but we got the jist of it!

Also, as you'll tell from the recipe, it's not very technical...

Wheat Thin Cookies
Total Time: 30 minutes-1 hour, depending on how many you make

• 24 ounces white or milk chocolate almond bark
• 1 large box wheat thins
• 1 jar peanut butter

In a microwave safe bowl, break up the almond bark slightly. Melt in microwave in 30 second increments, stirring in between. 

Meanwhile, take one wheat thin cracker, place a thin layer of peanut butter, and top with another wheat thin cracker. Repeat with the rest of the crackers. 

Dip the cracker sandwiches into the melted almond bark until covered on both sides. Place and let cool and harden on a wax paper lined baking sheet. Keep refrigerated in an air tight container.

Greek Stuffed Chicken

I have been terrible at updating my blog. For that I'm sorry. I've still been cooking. Kind of. I've honestly just been lazy. It's been random stir-frys and tacos a lot. Can't complain, but wish I was cooking more new things. The only good thing is the stuff I have been cooking has not been getting posted. So I have a few days worth of posts to share!

The first one is an original recipe. When I create things from scratch, I'm not the best at measuring, so these are pretty much estimates. I'm trying to get better at that, but I promise you this was a delicious meal! Penzey's Greek Seasoning is one of my favorite seasonings now! It adds so much flavor to steak, chicken, you name it! It made this dish. The adapted from recipe is what I used as a baseline, but I didn't really follow the ingredients.

Greek Stuffed Chicken-adapted from AllRecipes.com
Total Time: 45 Minutes
Serves 3

• 3 chicken breasts
• 2 tablespoons Penzey's Greek Seasoning
• 8 ounces ricotta cheese
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1/4 cup kalamata olives, finely chopped
• 1/4 cup tomato, diced
• 4 ounces mozzarella cheese, shredded

Heat oven to 350 degrees.

Season chicken with Greek seasoning. Slit chicken breasts open on the sides to be able to stuff. Set aside.

In a small bowl, mix the ricotta, egg, olives and tomatoes and 1/2 the cheese together. Stuff each breast with 1/3 of the cheese mixture, and hold sides of the chicken closed with toothpicks. Place on a lightly greased baking sheet. Top chicken with remaining cheese. Cook for 45 minutes, or until chicken is cooked through.

Original Recipe:Turkey-Spinach-Artichoke-Sandwich

Scott and I are in love with the Turkey Artichoke Paninis from Panera. We decided to make our own. The recipe amounts won't be a precise as usual, because we really didn't measure. But you get the idea. We bought store made spinach dip, and added artichokes. But you could very well make your own spinach and/or artichoke dip to go with this as well. Or use leftovers to make the sandwiches. We were absolutely in LOVE with this! Obviously, it's not overly healthy, but when you're craving a really yummy warm sandwich, this will definitely do the trick! 5/5 all the way!

Turkey-Spinach-Artichoke-Sandwich

Turkey-Spinach-Artichoke-Sandwich
Total Time: 20 Minutes
Total Servings: 2

• Melted butter
• Loaf french bread, sliced into sandwich-sized pieces
• Deli-style turkey
• Sliced Asiago cheese
• Warmed spinach artichoke dip

Butter one side of one piece of bread. Once warm, add the cheese, turkey, and spinach artichoke dip. Place other slice of bread on top, and lightly butter the top. Flip the sandwich when the first side is browned. Cook until turkey is warm and cheese is melted. ENJOY!!

Beer Dip

This recipe I got from a friend at college.  I had never heard of beer dip before and it is just as unhealthy for you as it sounds.  But it is delicious!

Beer Dip
2 (8oz) packages cream cheese
1oz package dry ranch dressing
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1/3 cup beer (I have found that light beers work best)

Combine cream cheese and ranch.  Add cheese, then beer.  Cover and refrigerate for at least 3 hours.