If you have some...

beef, green peppers, and onions, then you can easily whip up three of my favorite dinners. With these three ingredients you can make fajitas, stir fry, or steak sandwiches. Let me tell you how.

Base Ingredients:

Cut beef in to strips and slice the green peppers and onions.

Season the beef with seasoned salt, cayenne pepper, and a dash of onion powder and garlic salt. While that is cooking, sauté the onions and green peppers with butter. Then, just mix it all together.

Now if you want to make stir fry, mix everything together with some soy sauce and serve with rice.

For fajitas, serve with tortillas and rice. Chicken can also be substituted for the beef.

As for steak sandwiches, separate into individual portions (basically what can fit on your sandwich) and melt some cheese on it. Provolone is the best, but Monterey Jack is good too. Really whatever you want. I don't think cheddar would be the right flavor, but you can try it if you want! Anyways, once the cheese is melted put it on a loaf of hoagie bread and eat it right away! Serve it with some au jus sauce for dipping (I use a mix found in the gravy aisle).

And there you have it! Three simple meals with three ingredients. I'm sure there are more uses so if you have a recipe, do share!

Granola

Granola

14 c. oats

2 c. whole wheat flour or wheat germ

2 c. powdered milk

1 tsp. salt

1 1/2 cup coconut

2 c. oil

2 c. honey

1 T vanilla

1 tsp. mapleine

Mix dry ingredients in a large bowl. Combine oil, honey, and flavorings. Add to dry ingredients and mix well. Spread on two large cookie sheets. Bake at 250 for 45 minutes to 1 1/2 hours, depending on how crunchy you want your granola. You could add raisins and slivered almonds if you like. I've also added two peeled, cored, and finely chopped apples along with cinnamon to my granola before baking with good results.

I'm making this for the first time as we speak, and it smells so good baking in the oven, I had to put it on the blog. I love that you made this blog, Cidne. Cooking is one of my favorite things - I'd do it all day if I didn't have kids and it didn't make dishes to clean. As soon as I do get the kitchen spotlessly clean, I get the urge to cook, and the cycle repeats itself all over again. I'm sure you can relate. Whenever that happens Scott reminds me I wouldn't have to clean if I didn't always cook, but it's like an involuntary itch - I gotta scratch it.

Hummus

Hummus

garlic, 1-3 cloves

2 cup garbanzo beans

1/2 tsp. cumin

1/2 tsp salt

1+tsp. lemon juice

2+ T olive oil

Mix and eat with bell peppers, cucumbers, carrots, celery, bread, etc.

I got this recipe from my sister-in-law Lisa. I LOVE the stuff - dipped with bread, veggies, my fingers, you name it. You can cook large batches of garbanzo beans (chickpeas) all at once and freeze them in 2 cup portions (leaving a little bit of the water from cooking in the bag) to make it easy. A food processor is ideal to mix it, but I only have a blender, so it comes out with some chunks, but still tasty good. Haha - I just put this post on my family blog - maybe that's why I never blog, I'm computer illiterate. :-)

Spinach Squares

These are always a hit at potlucks and stuff. They're also a staple at our Thanksgiving dinner. We made them today for a ward picnic. They have the consistency of quiche (but less eggy). You can hardly even taste the spinach because they're LOADED with cheese. In fact I usually don't use quite a pound as it calls for (and you don't have to use sharp either). That's just a lot, and it does fine with less. Hope you love this stuff... I always go back for more and more!

Frying Pan Pizza

A meal Brian made growing up. Super, super easy. It takes a little trial to get the crust done just right. sometimes I wait to add the cheese/etc. until the dough is cooked for a minute so it doesn't come out underdone.

Creamy White Chili

This was a winner at our ward chili cook off (thankfully, she gave me the recipe!). It's a family favorite now. It's slightly spicy, so you can cut back on the spices if you like. However, we love it just the way it is!

Orange Chicken

Tonight we're having one of my college friends over for dinner. In our college days, we loved to go out for Chinese. We almost always ordered Orange Chicken. I recently came across this recipe and loved it! Mike says it's like eating candy...perhaps not the best image health-wise. Anyways, I plan on making Orange Chicken and catching up with her.

Ingredients:

Chicken-

2 lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts (cut into 1-1/2” cubes)

1 ½ cups all purpose flour

1 eggs (beaten)

¼ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon pepper

Oil (for frying)

Orange Sauce-

1 ½ cups water

2 tablespoons orange juice

¼ cup lemon juice

1/3 cup rice vinegar

2 ½ tablespoons soy sauce

1 tablespoon orange zest (grated)

1 cup packed brown sugar

½ teaspoon ginger root (minced)--I used ground ginger

½ teaspoon garlic (minced)--I used garlic powder

2 tablespoons green onion (chopped)

¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes

3 tablespoons cornstarch

2 tablespoons water

Cooking Instructions:

Step 1: Combine flour, salt, and pepper. Dip chicken in egg mixture and shake in flour mixture to coat. Fry chicken until completely cooked.

Step 2: Meanwhile, in a large saucepan combine 1 ½ cups water, lemon juice, orange juice, rice vinegar, and soy sauce. Blend well over medium heat for a few minutes. Stir in brown sugar, orange zest, ginger garlic, and onion. Bring to a boil.

Step 3: Combine 3 tablespoons of cornstarch with 1/4 cup of water and mix thoroughly. Slowly stir cornstarch mixture into sauce until it thickens. Pour sauce over breaded chicken, and if desired add red pepper flakes and garnish with green onions. Enjoy and serve with rice.