Adventures in Art, Product Design, Home Decor, Cooking, and Gardening
I love gyros so when I found this recipe for meatballs with cucumber sauce on flatbreads in the August 2012 issue of Better Homes and Gardens Magazine I just had to try it. The recipe calls for frozen meatballs, which are a real time saver for busy cooks like me. I served these Greek-style sandwiches with a tossed green salad and had dinner on the table in under 30 minutes. Delicious, easy, and quick–that’s a winning combination in my book. Get the recipe at bhg.com.
When I’m short on time I often reach for this recipe for skillet steak and corn. It’s delicious, easy to prepare, and uses ingredients that are readily available in my pantry. I found the original recipe in Taste of Home magazine, but I’ve made a few changes over the years. Here are the ingredients you’ll need to make skillet steak and corn:
1 lb. skirt steak cut into strips
1 medium onion, cut into wedges
2-3 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
2 tablespoons oil
1 cup beef broth
1/3 cup red wine (I used merlot)
1 can (14 oz.) diced tomatoes
1 can (15 oz.) whole kernel corn, drained
Hot cooked rice
In a skillet brown the steak, onions, garlic, and thyme in oil. Add the beef broth and wine; simmer for 10 minutes, or until the liquid has evaporated. Stir in tomatoes; cover and simmer for 15 minutes longer. Add corn; heat through. Serve over hot cooked rice.
It was a gorgeous day today so I spent the afternoon outside doing yard work. It was exhausting work that left me with little energy or time to make dinner. So I whipped up a simple dinner of cherry Dijon chicken salad and served it on buttery croissants with slices of fresh cantaloupe on the side and home-made pickles that I bought at the farmer’s market. It was a simple but delicious meal. Here’s what you need to make this quick dinner:
Ingredients:
2 lbs. boneless chicken breasts, cooked and diced
1/2 cup dried cherries
2 tablespoons sliced almonds, lightly toasted
1/4 cup diced celery
1/2 cup mayonnaise (I use Duke’s mayonnaise because it tastes closest to home-made mayo)
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon sugar
Wash the chicken breasts, remove any visible fat, and cut each breast into thirds (to reduce the cooking time). In a medium saucepan bring 4-6 cups of water to a rapid boil. Reduce the heat, add the chicken, and cook for 10-12 minutes or until the centers are no longer pink. Be careful not to overcook the chicken or it will become dry and tough. Remove to a platter. Cool. Cut into bite-sized pieces. In a medium-sized bowl combine the cooled chicken, cherries, almonds, celery, mayonnaise, mustard, and sugar. Enjoy.