Steak with Bleu Cheese Grilled Onion Sauce

A few years ago hyvee advertised a 'smoked Bleu cheese' in their ad. My mom and I both went to several stores seeking this delicious sounding cheese, but couldn't ever find it.

This weekend though, I was browsing the cheeses and couldn't believe my eyes! Smoked Bleu cheese! It was a little steep, $7 for a small container, but I went for it. We tried it right away and it is awesome. 

I also had some steaks so decided to make the Bleu cheese into a sauce. I looked online at recipes and most recipes called for a lot of heavy cream. I had 45 cal per cup unsweetened coconut milk, so used that instead.

I melted the container of Bleu cheese with 1 cup of coconut milk, and at the same time threw red onion slices on the grill to char a bit. I added them to the sauce along with salt and pepper and a tiny bit of sugar.

If your sauce isn't thick enough, take a ladle out and mix with some cornstarch and add it back to the rest of the sauce.

At this point you could drizzle this sauce on a steak. But I added sautéed mushrooms which made it even tastier.

It was super tasty and rich.

If you see smoked Bleu cheese, buy it!

Double Chocolate Sandwich Cookies with 'Lightened' Coconut Pecan Filling

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Ingredients:

10 T butter

2 1/4 cup sugar

6 eggs

1 T vanilla

4 T cocoa

20 oz bittersweet chocolate

1 bag mini chocolate chips

1 t salt

1 t baking soda

1 1/4 cup flour

Combine butter, sugar and eggs and mix for 3 minutes. 

Melt chocolate in the microwave stirring every 30 seconds. Mix into the sugar/egg/butter mixture once cooled.

Add in vanilla, cocoa, baking soda, and salt.

Stir in flour and mini chips by hand.

Scoop onto cookie sheet and bake for 6-10 minutes depending on size.

Filling:

2 cups low fat evaporated milk

4 T butter

4 T cornstarch

1 1/2 cup brown sugar

1 t vanilla

1 cup pecans (toasted)

1 cup coconut (toasted)

Whisk milk, butter, cornstarch and sugar until it boils, then continue to cook 3-5 more minutes until it thickens. Add in the vanilla, pecans, and coconut.

Allow it to cool for a little bit.

Spread filling on one cookie and make a sandwich.

Yum!

Skinny Lemon Berry Muffins

These babies are only 125 calories, and very tasty!

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup lemon juice

3 eggs

1 cup sugar

1 t vanilla

12 oz Greek yogurt

1 t olive oil 

1 1/2 cups flour

1 t baking soda

1 t baking powder

1 t salt

Combine all wet ingredients, then add dry ingredients.

Scoop into muffin tins.

I topped mine with a few berries coated in powdered sugar (the sugar keeps them from sinking to the bottom).

Bake for about 20 minutes.

Healthy Baked Onion Rings

I love fried food and was craving onion rings to go with my turkey burger. These turned out well and much healthier than something from your freezer grocery aisle!

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Slice onions and separate rings. Toss then in flour.

Then create two dipping bowls.

One:

1/2 cup milk (I used coconut)

Sriracha

Two:

Panko bread crumbs 

Smoked paprika

Garlic salt

Pepper

Dip the rings in bowl one, then bowl two, and then place the onion rings on a 'pammed' cookie sheet.

Bake about 25 minutes until the panko turns dark brown.

Tastes best with a cheese stuffed turkey burger topped with BBQ, tomato, and avocado. 

Grilled Shrimp Caesar Salad

Caesar salad is one of my fav dinners, and a local restaurant makes an awesome grilled romaine lettuce version. I copied it.

Cut your romaine lengthwise, and brush with olive oil. Salt and pepper and grill for a few minutes on each side.

When done, cut out the bottom inch or so, as it can hold dirt.

I also made croutons.

3 cups cubed bread

2 T olive oil

1 t salt

1 t pepper

1 t garlic powder

3 T Parmesan 

Bake for 20 min at 350.

Add grilled shrimp, Parmesan, tomatoes, and your favorite Caesar dressing (Panera sells bottles at my grocery store that are delicious).

White Chocolate Sriracha Caramel Corn

I love to mix sriracha into butter when making popcorn, but I wondered if a sriracha caramel corn would be good. And why not add some white chocolate?!

This was super easy and fast, and tasty!!!

Boil the following for 5 minutes, no stirring:

1 cup brown sugar 

1/4 cup honey

1 stick butter

Stir in the following:

1 t baking soda

1 t salt

1 t cayenne pepper

2 T sriracha sauce (add more if you want)

Pecans 

Then stir in a bag of popped popcorn.

Spread it out on waxed paper and drizzle with white chocolate.

Morels of 2013 in Iowa

I started finding morels this year the last week of April through last week. I consistently found 20-30 every time I went out, so it was very fun!

Unfortunately, though, I got poison ivy from head to toe, literally. It was very bad timing to have on my neck and eyelids, considering I just started a new job.

When I went to the Dr. they conservatively prescribed the dose packs of 4mg prednisone, the first dose being 6 pills and down one pill each day. On the last day I was getting even worse so went into a random Dr. at a convenient care place and he told me the dose packs are rarely effective because poison ivy doesn't respond to doses below 30mg of prednisone (the first day of the dose pack was only 24mg). So he prescribed 60mg for 3 days, 30mg for 3 days, and 10mg for 3 days. It is still not completely gone! Next year I will be in full body protective gear!

BBQ Pork w/ Greek Yogurt Slaw

Rub pork butt roast with:

Yellow mustard

Apple cider vinegar

Chili powder

Garlic

Brown sugar

Smoked paprika

Onion powder

Let it sit overnight, then cook on low in the crock pot for 8 hours. Pull apart with forks and mix in a BBQ sauce of choice. Broil the meat on high on a cookie sheet to crisp the edges.

Slaw:

1/4 cup olive oil mayo

1/4 cup Greek yogurt

1/4 cup apple cider vinegar

1/4 cup sugar

Lime juice

Salt

Pepper

Red cabbage

Carrots

Grilled corn

Green onions

Mini Key Lime Cheesecake

Not posting a recipe because it was a dud. It used sour cream, and I was hesitant but tried it. Next time I will steer clear of cheesecakes with sour cream.

Still looked cute though :-)

Also including a picture of a turtle cheesecake I made a few weeks ago.

Tomato Avocado Corn Salad

Ingredients:
Small tomatoes, halved
Sliced avocado
Grilled red onion slices
Grilled corn

Dressing:
1 container plain Greek yogurt
1/2 cup mayo
1/4 cup green onion
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon white pepper
1 teaspoon honey
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon garlic powder
Juice of 1 lime

Graham Cracker Brittle

My mom requested s'more mousse for her Mother's Day dessert, and instead of using plain graham crackers I wanted to be fancier so decided to make a brittle.

Preheat oven to 350.

Line glass pan with graham crackers.

Bring 1.5 sticks of butter and a cup of brown sugar to a boil. Add in a cup of chopped nuts if you like. Cook another two minutes. Cover graham crackers with sugar mixture and bake for 15 minutes. Let cool completely.

Here is my finished mousse: