Cooking

Lately I've been stretching my legs in the cooking department once again.  On Saturday we tested on a new flank steak marinade on our friends and they seemed to enjoy it.  I think the key with flank steak is for me to get over my issues with "raw" meat and let Brad cook it for a shorter time.  If you've ever eaten steak with me, you will know that I will ask for it "well done, just this side of burned".  Everyone tells me this ruins it, but I'm barely a meat eater as it is so even a bit of pink turns me completely off.  I'm trying, though.  So Saturday I let the meat marinate all day and then let Brad cook it for a short amount of time.  Everyone else said it was perfect....I still thought it was under cooked.  :-)

Anyway, here's the marinade recipe from Simply Recipes:
1/3 cup olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 T red wine vinegar
1/3 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup honey

Last night we tried another new recipe that a friend had recommended.  Its Paleo Pepperoni Pizza Casserole.  I wasn't sure what everyone would think, but my family gobbled it up and had seconds and thirds.  It was a HUGE hit.  As always, I altered it a little so here's what I did.

Ingredients:

• 1 pound ground beef
• 8 ounces chopped pepperoni, divided
• 1 small onion, diced small
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoon EACH oregano, basil, and thyme
• 4 cups roasted spaghetti squash noodles (apx, see cooking notes above)
• 2 cups favorite spaghetti sauce 

Method:

1. In a large skillet over medium heat, saute the ground beef, 1/2 of the pepperoni, onion, and garlic.
2. As the ground meat cooks, sprinkle in the seasonings.  Taste (when cooked!) and add more to your liking if necessary.
3. In a large bowl, mix the warm beef mixture, spaghetti sauce, and squash threads.  
4. Top with the remaining pepperoni.  

She added eggs and baked hers, but we loved it the way we made it!  

I just put some chicken cacciatore in the crock pot so I will report back on how we all liked that soon.