Steak+Pineapple+Mushroom Kabobs

Okay, I have to start off with saying that I never really LOVE what I make for dinner. I am just more of a dessert kind of girl. BUT tonight we made some kabobs on the grill and oh my gosh they were so good. I made them a month or so and they were delicious then, but this time they were even better!

Here's how I put them together.

(a few hours in advance) start the STEAK marinade:
1/2 cup olive oil
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 tablespoon mustard
1 teaspoon barbeque sauce
garlic powder or garlic salt (if you use the salt, don't use too much. the soy sauce is plenty salty!)
pepper

whisk all the ingredients together. Cut up your steak into the size you prefer for the kabobs and put it all in a zip lock bag. Put that in the fridge until you are ready to assemble (I let them marinade for about 2.5 hours).

While your husband get the grill ready, cut up PINEAPPLE and MUSHROOMS. You can leave the mushrooms whole if you like, mine were just really big. I like to melt butter and coat the mushrooms in the melted butter, salt and pepper.

Load up your kabobs!
steak+pineapple+mushroom+steak+pineapple+mushroom+steak+pineapple+mushroom

Throw them on the grill... they don't take very long.

The combination of the marinade and the pineapple tenderize the meat and make it so juicy and so delicious.

PLEASE try this. I'm begging you.

Birthday Dinner

Salad, steak, green beans, twice baked potatoes and..

Homemade Razzleberry Pie!

It was fun to get out our china and have good food to put on it. I kind of outdid myself on this dinner, at least on the steak and pie. I marinated the steaks in red wine and balsamic vinegar and black pepper for a few hours, then Garrit grilled them up. They were amazing, we hadn't had steak that good since we went to Rare Steakhouse in Vegas. The pie was surprisingly easy, and delicious. In Garrit's words, "It's like a jam pie!" and just ask Grandma how much Garrit likes jam. He'll eat it with a spoon. Anyway, here's the pie recipe.


Ingredients

1 box of Pillsbury pie crusts

1 bag of frozen raspberries 

1 bag of frozen blackberries

1 cup cut up strawberries

1/3 cup sugar + extra to sprinkle on the crust

2 1/2 Tablespoons flour

Crisco (to grease the pan)

Directions
1. Thaw fruit almost completely and pour in colander to strain juice.
2. In large bowl, mix fruit, sugar and flour together. Line bottom of greased pie plate with crust. Fill with fruit.
3. Before adding top layer cut design into crust as vents, or roll it out a little thinner and cut into strips to make a lattice crust.  Lay over top of crust, moisten edges with water to "glue" the two crusts together, or weave strips in a lattice pattern. With the back side of a fork, pinch edges together, or pinch with fingers.
4. Lightly brush top crust with water.
5. Sprinkle sugar over the top.
6. Cover edges with 1 1/2" strip of aluminum foil.
7. Bake for 30 minutes at 400 degrees.
8. Remove foil and bake an additional 10 minutes until crust is golden brown.

Good by itself, but EXCELLENT with fresh whipped cream, or vanilla ice cream.

mancakes

Garrit doesn't actually like meatloaf, so these probably shouldn't be called mancakes, but who cares. They are too manly to be called cupcakes.

Meatloaf cupcakes:

prepare meatloaf as usual, but instead of using a loaf pan, put it into a cupcake tin. use liners if desired. cook for about 30 minutes (because they're tiny, they'll cook faster)
( i made my meatloaf by toasting leftover garlic bread until it was really dry instead of using crackers or oatmeal or something like that. i cracked in a couple of eggs, sprinkled lots of oregano and montreal steak seasoning, and garlic salt and fresh ground pepper with my ground beef, and it was really tasty. don't forget the brown sugar and ketchup on top!)

make some mashed potatoes in the meantime. put mashed potatoes in a plastic bag with the tip cut off. try putting ranch in the potatoes if you're using food storage potatoes. believe me.

when the meatloaf is done, pipe mashed potatoes on as frosting, and top with shredded cheddar cheese!