Tri Tip Marinade

To diehard backyard grill-happy girls and boys, the only change in your game from one season or weather-system to the next is whether you'll be eating the grilled goodness indoors or al fresco.

Recently we feasted on a couple of grilled tri tips (one in Feb and one in early March) thanks to my sweet Sis who snuck them into our freezer on her last visit. It was cold and rainy both times we wanted to cook them, but we just tucked the old Weber under the eaves and we were good-to-go.

Torta di Pasta

Tony made this for us a few years ago and I'd bookmarked it but never tried it. I threw it together the other night when we were trying to figure out how to reheat our leftovers without a microwave (the only reason to have one besides of course, melting butter for popcorn). It was easy, cheesy and filling. And it had the added bonus of stretching one night of spaghetti leftovers into dinner for two more nights (a side salad with it would've stretched it even further)!

A Better BLT

Better because the bread is homemade, the tomatoes are homegrown, and you can put as much bacon on as you want. The first ones we made were actually BCTs (Bacon-Chard-Tomato). The next two times they were BTAs... with avocado replacing the lettuce/chard. Those beautiful beefsteak tomatoes were gifted to us, and we felt that this would be the best way to highlight their fabulousness.

Pretty self-explanatory, but here's the line-up:  

• Lightly toasted homemade sourdough bread
• Mayonnaise 
• Sliced avocado
• Thick-cut applewood-smoked bacon
• Sliced homegrown tomatoes

Prep all the separate components, draining the tomatoes and bacon a little. I like to layer the tomatoes on top so they don't make the bottom piece of bread soggy.

Help With: Onions!

I have a big bag of beautiful red onions in my pantry... normally we only buy a couple at a time. What kinds of things can I make with them? I don't want them to go to waste, so I'd appreciate suggestions...

Thanks!
Stephanie

Pesto Chicken with Polenta

Pounding chicken with a mallet can be a good thing to do when you are stressed. Pounding chicken with a mallet can be a bad thing to when you are stressed. The difference lies in the amount of stress relative to the size and quantity of chicken breasts. Unfortunately that's a ratio that you'll have to figure out on your own. It's different for everybody. Creamy, buttery, cheesy polenta is super comforting and goes really well with the pesto chicken too. After all that pounding, what's a little stirring?

No-Fail Hard-Boiled Eggs

Seriously, perfect... every time. I don't make hard-boiled eggs that often, and I'm always anxious how they'll turn out when I do... because sometimes they don't. This technique produces hard-boiled eggs that are just the right consistency (not rubbery) and it totally eliminates the dark gray-green discoloring around the yolk. What more could you want? O.k. don't answer that.

• Boiled Egg 101 at marthastewart.com

Try it, you might like it!
-Steph

Rosemary Garlic Mashed Potatoes

These were pretty good (nobody complained anyway), I think I would increase the amount of rosemary next time, but that's just me. If you like a lot of garlic, certainly add as much as you want.

The recipe says to make them "wetter" than you think they should be because they will continue to absorb liquid and could become too dry by the time you serve them. They're not kidding! Don't skip that part - especially if you won't be serving them immediately. Oh and if you notice the slow cooker in the photo... it's only there to keep the finished potatoes warm during the travel and waiting to eat time (yep - made them for a pot luck). Which brings me to my next point. I tripled this recipe, so if you don't need to feed 12 people, just divide the ingredients by 3...

Fennel Dusted Chicken with Browned Butter and Capers

This is a chicken dish that I made last week using fennel seeds... never would have thought that would work (much less taste good) but it did and it was delicious and dead-easy. Check it out over on my blog (shameless self-promotion alert!)... Make it Bake it Buy it Fake it

Try it... you might like it!
-Steph

Party Quiche

Super easy, super tasty. This is one of my favorite "go to" recipes of all time. Kind of a crust-less quiche with a little fiesta mixed in. The original recipe was from my Mom's friend Peggy and was printed in our church cookbook, circa 1970-something. It's a great dish for breakfast, brunch or lunch. It even tastes good cold! Cut it into small squares for an appetizer or large squares for an entreé. I'm thinking about trying it out in muffin tins for individual quiche-lettes at our next party. The cooking time will be different though, so I'll have to experiment. If anyone tries it out before I get around to it, let me know how it goes!

Fiesta Corn Muffins

There were leftover ingredients sitting in my fridge from the muffin-a-thon the other day: fresh cilantro, red bell pepper, and buttermilk. As I sat thinking about what I could do with it all so's not to waste it, it dawned on me... just make more corn muffins!

I combined two recipes for the best of both worlds: lots of corn and lots of flavor. Used my vintage muffin pans (8 muffins cups in each) since I still haven't washed out the 12-cup muffin pan from the other day. Yep, I really hate washing out muffin pans. Seriously do not like. Of course, now I've got three pans to wash. Ugh. Anyway, these are super tasty corn muffins and would go great with all sorts of barbecued dishes (or a bowl of chili of course).