Southwest Steak with Chipotle Butter

One of our most popular posts (Herb Butter Steakhouse Steak) has inspired many other recipes that we have tried. The Magical Moms often make healthy recipes, but they are not afraid to experiment with BUTTER or BACON!  I learned the finishing butter on a steak trick while attending a cooking class a few years ago.  I don't do it all the time but when I do I always enjoy it!

Ingredients:

• 4 (6-8 oz each) Steaks
• 1/3 Cup A1 Steak Sauce
• 1 Chipotle in Adobo Sauce (just one pepper not the whole can)
• 1 Tablespoon of Water
• 1/4 teaspoon minced garlic
• 1 Tablespoon Lime Juice
• 2 tablespoons of butter (softened)
• 1 teaspoon adobo sauce

Serves 4

In a small food processor combine A1 , chipotle pepper, water, minced garlic, and lime juice and process until smooth.  Place steaks in a ziploc bag and pour 2/3 of the marinade over it.  Reserve 1/3 of marinade to brush on steaks while cooking.  Marinade steaks for about 30 minutes.  

Chipotle Butter

Place softened (not melted) butter along with 1 teaspoon of adobo sauce in small food processor and process until well combined.  Place butter in small bowl and place in fridge so it can harden again.

Grill steaks (I cooked them on my grill pan on the stove inside) until they are cooked to desired temp.  I cooked mine to medium.  Then top with a slice of the hard chipotle butter and let it melt into the meat.  

Follow the Magical Moms on Facebook and Pinterest for weekly menu ideas, crafts, and Disney Magic.  

The Bread by Pioneer Woman

This recipe is from the Pioneer Woman's website. The Bread is a staple menu item for her.  The first time I made it I had a VERY hard time committing to using that much butter, but with a little convincing from my Mother-in-Law and Sherrie I gave into the peer pressure.  When my husband and Father-in-law saw this come out of the oven, they asked me why I was serving them burnt toast.  But after they took one bite they were amazed by the flavor.  They could not believe that it was just bread and butter!

Ingredients:

• Loaf of French bread- sliced in half lengthwise 
• 2 sticks of salted butter (I think you can adjust it depending on the size of your loaf of bread, just make sure you use at least twice the amount of butter that you think is appropriate;)

Preheat oven to 350.  Spread one stick of butter on each half loaf of bread.  Next, Place the bread on a baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes.  Last turn on the Broiler and broil bread for additional 3-4 minutes.  It is very important to keep your eye on the bread the whole time (trust me I walked away once and it was not a pretty sight or sound).  Remove the bread from the oven when it has begun to brown and blacken.  Make sure you don't under broil it.  The key to the flavor is to make sure the butter is cooked.  Slice and serve right away

This recipe was featured on our 30 Days of Dinners June Menu, Make sure to check out all of the other great recipes on this month's menu!

Garlic Pretzels

                                   

A few years ago we were down at the lake for the weekend with some family.  Everyone had brought a few snacks to share.  One evening Aunt Wendy pulled out these pretzels and we were all instantly hooked!  All I have to say is- good thing we are all family because I am sure we all reeked of garlic the entire evening.  These pretzels go perfectly as a snack with a beer:)

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 teaspoons Garlic Powder
• 1 stick of Butter
• 3 Tablespoons Worcestershire Sauce
• 1 Bag of Sour Dough Pretzels

Preheat oven to 250.  Gently crush the Sourdough Pretzels.  I leave them in the bag and use a rolling pin.  Place the pretzels in a single layer on a jelly roll pan.   Next, ,melt Butter then add in Worcestershire Sauce and Garlic Powder.  Pour mixture over pretzels and gently mix.  Bake for 15 minutes and toss with spatula. Bake for an additional 45 minutes tossing every 15 minutes, for a total of one hour.

I love to sneak some while they are warm, but you can store them in a sealed container for a long time.   I usually make two bags at a time because they are so addicting!

Herb Butter Steakhouse Steak

Have you ever wondered why you can't ever make a steak quite as good as one from a steakhouse?  Well I can share a couple of their secrets.  Last fall I took a cooking class on how to make the perfect steak.  When I was choosing the class I was leaning towards taking a class to learn how to cook something new or even make my own pasta, but then I thought "why not learn how to make something I already make but make it better."  My husband usually grills, which requires me to wait until he gets home from work to start dinner.  The tips I learned let me make a FABULOUS steak in the middle of winter because no grilling is required.  Yes, I said they do not grill it!  The second secret is that they use butter, butter, and more butter.

Connie's Caramel Corn

My Mother-in-law is a HUGE popcorn fan. My kids got her an air popcorn popper for Christmas so together they decided to make some caramel corn.

We normally just make popcorn in the microwave, so this was a huge treat for them!

Ingredients:

• 2 sticks of butter
• 2 cups of brown sugar (firmly packed)
• 1/2 cup Karo Syrup
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla
• 1 1/2 cups unpopped popcorn

First, pop (in air-popper) 1.5 cups of popcorn. After popped, pour popcorn into shallow baking dishes.

Melt 1 cup of butter on medium heat in sauce pan. Stir in 2 cups of brown sugar, 1/2 cup of Karo Syrup and 1 tsp of salt. Bring to boil, stirring constantly.

Once it comes to a rolling boil, let boil for five minutes WITHOUT stirring. Then remove caramel from heat and add 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda and 1 teaspoon of Vanilla. Mix well. Gradually pour caramel over popcorn and gently mix.

Bake at 250 for one hour stirring every 15 minutes. Let popcorn cool completely before breaking it apart. Store popcorn in air tight container. This recipe made 3 gallon size bags full.

This recipe was featured on the Magical Moms' July Menu.  Be sure to check out all of our monthly menus


Lots of AMAZING recipes on the Magical Moms' June Menu, Marvelous May Menu, Appetizing April Menu, and March Madness Menu.

Honey I ate the Pork

Pork tenderloin is my all time favorite meat to cook. You can do just about anything with it. This recipe is simple and includes some other of my favorites- honey and butter! I like to serve with rice pilaf (see previous post with recipe for Better than Rice-a-Roni Rice Pilaf) and a salad.

Ingredients:

• - 1 lb. pork tenderloin
• -Cajun seasoning
• - 1/2 stick butter
• -2 tbsp. Honey

Directions:

1. Rub pork with Cajun seasoning at least 30 min before cooking.
2. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Melt butter in large, ovenproof pan. Add honey and heat over medium heat.
3. Brown pork in the honey/butter mixture for 5 minutes on each side.
4. Put ovenproof pan with the pork in the oven and cook for 20-30 minutes until pork is done.

It is so tender and juicy and just delicious. Yum!

This recipe was featured in Two Magical Moms March Menu Madness.  Check out the entire menu and try out some of our other YUMMY recipes!

Mouth Watering Pot Roast

For dinner tonight, I am making my husband's favorite- Mouth Watering Pot Roast. I actually think the recipe title is Mississippi Pot Roast, but we call it mouth watering because the flavor is so good our mouths actually water when we think about it!

The best thing about this roast is that it's super easy and since you make it in the slow cooker, you can make it in the morning and forget about it until dinner. You can use a lot of substitutions as well, in fact I'm using one today because I do not have one of the ingredients.

Ingredient List:

• 1.5/2 lb. Chuck Roast
• 1 packet ranch dressing mix
• 1 packet Au Jus (I am out of the Au Jus so I'm substituting for 4 cubes of beef bouillon)
•  3/4 stick of butter (adjust this according to your taste, original recipe calls for entire stick)
•  4 pepperoncinis

One of the most important things I would like to point out is that you DO NOT add any water or broth to this. The beef drippings and butter create enough.

Directions:

1. Put chuck roast in slow cooker
2. Empty ranch packet then Au Jus (or in this case bouillon cubes) on top of beef
3. Put butter on top
4. Place each pepper around the butter
5. Cook on low 6-7 hours until meet is tender.