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.  

Blue Cheese Butter Restaurant Style Steak

It's no surprise that restaurants of all kinds of secrets to making our favorite dishes.  One of the best kept secrets is how they cook steak.  Most of them don't grill it!  Yep you read that right, they DON'T grill it!  They sear it on the stove and finish it to desired temp in the oven.

Ingredients:
Blue Cheese Butter

• 2 teaspoons Lemon Juice
• 1/2 Stick of Butter
• 3 Tablespoons Blue Cheese Crumbles

Steakhouse Steak

• Steak (use your favorite cut)
• Sea Salt
• Butter
• Pepper

To make the Blue Cheese Butter- first soften the butter.  Then combine blue cheese crumbles, butter, and lemon juice in a small food processor.  Form the butter into a ball, place in small bowl, and refrigerate for at least a half hour. 

Steak

You don't want to cook a cold steak.  Season steak with Sea Salt and Fresh Ground Pepper and let rest on the counter for about 20 minutes.

Next, melt a couple tablespoons of butter in a large skillet.  Once with skillet is very hot and butter is melted.  Sear all four sides of the steak for about 2-3 minutes per side.  

 Preheat oven to 400.  Place steaks in baking dish.  Finish steaks in the oven for about 10 minutes for medium.  Remove steaks from oven and place a couple dollops of the blue cheese butter on each steak.  Return steaks to oven for additional 1-2 minutes for butter to melt.  YUM!!

This recipe is an easy change up to our Herb Butter Steakhouse Steak.

Henderson House Salad

We love a good salad around here. If I had my choice, a salad would be my vegetable every day of the week. I eat so many things in salads that I would never eat by themselves. This salad is my favorite and its pretty simple. I serve it for just the two of us and for large gatherings. It's delicious!

For the salad:

• Lettuce of your choice ( I usually buy a bag of the Italian blend salad)
• Red onions
• Tomatoes
• Blue cheese crumbles
• Diced, cooked prosciutto

Use the amount of ingredients that you desire for your perfect salad. The red onions and blue cheese really make the salad, so just don't skimp on those. For the prosciutto, my deli sells it already cubed, but if you can't find it that way, just cut it up before you cook it. Then stick it in the skillet and cook like you would bacon. Get it pretty crispy or else it's very chewy and takes a while to chew each bite of your salad.

For the dressing:

• 1/2 Tbsp. Dijon mustard
• 1/2 Tbsp. mayo
• 1/2Tbsp. Salt
• 1 1/2 tsp. sugar
• 1 tsp. minced garlic (I actually like to use the jar kind and just use the oil and juices)
• Dash black pepper
• Dash Italian seasoning (or oregano)
• 3 Tbsp. red wine vinegar
• 1 cup oil

Whisk all ingredients except oil in medium boil until well mixed. Slowly add a stream of oil while continuing to whisk until all oil is well blended. Chill until ready to serve.

If you like a pretty cold salad, you'll want to let the prosciutto cool off after cooking and even stick in the fridge for 10 minutes or so. I usually cook the prosciutto, make the dressing and chop the salad before I get the rest of the meal ready and let the salad ingredients chill in the fridge. Otherwise, the warm prosciutto makes your dressing warm and gives you a lukewarm salad. Then I toss all ingredients in the dressing and serve. Yummy!

Tonight I served with Spicy Italian Shredded Beef Sandwiches.

Oven "Fried" Zucchini Fries with Spicy Garlic Dipping Sauce

This is one of my new favorite side dishes!  Okay I have lots of new favorites.  Usually I just make zucchini on the grill or deep fried.  This is SO good I am sure I will be making it often!

Ingredients:

• 2 small Zucchini (enough to serve your family each zucchini is easily cut into 9 pieces)
• About a 1/4 Cup Parmesan Cheese
• About a Cup of Panko Bread Crumbs
• Pepper to taste
• Salt
• A Pinch of Garlic Powder
• 1 Egg
• A Pinch of Basil 
• A Pinch of Oregano
• 1/4 cup of flour

Sauce

• 6 oz of Plain Greek Yogurt
• Salt and Pepper to Taste
• 1 teaspoon of Chili Garlic Sauce
• 1/8 Teaspoon of Garlic Powder
• 1/4 Teaspoon of Horseradish (Start with less you can always add more for spice)
• 1 Tablespoon of Mayonnaise (for even less fat and calories leave this out) 

Combine all sauce ingredients and stir.  Add spicy ingredients slowly to desired spice level.  Refrigerate until you are ready to use.  

**About an hour and a half before you want to eat the zucchini complete this step!!

Cut the zucchini into the desired size pieces.  I usually cut my zucchini in 9 pieces lengthwise.  Place in colander and sprinkle with salt.  Place a plate under the colander and place it in the fridge until ready to start the breading process.  The salt will pull out the water in the zucchini and make it more crisp after it  it cooked.  

When you are ready to bread the zucchini remove it from the fridge and place it in a ziploc bag with 1/4 cup of flour.  Seal it and shake it around until all zucchini is covered.

Preheat oven to 425.  Next, beat an egg in a long shallow bowl (or whatever the zucchini will fit in)- set aside.  On a plate combine Panko, parmesan, garlic powder, pepper, a pinch of oregano, and a pinch of basil.  Individually dip each piece of zucchini in the egg and then roll it in the crumb/spice mixture.  Place each piece on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

Bake for about 15 minutes or until breading is a golden brown color.