Rodeo Roads & Recipes

Here is the perfect recipe for the college kid who is looking for a steak dinner without having to go out and buy a barbecue. There are plenty of ways that you can do this, but here is my favorite way using items that I believe to be in every kitchen (college or not).

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

First thing is first: Steak

I purchased 3, fresh steaks at my local Safeway for around $8.00.

After taking the plastic wrap off of them I simply patted them down with a paper towel to get all of the juice off.

Step 2: The next thing that you are going to do is season it. I sprinkled an even coating of salt, black pepper, and garlic powder over the whole steak with a dash of paprika on top. Gently rub in the seasoning with your fingertips.

Step 3: Get a large frying pan heated up on high with a 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil. Once warm, place each of the steaks in the pan. You want to grill these for about 5 minutes on each side. I dashed some Worchestershire sauce over the top of these while they were sizzling. You may need to turn the heat down depending on your stovetop, this is based off of the fact that you want to start the cooking process on the outside not burn the exterior of the steaks.

Step 4: Line a casserole dish with tin foil. One sheet on the bottom that lays out over the sides and then one sheet to cover the top. Place each of the steaks into the dish and then place a tablespoon of butter on top of each of the steaks. Completely cover with foil and then place in the oven for 25 minutes (rare) – 45 minutes (well done).

Step 5: While you are waiting on the dish to finish I made a gravy sauce out of the left over sauce in the pan. I melted two tablespoons of butter with the juices left in the frying pan and worked it back up to a high heat. Then I added about 1/4 cup of flour that I whisked and cooked on high for about 2 minutes.

Being a college student, it is economical for me to buy things at bulk at Costco; one item I always get is cream of mushroom soup. I use it as a flavor filler in anything! I put it in store bought pasta sauces and to create gravy like I did here. I mixed cream of mushroom soup with 1 cup of water and 1 1/2 cup of milk. I slowly poured the mixture into the frying pan, continually whisking over high heat until it was all joined together. I then let it simmer and thicken and got a delicious mushroom gravy.

Step 6: Once the steaks are done to the wellness that you desire, I pull them out and place the casserole dish on hot pads on the counter. I sauté up about 1 1/2 cups of sliced mushrooms ($1.99) in a frying pan.  Then I quickly put the mushrooms on top of the steaks and fold the foil back up. It is important to let the meat rest for about 10 minutes. This allows all of the juices to combine and for the meat to finish cooking.

Step 7: Plate an enjoy.

I placed some gravy down, placed the steak and mushroom on top and then (this is something I do with almost every meal) I fried an egg and placed it on top. I served the dish with some home canned pears which you can see in the container, placed there because I hate when the juice ruins the rest of the plate of food. The starch for the meal was mashed potatoes. Most nights I don’t have the time to make REAL mashed potatoes but I love them so I have to be content with the powder-mix type. I try to mix it up and add variations and for today’s mashed potatoes I added 1 cup of frozen corn and 1 1/2 cups of frozen crumbled spinach to the water before it started boiling. After I mixed in the mashed potato flakes I added 1 1/2 cups of grated cheddar cheese and crumbled up bacon.

All in all a great meal; it takes about 1 hour to make at the most but it all depends on how well done you like your steak. While the meat is cooking in the oven you can make the rest of the meal and even have time to clean up.

Great idea for college kids who want to treat themselves!

Have you ever been craving the perfect, country style snack for after school or to power you through a late night of studying? I

Trust me, I have!

Therefore, I have come up with a solution for you. It was an idea that I got from my cousin Rachel, she showed up at Thanksgiving with these delicious nachos. Yes, nachos at Thanksgiving! I was a little perturbed at first, “That isn’t Thanksgiving food!” Then, when you think about my family and Thanksgiving, I realized that it was kind of perfect. You see, we spend the whole day watching the Purina Dog Show before we spend the rest of the day watching football and basketball. Nachos are the perfect snack to have when you are watching TV or reading long textbooks and studying.

These nachos may not be perfect if you need to be typing on a computer or touching a lot of things because they can get a tad bit messy. Spread out all of your paperwork though and you are good to go as you study the night away.

What you need is the Jack Daniels pulled pork or shredded chicken packets. You can get this at Costco fairly inexpensively for a pac of 3 that you can keep for months in your freezer.

I used the shredded chicken version.

Pull out one packet, stab it with some “I’m tired of studying” energy with a knife to poke some holes in it, place it in a microwave safe bowl and nook it for 4 minutes or so.

In the Oven (preheat to 375 degrees):

This is the best way to make potluck style nachos.

You need one bag of “scoop” chips, the ones that look like little bowls.

Lay the chips out on a baking tray.

Dish a small amount of meet mixture in each of the scoops.

Top each scoop with a pinch of cheese.

Bake 10 minutes or so until everything is hot and melted.

ENJOY

Microwave:

If you are like me, you just want a HUGE messy plate of nachos. Put down a layer of chips (I suggest Juanitas), randomly dollop chicken on the chips, sprinkle with cheese, put a smaller layer of chips on, dollop some more chicken on the chips, and coat it with a good amount of cheese. Place in the microwave for 2-3 minutes until the cheese is melted.

Assembly station.

ENJOY

Best nachos that you could ever have in about 10 minutes!

This is the perfect chili for a rainy day, a day full of sports games, or a day of apple cider making. Basically any day that you have time for the chili to stew away in the pot while you are working on homework, watching a movie, or doing chores around the house.

Most of my recipes are named after a specific person or story that make it unique – whether it’s whoever always requests it or the specific reason I make it (ex: a holiday, a TV show, etc.).

This particular chili recipe is mainly made off of my mother’s recipe but I added a few suggestions from Damaris Phillips recipe that you can find at food network.com. I will note with (Phillips) after ingredients/directions that come from her.

This chili recipe was named after my friends Ali Gibson and Alyssa Martin of Oregon State’s women’s basketball team. I think that the first time we had this chili recipe was when we were all out making homemade apple cider. We had been slaving away over the apple press for about 3 or 4 hours before a basketball game was on TV and were more than ecstatic when we walked into the house to the smell of delicious chili. This is the kind of chili whose aroma pervades the entire house and makes your stomach grumble. It’s the kind of meal that everyone will show up for a family dinner because nobody can wait to eat it! On that first day, we pulled the kitchen table all the way out of the nook into the middle of the kitchen so that we could eat and watch the Stanford women’s basketball game against Tennessee. Ever since then our family has referred to the chili recipe as  “Ali & Alyssa’s Chili”. For another classic Ali & Alyssa visiting the farm story check out the Tall Tales category for “The Deer Carcass”.

Alyssa Martin (#24), Ryley Croghan, Ali Gibson (#14) and myself

Hope you guys enjoy it as much as we do! Please don’t mind that I am very bad at using measuring utensils; I just go for it.

Ingredients: 

• Splash of vegetable oil 
• 1 pound ground beef
• 1 pound ground turkey (my own addition)
• Salt
• Pepper
• 1 medium onion; small dice
• 1 large carrot; small dice
• 1 red bell pepper; small diced (Phillips)
• 4 cloves of garlic; minced
• 1 can tomato sauce; 15 oz
• 2 cans diced tomatoes; 14.5 oz x2
• 1 can black beans; 15 oz
• 1 can kidney beans; 15 oz
• 1 can pinto beans; 15 oz
• 1 can garbanzo beans; 15 oz (Phillips)
• 1 package of taco seasoning; 1.25oz
• 1 can vegetable broth; 14.5 oz (Can be mushroom stock, beef stock, vegetable stock, heck even chicken stock! Whatever you have on hand!)
• Cayenne Pepper
• Paprika
• 16 oz. dark beer (Phillips also uses this but she suggests leaving it open for a while) – Doesn’t matter, I just grab whatever is left over from my male-roommates poker nights.
• 1 cup of corn kernels
• 2 Tablespoons creamy peanut butter (Phillips)
• Sour cream

In Demaris Phillips recipe she suggests adding liquid smoke at the end but I didn’t adopt this. Why? Because as a college student I can condone buying a bottle of liquid smoke just for one or two recipes; I would need to be using it more often. Phillips also suggests using Greek Yogurt instead of sour cream. I have never tried this, but I can see how it would be pleasant if you made this chili with an extra spice too it to cool off your palette. Another addition that you can use is fresh cilantro as a garnish but, again, my college budget cut that from my ingredient list.

For shopping my roommate Katie and I split up the grocery list. Since she gets her gas at Safeway we look through for the best deals on the Safeway For You deals. We ended up getting the beans and the sauces for about $1.00 a jar. I got the meat at whichever store was cheaper either Winco or Safeway. The corn we already had in our freezer since we stack up on frozen vegetables and fruits when they are on sale.

Directions:

1. Since I store my meats in a freezer I set the meat up one by one to defrost in the microwave. While that was happening I diced up the onion, carrot, bell pepper, and garlic.
   
   

   Diced onion, red pepper, and minced garlic.

2. With a LARGE pot on just below high heat I splashed in some vegetable oil and, once it was hot, I added in the ground meats to begin browning. I threw in four pinches of salt and two of pepper. Do not brown the meat all of the way since it will be cooking in the stew later; remove it when it has some pink and place on a paper towel covered plate to soak out the grease.
   

   After the splash of veg. oil gets hot; start browning the ground meats.

    

   

   Brown until there is some pink and then remove to a paper towel covered plate to drain off the grease.

3. LEAVE the grease and juices from the meat browning in the pot and add in the diced onions. Cook until translucent.
   
4. Add the diced red bell pepper and carrot and cook for a couple minutes until they begin to soften.
   
5. Add in the minced garlic for about one minute.
6. Pour in the can of tomato sauce, stir and allow it to heat to a slight boil.
7. Pour in both cans of diced tomatoes. Stir well.
   

   As you can see I just use what’s on sale!

   

8. Open up the beer but leave it sitting!
9. Let the can opening begin! Open all four cans of beans, drain, and rinse. Add them all to the pot and stir well.
   

   All on sale Safeway brand beans – cheapest option.

   

   Lots of beautiful colors being incorporated.

10. Add in the package of taco seasoning, the can of stock and then slowly pour in the beer. Stir well.
11. Sprinkle over a dash of cayenne pepper and about a tablespoon of paprika – you can skip this step if you don’t like your food to even be remotely spicy.
12. This is the fun part! After bringing it down to an excited simmer you can either put a lid on or not (I like to put a lid on but leave it propped up to allow steam to get out), but let it SIT for about 2 hours.
13. Before you serve add in the peanut butter and the corn. Cook for 10 minutes.

The longer it goes the better it will taste but you can open it up for eating at whatever point. The best way to keep myself from trying to eat it too early is by going outside and doing some work OR going into another room where the smell isn’t so enticing and do some homework. 

To serve, ladle into a bowl, add a “dollop” of sour cream and ENJOY! Be prepared for people to want multiple helpings! You can add to the meal by making some box cornbread as well.

Finished product!