Ramen Noodle Salad

This one came from my mother-in-law. It is another one of those that upon looking at it I thought they were crazy, but then I realized I was the crazy one for never having had it before.

I feel I may have missed exposure to some pretty yummy stuff growing up as my family consists of some of the pickiest folk I have met yet. They do not eat seafood, not even shrimp or walleye or bass. They don't eat many vegetables, we are talking potatoes and corn (which lets face it, are really starches), then they eat raw carrots and occationally some peppers and onions in their omlets, cheese balls or breakfast burritos, but only if they are cooked fully. They turn their nose at spinache artichoke dip and my dad will eat a lb of gizzards with me but not the others.


I have found I rather like all of these things and many more. One such item is cabbage. I have always loved a good runza and created my own recipe when I moved 3 hours away from the closest Runza Resaurant then a few hours further. I have never been a large fan of coleslaw but Wayne holds it in his top 10, so I did find one Kraft brand claw mix I can tollerate. This recipe however, is my favorite side dish for cabbage....



Ingredients:
1 package shredded cabbage or cole slaw mix (1lb)
1 cup slivered almonds
2 packages Ramen Noodles (uncooked)

Dressing:
1 package Ramen Seasoning
3T sugar
3T vinegar
1/2 cup oil


Directions:
Place cabbage in large mixing or serving bowl.
Mix dressing ingredients and poor over cabbage. Toss until well coated. Just before serving add crunched Ramen and almonds, toss again.


It is a yummy picnic treat too!

Marlboro Man's Favorite Sandwich, fruit salad & pine nut hummus w/ relishes

A classmate and old friend, Heather Lambert McQuillan featured this sandwich on her blog and we decided to give it a try...yum! It was an instant approval from Wayne as it had Tabasco in the ingredients. I did not add it into the sauce, however as the boys wouldn't eat it then, but put it directly on Wayne and I's sandwiches and we added some creamy jalapeno sauce by Taco Bell. We used extra large deli tea rolls as buns and it was delicious!

Here is the link to the recipe at Heather's blog:
http://mrsmcquillanmastersmeals.blogspot.com/2011/02/marlboro-mans-favorite-sandwich-with.html

I served this sandwich with a contrasting fruit and vegetable arrangement. The 2 fresh fruits we had gotten this time at Sam's Club were cantaloupe and kiwi, which even offered contrasting colors. One was not quite ripe though and I wish I would have had the camera ready for everyone's faces, including my own, as we bit into an unexpected bitter slice of it. 

I also had been dying to get some Roasted Pine Nut Hummus after trying it on sample day at Sam's last month. Wal-Mart ended up having a small tub of it which was not near enough and rest assured it is on next month's bulk buy list for Sam's. This is another one of those items I was never exposed to when I was little and upon my first taste of a different flavored hummus had vowed never to torture my taste buds with it again, however while starving and grabbing every sample in sight at Sam's a couple weekends ago, I seen baked tortilla wedges with a pinkish orange colored guacamole looking dip and immediately went for it popping it in my mouth before reading what it actually was.

Good thing, turns out I LOVE IT! For those of you less experienced eaters, that is what it was similar too, the texture of guacamole and a taste similar to a mild salsa. I didn't get the baked tortilla wedges (though they were to die for with it) and dipped everything from veggies to tortillas to crackers to chips in it. My favorite next to the tortilla wedges was baked veggie crackers. MMmmmm.

Steaks, Tin Taters, Cesar Salad & Leftover Pasta Ranch Salad

We had a glimpse of spring this week with weather in the 50’s and possibly even hit 60 once. Most of the snow on the deck and in the yard melted and we could actually get to our grill, so naturally we took advantage of this as you never know when your spring blizzards will render it off limits again nor for how long.

 

Wayne pulled out a couple T-Bone Steaks for us and a package of deer steaks from our neighbor, Justin’s Wounded Warrior hunting trip for wounded veterans (he is an amputee from a land mine explosion in Afghanistan). His wife Tracy (of Tracy’s Tasty Kitchen Creations) does not like venison so he graciously shares his meat with us since we have been unable to hunt the past 2 years.

*By the way these were some of the best tasting deer ever! Whatever they are eating up there in MT makes for some tender and tasty meat.

We only eat ranch-raised beef these days (once you buy it and try it, nothing compares). We don’t do many steak houses as their beef is nothing in comparison and they can’t cook it just right like we can. By we, I mean Wayne. I have never met a more mastered griller. We both prefer a juicy pink MEDIUM RARE to which he has perfected. I don’t even try to grill as I am sure it would be one more thing expected of my already extensive duties and I prefer to leave it a MAN’S JOB. Why screw with perfection?

One of our favorite sides to have with steak is Tin Taters. The name given from how you wrap the ingredients in a big ball of tin foil and throw them in the bottom of the grill, however we were having 65 mile per hour gusts earlier this day and they had calmed down to 25-30 by now but Wayne was still worried the steaks wouldn’t cook let alone the potatoes. So we put the tin taters in a casserole dish, covered them with tin and threw them in the oven (you could put the ball of tin foil in there, I just didn’t want to clean any of the inevitable drippings or leaks off the bottom of the oven so I went with the dish).

We had had spaghetti the night before and actually had a little extra noodles since Andy had spent the night at a friends, so I decided to make Leftover Pasta Ranch Salad is what I call it. See when you have 5 incredibly hungry mouths to feed, mainly males who are sometimes hard to fill, you don’t let any food go to waste, you just get creative as to how to make leftovers into new appealing dishes.

To complete the balance of the meal we added salads as not to fill up on carb rich side dishes. I long ago switched to Cesar Salads after being introduced to them while waitressing at Pizza Hut in high school. I never could go back. Wayne and Zach prefer iceberg lettuce and Andy eats it all, the greener the better, though neither of the boys like any kind of dressing on theirs and Luke doesn’t like lettuce yet at all.

Finish it of with a glass of iced tea and you have a PERFECT meal…..

Steaks by Wayne:

Steaks of your choice cut and ounce

*Meat tenderizer

Simple Marinade: (we use a different one each time)

Lawry’s Season All Salt (to taste)

Worcestershire Sauce (2T per)

Directions:

Sprinkle seasoning and sauce on steaks and vigorously tenderize thoroughly, then flip over and repeat. Place steaks in dish and douse with Worcestershire. Let sit for around 15 minutes, the longer the better and best when covered in plastic wrap. Put on grill on medium- high heat 5 minutes, flip, 5 additional minutes, cut to ensure desired cook. (This should be a medium rare grilling conditions permitting.)

Tin Taters:

Ingredients:

Potatoes, 1 per person, chopped

1 medium onion

1 pepper, green or mixed red, yellow, orange

4T butter

1t garlic powder

1t season all salt

1T parsley

*add corn and chopped carrots or any choice vegetable for more color and flavor

Directions:

Chop all vegetables, mix and place on double layer of tin foil. Sprinkle seasonings over the top, slice pads of butter from stick or daps from tub and randomly place atop the mixture. Fold and seal tin foil. Place on grill or in oven (400*). Cook approximately 35minutes or until potatoes and carrots fully cooked.

Leftover Pasta Ranch Salad

Ingredients:

Leftover pasta, spaghetti works best

¼ - ½ cup Ranch dressing (to taste)

2T Parmesan cheese

2T bacon bits

1T vinegar

* add diced celery or onion for more texture and flavor

Directions:

Mix all ingredients and chill until ready to serve.

Cesar Salad

Ingredients:

Iceberg lettuce

Romaine lettuce

Garlic Herb croutons

Parmesan Romano cheese

Kraft Cesar dressing

*any other salad topper almost goes too far in my opinion

Directions:

Shred or cut lettuce into 1 inch by 1 inch pieces, removing all tips. Toss 2 types of lettuce together (traditional Cesar only uses Romaine, Spinach is another good add in). Traditionally for Cesar salad you would then empty half the bottle of dressing into bowl with the lettuce and half a cup of cheese, mix and top with croutons and set out to be dug into. At this point, it is just me eating the salad so this would be a waste of ingredients that would go bad before consumed entirely. This would work well for a party, potluck or large family gathering. I however, place desired amount of lettuce into bowl, sprinkle with a tablespoon of cheese, croutons and a tablespoon of dressing. 

The boys love scraping the bone clean.

Enjoy.....