Spicy Steak Fajitas

Here's an easy mexican favorite: Spicy steak fajitas. I would say this is a 30 minute meal. Its technically a recipe that uses leftover flank steak, but we just bought the meat and cooked it.

1) Warm tortillas wrapped in foil in a heated oven (375) for about 7-9 minutes.

2) To cook the steak, pat-dry with paper towels. Season with salt and pepper on both sides. Cook in a frying pan with 1tbsp OO for about 8 minutes on each side. Slice thinly against the grain.

3) Heat 1 tbsp of OO over medium-high heat. Add 2 yellow bell peppers, thinly sliced, 1 red onion,halved lengthwise and thinly sliced, 4 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced, 2 jalepenos(remove seeds if you prefer less heat) thinly slice and then dice, 1 tsp ground cumin, 1/2 tsp ground coriander, and season with salt and pepper. Cook until veggies are tender and browned 7 minutes. Add cooked steak and cook for about 2 more minutes. Add 2 tbsp fresh lime juice.

4) Serve beef mixture on tortillas and assorted toppings. Our favorites are sour cream, salsa, and fresh lime wedges.

The New Mac and Cheese

Our friend Kellie gets the credit for this recipe. She found it online and then made some changes to make it her own and fortunately, she shared with us :) Its basically just a twist on regular mac & cheese but its so much better in its own way! Here's what you will need

1/2 lb sausage (we prefer the hot italian sausage)
 1 can diced tomatoes (undrained)
1 cup of water

1 12 oz pkg of Annie's Creamy Deluxe shells and cheese
2 cups of broccoli

1 tsp italian seasoning
Brown sausage, stir in tomatoes, water and seasoning. Bring to a boil, add shells. Reduce heat to medium-low and cover. Simmer for 7 minutes stirring a couple of times. Add broccoli, cooking another five minutes. Lastly, stir in cheese and serve. We like to eat this with some hot french bread or garlic bread. Oh, also, you will NEVER have left overs. We doubled it last night for 5 people and it was all gone! Enjoy!

Banana Oat Smoothies

Smoothies are one of our favorite things to make. Especially in the mornings after we go to the gym, we add in our muscle milk protein powder to almost any smoothie. I found this recipe and wanted to try it since it was so unusual and different from the basic fruit and yogurt. Its also a great use for bananas to avoid throwing them away every week. Here's the recipe....Also, I added ice because I cant stand really liquidy drinks, it has to be thick.

1/2 cup old-fashioned rolled oats (not instant)

1 cup plain yogurt

2 ripe bananas, plus a few extra slices for the topping

1 cup milk

4 teaspoons honey

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Combine all ingredients in a blender and puree until smooth. Serve immeadiately, top with slices of banana.

A Lighter Chicken Potpie

This was a yummy dish to pick for such a cool night. We changed up the chicken, using a rotisserie chicken instead of baking chicken breast halves, so our time was cut in half and made the whole cooking process a little less busy.  Also, we decided we had had peas in potpies before so we would make it like the recipe called for, but next time we want to change that by adding broccoli or something else. We had the leftovers for lunch and they reheat so well!