Skillet Steak

Although my hubby is like "Mikey" - he'll eat anything - he does have favorites and steak is at the top. This new york strip cut steak was marinated overnight, seered in the skillet, and placed in a hot oven for barely 8 minutes. The meat was super tender and delectable. A new favorite for my family.

Steak Marinade

Compliments of LuuvBunny @ recipezaar.com

• 1 TBS olive oil
• 1 garlic clove
• 1 TBS worcestershire sauce
• 1 TBS balsamic vinegar or white vinegar
• 1 tsp yellow mustard
• 1 TBS soy sauce
• pepper

1. Mix all ingredients together and place steaks (up to 4 lbs) into freezer freezer bag with marinade preferably overnight.

2. Here are a couple of tips for cooking a steak in the oven instead of on the grill. The grill is preferable for me but we don't have one right now. First and foremost the meat should be removed from the refrigerator early enough to allow it to come to room temperature before cooking. Heat the oven to 500 degrees with the cast iron skillet inside. When the pan is fully heated remove it from the oven and place it on a stove burner that is on. Place a TBS of oil in the pan and then place the meat(that is now at room temp) in the pan and seer for 90 seconds. USING TONGS (never use a fork on meat when cooking...it releases the juices and will dry the meat out) flip the steak and seer on this side for 90 seconds. *Optional - at this point you can pour some of the remaining marinade over or not...your preference. Place steak and pan in your preheated oven and allow to cook for 5-6 mins for medium rare, 7-8 min for medium, 9-10 for medium well ( these times are based on a 1 1/2 inch thick cut of meat). Remove pan from oven and using tongs place steak on plate and allow to rest for at least 90 seconds DO NOT CUT until after it as rested. Repeat this process for each steak that you have. Depending on the size of your steaks you may be able to cook more than one at a time.

Mediteranean Style Pizza

This is my husband Rodrigo's favorite pizza. He likes it better than any of the store bought self-rising pizzas or any of the poplular pizza chains. I created the pizza just for him after hearing him critique other pizzas. I use a pre-made store bought thin and crispy crust(his preference). Sometimes I make my own pizza sauce and sometimes I just use store bought. Either way it is super Yummy...just ask him :)

Ingredients:

• 1 thin and crispy pizza crust
• 1/4 - 1/2 cup pizza sauce
• 5 slices of provolone cheese
• 4 oz ofshredded mozzarella cheese
• 4 oz of shredded parmesean blend cheese
• pepperoni (as much or as little as preferred)
• 1 can of artichokes packed in juice NOT OIL - drained and quartered.
• small jar of kalamata olives - drained and sliced
• small jar of roasted red peppers - drained and sliced.

Preheat the oven as directed for the pizza crust. My pizza crust requires that you preheat the oven to 450 degrees.

Spread the pizza sauce over entire pizza crust. Arrange the provolone pizza slices over the sauce to cover the pizza crust. Arrange pepperoni over provolone cheese. Sprinkle a handful of the mozzarella cheese over pepperoni. Arrange the last for ingredients over the pizza then cover with the remaining cheese. Place in oven and cook. Remove slice and serve.

Cake Truffles

I guess my family really liked these because this lone truffle is all that is left within a few short hours of making them.

To make these I used the "Red Velvet Cake Balls" recipe from Bakerella. I did not have a red velvet cake mix so I used a chocolate cake instead. I have to say that I definitely prefer the red velvet cake to the chocolate on chocolate, but they were still yummy.