Steak and Potatoes, Aww Yeahh

Hello there friends! It has been a while since the last post, but don't you worry because there is an incredible dinner that I am so happy to share with you! It is an American staple: steak and potatoes. We indulged ourselves on Friday night with this hearty dinner. And to accompany the steak and potatoes, we had sauteed brussel sprouts and a crunchy green salad. And last but certainly not least, we lost ourselves in a homemade pumpkin cheesecake with homemade whipped cream. I'm telling you, this was a dinner to die for! And there was great company too. Those in attendance were Juli, Sam, Kara, Tim, Adam, and myself. It was sort of a date night if you will.

We all worked as a team to make this dinner possible. Sam and Tim were the grill masters, working on the flank steak. While Kara, Juli and I tackled the potatoes, brussel sprouts, and salad. And Adam supplied the appetizers of pigs in a blanket and an spinach artichoke bread bowl. So as we cooked, laughed, and enjoyed the night, we were all so thankful to be able to have such a wonderful dinner.

When preparing the steak, we let it soak in the marinade for about an hour, and is it a good one! Here is the marinade recipe:

Ingredients
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
4 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1/2 tablespoon oregano
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Directions

Pour all liquids in a bowl and whisk until combined. Add all dry ingredients to bowl and whisk for another minute to combine all the flavors. Add meat to Ziploc back (Freezer size) and pour marinade into bag. Make sure to let all air out of bag when sealing. Massage marinade into meat through the bag so you don't get your hands messy. Place bagged meat in refrigerator for approximately half an hour - until ready to cook! Enjoy! (www.food.com)

Once the marinade is complete and has sit for about an hour, just throw the steak on the grill and cook to your desire! And here is the recipe we used for the mashed potatoes. We just kind of made up the recipe as we went (Kara was the scientist behind it), so here is what we came up with and it was marvelous.
 

Ingredients

4-5 large potatoes 

1 cup shredded cheese 

1/2 stick of butter 

3/4 cup milk 

1/2 cup sour cream 

1 tablespoon salt 

1 tablespoon pepper 

1 tablespoon garlic

Directions

Peel and chop potatoes into chunks. Boil potatoes until they are fork-able. Drain potatoes and place in a large bowl and mash. Add cheese, butter, milk, sour cream, salt, pepper, and garlic. Mix together well and serve!

Now that the two stars of the show are completed, the sides can be in the spotlight. For the brussel sprouts we just took two frozen bags and sauteed them in a little olive oil on the stove until they were cooked with a tint of darkness. Add some salt and pepper and they are ready to eat! Next is the crunchy green salad which had, lettuce, red onion, carrots, celery, and a the juice of half a lemon with just a small drizzle of olive oil. I really like the dressing of lemon juice and oil because it has the citrus from the lemon, but the smooth texture of the oil that makes it just so perfect.

 

 

Now I know you are wondering about the homemade pumpkin cheesecake... Ta da! Here ya go!

Ingredients (crust)

1 3/4 cups graham cracker crumbs

3 tablespoons light brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 stick melted salted butter

Directions (crust)

In medium bowl, combine crumbs, sugar and cinnamon. Add melted butter. Press down flat into a 9-inch springform pan. Set aside. (www.foodnetwork.com)

Ingredients (filling)

3 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, at room temperature  

1 (15-ounce) can pureed pumpkin

3 eggs plus 1 egg yolk

1/4 cup sour cream

1 1/2 cups sugar

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon fresh ground nutmeg

1/8 teaspoon ground cloves

2 tablespoon all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions (filling)

Beat cream cheese until smooth. Add pumpkin puree, eggs, egg yolk, sour cream, sugar and the spices. Add flour and vanilla. Beat together until well combined. Pour into crust. Spread out evenly and place oven for 1 hour. Remove from the oven and let sit for 15 minutes. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 4 hours. (www.foodnetwork.com)

Juli and I made this pumpkin cheesecake Thursday night and it was a lot of fun. We found out that it makes a lot of filling, so it might be in your best interest to make 2 cheesecakes, or what we did was make 2 cheesecakes and then were still able to fill little individual baking dishes with some of the graham cracker crust and filling too. I promise you won't regret making this indulgent pumpkin cheesecake. And with Thanksgiving coming up in the next month this is a great dessert recipe to have handy!

I had such a blast Friday night! We all laughed and cooked, which in my opinion doesn't get any better. During dinner we played a game called Chat Pack that has cards with conversation starting questions on them. For example, one of them might ask "what is the most significant event you have ever witnessed?" It was so funny to hear some of the answers that everyone was sharing. Then after dinner we played Catch Phrase, where it was boys against the girls. Unfortunately us girls are not as good as the boys at Catch Phrase so we seemed to lose almost every time. But we're all winners in the end right?  I sure think so.