I'm excited to announce again to be partnering this year with Land O'Lakes on the Kitchen Conversations panel to bring you wonderful recipes with what else…my favorite ingredient: butter!

Raise your hand if you like steak as much as I do? I love grilled steak so much! I used the opportunity to make a fun AND easy recipe with Land O Lakes® Butter with Olive Oil. The marinade for this beef flank steak is a little sweet, a little salty and a teeny bit spicy. Then, I topped it off with the herb butter mixture I made with Land O Lakes® Butter with Olive Oil that I call Chimichurri Butter. I call it that because there's fresh parsley and oregano in the compound butter. It's heaven. Seriously. Serve this steak with mashed potatoes, your favorite vegetable and a salad. Dinner will be amazing. I know you'll love it!

Last week, I traveled to Oklahoma with Land O'Lakes and the rest of the Kitchen Conversations panel, we had a little cooking retreat. We cooked together, chatted, learned ALL about butter, even had a butter tasting and had tons of fun!

We had a friendly cooking competition, Chopped-style, and my cooking partner was Sommer. Our secret ingredients were harissa butter and chia seed (I need to make it again at home so I can share with you our wonderful recipe!) I cooked in Ree's kitchen at the Lodge (weeeee!). I made quinoa for the first time and loved it! We used almost an entire tub of Land O Lakes® Butter with Canola Oil for our recipe and it was amazing!

It was a blast! Ree gave us a tour of her ranch, the amazing building she's working on remodeling, we ate tons of good food and met Charlie!

Be sure to check out the other panelists' recipes…I can say that they are all amazing because I got to taste each and every one of them!! Best-Loved Blueberry Muffins from Becky of Land O'Lakes, Chicken and Brie Grilled Cheese from Fifteen Spatulas, Roasted Mexican Cauliflower with Pepitas from A Farmgirl's Dabbles, Lemon Chia Seed Pancakes with Roasted Strawberries from Two Peas and Their Pod, Cheesy Green Chile and Buttermilk Biscuits from Picky Palate, Chocolate Baguette Sandwiches with Orange and Sea Salt from Bake at 350, Savory Waffle Sandwiches from A Spicy Perspective and from Rosemary Hasselback Potatoes The Novice Chef!

Here's the step by step for making the grilled steak.

Put the marinade together. It takes seconds.

Add the beef flank steak. I cut it in half because I was afraid it wouldn't fit on my grill pan. (But of course it did fit.) If you're going to cook this right away, leave the baking dish on the counter for 20 minutes. This gives the beef a chance to get closer to room temperature.

If you're not cooking this dish for a few hours, cover it and put it back in the refrigerator.

Making the Chimichurri Butter, it takes just a couple of minutes. First, chop up the herbs and garlic.

Add half of the tub of Land O Lakes® Butter with Olive Oil. I love that it's made from simple ingredients, ingredients that you can pronounce: sweet cream, olive oil and salt.

Mix together thoroughly and place in the refrigerator. The butter with olive oil is spreadable, so it makes making a compound butter so super fast!

Heat the grill pan for 5 minutes and add oil, if needed.

Allow the steak to rest before slicing. This is very important!

This dish is super simple…which is my favorite kind of dish to cook. The level of flavors from the marinade and the Chimichurri Butter play nicely together. The compound butter is necessary for this dish. The freshness of the herbs and the butter go really well with the steak!

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Grilled Flank Steak with Chimichurri Butter Recipe

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time 10 minutes minutes

Resting Time 20 minutes minutes

Total Time 40 minutes minutes

Servings 4 to 6

Ingredients

Steak and Marinade

• 2 Tablespoons vegetable canola or grape seed oil
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 Tablespoons or 1 1/2 teaspoons packed light brown sugar
• 1 Tablespoon soy sauce
• 2 teaspoons red wine vinegar
• 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 1 1/2 pounds beef flank steak

Chimchurri Butter

• 2 Tablespoons chopped fresh flat leaf parsley
• 1 Tablespoon chopped fresh oregano
• 1 minced garlic clove
• 1/2 tub Land O Lakes® Butter with Olive Oil

Instructions

• Mix oil, salt, brown sugar, soy sauce, red wine vinegar and red pepper flakes with a whisk in a large baking dish or bowl. Trim any excess fat off of the flank steak and cut into two if necessary. Add steak to the bowl and allow to marinate on the counter for 20 to 25 minutes.
• Cut up herbs and garlic and mix in a small bowl with 1/2 of a tub of Land O Lakes® Butter with Olive Oil. Place in the refrigerator.
• Heat grill pan on medium high (oil pan if necessary) for 5 minutes. Add steaks to the grill pan and cook for 3 to 4 minutes on each side. Turn again and cook about 1 minute on each side. Remove from pan and place on a clean plate and allow meat to rest for about 5 to 6 minutes before slicing. (Make sure to slice against the grain at an angle.) Serve topped with Chimchurri Butter.
• Serve with mashed potatoes, vegetables and a salad if you wish.

Disclosure: The Little Kitchen has partnered with Land O’Lakes for an exclusive endorsement of Land O Lakes® Butter for their Kitchen Conversation blogger program. This blog post is sponsored by Land O’Lakes.

The post Grilled Flank Steak with Chimichurri Butter appeared first on The Little Kitchen.

It's 4am on Monday morning and I'm still awake! Sooo yesterday I woke up and sat up and noticed a tingling sensation in my left arm and my neck was killing me. I actually told Curtis, I think I'm having a heart attack (okay I know I'm totally dramatic) and he just laughed at me. I told him something's wrong because I can't move my neck without it hurting. I tried going back to sleep and I woke up feeling way worse. It was time to go to the urgent care clinic. The whole time, Curtis thought I was being totally dramatic and I felt bad for him because he has been battling a cold.

Well, I wasn't too dramatic because the doctor said I pinched a nerve in my neck and he gave me some steroids and sent me on my way. Thank goodness I didn't wait because while it's still painful, it's a little bit better because of the meds (but I can't sleep because of them, go figure). Hot showers and heat compresses are helping too…which leads me to this salad, I'm so glad I photographed it on Friday, I'm not sure I could have tried to photograph it yesterday or today. Haha. Most embarrassing thing or dumb thing about this whole situation? I just moved or just got of bed and this started? The doctor and the nurses asked if I was injured or in a car accident…nope, I did nothing and I pinched a nerve. So Embarrassing.

Grilled salad – is it actually good? I love it. The lettuce is a little wilty but who cares, it tastes so good! I first tried grilled salad at my old company I used to work for. We used to do these Monday lunches, everyone was split into teams and the teams took turns cooking lunches for the rest of the group. It was really fun…I tried a lot of fun food and recipes from my co-workers back then. This was all before I had a food blog. I learned all about grilled salad from my old co-worker, Mike, his group made this a couple of times and it was so easy. They served it with grilled chicken even!

I recently received a Blendtec blender from the amazing folks at Blendtec and I was so excited. I have been making milkshakes, smoothies, drinks and this Caesar salad. It's so easy to use and clean up is so easy.

When I opened the box, Curtis actually made fun of how it looked and I just made a face at him. Who cares how it looks, if it works, it's all good. This is definitely my appliance and it has earned a place on my crowded kitchen counter. There are only three appliances that get to sit out on my counterspace at all times (because it's a little kitchen!) and this is one of them.

I love this blender and I highly recommend it. I love love how clean up is so easy, just add soap and water to the blender and blend.

I made the caesar dressing that's in Blendtec's cookbook that I received and it says it tastes even better the next day after sitting in the fridge overnight. I thought the dressing was tasty either way.

I grilled my salad on my favorite grill pan – to show you that you can do this inside even in the winter!

Here's the salad right after I grilled it and right before it got a hit of dressing and parmesan cheese!

Is it okay to admit that I ate the entire salad all by myself? This is my new favorite caesar dressing and grilling salad even inside is so easy – this is going to become my go to quick lunch or the perfect side salad for a weeknight dinner even!

And PS look out for a giveaway, I'm giving one of these Blendtecs away!

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Grilled Caesar Salad Recipe

I made the dressing for this salad with my Blendtec and let it sit in the fridge overnight. Putting together the salad just takes a few minutes when you make the dressing ahead of time! To grill the salad, use your gas grill outside or a grill pan inside. The salad just takes a few minutes to grill and serve immediately!

Prep Time 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time 5 minutes minutes

Total Time 20 minutes minutes

Servings 2 -3 / Dressing makes 2 cups

Ingredients

Caesar Dressing

• 1 cup olive oil
• 1/4 cup water
• 2 Tablespoons white wine vinegar
• 1 teaspoon Kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon Worchestershire sauce
• 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 large egg yolk
• 2 cloves garlic peeled
• 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese freshly grated
• 1 heart of romaine lettuce rinsed and cut in half lengthwise
• salt & pepper
• olive oil optional
• Parmesan cheese freshly grated

Instructions

Caesar Dressing

• Add ingredients to Blendtec jar in order listed and secure lid. Select "Dressing" and serve. The dressing tastes best when you refrigerate it overnight in a sealed container - the ingredients are allowed to marry together.

How to Grill Salad

• If using a gas grill, turn on the gas and turn the heat to high. Let the grill heat up for at least 10 minutes. If using a grill pan inside, heat grill pan on medium to medium high for 3 to 5 minutes.
• Salt and pepper the insides of your romaine lettuce halves. Sprinkle olive oil on the halves, if you wish. Add to hot grill or grill pan and cook for about 1 to 3 minutes tops. Flip to grill the other side for 1 to 2 minutes and you're done. Serve immediately with caesar dressing and parmesan cheese on top.
• *Store the dressing in the refrigerator for about a week. If serving as a side salad, one whole heart can serve up to 4 or 5 people. For an entire meal, it serves 1 to 2 people and try grilling some chicken (or use leftovers from my chicken slow cooker recipe) to serve with it too!
• *If you're worried about the raw egg, be sure to use pasteurized eggs.

Notes

Caesar Dressing from Blendtec's Fresh Blends cookbook.

Disclosure: I received a Blendtec blender for the purpose of review. All opinions are always my own and I did include at least one affiliate link in this post.

The post Grilled Caesar Salad appeared first on The Little Kitchen.

We love, love BBQ chicken. We're creatures of habit, we like to make BBQ grilled chicken all the time and have it with fries and usually some kind of veggie like corn or even grilled vegetables. The grilled chicken HAS to be boneless, skinless chicken breasts because Curtis cannot deal with bones. I know a lot of people are like him and in some situations, I just go with it. But when it comes to my whole chicken in a slow cooker or other recipes, he has to deal…well I carve the chicken and the turkey at Thanksgiving so I guess not.

Anyways, this recipe happened by accident. Curtis came home with way too much chicken for our BBQ grilled chicken and I made all of it. We had leftover chicken and were planning on making grilled cheese sandwiches (I don't think I have ever told you how obsessed we are with grilled cheeses) and Curtis suggested we combine it. It turned out A-MAZING and got added to the rotation.

We love the McCormick Grill Mates for this recipe.

Chicken right off of the grill. You can use a grill pan and do this indoors but be careful of not having it too hot or the bbq sauce will burn!

Cheesy, gooey and BBQy from the chicken, it's perfect. I like them with fries and Curtis prefers potato chips.

These BBQ chicken grilled cheese sandwiches are so gooood and you won't be able to resist them. I actually was going to try to get a photo with a bite taken out of the sandwich but once I took a bite, I couldn't stop and it was gone. Photos were done because I had nothing left to photograph.

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BBQ Chicken Grilled Cheese Sandwiches

Servings 4 sandwiches

Ingredients

• 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts, approx 1 lb, cut down the middle into 4 cutlets
• 2 Tbsp BBQ rub seasoning I used McCormick Grill Mates Barbecue
• 1/2 cup bbq sauce
• 2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese
• 8 slices of sandwich bread
• 1/2 stick unsalted butter

Instructions

• Prepare gas grill at high heat. Add rub seasoning to both sides of chicken breasts. Add chicken breasts to grill and turn heat down to medium high.
• Grill for 3-6 minutes or until dark grill marks appear. Using grill-safe tongs, turn the chicken over and use a grill brush to slather bbq sauce on the chicken. After about 3-6 minutes, turn the chicken again and add bbq sauce. Turn over once again and remove chicken from the grill after 1-2 minutes. Place chicken on a plate and allow to rest for at least 5 minutes. Slice chicken into thin pieces or cut into 1 inch thick cubes.
• Melt about a 1/2 stick of butter and set aside along with a brush.
• Add a little bit of butter to a non-stick skillet and heat at medium. Once butter is completely melted and about to brown, 2-3 minutes, take one slice of bread and brush with melted butter. Add the bread to the pan and top with 1/4 cup of cheese, add 1/4 of the chicken and then another 1/4 cup of cheese. (Add even more cheese if you want!) Brush the second piece of bread with melted butter and add to the top of the sandwich.
• Using a spatula, smash the sandwich down ever so slightly. Paying attention to the cheese (you want the cheese to melt) and the bread (don't let it burn), flip the sandwich over after about 2-4 minutes or when the bottom piece of bread is golden or dark brown. Again, using the spatula, smash the sandwich down a little. Remove from skillet after 3-5 minutes. Place on a plate lined with a paper towel so the bread doesn't get soggy. Repeat to make other sandwiches.

Notes

from The Little Kitchen

The post BBQ Chicken Grilled Cheese Sandwiches appeared first on The Little Kitchen.

I recently received Guy Fieri's new cookbook in the mail, it's called Guy Fieri Food: Cookin' It, Livin' It, Lovin' It. I'm going to have to be honest with you, I flipped through it and then put it down. My husband however, picked it up, flipped through it and bookmarked the page for the Red Rocker Margarita Chicken recipe and then persuaded me over several weeks to make it. Well, I'm glad I did. This is one moment I can say, honey, you were right with a straight face.

The book is huge, it's over 400 pages long with over 150 recipes. Guy laces different stories with each recipe, which makes it kind of neat. The Red Rocker Margarita Chicken is a sandwich inspired by Sammy Hagar, I think that's really cool! I love the show Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives but I really thought this book wouldn't be my kind of thing but I was wrong. There are some other dishes I want to try in the book including Chicken & Seafood Paella, Steak Diane and Fire-Roasted Shrimp Cocktail.

This tequila marinated chicken sandwich is an easy dish to make. Marinate the chicken in the seasonings, cilantro, roasted red bell peppers, tequila, etc. for 4-8 hours and you end up with a very moist grilled chicken.

I put the bag in a casserole dish to be cautious, just in case the bag leaked or just in case I spilled the marinade.

The marinade smelled so good! This is the first time I cooked with tequila and it won't be the last!

I can't wait to make this tequila-marinated grilled chicken sandwich again! The flavorful marinade and the fried roasted red peppers were so good! I got yelled at for eating too many of the fried roasted red peppers before we put our sandwiches together. They are addictive, the tequila flavor popped in your mouth when you bit into it.

Have you cooked with tequila before? I want to hear all about it if you have.

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Red Rocker Margarita Chicken

Ingredients

• 2 jalapenos cut into thin rounds
• 3 Tbsp cilantro leaves
• 1/4 cup tequila
• 1 Tbsp minced garlic
• 1 tsp red chili flakes
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 Tbsp dried oregano
• Juice of 2 limes about 1/4 cup
• 2 tsp kosher salt
• 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
• 2 roasted red bell peppers cut into thin strips
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp granulated garlic
• 2 cups canola oil
• 4 kaiser rolls
• 1/4 cup mayonnaise
• 1/4 green cabbage head very thinly sliced
• 4 oz. thinly sliced provolone

Instructions

• In a medium bowl, combine the jalapenos, cilantro, tequila, minced garlic, chili flakes, cumin, oregano, lime juice and 1 tsp of salt. Place the chicken and bell peppers in a resealable 1-gallon plastic bag and pour in the marinade. Marinate the chicken in the refrigerator for 4 to 8 hours.
• In a small mixing bowl, combine the flour, the remaining 1 tsp salt and the granulated garlic.
• Preheat a grill to high. In a medium heavy-bottomed pot, heat the canola oil to 350 degrees F.
• Remove the chicken from the marinade. (Leave the roasted red peppers in the marinade.) Grill the chicken until cooked through, turning several times to prevent burning, about 12 minutes in all. Cover the cooked chicken and let sit for 5 minutes. Thinly slice the chicken across the grain.
• Remove the roasted peppers from the marinade, dredge them in the flour mixture, and fry in the oil until crispy, 2 to 3 minutes, working in batches as needed. Drain on paper towels.
• Split and lightly toast the rolls. Spread mayonnaise on the bottom halves. Stack each roll evenly with the cabbage, onion, chicken breast, fried peppers and cheese.
• *Roast bell peppers over an open flame or under the broiler, turning to char on all sides. Skin and seed them.

Notes:

• I cheated a little and used jarred roasted red bell peppers.
• I ended up using 3 limes
• We toasted the kaiser rolls on the grill just for a minute or two on each side so they didn't burn.

Notes

From Guy Fieri Food: Cookin' It, Livin' It, Lovin' It by Guy Fieri, 2011. Reprinted with permission from William Morrow (an Imprint of Harper Collins).

Disclosure: I received a copy of the book from the publisher. I was not asked to post about it but after making this dish, I just had to! There are affiliate links in this post.

The post Guy Fieri’s Red Rocker Margarita Chicken appeared first on The Little Kitchen.

I love a challenge…Emily from Ultra Epicure challenged me to a Kerrygold throwdown! I love Emily I met her at Food Blog Forum Atlanta last year. She sat in front of me and we had fun chatting about our blogs. I love that she loves dogs too…doglovers in my book are awesome people! (By the way, have you checked out Food Blog Forum Orlando yet?)

Okay if you know me personally or follow me on twitter, you know that I love love Kerrygold cheese and butter and my favorite is their Dubliner cheese. I can eat it plain or in an omelette, on salads, whatever…I love it!

I have been wanting to make a cheese sauce to go with steak so when Emily challenged me, it just pushed me to go ahead and try this. I was going to do it with whole steaks but my husband saw an ad for a restaurant that had filet pieces on skewers with tomatoes and wanted to try this.

And since we're in Florida and are very fortunate to be able to grill almost year-round, I said alright let's do it. It turned out so good…I don't have a lot of luck grilling whole tenderloin filet steaks. I usually overcook them on the grill. So cutting them into 1 1/2 to 2 inch pieces really sped up the cooking time and then add the rich Dubliner cheese sauce…divine! This meal is going to go into our regular rotation (for when we can splurge a little and get tenderloin filets, of course).

Be sure to check out Emily's post. She made Roasted Asparagus Salad and a Kerrygold Roast Chicken!

And how about a salad topped with Dubliner cheese to go with the skewers? I made a very simple salad dressing with olive oil, lemon juice, dijon mustard, salt and pepper and topped with dubliner cheese (I grated the cheese with a vegetable peeler). I love simple salads with just lettuce, tomato, boiled eggs and cheese. The cheese lends a little sweetness to the dressing that has lemon juice and djion mustard.

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Beef Tenderloin Filet Skewers with Dubliner Cheese Sauce Recipe & Simple Salad with Dubliner Cheese

Ingredients

• 1.5 pounds of filet of beef tenderloin
• 1 container of cherry tomatoes
• bacon slices cut into thirds optional
• salt and pepper
• 4.5 oz of shredded Dubliner cheese
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 Tbsp of salted butter

Salad

• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 2 tsp lemon juice
• 1/2 tsp dijon mustard
• salt and pepper to taste
• Your favorite greens I used romaine hearts and baby spinach
• Tomatoes cut into wedges
• boiled eggs cut into wedges
• grated Dubliner cheese I used a vegetable peeler

Instructions

• Allow the beef to sit outside of the refrigerator for about 20-30 minutes. Rinse the beef and pat dry with paper towels. Cut into 1 1/2 to 2 inch pieces. Put onto metal skewers (if wrapping with bacon, wrap them first) alternating between beef and tomatoes.
• Heat heavy cream and butter on low to medium heat for about 5-8 minutes. Remove from heat and add a little bit of salt.
• Heat gas grill on high heat for at least 10 minutes. Turn down to about medium heat and oil the grates using a paper towel and tongs. Grill the skewers for about 3-4 minutes on each side. And then grill again on each side for about 1-2 minutes. (This depends on how thick you cut them as well as how you like the meat, ours came out at a perfect medium.)
• Remove from grill and allow the beef to rest under a piece of loosely tented foil for at least 5 minutes.
• Return cream to low heat and add Dubliner cheese to the heavy cream. Stir to incorporate and allow the cheese to melt faster. When it's completely melted, add pepper to taste and leave on warm.
• Serve beef with cheese drizzled on top over rice.

Salad

• Whisk olive oil, lemon juice and mustard together. Add salt and pepper to taste. Drizzle over salad and add Dubliner cheese.

It's so good, I can't wait to make this dish again! I did wrap some of the filet pieces in bacon at my husband's suggestion. I don't eat pork so those were all for him. He loved this meal too and can't wait for me to make it again. You can't go wrong with grilled tomatoes either, you could even add this to your salad if you wanted to.

Disclosure: I did win some Kerrygold cheese and have worked with them in the past. This post is not sponsored.

The post Beef Tenderloin Filet Skewers with Dubliner Cheese Sauce appeared first on The Little Kitchen.

I have been playing around with my iPhone and Hipstamatic…I love taking pictures with this app!

Then I turned them in grilled shrimp, mango and guacamole fajitas!!!

This recipe is going into my list of favorite recipes, I'm so glad I tried it! Thanks to Casey of Kitchen-Play, Sur la Table this month's sponsor and Kitchen Runway for sharing this awesome recipe.

Disclosure: I want to win one of the wonderful prizes being offered by Kitchen-Play and Sur la Table. You can enter too! Go to Kitchen-Play to see how to enter. Crossing my fingers!

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