COCA COLA STEAK

SPICY & SWEET & BEEFY

I know coke and steak sound.... different. But I've seen in several different recipes that coke is actually delicious on steak! So I tried it, and turns out, its freaking amazing. It's adds a sweet flavor and everyone needs some sweet to go with their salty.

I'm the first to admit that it looks disgusting when you mix all the seasonings together. The coke fizzes all over everything and it looks super unappetizing... BUT, hold out, because it looks better in the end. I promise. 

Mom approved. Although she said it was very spice so, YOU'VE BEEN WARNED. Skip the red pepper if you're like her and can't handle a teeny tiny bit of heat. 

Ingredients:

Steak for stew

Coke (3/4 cup)

Worcestershire sauce (1/3 cup)

Garlic powder

Dried minced onion

Bouillon cube (beef flavor)

Fresh basil

Mushrooms (1/3 cup)

Red onion (1/2 cup)

Green beans (1/3 cup)

Red pepper seasoning

Olive oil

Baking powder (two table spoons)

Salt and Pepper

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 425 ℉
2. Take your red onion, mushrooms, and green beans and put them on a baking sheet, cover them with olive oil, and sprinkle red pepper, garlic powder, dried minced onion, and salt/pepper to taste. Set to the side while you prepare your steak sauce
3. Mix together the coke, worcestershire sauce, garlic powder, dried minced onion, red pepper, and salt and pepper. The seasonings are always to taste for me. I can't be bothered to measure! (LAZY I KNOW)
4. Sear your steak pieces on each side for about two minutes in a skillet with high heat. Once both sides are brown, pour the sauce you made in. Drop in the beef bouillon cube. Mix the baking powder with some water, stir, and poor into the pan. This will make the sauce thicker and help the steak absorb it some! Drop the heat down to medium and cover for about 10 minutes.
5. While your steak is cooking, put the veggies into the oven and they both should be done around the same time.
6. Once your veggies are nice and crisp, and your steak is at the desired temperature, mix the two together and sprinkle on some fresh basil! Then serve (duh).

ENJOY!

- Love Mea

P.S. Paired with garlic bread or rice would be ahhmazing. 

GARLIC ROASTED RED POTATOES

"Scrumptious." - Mom 

Cook Time: 25-30 Minutes 

Prep Time: 15 Minutes

Total Time: 40-45 Minutes

So, I can't take full credit for this recipe (most of the time I do anyways) 😈. My good friend Jennifer, made this for me one night for dinner at her place and I've been tweaking and making it weekly ever since. It's seriously so good! When she made it, it had garlic powder, salt, and pepper
on it. When I make it, I add thyme. Doesn't taste much different, but hey, now it's my own recipe.... sorta!

Couldn't help but share it so everyone can enjoy a little starchy goodness during the week.

I also wanna share with you guys a really cool trick I learned from Pinterest. It only works if your garlic is fresh!  Otherwise, the peeling is too soft to separate this way. Just take your garlic cloves, put them in a glass of some sort (pictured is a wine glass, CLASSY). Then shake them until the peelings come off. Much easier than getting garlic stuck up your nails after peeling them by hand for 30 minutes. 

 Ingredients:

5-6 Large potatoes

Olive oil (two table spoons)

Fresh garlic (5 cloves)

Fresh thyme

Garlic Powder

Garlic Salt

Minced dried onion

Salt and pepper

Directions:

1. Preheat your oven to 420 ℉
2. Go ahead and peel your cloves by hand (or you can use the trick above). Chop the red potatoes and place the whole clove onto a baking sheet with olive oil. Make sure they are coated (but not too much) in olive oil so that they don't stick to the pan. Because trust me they will, and you'll end up with mashed potatoes. 
3. Sprinkle on you garlic powder, garlic salt, minced dried onion, and salt and pepper to taste.
4. Place in the oven, being sure to mix them every so often.
5. they usually take about 20-25 minutes to cook, but check on them often! 
6. once done, they'll be golden brown and crispy on the outside and a little mushy on the inside. Take them out of the oven and add some thyme sprigs!

I hope you guys love these as much as I do. Shout out to Jen for making these for me!

- Love Mea

CRUNCHY CAJUN VEGGIES

CRISPY & SPICY ONIONS, ZUCCHINI, AND SQUASH

Southern cooking is great and all, but I've always been one to experiment when it comes to cooking. My dad hates that. He's constantly telling me, "Simple, Meagan, Simple!". But I don't care, I do me 😬. 

So, I started baking vegetables with lots of seasoning instead of boiling them in water and I feel like they have so much more flavor (sometimes, my dad will even admit it). These are totally not simple, and full of flavor... so if you like that, keep on scrollin'. 

Cook Time: 15 Minutes

Prep Time: 5 Minutes

Total Time: 20 Minutes

Ingredients:

Yellow Squash (2)

 Zucchini (2)

White onion 

Fresh Dill (pinch)

Panko bread crumbs (1/3rd cup)

 Cajun Injector seasoning 

 Fresh and dried Thyme

Garlic powder

Garlic salt

Dried minced onion

French fried onions 

Olive oil (2 table spoons)

Salt & pepper

Directions:

1. Pre-heat your oven to 425℉ 
2. Cut up the squash, zucchini, and onions into bite size pieces and spread them out on a baking sheet with the olive oil. Make sure the veggies are coated in the olive oil (but not so much that they're dripping). If you need to add more oil, that's fine!
3. Sprinkle a pinch of dill, and all the seasonings to taste (cajun injector, dried thyme, garlic powder, garlic salt, dried minced onion, salt, and pepper). I used quite a bit of cajun seasoning but if you don't like spicy then I would do very little. It's all up to you and what you like best.  
4. if you want everything to be extra crunchy then don't add the panko and french fried onions until they have been in the oven for over 10 minutes. I like it when they blend all together so I added them before putting them in the oven. 
5. Take them out of the oven once they've been fully cooked (usually 15 minutes). They'll be kinda soggy and juicy... I know those are horrible adjectives but we all know what zucchini and squash look like cooked. 
6. Finally, add the dried thyme! and wallah you are done.
   
   
   

That's it! Hope you enjoy 😌

Love Mea 💕

I paired these with my coca cola steak and garlic roasted red potatoes.