Mint Tea

Another recipe for a guy with a cold... tea with honey and a minty stirer from the garden.

No Fuss Beefy Soup

As usual, when we travel by air, one of us gets a cold. This time Craig was the lucky one. I decided to make a big pot of soup to try and help his throat. Craig isn't the biggest fan of soup, so I made one which was mostly broth with just a few ingredients and lots of black pepper.



CLICK HERE FOR PRINTABLE RECIPE

Sipala's No Fuss Beefy Soup
From the Kitchen of Craig & Jennifer Sipala

Ingredients

1lb beef, diced
2 carrots, cut into half moons
2 ribs celery, diced
1 large onion, diced
1 russet potato, diced
1 28oz can whole tomatoes
4 cups beef stock
2 cups water
1 bay leaf
Salt & lots of black pepper
Optional: barley, pasta, cannellini beans, chickpeas

Directions

- Dice beef, potato, carrots, celery, and onion.

- Over medium heat, sauté carrots, celery, and onion in olive oil until softened. Remove and set aside.

- Brown beef cubes and then re-add carrots, celery, and onion. Add beef stock and water and bring to a boil.

- Add potato cubes, bay leaf, and season with salt and pepper.

- Reduce heat to low - cover - simmer 1 hour

- Add additional ingredients and heat through before serving.

Open Faced Taco

Mmmm, tacos.

Yellow Tomato

On my last trip to the supermarket I found beautiful yellow tomatoes. I bought one not really sure what I was going to do with it. When I started making some pizzas for dinner that night, Craig suggested just slicing it and making a tomato and fresh basil pie. I'm not sure the photos do it justice... it made for a beautiful pie and tasted just as good!!

Are you ready for some football!

What else would we be having on this first Sunday of football but buffalo wings! Not much of a recipe. Seperate wings into two sections and then sprinkle with a little flour, salt, pepper, and cayenne. Brush with Texas Pete buffalo sauce and continue to baste while grilling.

Prepping four dozen wings...


Craig grills them to perfection!

Baby Back Ribs

For Labor Day we made baby back ribs. This was our first attempt at making whole racks of ribs. It was actually much easier than I thought it would be and they turned out very tender. I handled the first half of the recipe in the kitchen, then Craig took over outside on the grill. (He had the tough part since it started pouring rain as soon as we were ready to grill).

Click Here for Printable Recipe

Sipala's Beginner BBQ Ribs

2 Racks Baby Back Pork Ribs
24oz Beer (2 Bottles)
1 Small Onion, Sliced
18oz Prepared BBQ Sauce

- Cut each rack of ribs in half.
- Place ribs in pot, then add beer, onion, and cold water to cover.
- Over high heat, heat to boiling. Reduce heat to low - cover - simmer 1 hour or until almost tender. Drain, cover and chill until ready to grill.
- While the grill heats, coat ribs with BBQ sauce.
- Place ribs on grill over medium coals. Grill 20 minutes or until tender, brushing with sauce often and turning occasionally.

Marco Island Eats

Because of the threat of Hurricane Ernesto, many of the restaurants on Marco Island were closed, but we made due.

Pit stop at Steak 'n Shake on the drive down


Across the street from the hotel we found a small sports bar.


Rookies Dijon Horseradish Beef Sandwich


Craig checks out the wine list at Campiello's Restaurant.


We ate at Kurrents Restaurant at the Marriott two nights. On top of the great food, they offered valet parking (which saved us from running thru Ernesto's rain).

Dumpling Appetizer (the Wasabi Cream sauce was amazing... or as our waitress kept saying, it was "to die for")

The restaurant was pretty dark, so unfortunately most of my photos didn't come out very well. This was one of my entrees - it was their take on a Bento Box... each compartment had something different to taste - included tuna, shrimp, scallops, and the top right corner is Lobster Mac & Cheese!!