We’ve all been making more meals at home lately, or at least cobbling together edible ingredients that qualify as food. For some that means a quick snack or dessert, and for others it’s an opportunity to flex our knife skills and pretend we’re celebrity chef’s worthy of praise and acclaim.
Let’s start with something easy. Yes, it’s a dessert, but at just three ingredients, Inside Sales Aaron Oda’s peanut butter cookies are a quick, simple way to satisfy that sweet tooth.
“I baked three-ingredient peanut butter cookies. Peanut butter, sugar, and one egg (1 cup of each I think?). Keep stirring until it’s combined and trust it! Then bake 6-8 min at 350 degrees for perfect cookies.
P.S. This is recipe is from memory; bake with caution.”
Aaron Oda’s Three Ingredient Cookie
Prep time: 5 minutes Cook time: <10 minutes Yields 6 Cookies
- 1 cup peanut butter (smooth)
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
While the oven heats, add all ingredients to a mixing bowl and combine.
Scoop out roughly 2 TBSP amount of dough, and form into balls. Gently Press into loose discs with your palms. Place the cookies on a baking sheet 2 inches apart and back on the center rack for 6-8 minutes until you get that golden brown goodness, but still soft.
Cool slightly and serve warm with vanilla ice cream for an added treat.
Steak Your Claim
There’s a lot of steak fans on the Cheney Stadium staff. It’s the preferred meal for most Tacoma Rainiers players and with the sun shining and those grills staring at us asking for attention, it’s time to light the fires and grill some meat. For this recipe, we’ll give a nod to Corporate Sales Manager Hank Foster for his slight tweak on the plain old American steak.
“You can’t beat a good steak. Season with salt, pepper, Italian seasoning, garlic salt, and Worcestershire sauce. Marinate for 45-60 minutes. Grill to your liking. Goes great with mac n cheese and a fresh salad.”
Hank Foster’s Worcestershire Steak
Prep time: <60 minutes Cook time: ~12 minutes Servings: 2
For the dry rub:
- 1 teaspoon Kosher Salt
- 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1 teaspoon Italian Seasoning
- ½ teaspoon Garlic Salt
- ¼ cup Worcestershire sauce (or more)
- 2 10-12 oz ribeyes
In a dish large enough to hold the steaks, combine all of the dry rub ingredients. Place the steaks in the dry rub, turn to coat.
Add in Worcestershire sauce, allowing the steak to feel damp, but not enough to wash off the dry seasoning, and let sit for 45 – 60 minutes.
Heat a grill or grill pan over medium-high heat until smoking hot. Stick to the general rule of 4-5 minutes on the first side (without moving) and then flip and cook for an additional three minutes to hit medium-rare. For every two additional minutes you’ll move to medium, medium-well, and after that you’re just ruining your meat.
Remove from the grill and let rest on a platter for 4 minutes. Serve.
For Washington Beef Recipes, check out how Tacoma Defiance stays strong while staying home.
Now the Potatoes
For the spud-loving palate, this recipe is bound to hit the spot in just a matter of minutes, and sometimes things are best done simply. Crafted by Group Event Coordinator Hayley Hacker, inspired by Chrissy Teigen, you’re sure to impress your friends post quarantine with this minimal, delicious side dish (that’ll pair well with Hank’s steak).
“Simple, easy and incredible good, these potatoes blew our expectations the first time we made them.”
Hayley Hacker’s Smashed Potatoes with Roasted Garlic
Prep time: 15 minutes Cook time: 145 minutes (120 of that is for the garlic) Servings: 6
For Roasted Garlic
- 1 ¼ cup olive oil
- 15 – 20 large cloves garlic, peeled
For Potatoes
- 2 ½ lbs baby red potatoes
- Kosher Salt
- 1 Stick (4 ounces) butter
- ½ cup heavy cream
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 15 cloves (1/2 cup packed) Roasted Garlic
- 2 Tablespoons chopped chives
Make Roasted Garlic: In a small saucepan, combine the oil and garlic. Set over medium-low heat (don’t turn any higher). Oil will heat up slowly and the garlic will fizz and sizzle after 10 to 15 minutes. Continue to cook garlic until golden brown, but still soft (30 – 40 minutes)
Remove from the head and let garlic sit in the oil on the counter for 1-2 hours (or up to 24 hrs). Strain garlic from oil and keep refrigerated in a tightly sealed container. Remaining oil can be cooled to room temperature and stored for future use.
Make Smashed Potatoes: In a large pot, combine the potatoes with salted, cold water to cover them by 3 inches. Bring the pot to a boil over high heat, reduce the heat to a simmer and cook the potatoes for about 25 minutes, or until you can pierce them easily with a fork.
Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, heat the butter, cream, pepper and 1 ½ teaspoon salt and kit it warm over low heat.
Drain potatoes, return them to the pot and add the roasted garlic, using a potatoes masher or potatoes ricer, mash until chunky-smooth, then stire in the warmed cream mixture.
Transfer to a serving bowl and sprinkle with chives.
Stuffed Pasta
Maybe you’re like Senior Director of Ticket Sales Tim O’Hollaren and need to branch out a bit since you are cooking a lot more often than you used to.
“Normally, my fiancé and I have a steady rotation of a few hallmark ‘recipes’ in our house, but we needed to branch out. We experimented with giant pasta shells last week and were not disappointed – Italian chicken sausage, parm & ricotta stuffed shells with homemade garlic bread. Leader in the clubhouse thus far.”
Tom O’Hollaren’s Cheesy Spinach and Sausage Stuffed Shells
Prep Time: 15 minutes Cooking Time: ~30 minutes Servings: 6-8
- 12-ounce giant pasta shells
- 16-ounce Isernio’s Italian Chicken Sausage
- 1 cup low fat ricotta cheese
- 10-ounce frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
- 1 cup grated parmesan, divided
- 1/3 cup bread crumbs
- 3 medium cloves garlic, finely chopped
- 1 large egg
- 1 16-ounce jar your favorite marinara, warm
- ½ teaspoon kosher Salt
- ½ teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
- ½ teaspoon Italian Seasoning
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil; add pasta shells and cook according to package instructions. Drain shells in a colander and rinse under cold water. Set aside on paper towels to dry.
Heat olive oil in a large skillet on medium-high heat. Add sausage and cook until no longer pink, stirring frequently and breaking It into smaller pieces as you go.
In a mixing bowl, lightly beat egg. Add ricotta, spinach, ½ cup Parmesan cheese, bread crumbs, garlic, spinach, cooled sausage mixture, salt, pepper, and Italian seasoning.
In a 13 x 9 baking dish, coat the bottom of the dish with marinara sauce. Use a small spoon to scoop ricotta mixture into each shell, placing them in the dish. Coat with more marinara sauce (to taste) and the remaining Parmesan.
Cook for 20-30 minutes and enjoy.
Everyone Loves Tacos
We started you off with an easy three-ingredient dish and upped the difficulty level at every step. Now, it’s time to put on your chef’s jacket. Corporate Sales Manager Josh Preli is walking us through pork belly and ancho chile pineapple tacos. We’ll let you make the tortillas, or buy them at your favorite local market.
Josh Preli’s Pork Belly with Pickled Onions and Ancho Chile Pineapple Tacos
Prep Time: 12-24 hours Cooking Time: 90 minutes Servings: 4
- 4 pounds boneless skinless pork belly
- 4 tablespoons Kosher salt
- 4 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 1 ½ tablespoons ancho chile powder
- 8-12 tortillas, warmed
- 1 avocado, chopped
- Cojita, crumbled
For the Ancho Chili Roasted Pineapple
- 2 cup finely diced fresh pineapple
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1 ½ tablespoon ancho chile powder
For Pickled Onions
- 1 medium red onion
- 1 cup warm water
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- ½ cup vinegar
For Pickled Onions
Combine vinegar, water, sugar and salt in a medium bowl. Whisk together until sugar and salt is fully dissolved. Add chopped onions and the liquid to a mason jar and let sit for at least one hour.
For Pork Belly
Place pork belly in a glass baking dish and rub evenly with granulated sugar and Kosher salt. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 12 hours and up to 24 hours.
Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Remove from refrigerator, pat dry and remove any liquid that has accumulated.
Rub pork belly with 1 ½ tablespoons ancho chili powder. Roast for 30 minutes and then drop the temperature to 275 degrees F for another 30 minutes, or until tender.
For Ancho Chile Pineapple
While the pork is cooking, combine in a skillet diced pineapples, sugar and remaining ancho chili powder, cooking on medium heat for 4-5 minutes. Set aside.
Once pork belly is done, get ready for the fun part. Slice the pork shortly after cooling. Layer onto tortilla, chopped pork belly, avocado, chile roasted pineapple, pickled onions, cotija and cilantro. Squeeze a little lime on top, pair with a Cerveza and enjoy.
What are you cooking today?
Always Together, We R Tacoma
About the Tacoma Rainiers
The Tacoma Rainiers are the Triple-A affiliate of the Seattle Mariners. Tacoma has been a member of the Pacific Coast League since Cheney Stadium opened in 1960, and has been a Mariners affiliate since establishing the Rainiers moniker in 1995.
The most up-to-date news and notes about the Tacoma Rainiers and Cheney Stadium can be found at WeRTacoma.com, or by following the Rainiers on Twitter (@RainiersLand), Instagram (@tacomarainiers) and liking the team on Facebook.
About Tacoma Defiance
Tacoma Defiance is the USL Championship affiliate of reigning MLS Cup Champion Seattle Sounders FC. You can follow The Future of Champions on Twitter (@TACDefiance), Facebook, and Instagram (@tacdefiance). We are #DefiantlyTacoma.
We R Tacoma Team Store
The We R Tacoma Team Store is open, online. Grab your Rainiers gear, your Defiance ‘fit, and follow the team store on Instagram and Twitter.
COVID-19 Information
More information on social distancing and how to prevent the spread of Covid-19 can be found at Tacoma-Pierce County Health. The most up-to-date information on how COVID-19 is affecting events at Cheney Stadium can be found here.
March 16, 2023