Beef Stew

On May 8th, I made a crock pot meal.  In the weeks since, food has not been my friend and I've been avoiding it at all costs (that's not always a good thing.)  Thomas loved it and I may have loved it at a different time...

1/4 c flour
1 lb stew meat
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 tsp salt
1 can diced tomatoes in juice (don't drain)
3 potatoes, diced
1/2 cup chicken broth
1/2 cup chopped onion
celery [didn't use]
1 garlic clove [didn't have, used garlic powder]
1 tsp dried thyme leaves [or Italian Seasoning]
chopped carrots

Combine 1/4 cup flour, salt, pepper in a resealable plastic food storage bag.  Add beef, close bag, and shake bag to coat the beef.  Place floured-covered stew meat in the crock pot. Add remaining ingredients.  Stir and cook on low for 8-12 hours or on high for 4-6 hours.

Before serving, turn slow cooker to high, combine a little flour (about 1 T) and water (about 2 T) and stir until a smooth paste.  Stir into the stew as as a thickener, cover and cook until desired consistency.

Recipe adapted from: Fix It Quick™ Favorite Name Brand™: Slow Cooker. "The Best Beef Stew".  Lincolnwood, IL: Publications International, 2004. 112.

Beef Stroganoff

Yesterday we were watching Zonya Health Bites (on KBYU), where her featured recipe was crock-pot beef stroganoff.  Thomas commented that he wanted that for dinner.  He went to the grocery store to get some beef.  He cut up the roast and an onion.  We followed the recipe, except I only added one cup of light sour cream at the end.  It was pretty good, a little bland, but a filling meal.  I know that I've been making too many meatless meals when Thomas craves meat!

1 can cream of mushroom soup (healthy request)
1 can beef broth (reduced sodium)
1 can (4 oz) sliced mushrooms, drained
3 T cornstarch
3/4 tsp dried thyme
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/3 cup Marsala wine (optional)
1/2 tsp salt (optional)
Stir together in a slow cooker.

1 large onion, diced
2.5 lbs lean top round or sirloin steak, well trimmed of fat, cubed
Add into the soup mixture

Cook on high for four to five hours or on low for nine to ten hours.

About 20 minutes before serving
*stir 1-1/2 cups of light sour cream in the slow cooker
*boil water, cook 12 oz. whole wheat pasta
     *add frozen vegetables about five minutes before pasta is finished
Drain cooked pasta and vegetables, plate beef stroganoff on top
{I found salt and pepper is needed, especially if you didn't add salt in the slow cooker.}

Source: www.zonya.com. Lickety-Split Meals. "Beef Stroganoff over Noodles." http://www.zonya.com/pdf/recipes/Beef_Stroganoff.pdf

My First Roast!

Yesterday, I woke up at 7:20 to get my first pot roast started.  I washed off the eye of roast and patted it dry-- (the best recommendation is using chuck eye). I heated up the skillet with olive oil while I rubbed kosher salt, black pepper and garlic powder on my roast.  By the time that was finished, the skillet was nice and hot, ready for the meat.  It sizzled.  For about 10 minutes, I seared the meat until it was brown.  It already smelled delicious.  Then I transferred my roast to the crock pot for 10 hours.  I poured a can of French Onion Soup over it.  The crock pot's setting was on low.  Around noon, I turned it over, so I put the setting up to high for a half hour to get the heat going again.  Around 3:30, I chopped up some red potatoes and added them to the pot.  At 6:00 everything was done; the potatoes and roast were moist and tender.  After moving the meat and potatoes to another dish, I poured in some flour (that's right-- I didn't measure!), whisked it, and turned the crock pot to high.  Not the smartest thing to do because the crock pot takes a while to boil.  I placed the meat and potatoes dish in the oven in the meantime.  After the wait, we had some good gravy!  Yum!  That is the story of cooking my first pot roast.  And it was easier than I thought it would be!

The finished product

The presentation

Thomas' plate, he added a lot of gravy to his

My plate

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I made this Pot Roast recipe three times since this post.  I even made it twice in January (2011), the third time adding Italian Seasoning and not much garlic powder at all (Jan 16th), but the fourth time making it on Friday the 28th, I couldn't find French Onion Soup in the pantry or storage.  So I combined a can of beef broth and a can of Cream of Mushroom Soup with Roasted Garlic.  No onion flavor this time.  It was very good!  Not as tender, but it didn't stay in the crock pot nearly as long as usual (about 7-1/2 hours).

Swedish Meatballs

Meatballs:
1 egg
1 onion, chopped, or 1 T instant minced onions
1 cup mashed potatoes
1/4 cup whole wheat bread crumbs
1 lb lean ground beef
1/2 tsp salt

Gravy:
1 (10 3/4 oz) can cream of mushroom soup, low fat
1 (4 oz) can mushrooms, drained
1/2 cup plain nonfat yogurt or buttermilk


3 cups cooked brown rice (1 cup raw) or 6 baked potatoes
Fresh parsley

Line a baking sheet with foil.  For meatballs, mix ingredients and shape into (walnut) sized balls, place meatballs on baking sheet.  Bake for 15 minutes in a 400 degrees oven.  Meanwhile, warm up soup on stove and blend in yogurt or buttermilk until smooth.  Combine the meatballs and gravy and serve over rice or potatoes.

*This recipe is bland.  It has potential if more seasonings are added to it.  The gravy was pretty good, but of course, I didn't add the extra mushrooms.  Overall it needs some modification to add more flavor.

Recipe found in: Merrill, Jane P. and Karen M. Sunderland.  Set for Life.  Salt Lake City, UT: Sunrise Publishers, 1995.