Sunday, Sunday.......

Finally a chance to get on the blog and get another recipe posted.  Whew busy, busy, all good things though.

For today, I think you will love these recipes.  Roast beef with pan gravy and crash hot potatoes.  I would love to take credit for the potato recipe, but alas it is from another blog, namely The Pioneer Woman. (http://www.thepioneerwoman.com/)  What a blog, take a while, sit back and relax while perusing this wonderful blog.. But ! Not right now. You have a roast beef dinner to make.  Or one of us does. :)

Roast Beef Dinner with Pan Gravy and Crash Hot Potatoes

Let's get started:

Rinse roast under running water, pat dry, trim excess fat away.  Sprinkle generously with kosher salt and the pepper, onion and garlic powder; add onion slices to top of roast.  Add water to bottom of roasting pan, add beef bouillon cubes.

Place roast in a preheated 425 degree oven. 

Wash potatoes, place in pot filled with enough cold water to cover potatoes:

Bring water to a boil, cook potatoes until they are fork tender.

While roast is cooking prepare cookie sheet or jelly roll pan with olive oil, just drizzle it on the bottom of the pan:

When potatoes are tender, drain water and transfer potatoes to prepared cookie sheet. Here is where the crash part comes into play.  Get ready for it... take a potato masher and press onto each potato, not too hard but enough to break the peel, turn the masher about 90 degrees and press again. 

Meanwhile, after 30 minutes, reduce the tempature of the oven to 350 degrees.  Continue cooking roast until desired doneness.  Remove from oven, allow to rest.

Place potatoes in a 425 degree oven, on the top rack for 20-25 minutes.

Let's make the gravy.  Do not jump ship now, it is easy as pie, well easy enough, pie takes practice. 

Looks are deceiving, this was red in the middle, medium beef internal temperature is about 165 degrees on meat thermometer.

Take pan drippings, sprinkle in flour, a little milk and/or water.  Whisk, whisk, whisk.  Do not give up or lumps will win out.  Keep whisking or stirring until all the flour is mixed in evenly with the pan drippings and gravy thickens up. 

How do you like these action shots.  Who knew I would need the sports setting on the camera while cooking?  Not me!  Could this possibly count as a work-out?

Sliced roast beef, a little rare for my tastes, but husband loves it this way.  I go more for the end pieces and medium well.

All plated up:

The Ingredients:

1 roast beef.  The roast shown was aproximately 3 pounds.

1 small onion, sliced

4 beef bouillon cubes

1 cup water

Kosher salt and ground pepper to taste, additional for potatoes

Onion and garlic powder

Red potatoes or any small, round shaped potatoes (new potatoes, yukon gold)

Olive oil

The How-To:

Prepare roast by trimming any extra fat off roast. Rinse under cool water. Pat dry.  Place roast in roasting pan, add a liberal amount of salt, pepper, garlic and onion powder.  Place onion slices on top of roast.  Place about a cup of water in pan, as well as the bouillon cubes (these add more flavor to the gravy).  While roast is roasting in oven you may have to add additional water. Place roast beef in a preheated 425 degree oven for 30 minutes.  Reduce temperature to 350 degrees and roast for aproximately 25-30 minutes per pound. 

While roast is roasting, prepare potatoes for cooking.  Wash potatoes.  Place desired amount of potatoes in a pot filled with enough cold water to cover tops of potatoes. Place pot on stove, turn heat to medium high to high heat.  Bring water to a boil, allow potatoes to cook until  fork-tender.  When potatoes are done, drain water from pot.  Place potatoes on a cookie sheet (or jelly roll pan as pictured here), that has been drizzled with olive oil.  Allow space between potatoes.  Take a potato masher or two forks, and mash down on each potato, not too much, but enough to break the peel.  Turn sheet 90 degrees and mash again.  Brush olive oil onto potatoes, add a liberal amount of kosher salt and pepper to the potatoes.  At this point you may add an herb of your choice, such as rosemary or parsley.  We prefer just the olive oil, kosher salt and pepper.  Place potatoes on top rack in a pre-heated 450 degree oven bake for 20-25 minutes.  Until the tops of the potatoes are nice and crispy looking.  yum.

Meanwhile  while the potatoes are baking and the roast is resting, get to work on the gravy.  I leave the juices right in the roasting pan.  My pan is old and well-used so no worry about any scratching or ruining the pan if it is used over the open flame.  Your call on the pan you choose to use but make sure you scrape up the brown bits at the sides of the pan, therein lies flavor.  Take your flour and sprinkle it into the juices while whisking.  I have an old Tupperware flour sifter, this works great but I am not sure they are available for purchase anymore, any sifter will do or just sprinkle it on, just make sure you add small amounts at a time.  The temperature on the stove should be about medium.  Whisk, whisk, whisk away.  Add milk to gravy if it gets too thick. Add salt and pepper to taste, check first, as the bouillon cubes will add salt.  Keep gravy warm on stove until ready to serve.

The roast is rested, let the slicing begin.  Potatoes are done; start plating everything up, add a vegetable if you choose.

Enjoy your Sunday dinner!

Evelyn

If the way to a man's heart is....

through his stomach, well this dish does it for me with John.  Saying he loves it is putting it mildly, I think I have seen him drool as he begins to eat Stuffed Green Peppers.  Seriously though, saying he loves this dish is not an exaggeration.  Myself, I can live without it but it makes him happy so here ya go:

Stuffed Green Peppers:

Here's what you will need:

Dice the onion:

Wash green peppers, cut off tops, remove seeds.  Reserve the tops:

Cut the tops, trimming away any useable pepper for the sauce.  Brown the hamburger, onion and diced peppers:

Place the washed and seeded green peppers in a pot or water, bring water to a boil:

Cook hamburger mixture until juices run clear; drain.  Return to pan.  Add tomato sauce, season with salt and pepper, onion powder and garlic powder to taste.  Let simmer in pan for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

When peppers are fork tender, place in casserole, add filling.

Add remaining filling around the peppers. 

Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until sauce is bubbly and top is slightly browned.

Stuffed Green Peppers

Ingredients:
1 ½ pounds hamburger

 5-6 green peppers, washed, cut tops off to remove seeds but keep peppers whole. Save the tops to trim off the pieces of green pepper for sauce.



2  15 oz. cans tomato sauce



½ of a small onion, diced

2 cups of rice, cooked according to box directions

½ - 1 tsp. salt



¼ tsp. pepper



Sprinkling of garlic and onion powders.



Recipe:



Brown hamburger in frying pan with onion and the small pieces of diced green pepper that were taken from the tops of the peppers. Sprinkle on the garlic and onion powder as well as the salt and pepper. Brown, breaking up the hamburger as it cooks. Cook until juices run clear. Drain.

 Return hamburger mixture to frying pan. Add tomato sauce and cooked rice to the hamburger mixture, stir well. Let simmer for 20 minutes until flavors are combined.



Meanwhile, put prepared green peppers in a large pot, add water to cover peppers. Cook over medium-high heat until peppers are almost fork-tender. Remove peppers from water, place in baking dish, standing peppers upright.

When hamburger mixture is finished cooking, spoon the mixture into the green peppers, filling each to the top. Extra filling should be placed around the peppers in the baking dish.

Bake in 350 degree oven for 30 minutes until sauce is bubbling; remove from oven, let cool for 5 minutes so juices settle.


Serve.

 A Quick Tip: You may add a 1 ½ tsp. of brown sugar to the hamburger mixture if desired. This just enhances the flavors a little bit. An optional idea.

A chilly, rainy day calls for a nice bowl of......

Chili!
Well, according to my husband it does, or any kind of pasta with meat for that matter when it comes to this Italian boy. :)  The term "boy" in this case is used loosely here but I think it makes him feel good, so I will go with it here.  Now back to the task at hand: making some chili.. for my man.

Players:

Just the basics in this recipe, of course I always add a little garlic powder & onion powder oh yes, and minced garlic if you've got it.

Chop the onion, a nice dice will do.

Brown the hamburger and onion together until juices run clear.

After draining juices from pot, return to stove, add all the spices, tomatoes and the red beans. Mix well.  Simmer.

The finished chili:

Chili

Ingredients:

1 1/2 pounds ground beef

1 small onion, diced

1-2 cans tomatoes, whole, peeled is my preference

1 can red beans or chili beans or kidney beans

3 1/2 tablespoons chili powder

a dash of red pepper flakes, more if you dare

water  if you find the chili is too thick for your liking

a dash of cumin

Minced garlic 1-2 teaspoons. (this equals 2-4 cloves)

Onion powder, garlic powder, optional

Salt & pepper to taste

Pasta:  we usually use spaghetti or Skroodles (small spiral shaped pasta)

Toppings:  shredded cheddar or 4 cheese Italian Mix shredded cheese,

diced onion.

The How-To:

Begin by dicing onion. 

Add hamburger and onion to a large dutch oven type pot.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  Brown meat over medium to high heat, until the juices run clear.  Drain. 

Return pot to stove, add all the spices, tomatoes and beans.  Stir to mix well. 

Bring chili to a gentle boil, lower heat to simmer.  You may see bubbling, this is okay as long as it is not a full, rolling boil.  Stir occasionally.

Allow to simmer for one hour, you can do less time;  just make sure you do not have an overpowering taste of the chili powder, you will know what I mean if it is too soon.

Add water to chili if the chili is too thick for your taste.  I most always add water.  I taste at this point to adjust the salt and pepper, adding if needed.

If serving with pasta, cook pasta according to package directions during last half hour of cooking chili. 

Serve; adding garnish as you please. 

 I also serve this with some Dorito scoops, or crackers.

A quick tip:  If you find that the chili has too strong a tomato taste, you can tone it down by adding a little chocolate.  I use Hersheys chocolate syrup.  Now, start out with a little, then taste, add a little bit more if needed.  It does not take much even if you think you need a big chocolate fix resist the tempation to have chocolate chili!  This works and chocolate for goodness sakes, what is wrong with that?  Nothing in my opinion.

Enjoy!

Evelyn

This one might be a keeper...

Hi Friends,

Today's recipe for the most part can be made for breakfast or dinner.  It is a simple one with no real recipe per se but here goes:

Ham Steak and Pan Fried Potatoes

The players:

Pour a small amount of oil in a frying pan, just enough to lightly cover the bottom of the pan.

Heat the oil.  Wash, peel and slice the potatoes, leaving the skins on is okay too.

Add the potatoes to the prepared frying pan.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  You can also add diced onion.

Place ham steak in frying pan and cook until heated through and nicely browned.

The completed meal: 

Oops! Who added those cookies? 

Ham Steak and Pan Fried Potatoes

Ingredients:

Ham Steak
Baking Potatoes
Vegetable or Canola Oil
Salt and Pepper
Small amount of butter or margarine (also used for corn on the cob)
Onion, diced, if desired, for potatoes
Onion and Garlic Powder (optional)
Frozen Corn on the Cob (use fresh when in season)

Recipe:

Wash, cut and slice baking potatoes into medium sized rounds.  Meanwhile add oil to the frying pan, just enough to coat the bottom on the frying pan.  You may need to add a little bit more depending on amount of potatoes and cooking time.  Add potatoes to frying pan, turn heat to medium high and fry potatoes until golden brown, turning once to brown both sides.  When potatoes are fork tender, transfer potatoes to a heated serving platter to keep warm until serving.

Corn on the Cob should be prepared, cooking according to package directions.  When tender, transfer to bowl and add melted butter to corn or roll corn on butter quarter to butter.

Add ham steak to frying pan with a tab of butter, cook until lightly browned on both sides. Transfer to serving platter.  Serve.

We usually have ketchup with the potatoes but my husband being born and raised on the East Coast, always has the ketchup but he adds pickle relish too.  Well, he also adds vinegar to spinach so there ya go.

The cookies were homemade and frozen at Christmas time, good thing to keep in mind on those nights when you feel like a little dessert after dinner. 

Enjoy!

Evelyn

Pork Chops & Applesauce, well not quite...

Hi everyone,

Today was a full day. I took two friends to the Jelly Belly Factory, if you live in the Chicagoland area it is a must see, fun place. They are located just inside the Wisconsin border in Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin.

So back to cooking. Tonight's recipe is:

Pork Chops and  Noodles

Here's what you will need:

I do make this same casserole with many variations but these are the basics.

The pork chops browning in small amount of oil.

The soups, water and minced onion mixed and simmering after mixing well.

Pour the sauce over the browned pork chops and noodles in casserole dish.

Dinner is ready.

Pork Chops and Noodles

Ingredients:

6 pork chops           1 beef bouillon cube

1 can cream of chicken soup   1 can cream of celery soup

1 12 oz. pkg. of Reames egg noodles or


1 pkg. flat noodles, of your choice


1 tsp minced onion     1 cup water




Instructions:

Brown pork chops on one side in a small amount of oil.

Cook egg noodles in beef bouillon water according to package directions. Drain noodles and place in casserole.

Place browned pork chops on top of noodles, browned side down.

 In frying pan in which you browned the pork chops, heat the soup, 1 cup of water and minced onion. Pour over chops and noodles.

Bake at 350 degrees for ½ hour covered and an additional ½ hour uncovered. (1 hour total)

Note:  I usually add a little bit of onion powder and garlic powder, plus salt and pepper to the chops as they are browning.   You can also use cream of mushroom soup, if you prefer.   As you can see this recipe is pretty flexible.
 
I hope you enjoy this recipe.  Definitely a nice warm you up, winter meal.
 
Enjoy!
 
Evelyn

Monkey Bread

I thought about making this for Christmas morning, forgot I bought the ingredients so here I am in January making Monkey Bread.  If you have not made this or tried it, run to the grocery store to pick up the ingredients.   I am pretty certain you (and the kids)  will like this one.

The Cast:

Biscuits, separated and cut into quarters:

Biscuit quarters in plastic bag with cinnamon and sugar mixture:

Biscuits in bundt pan with raisins and cherries:

Melted butter and brown sugar:

Butter and brown sugar mixture poured over biscuits:

The completed Monkey Bread:

Monkey Bread

Ingredients:

1/2 cup sugar

1  teaspoon cinnamon

2 cans of Pillsbury Grand biscuits

1/2 cup raisins, if desired

You can also add nuts and/or cherries (optional)

1 cup brown sugar

3/4 cup margarine or butter, melted

Directions:

Heat oven to 350 degrees.

Spray bundt pan with cooking spray or use shortening to coat pan.  

Mix together the cinnamon and sugar,  place this mixture in a plastic food storage bag. 

Separate biscuits, cut into quarters.  Place cut biscuits in plastic food storage bag with the cinnamon and sugar mixture.  Close bag, mix by turning the bag around and over so that the biscuits become covered with the cinnamon sugar mixture. 

If using cherries and nuts, place them in the bottom of the bundt pan, this way they will end up on top of the monkey bread when removed from the pan.  Place the biscuits in the pan, sprinkling raisins here and there as you go.  Again, the raisins, cherries and nuts are optional. 

Melt the butter.  Combine in a small bowl, the melted butter and the brown sugar; stir well. 

Pour the butter and brown sugar mixture over the biscuits.

Bake in a 350 degree oven for 35 minutes.  Check for doneness, bake for additional amount of time if necessary. 

Carefully place monkey bread on serving plate.  Be careful as the brown sugar/butter mixture is very hot.  Let cool to set.

Pull apart pieces of the monkey bread and enjoy this delishousness. I am not sure if that is really a word, but you will understand once you taste Monkey Bread.  You might need a little nap after you indulge in this sweet treat. 

Enjoy!

Evelyn

Spaghetti & Meatballs

Hi Friends!

For now just a quick post to show you how you can take the meatballs from the meatball sandwich recipe posted earlier and turn it into another meal of spaghetti & meatballs.  Cooking once for two meals is a good time saver especially with our busy lives these days.

I used the Ragu spaghetti sauce flavored with meat, use your favorite, remember the idea is to save some time when preparing a busy week night dinner.  I always add extra parmesan cheese, just sprinkle in as sauce is simmering, stir well.  Add some onion powder, garlic powder and minced garlic to taste.  Add the pre-prepared meatballs and simmer until all is heated through and flavors are mixed nicely.

Cook spaghetti according to package directions.  I always start the salted water just before I begin mixing the ingredients for the sauce.  Drain spaghetti but do not rinse if it is not too sticky, this way the sauce will cling to the pasta.

The completed dish:

Spaghetti & Meatballs

Back later today with a new recipe.

I hope these ideas are expanding your recipe files.

Enjoy!

Evelyn

How do I love thee.....

Gosh before we know it, it will be Valentine's Day!  Wasn't it just Christmas? I know it was since I still have a stray ornament or decoration lying around the house, missed in the clean-up.  Sort of like Easter basket grass, these little Christmas remnants seem to show up anywhere at will.  I will conquer this minor challenge, but for today here are a few simple Valentines.

Sorry for the shadows in this photo.  Between the sheer ribbon and shiny gray paper, well the lighting was not quite right.  I need some photography lessons. 

Recipe:

white cardstock:  Georgia Pacific purchased at Sam's Club

Shiny gray cardstock: Paper Source, purchased at Archiver's.

Embellishments:  Paper Source, also purchased at Archiver's

Smooches! (that seemed to be appropriate for this post)  :)

Evelyn