Easy Beef Stroganoff

It's been a long day and I am starving. My dinner choices was either a Home Run Inn frozen pizza or this. I know the pizza is processed but I do have my weaknesses and this brand of pizza tastes just like the ones I eat in Chicago so if I am really hungry sometimes we will eat one. Luckily I had thawed out ground beef (grass fed from the local market) so I was forced into cooking. This recipe is quick and easy and I'm always happy that I cooked after I am done.

Easy Beef Stroganoff

1 (12 ounce) package egg noodles, cooked and drained

6 ounces fresh mushrooms, sliced

1 onion, chopped

1/4 cup butter

2 pounds lean ground beef

4 tablespoons all-purpose flour

2 cups beef broth

1 cup sour cream

salt and black pepper to taste

Directions:

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Cook egg noodles in boiling water until done, about 8 minutes. Drain.

Meanwhile, prepare the sauce. In a large skillet, cook mushrooms and onions in 2 tablespoons of butter over medium heat until soft; remove from pan.

Using the same pan, melt remaining butter. Cook ground beef in melted butter until browned. Mix in flour. Stir in beef broth, and cook until slightly thickened.

Add mushroom and onion mixture; stir in sour cream. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Continue cooking until sauce is hot, but not boiling. Serve sauce over egg noodles.

I like a couple pancakes with my syrup please.

The Hubster has been begging for pancakes so I decided to dig out my iphone and search my cooking apps. I love my iphone apps. There are tons of free cooking apps with really good recipes. I have always bought the little shaker of pancake mix and the cheapest syrup I could find. I didn't even bother to check the mix but most of the syrup has high fructose corn syrup in it. The ingredient list just doesn't look appetizing at all. I really wanted to get maple syrup but it is pretty expensive. Instead I found a brand called Log Cabin. They carry one in a cute round jug container and it's natural. I guess it's the next best thing to pure maple.

The pancake recipe I found is so simple. I will never buy the pre-mixes again. It is from Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything iphone app but I did find it online as well. Here is the recipe but you can check it out here as well.

Everyday Pancakes

Makes: 4 to 6 servings
Time: 20 minutes

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar (optional)
2 eggs
11/2 to 2 cups milk
2 optional tablespoons melted and cooled butter, plus
unmelted butter for cooking, or use a neutral oil like grapeseed or corn

1. Heat a griddle or large skillet over medium-low heat while you make the batter.

2. Mix together the dry ingredients. Beat the eggs into 11/2 cups of the milk, then stir in the 2 tablespoons cooled melted butter if you’re using it. Gently stir this mixture into the dry ingredients, mixing only enough to moisten the flour; don’t worry about a few lumps. If the batter seems thick, add a little more milk.

3. Use a little butter or oil each time you add batter, unless your skillet is truly nonstick. When the butter foam subsides or the oil shimmers, ladle batter onto the griddle or skillet, making any size pancakes you like. Adjust the heat as necessary; usually, the first batch will require higher heat than subsequent batches. The idea is to brown the bottom in 2 to 4 minutes, without burning it. Flip when bubbles appear in the center of the pancakes and the bottoms are cooked; they won’t hold together well until they’re ready.

4. Cook until the second side is lightly browned, a couple more minutes, and serve or hold on an ovenproof plate in a 200°F oven for up to 15 minutes.

Into uncharted territory with Tofu Stir-Fry

So tonight I was cooking dinner and I trying was decide what I wanted to make. On a whim I bought a package of tofu at the store the last time I was there. I thought I would figure out what to do with it later. Inside my fridge I found a bunch of veggies on the verge of being chicken food so I needed to find a use for them before they wilted. I found a recipe on Epicurious.com that looked like a good stir fry.

Stir-Fried Tofu with Mushrooms, Sugar Snap Peas, and Green Onions
(Note the picture below is actually of my finished product. Also note the saucy edge on the bowl. I would never make it as a food photographer /grin.)

Here is the actual recipe. I altered it quite a lot but I left the sauce the same. I had celery, carrots, broccoli and mushrooms I needed to use up along with some leftover noodles. I also added a sliced onion to the mix. My mushrooms were just plain button mushrooms and I did not have any ginger. This was really good and I even got a thumbs up from the Hubster too. The next time I make this I will buy the correct ingredients and see how much better it is.


3 tablespoons soy sauce

• 1 tablespoon unseasoned rice vinegar
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1 teaspoon oriental sesame oil
• 1/4 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper
• 1 12-ounce package extra-firm tofu, drained, cut into 3/4-inch cubes, patted dry with paper towels
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 teaspoon cornstarch

• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil, divided
• 6 ounces fresh shiitake mushrooms, stemmed, caps quartered
• 8 ounces sugar snap peas, trimmed
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 tablespoon minced peeled fresh ginger
• 4 green onions, sliced on diagonal
• 
  
• Whisk first 5 ingredients in medium bowl to blend. Add tofu and stir to coat; let marinate 30 minutes. Drain, reserving marinade in small bowl. Whisk 1/4 cup water and cornstarch into marinade.
• 
  
  Heat 1 tablespoon vegetable oil in large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add tofu and sauté until golden, about 2 minutes. Using slotted spoon, transfer tofu to plate. Add remaining 1 tablespoon vegetable oil to skillet. Add mushrooms and stir-fry until tender, about 3 minutes. Add sugar snap peas; stir-fry 2 minutes. Add garlic and ginger; stir-fry 30 seconds. Return tofu to skillet; drizzle reserved marinade mixture over. Stir-fry until marinade thickens slightly, about 30 seconds. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Transfer to bowl. Sprinkle with green onions and serve.
  
  

Easy Homemade Salsa

Here is an easy homemade salsa recipe. To me it tastes just like Pace. I just adjust how many peppers I put in depending on how hot I want it. We like it hot so we add 4-5 peppers depending on the size.


1 28oz can crushed tomatoes.
About 1/2 the can full of water
1 medium yellow onion, minced
2 fresh jalapeno peppers, with seeds, minced
1/4 cup white vinegar
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp dried onion flakes
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 bunch cilantro


Bring all ingredients to a boil in saucepan over medium-high heat.
Reduce heat and simmer for about 30 minutes or until thick.
Remove from heat and cool.
Store in an airtight container in the fridge until serving.

Chicken Noodle Soup Casserole

I've been so busy lately that I have to admit that we have eaten out almost every day this past week. To make matters worse the only "fast" food we will eat is Moe's. Needless to say we are tired of burritos. Did you know they use grass-fed beef? I was so excited when I found that out! By the time I get home from work I am starving and so tired I just don't feel like cooking. I have to get back into the groove and cook more often because in a month or two our CSA will be starting and that's a lot of fresh food coming every week that will go to waste.

So tonight's menu was Chicken Noodle Soup Casserole. I found the recipe on Tasty Kitchen's website. I believe this is actually The Pioneer Woman's websites. It was really good and both of us call it a keeper. The only thing I did different was I used Italian Panko instead of Ritz crackers. I have not been able to find Ritz crackers that do not have high fructose corn syrup in it. Why do you need corn syrup in crackers?!

Maybe tomorrow I will be inspired by the bag of chocolate chips in the pantry.

Ribs, It's whats for dinner!

Woot my first real post! Go me!

I cooked these a couple of weeks ago and they turned out great so I bought another pack of all natural pork ribs from the local market here and cooked them again. Ribs are kind of expensive so this is going to have to be a treat dinner. I didn't have any beef broth so I used chicken instead but they turned out just as good. I got this recipe off of allrecipes.com.

Sunday Afternoon Slow-Cooked Spare Ribs

Starting a new blog.

Ok, so I'm gonna try this blog thing and see how often I actually do it. Lot's of folks read my posts on Facebook and I thought it would be a good idea to start a blog and record my efforts in cooking. So here we go...