One-pot beef stroganoff

 

So I've just decided I need to focus a bit more on one-pot meals.  Things that don't make a lot of dishes (and ideally those dishes all go in the dishwasher!).  Tonight was a new recipe.  I found it on pinterest (doesn't everybody go there first for recipes these days?).  I found that it ended up tasting kinda like a Hamburger Helper of the old days (before they changed the formula).  So, if you're looking for an easy dinner without making a ton of dishes, this might be the thing to make.

INGREDIENTS

• ▢1 tbsp olive oil
• ▢8 oz mushrooms stems trimmed and sliced, such as cremini or white mushrooms
• ▢2 tbsp butter unsalted
• ▢1 medium onion chopped
• ▢2 cloves garlic minced
• ▢1 lb ground beef
• ▢3 tbsp all-purpose flour
• ▢1 tsp paprika
• ▢¼ cup white wine dry
• ▢4 cups beef broth low sodium
• ▢¼ tsp salt or tot aste
• ▢½ tsp pepper or to taste
• ▢8 oz egg noodles or other dry pasta
• ▢¾ cup sour cream
• ▢1 tbsp parsley chopped

INSTRUCTIONS

• Cook the mushrooms: Heat the olive oil in a large heavy-bottomed pot or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add the mushrooms, season with salt and pepper, and cook, stirring occasionally until browned. Transfer to a plate and set aside.
• Cook the beef: Add the butter to the same pan then the ground beef. Brown the beef till it is no longer pink, about 5 to 6 minutes. If using regular ground beef, drain the excess fat.
• Create the sauce: Add the onions and garlic and cook till soft with some salt and pepper. Sprinkle in the flour and paprika, stir and cook for about 1 minute until the raw flavor has cooked off the flour. Add the wine and cook, scraping up any browned bits that have accumulated on the bottom of the pot, until almost evaporated. Add the broth and stir to combine. Increase the heat to medium high and bring to a simmer.
• Finish the Stroganoff: Add the noodles and mushrooms along with their juices and stir to combine. Reduce the heat to medium low and simmer covered, stirring occasionally, until the noodles are al dente. Remove from heat and stir in the sour cream. Garnish with parsley and serve!

Easiest Fall-Apart Pot Roast (slow cooker)

 

Here's my confession, I was never big on pot roast.  I couldn't understand the attraction.  Then the boyfriend found this recipe on Food Charlatan and made it.  I have now made it again a couple of times and it's the only way I'll make pot roast from now on.  In addition to how good it tastes, it's also really simple!  I am pasting her entire recipe below, but I don't sear it, just skip over those steps and jump to the part where she seasons the meat and adds it right to the slow cooker.  In addition, she has an amazing recipe for mashed potatoes (the boyfriend made them the first time, and I made them again this most recent time) and I will also blog them.   note: the carrots in my picture are roasted as I had to run to work and didn't have a chance to add them to the slow cooker.

The Easiest Fall-Apart Pot Roast (Slow Cooker)

Serves 6    

Super tender, juicy, fall-apart pot roast is not as hard as you think! This slow cooker recipe uses a few simple ingredients (one of them is patience...) to make the most flavorful (yet stupid easy) pot roast ever! Carrots add the perfect touch!

Ingredients

For the roast

• 3 to 4 pound chuck roast*
• copious amounts of salt and pepper (copious I say!)
• 1 tablespoon oil, optional (for browning)
• 1 and 1/2 cups water
• 1 and 1/2 teaspoons Better Than Bouillon Beef Base**
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 (1-ounce) packets of onion soup mix
• 2 pounds carrots, peeled and chopped into chunks

For the gravy

• 2-3 cups of drippings from the meat
• 1-2 cups COLD water
• 1/3 to 1/2 cup flour
• 2 teaspoons Better Than Bouillon Beef Base
• 2 tablespoons butter, optional
• salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

1. First you are going to have to make a choice about whether you want a really good roast, or a really REALLY good roast. Browning the meat before slow cooking makes it extra special. To do that:
2. Heat a wide skillet over medium high heat. Generously salt and pepper all sides of the roast. I would say I use somewhere between 1 and 1/2 to 2 teaspoons kosher salt, and about a teaspoon of pepper.
3. Add 1 tablespoon oil to the hot pan and swirl around to coat the bottom. It should be shimmery right away if your pan is hot enough.
4. Add the roast to the pan and don't move it for about 1-2 minutes. Check to make sure it is nice and brown, then flip it over and repeat on the other side. Brown every side of your roast that you can. It should not take more than 5-6 minutes.
5. Transfer the roast to your slow cooker (6 quart or larger).
6. Keep the hot pan on the stove and add the water and beef base. Stir, breaking up any brown bits on the pan, until the beef base is dissolved. Pour the liquid into the slow cooker.
7. Sprinkle the roast with the dried thyme or add the fresh thyme. (Just throw the sprig in the pot)
8. Add the bay leaf.
9. Dump the 2 packets of onion soup mix directly on the roast (not in the water). Use your hand to rub the dry powder into the part of the roast that is exposed. Some of it will just fall off into the water, and that's fine.
10. Cover with the lid and set to low heat. Cook for 8-10 hours. If you are a bit short on time, you can turn the slow cooker on to "high" for one hour to get things boiling, then turn back down to low. I do NOT recommend cooking this on high for 4-5 hours. You can if you want, it will be cooked, but it will not be as tender!
11. If you are not browning the meat, it's so easy. Salt and pepper the meat, rub on the thyme and onion soup mix, and place in a slow cooker. You don't need the oil. Add all the other ingredients, set it on low, and you're done!
12. Add the carrots: about 3 hours before you want to eat, add the peeled and chopped carrots. See photos, they don't need to be tiny pieces, I tend to like the bigger chunks myself.
13. When the meat is fork tender and easy to shred, carefully remove it to a cutting board and let rest for a couple minutes. Then shred with two forks or slice with a serrated knife against the grain. Transfer the roast and the carrots to a serving platter and keep warm. (Taste a carrot to see if it needs salt and pepper)
14. To make the gravy: Use a fat separator to get the fat from the top of the drippings. Discard fat and add the drippings to a medium saucepan. Turn the heat to high. (Use all of the drippings that you have, up to 3 cups. You want about 4 cups of liquid going into your gravy, and at least one cup needs to be COLD water to dissolve the flour.)
15. In a measuring cup, whisk together 1-2 cups COLD water (or beef stock, if you're not using beef base) with the flour. Make sure you get rid of all the lumps.
16. When the drippings have heated to a boil, slowly stir in the flour mixture while stirring. Add the beef base and bring the mixture to a low boil.
17. Let the gravy simmer for 3-5 minutes until it has thickened.
18. At this point you can add the butter if you want. It's not necessary, but it does add some richness that I love. Season with salt and pepper. Make sure you taste it first!
19. Devour, preferably with these Famous Creamy Mashed Potatoes. To die for!!

Recipe Notes

*Meat options: For this recipe you can use a chuck roast, boneless chuck roast, chuck shoulder pot roast, etc. Look for good marbling! 

**You can omit the water and beef base and just add 1 and 1/2 cups good quality beef stock instead! This goes for the gravy too. (The ratio is 1 teaspoon of base per cup of water.) This is not a sponsored post, I just love how easy it is to keep beef base on hand in the fridge. 

Cheeseburger Mac and Cheese

I haven't shared any Instant Pot / multicooker meals on here, and I realized I probably should.  Now let me take a moment to state a couple of things.  One, some people get really excited about their instant pot and try to cook *everything* in there and I don't hold with that.  Some dishes / recipes need a stove top or an oven or a grill.  Two, some people don't seem to see any benefit to using an instant pot because it's not in fact "instant".  It takes time to come to pressure (stuff I make is around 10 minutes) and there is a bit of a learning curve for how to put everything in there (follow recipes - don't try to wing it at first!).  When I share the spaghetti recipe I make, I will explain the differences and why the instant pot can be useful.  So anyway, I was reading TheKitchn (on feedly) and saw this post about 10 Instant Pot Beef Dinners to make and the last item caught my eye, so I decided to make it Saturday night.  And it was so easy!  It's not terribly photogenic, but it did taste good.

Set an electric pressure cooker to sauté and add 2 tablespoons butter. When melted, add 1 pound lean ground beef and cook, breaking up the beef and stirring, until cooked through, about 6 minutes. Turn off the heat, add 1 teaspoon onion powder, 3 tablespoons ketchup, and 1 tablespoon yellow mustard; stir to combine. 

Add 1 pound short, dry pasta (such as cellentani), 4 cups water, and 1 teaspoon kosher salt and stir to combine. Lock on the lid, make sure the pressure valve is set to seal, and use the manual setting to set for 5 minutes of high pressure. It should take about 10 minutes to come to pressure. Quick release the pressure. Turn the pressure cooker off.

Add 3 cups shredded cheese (such as American, mild cheddar, or Colby) and 1/2 cup half-and-half, and stir, stir, stir. Cover and let sit for 3 minutes. Serve immediately.

Sloppy Joes

I have realized that I have never posted Sloppy Joes on here.  We (the boyfriend really) found this recipe a number of years ago and we made it and called it good.  And then I tried to make the stuff in the can (I was looking for a quick and easy dinner one night) and ... omg - I just can't eat that stuff any more.  The flavor isn't right, etc etc.  So now I make this on the regular.  It's actually still pretty easy, chop your veg, a bit of browning the meat, add all the ingredients (start measuring out while you're tending the beef), and then let it simmer for a half hour.  I usually size it up to 9 servings and use a pound and a half of ground beef - that way I'm sure there's plenty, especially if we're hungry.



1 pound lean ground beef
¼ cup chopped onion
¼ cup chopped green bell pepper
½ teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon prepared yellow mustard
¾ cup ketchup
3 teaspoons brown sugar
salt to taste
ground black pepper to taste

Step 1
In a medium skillet over medium heat, brown the ground beef, onion, and green pepper; drain off liquids.

 Step 2
Stir in the garlic powder, mustard, ketchup, and brown sugar; mix thoroughly. Reduce heat, and simmer for 30 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

Skillet Mushroom Meat Loaves

Last week I spotted some new cooking soups in the grocery store.  And tonight I made the Skillet Mushroom Meat Loaves using the mushroom one.  The recipe was slightly different on the back of the can from the website and I didn't even realize I had skipped the riced cauliflower (I had made the shopping list from the website) until I had them cooking in the pan (the can does not call for the riced cauliflower).  Besides that, there was also a bit of variation on the cooking instructions.  So I did a bit of both in the end.  Paired with some easy mashed potatoes in a tub, it was a fairly simple dinner.  I love the meatloaf recipe that we've found, but this is quick version to have on a busy night.  (Below is the website version, feel free to skip the riced cauliflower as it doesn't have a lot of impact it seems, except adding some veggies to your meal).

Ingredients

1 pound 93% lean ground beef
1 3/4 cups thawed frozen riced cauliflower
1/2 cup plain dry bread crumbs
1 small onion, diced (about 1/3 cup)
1 egg white or 1 whole egg
1 can (10 1/2 ounces) Campbell's® Mushroom Cooking Soup
1/4 cup ketchup

How to Make It
Step 1
Season the beef with salt and pepper, if desired. Thoroughly mix the beef, cauliflower, bread crumbs, onion, egg white and 1/4 cup soup in a large bowl.  Shape the beef mixture firmly into 4 mini loaves.  Stir the remaining soup and the ketchup in the soup can.

Step 2
Heat a 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium heat.  Add the meat loaves.  Cover and cook for 10 minutes or until well browned on all sides (let cook for at least 5 minutes before turning to prevent sticking).  Pour off any fat.

Step 3
Pour the soup mixture over the meat loaves.  Cover and cook for 5 minutes or until the meat loaves are cooked through, stirring the soup mixture occasionally.  Spoon the soup mixture over the meat loaves before serving.

Rosemary Meatloaf

The boyfriend found this recipe (originally from food.com, now geniuskitchen.com) years ago.  It is now our go-to meatloaf recipe.  And I was horrified to realize earlier today that I had never blogged it.  We usually use fresh rosemary (unless the store is out) and a bit more than is called for.

INGREDIENTS

2 large eggs
3⁄4 cup milk (or water or broth)
3⁄4 cup rolled oats (quick or old-fashioned)
2 teaspoons instant minced onion
1 1⁄2 teaspoons salt
1⁄2 teaspoon thyme leaves
1⁄2 teaspoon rosemary, crumbled
1⁄2 teaspoon pepper
2 lbs lean ground beef
1⁄2 cup ketchup


DIRECTIONS
Heat oven to 350 degrees.
Spray a 13 x 9 x 2 inch baking pan with nonstick spray.
In a large bowl, beat eggs slightly with a fork.
Add milk and oatmeal and let stand until liquid is absorbed (about 5 minutes) Stir in remaining ingredients, except meat; mix well.
Add meat, using your hands or a sturdy spoon and mix until well blended.
Shape into a loaf in your baking pan.
Make an indentation (trough) down center of loaf and fill with ketchup.
Bake for 1 hour or until loaf is done (should not be pink in the middle).
Remove from oven and cover with foil--let stand 10 to 15 minutes before serving and it will cut nicely.

One-pot chili mac and cheese

The boyfriend found this recipe.  I admit, I looked quickly and thought "eh" - I read it as chili in my mac and cheese and I didn't want anybody messing with my mac and cheese!  But I'm so glad he convinced me to try it!  It's really a beanless chili recipe with pasta added, and the sour cream and cheese that you would put on top - it's stirred in.  Actually, it's become one of our favorite dinners.  Note: we use plain petite diced tomatoes and skip the two optional ingredients (hot sauce and green onions).

Ingredients

1. 1 tablespoon olive oil
2. 1 pound lean ground beef
3. 1 onion, diced
4. 2 cloves garlic, minced
5. 14-ounce can Red Gold Petite Diced Tomatoes With Green Chiles
6. 1 tablespoon chili powder
7. 1 teaspoon ground cumin
8. 1 teaspoon dried oregano
9. 2 cups water
10. 1 cup milk
11. 8 ounces pasta, shells, or any short cut pasta of your choice
12. 1/2 cup sour cream
13. 2 cups shredded cheddar
14. 4 green onions, chopped (optional)
15. Hot sauce, optional

Directions

1. In a large heavy-bottomed pot, add the olive oil and heat it over medium-high heat. Add the ground beef along with the onion and a small pinch of salt. Cook the mixture for about 5 to 6 minutes, or until the ground beef is fully cooked and the onions have developed some color (make sure to break up the ground beef as much as you can using a wooden spoon. Add the garlic and sauté for 1 more minute.
2. Add the water, canned tomatoes, milk, chili powder, cumin, and oregano; bring mixture to a boil, reduce the heat to low, and simmer for 10 minutes.
3. Add the pasta, adjust the seasoning to taste, cover the pot with a lid, and cook for another 10 minutes.
4. Once the pasta is cooked, remove from the heat and stir in the cheese until fully melted along with the sour cream.
5. Serve with some chopped scallions and a few dashes of hot sauce.