Slow Roasted Round Steak

The other day I was thinking about a dish my mom used to make with round steak and, of all things, a can of tomato soup! She called the dish "steak with tomato gravy" and she always served it with mashed potatoes and dang it was good. So I was thinking about it and decided to make a version of my own. It's really not all that much like the dish she made, but it did make the house smell heavenly as the round steak roasted in the oven today.

Beef top round
olive oil
3 stalks of celery, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, chopped
2 cans diced tomatoes
1 can tomato soup
6 carrots, peeled and chunked
salt and pepper
some dried italian herbs

preheat oven 350

In oven proof casserole with lid, brown meat in a bit of olive oil, salt and pepper. When brown, remove and brown the celery and onions a bit, add all the rest of the ingredients and bring to a boil--throw the meat back in the casserole and spoon sauce over--place lid on casserole and put in oven for 2 hours. Would go well with rice, buttered noodles, or mashed potatoes.

Quick Shrimp

I always have a bag of frozen cooked shrimp in the freezer because it provides a really quick dinner. All I do is quickly defrost the number of shrimp I need in a pan of cold water--takes just a few minutes. I usually take the tails off before adding them to whatever dish I'm making. Tonight I experimented with one of my new favorite spices: smoked paprika. If you don't have this spice-go get it! So dinner was thrown together so so fast using the shrimp, a quick sauce, Santa Fe flavor quick Uncle Ben's Rice (another pantry staple--rice in 90 seconds) and broccoli.

16 medium frozen shrimp (defrosted and tails removed)
2 tsp smoked paprika
2 T white wine
juice of 1/2 lemon
salt and pepper
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1 T butter
2 T olive oil

Melt butter and heat olive oil in skillet. Add garlic and swirl around--remove from heat cause you don't want to burn the garlic, throw in the shrimp to get them heated up sprinkle on the paprika, salt and pepper and the wine and lemon juice and heat briefly to get it all warm. Serve over some rice.

Pretty tasty :-)

Spicy Stuffed Baby Bellas

I saw a couple packages of nice baby portobello mushrooms at the market and thought they wanted to be stuffed with something. I wanted them to be hearty enough for a meal so was thinking of a meat stuffing. In looking around at various recipes most of them called for browning the meat first and then stuffing the 'shrooms. I decided to try something a little different because I wanted them to hold together better. You can make a lot of substitutions in this recipe depending on what you like.

8 baby portobello mushrooms, washed and stems removed
1 lb bulk sausage
salt and pepper
red pepper flakes
small package of frozen spinach, cooked, drained and excess moisture squeezed out
1/2 small onion diced
1 clove garlic minced
1/2 cup bread crumbs
2 T dried Italian herb mix
1 egg beaten
small jar of favorite spaghetti sauce
Parmesan cheese

preheat oven 400

I use parchment paper on my baking pans--so much easier to clean up! Use a large jelly roll pan (baking pan with a lip)

In large bowl mix well: sausage,  all seasonings, spinach, onion, bread crumbs and egg. Divide mixture evenly among 8 portobellos and bake for 50 minutes.

While mushrooms are baking, heat spaghetti sauce. Serve mushrooms topped with some sauce and Parmesan cheese. Add a side salad of romaine, shredded carrot and chopped avocado drizzled with balsamic dressing and a piece of garlic bread and you're good to go!

Easy Stuffed Peppers

Here's a really easy way to make stuffed peppers.

Preheat to 375

4 red peppers, cut in half
3/4 lb ground beef or turkey
1 pkg taco mix
1 cup shelled edamame
6 scallions, chopped
1 cup shredded cheddar
Greek yogurt

Brown meat in skillet, drain extra fat,  add taco mix and water called for in directions, throw in the edamame and the scallions and some of the cheese. Spoon into peppers and cover with foil. Bake 40 minutes. Uncover and top with rest of cheese and put back in oven for 10 minutes.

Good side is roasted cauliflower which can bake at same temp. for about 30 minutes.

Top peppers with some Greek yogurt if you wish.

Ragu of Chicken

I was at the grocery store and noticed a great deal on a large package of chicken thighs. When I got home I started hunting for a recipe and adapted one of my own from several that looked pretty good. This recipe makes a big pot of ragu which you can use if you need to feed a crowd or you can freeze portions which is what I plan to do. I served it over Trader Joe's Pappardelle Pasta (which I highly recommend). Would also be good with most any kind of pasta, mashed potatoes, or rice.

Chicken Ragu

Large pkg of thighs (4 lbs)

3 14 oz cans of tomatoes, I used two cans of diced and one of stewed.

2 onions, chopped

olive oil

3 garlic cloves, chopped

salt and pepper

1 T of oregano

1 t crushed red pepper

1 cup red wine

1/2 cup Kalamata olives (optional)

preheat oven to 350

Brown the chicken thighs in some oil in batches in large dutch oven or oven proof casserole. Salt and pepper while browning. Set chicken aside and brown the onions. Add the chicken back into the pot along with the garlic and the wine and cook a little, then add the tomatoes and the spices--stir around. Put lid on the casserole dish and bake at 350 for 1 hour 15 minutes. Take lid off for last 15 minutes. When ready to serve, put a couple of the chicken thighs into each serving bowl and shred the chicken, add the pasta and spoon some of the juice from the casserole into each bowl and toss a bit--top with some grated Parmesan and add some bread and you have a tasty dinner.