Ground Beef Stroganoff

(Original recipe:  Tastefully Simple Beef Stroganoff):

2 Tbsp TS Onion Onion

1 Tbsp TS Garlic Garlic

1 tsp. TS Seasoned Salt

1 ½ lbs. cubed stew meat (…or in my case ground beef)

14.5 oz. beef broth

2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce

7.3 oz. jar sliced mushrooms, drained (…I used 8 oz. of fresh sliced baby bella & white mushrooms)

Ground pepper to taste

1 cup sour cream

Prepared egg noodles

Combine first 8 ingredients in a greased slow cooker.  Cook on low 8 hours.  Stir in sour cream before serving and heat through.  Spoon beef mixture over hot egg noodles.  Yield: 5 servings

Here is my website if you want specifics on the Tastefully Simple product ingredients:

www.tastefullysimple.com/web/cciolkosz

Mary's Beef Stew

2 pounds stew beef (cut into 1” inch chunks)
¼ cup flour

2 TB oil

16 ounces tomato sauce

¼ tsp basil (I used dried – conversion would be ¾ tsp fresh)

2 tsp salt

¼ tsp pepper

1 cup sliced celery

6 each – carrots, onions, potatoes (I used Yukon Gold) – peeled and cut (for a bit of variety in texture, I chop some of the onions in the food processor and some by hand – the food processed ones act as a nice “thickening” agent)

Coat beef with flour.  Brown the beef with oil.  Stir in 2 cups hot water, tomato sauce and seasonings.  Cover and simmer for 1 ½ hours.  Add vegetables.  Simmer until done, about 45 minutes (I have left it on low for a few hours as well.

Reheating instructions:

Allow to thaw in refrigerator.  Pour into stock pot and heat until simmering.  Add salt and pepper to taste.

Meatloaf

Meatloaf

Meat mixture

1.5 lbs ground beef

2 eggs

¾ cup milk

2/3 cup Italian seasoning bread crumbs

1/2c finely chopped onion

1.5 tsp of beef stew seasoning (I used Penzy’s brand)

1 tsp salt

¼ tsp black pepper

Topping (baste this on the top of your meatloaf for last 10minutes of cooking)

½ cup ketchup

4TBS brown sugar

2 tsp dry mustard

Mix the ingredients for the meat mixture all together, bake for 1 hour on 350. While that is baking, prepare the topping,  add topping and bake an additional 10 minutes or until it reaches 160degrees, rest 10 minutes before serving.

Helpful Hints: I don’t prepare my meatloaf in a pan, I prepare mine on a baking sheet I put down a piece of  foil, then shape my meat into a loaf. After baking the meat loaf I skim the fat and rest my baking pan so that the fat drains away from the meatloaf into the foil. This will make clean up a breeze.

Karen's Baked Ziti

Because I make up recipes as I go along, it is sometimes hard for me to put them together for others to use. I have put together the ingredient list for this batch.

Ingredients for the sauce –

Eggplant                1 medium

Yellow squash     1 small

Zucchini                1 small

Carrots                   2 small to medium

Celery                    2 stalks

Broccoli                 Because I always roast my broccoli and had a bit left over I used that, but you can use it or leave it out, or you can add cauliflower, fennel or really any veggie that will roast.

Red onion             1 small

Yellow onion        1 small

Green onion         only because I had some that needed to be used

Garlic                     1-5 cloves whole (depends on the level of garlic your family likes)

Italian parsley       1 small bunch leaves picked off stems

Tomatoes              So you can use fresh tomatoes and roast them so I would use about 5-7 big or equivalent amount of Roma or any tomatoes you have and or like. I do like to use more red so the color is good. This is part of why I like to use some canned as well.

Olive Oil                I put my olive oil in a squirt bottle and lightly coat the vegies before I roast them.

I cut the vegies into good sized pieces and roasted on a baking pan with olive oil, salt, and pepper at 400* for about 45 minutes. Then I puréed them in the food processor and added them to the sauce later.

Ground Beef

Italian seasoning

Garlic powder

Sea salt

Pepper

Canned Crushed tomatoes

Home canned whole tomatoes (chopped in blender)

Bottled Pasta sauce (Wegmans)

Because of the amount of sauce I was making I used some bottled and canned items.

Brown beef with seasonings and drain off excess oil. I always season my meat when I brown it

Add the browned beef, pureed vegies, and if using any canned tomatoes add them. I like to use diced tomatoes as I like the pieces, but as not everyone is alike, I went with the more traditional smooth sauce. If you don’t want to use all the roasted vegies, it is really ok. I just find it a great way to use up some of the vegies in my fridge. You can use any combination of vegies as well. If you don’t have some it is ok. If all you have are a few carrots or a zucchini just use those. In fact after roasting everything I almost forgot to put them in the sauce, and because the sauce was so good I debated on whether or not I was going to. I put them in and it is even better to me.

I use a combination of fresh and bottled sauce but only will use the Wegmans brand of pasta sauce. If they were not around I would make it all from scratch.

So for the sauce I usually put all the ingredients in the pot, and add 1 Tablespoon of dried oregano, 1 teaspoon of garlic powder, 1 teaspoon of Italian seasoning. Bring to a boil and turn down to simmer on low for about an hour. (You could also do this in the crock pot, just add all the ingredients and leave it on medium for about 3 -4 hours.) Once the sauce is done I turn it off and let it set to cool down a bit.

Ziti          1 box

Ricotta Cheese                    32 oz (I used the part skim but anything you like is good)

Parmesan Romano cheese              ½ pound

Mozzarella Cheese             1-2 cups

I used penne pasta but you can use ziti, or rigatoni. I cook the pasta for one minute less than the andante instructions on the box. Drain and place in a large bowl. Add the Ricotta Cheese and mix the cheese and pasta together. Then add the Parmesan cheese and mix it together. Add pasta sauce about 4 cups to the pasta mixture. Mix together and place in a baking dish or cake pan. I usually will take a spoonful of sauce and place in the bottom of the pan to help so nothing sticks.

Place pan in 375* oven for about 30 minutes or until the cheese if golden on top.

If freezing for later cover and place in freezer.

Place frozen pan in oven after removing the top foil and plastic. Bake at 350* for 1 hour.

Shephard's Pie

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 lbs ground round beef
• 1 onion chopped
• 1-2 cups vegetables - chopped carrots, corn, peas
• 1 1/2 - 2 lbs potatoes (3 big ones)
• 3 tbs olive oil
• 1/2 cup beef broth or water
• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• Salt, pepper, other seasonings of choice

Method 1 Peel and quarter potatoes, boil in salted water until tender (about 20 minutes).

2 While the potatoes are cooking add oil to large frying pan.
3 Sauté onions in butter until tender over medium heat (10 mins). If you are adding vegetables, add them according to cooking time. Put any carrots in with the onions. Add corn or peas either at the end of the cooking of the onions, or after the meat has initially cooked.

4 Add ground beef and sauté until no longer pink. Add salt and pepper. Add worcesterchire sauce. Add half a cup of beef broth and cook, uncovered, over low heat for 10 minutes, adding more beef broth as necessary to keep moist.
5 Mash potatoes in bowl with some milk, butter or broth, season to taste.

6 Place beef and onions in baking dish. Distribute mashed potatoes on top. Rough up with a fork so that there are peaks that will brown nicely. You can use the fork to make some designs in the potatoes as well.
7 Cook in 400 degree oven until bubbling and brown (about 30 minutes). Broil for last few minutes if necessary to brown.

Slow Cooker Roast Beef

Ingredients:

1 3-4 lb. beef roast

1 (1.25 oz.) envelope onion soup mix

1 (12 fluid ounce) bottle beer (I used water for this batch, but it's delicious with beer)

3 sliced onions

Instructions:

Place all ingredients in a zip lock bag.  Freeze.

To cook:  Thaw completely in refrigerator.  Place contents of zip lock bag in slow cooker.  Add liquid if desired.  Salt and pepper to taste.  Cook on LOW for 8-10 hours until meat is easily pulled apart with a fork.

Variation options:  Can slice 1 lb. of fresh mushrooms into the bottom of slow cooker before adding roast.  After cooking, use droppings to make gravy (add milk and flour and stir until thickened) and serve over mashed potatoes or noodles.