Easy Entertaining with Beef Bourguignonne

I realize that I took my little blog vacation, said I was back, posted two entries and then promptly disappeared again. We've been so busy with house-hunting, family holidays, and Josh's shows that I've either not been cooking at all or I've been making fast, familiar recipes. However, just because a recipe is fast doesn't mean it can't impress. I recently tried this recipe I'd pulled from my February 2008 Real Simple. You may be familiar with their "Fake It, Don't Make It" recipes usually in each issue, and this is one of them. This meal was so easy and so quick, and on top of that so delicious. This would be a great recipe for having friends over during the holidays, like we all so often do. Of course half our friends are vegetarian, so you'd need to make sure you've got the right crowd for this dinner. I served it over egg noodles and it was seriously fantastic. Since we were all on our lonesome the night I made it I froze the extra two servings and it was still just as good when we had that a month later. Serve it with a fresh salad and some good bread and you'll be ready to go.

Quick Beef Bourguignonne
Recipe from Real Simple; Serves 4














1 tablespoon olive oil
1 1/4 pounds sirloin steak, cut into 1-inch pieces
Kosher salt and pepper
1 10 ounce package sliced mushrooms
1 16 ounce package frozen pearl onions
2 cups red wine
1 10.75-ounce can Campbell's Golden Mushroom soup
1/2 cup flat-leaf parsley, chopped (optional)

• Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat.
• Season the steak with 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper and cook until browned, about 5 minutes. Transfer the steak to a bowl and set aside.
• Add the mushrooms and onions to the pan and cook until the liquid has evaporated. Add the wine and simmer until reduced by half, 5 to 6 minutes. Stir in the soup and 1/4 cup water and bring to a boil. Add the steak and juices from the bowl and simmer, 2 minutes.
• Divide into individual bowls and sprinkle with the parsley, if using.

My notes: I used a relatively cheap Cabernet Sauvignon for this recipe and it was really good. I don't know anything about wine, but I found the recipe had enough other flavors going on in it that I could drink the same wine with my meal without it being too much. I left out the parsley, since this dinner was just for us and I saw no use in buying a whole bunch of parsley just to sprinkle on this one meal. However, for entertaining I would definitely use it to help break up the brownness of the dish. Not the prettiest picture, I realize, but I was in a hurry. Afterall, I got to eat it when I was done!

Mexican Lasagna

If you haven't proclaimed your opinion in my little poll then please scroll down to the next entry and do so! Thanks!

Recently I made a little dish that I came up with when I first started getting interested in cooking. I like to call it Mexican Lasagna and we both really enjoy it. This is a really easy recipe to toss together, and would also freeze well if you're looking for something you can make ahead of time.

Mexican Lasagna
Recipe from me; Serves 6-8












12 corn tortillas
1 lb. ground beef
1 packet taco seasonings
1 bag frozen Mexican mixed veggies
1 jar prepared salsa
2 cups shredded cheese

• Brown the ground beef in a skillet; drain fat, return to skillet and cook with taco seasonings according to packet instructions. Drain liquid from the meat, stir in frozen veggies and let warm over low heat.
• While meat/veggie mixture warms layer bottom of a 9" x 13" pan with corn tortillas. Top with layer of meat/veggie mixture, then layer of salsa, and layer of cheese. Repeat finishing with a layer of tortillas and top with cheese.
• Bake at 300 degrees for 20-25 minutes, till warmed through and cheese is melted.

My notes: The frozen veggie mix I use has black beans, corn, tomatoes, onion, and bell pepper. You could easily toss some canned beans, frozen corn, and chopped onion together and use if you can't find a frozen mix. This time I made a half-batch of lasagna because I had a half pound of ground beef I needed to use, and so we wouldn't have as much leftover. The smaller pans makes for a lot more overlap with the tortillas, when you make a full pan the layers won't be as thick as pictured above. I needed to use up my tortillas though, so I didn't bother with trimming to cut back on the overlap. As for the cheese, I have used just cheddar, cheddar & jack, and a mixture of cheddar & jack and pepper jack. All are great. :)

Valentine's Day Dinner

I decided I wanted to put a little extra effort into Thursday night's dinner, since it was Valentine's Day. But at the same time I needed something not too difficult for a weeknight. In the same issue of Everyday Food and in fact just one page before the warm spinach salad below, I found my inspiration. The EF recipe for Open-Faced Cheeseburgers with Mushrooms and Onion was the starting point for my less-fancy sounding Mushroom Swiss Burger Stacks. The recipe called for fontina cheese and tomatoes, serving the mushroom and onion on the side, and resting your burger on a slice of sourdough. I canceled the tomato, substituted swiss cheese, and eliminated the bun altogether- instead choosing to place our burgers directly on the mushrooms and onion. Josh loves mushroom swiss burgers, and I'd never made them in any form before so I knew this would be a good Love Day treat.

Mushroom Swiss Burger Stacks
Adapted from Everyday Food; Serves 2












1-2 tablespoons olive oil
5 oz. white mushrooms, sliced
coarse salt and ground pepper
1/2 medium red onion, halved and thinly sliced
1/2 teaspoon red-wine vinegar
1 pound ground beef chuck
Worcestershire sauce
2 slices swiss cheese

• In a large skillet, heat 1/2-1 tablespoon olive oil over medium-high heat. Add mushrooms; season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until mushrooms release their liquid and start to brown, 5 to 7 minutes; transfer to a bowl.
• Add onion and remaining 1/2-1 tablespoon olive oil to skillet; season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until onion starts to brown, 5 to 7 minutes (if bottom of skillet becomes too dry, add a little water and scrape up browned bits). Return mushrooms to skillet; stir in vinegar, and set aside.
• Season your beef with salt and pepper and several dashes of Worcestershire sauce. Very gently mix and form meat into patties. Season again with salt and pepper. Cook to your personal preference. Add swiss cheese slices several minutes before burgers are done to allow cheese to melt over top. Serve burgers on top of mushrooms and onion.

My notes: The original recipe called for broiling the burgers. I cooked mine in my grill pan on the stove. This was easier for me since Josh gets home much later and I eat before him. Does your husband like to grill? Put him in charge of the burgers while you make the mushrooms and onion. However you'd like to prepare the burgers is up to you, but I highly recommend you prepare it all soon!

Saturday Night

Saturday night our good friends Spencer and Deb were coming over for dinner. I didn't take any picture, I was too busy enjoying myself. But I thought I would put links to the recipes I used, since they are especially good this time of year. For dinner we had a salad, some beer bread, and slow cooker beef stew. Everyone really enjoyed it, and we have plenty of leftovers for dinner tonight. For dessert I made Eve's Pudding, which I'd been eager to make again for quite some time. I think it turned out even better this time, despite the fact that I messed up the batter and had to start over. Luckily I'd given myself plenty of time and had it in the oven before they arrived. Easy dinner parties are such fun!

101- Meatloaf

I've decided that I need to work on mastering some of the most basic recipes. The things that you expect every good cook and/or housewife would have in their repertoire, able to whip up at a moment's notice. When I started cooking I just started trying recipes, I didn't begin with an intent to learn these basics and go from there. So, while I make a bolognese sauce that my husband loves, I've never made a basic tomato sauce. I have yet to roast a chicken. These are just a few of the things that I think fall into that basic category. Hopefully this is just the first of my 101 posts.

For sometime now I'd been craving meatloaf. This isn't something that I ate a whole lot as a kid, but when we did have it I really enjoyed it. My husband had expressed disdain for the meal, so I never bothered to make it. However when, combined with my craving, the October issue of Everyday Food had a feature on the classic dish, I figured it was time I gave it a shot. The hubster agreed to give it a go. It turned out pretty good and we both gladly gobbled it up. I think next time I may try it in mini loaf pans, so that I can freeze some for later. And I realize meatloaf isn't the most attractive dish, but I hate not using pictures.

Classic Meatloaf
Recipe from Everyday Food; Serves 6












3 slices white sandwich bread
1/3 cup whole milk
1 1/2 pounds ground beef chuck
1/2 pound ground pork
1/2 medium onion, grated
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 large egg
1/2 cup ketchup
Coarse salt and ground pepper

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil or parchment paper. Place bread in food processor; pulse until fine crumbs form. Transfer to a small bowl; stir in milk. Set aside, about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
• Meanwhile, in a large bowl, combine beef, pork, onion, garlic, egg, 1/4 cup ketchup, 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Add bread-milk mixture, and mix very gently with a fork (do not overmix).
• Place meat mixture on prepared baking sheet, and form into a loaf about 9 inches long and 4 to 5 inches wide.
• Bake, brushing twice with remaining 1/4 cup ketchup during baking, until an instant-read thermometer registers 160 degrees, 45 to 55 minutes. Let meatloaf rest 10 minutes before slicing and serving.

My notes: I used store-bought bread crumbs because I hate my food processor, and we don't eat white bread so I wasn't interested in buying a loaf for 3 slices. Although that posed the problem of guessing how much to use. I used 1/3 cup and I probably could have used less. It turned out fine, but it was a very thick once the 10 minutes was up. Aside from that I really didn't change anything about this.

So, one basic recipe down, who knows how many to go!

Big Ballers

Last week when I got home Wednesday evening I just wasn't feeling the cooking vibe. But for once I made myself stick to the program and I got my butt in the kitchen after being lazy for about 30 minutes. Just long enough to enjoy a Designing Women re-run, ha. On the menu were Rosemary Meatballs and Penne with Broccoli. Unfortunately I assumed that one of the 5 packages of pasta in my pantry was surely filled with penne. You know what happens when you assume. You use bow-tie pasta instead, ha. And I was tempted to just toss together a general approximation of the meatballs, but I made myself follow the recipe. I'm quite glad I did too, cause these were really excellent.

Rosemary Meatballs
Recipe from Everyday Food; Serves 4












8 oz. ground beef chuck
8 oz. ground pork
1.5 cups panko
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 garlic clove, minced
1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh rosemary or 1/2 teaspoon dried, plus more for garnish
1 tablespoon lemon zest, plus 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
Coarse salt and ground pepper
1 tablespoon olive oil
4 cups homemade or store-bought tomato sauce

• In a large bowl, combine beef, pork, panko, egg, garlic, rosemary, lemon zest and juice, 1/2 teaspoon coarse salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Mix just until combined (do not overmix.) Using a level 1/4 cup measure for each, form mixture into 12 meatballs.
• Heat oil in a large skillet with a lid over medium-high. Add meatballs; cook, turning occasionally, until browned, 10 to 12 minutes.
• Tilt skillet away from you, and pour in tomato sauce. Bring sauce to a boil over medium-high; reduce heat to medium. Cover, and simmer until meatballs are cooked through, 8 to 10 minutes. Serve meatballs and sauce, garnished with more rosemary, if desired.

My notes: The only thing I did differently with the meatballs is I used all beef because I happened to have just over a pound in the freezer already. I also only cooked half of the meatballs for our dinner. While forming the meatballs I placed them on wax paper and after putting our dinner's worth in the skillet I put the meatballs still on the paper onto a baking sheet and flash froze them for 30 minutes. I then placed them in a freezer bag so we can enjoy them later. For the bow-tie & broccoli I just added some frozen broccoli for the last few minutes of cooking the pasta. Drain, reserving about 1/2 cup of the water. Then toss the pasta and broccoli with 1 tablespoon olive oil, 1/4 cup of grated parmesan cheese, and add reserved water as needed to create a light sauce. I topped it with a little more shredded parmesan.

She's Choppin' Broccoli....

Well, actually that's not true at all, but for some reason I got that little SNL ditty stuck in my head while making tonight's dinner- Beef & Broccoli. Now I'm sure there are some pretty fancy ways of fixing this meal, but mine is all too simple- brown rice, beef tips, broccoli, and teriyaki sauce. For 2 servings I marinate about 3/4 lb. of beef tips in some teriyaki sauce, usually overnight, although I didn't actually put the sauce on till this morning this time. I make 2 servings of Minute Brown Rice, which is comprised of 1 cup of water and 1 cup of rice, duh. While the rice is doing it's thing I cook the beef tips in a skillet, and once they are mostly cooked through I add frozen broccoli florets. I just eyeball those, as we like broccoli. I may or may not add a little more teriyaki, depends on how much I used to marinate the meat. Cook until the florets are heated through, divide the rice between 2 plates, top with beef and broccoli mixture, and you're done. Josh and I both usually add a little drizzle of teriyaki and some soy sauce. A really fast, easy meal that we both enjoy. And fast meals are going to come in handy now that Dancing With The Stars is back.

Chili Weather?

It hasn't been all that cold here as of late, although it's supposed to be in the mid-40's tonight. Despite that I decided to make some chili Tuesday night. This month's Everyday Food had a recipe for 30-Minute Chili and it called out to me. Partially because I had yet to make a meat based chili, and also because it was a 2 meal recipe, resulting in leftovers that are used in a second recipe. I haven't made the second recipe, Cheesy Hash-Brown Bake, but the chili was accomplished, and the leftovers are residing in the freezer til later next week. This was an enjoyable meal, with only one or two marks against it, which I'll mention in my notes below.

30-Minute Chili
Recipe from Everyday Food; Serves 8 plus 4 cups for 2nd recipe
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
3 medium onions, chopped
6 garlic cloves, chopped
Coarse salt and ground pepper
1 6 oz. can tomato paste
3 tablespoons chili powder
2 tablespoons chopped canned chipotle chiles in adobo sauce
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3 pounds ground beef chuck
3 14.5 oz. cans diced tomatoes in juice
1 12 oz. bottle mild lager beer
2 14.5 oz. cans kidney beans, drained and rinsed
shredded cheddar cheese (optional)

• In a Dutch oven or large (5-quart) heavy pot, heat oil over medium-high. Add onions and garlic. Season with salt and pepper, and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, 3 to 5 minutes.
• Add tomato paste, chili powder, chipotles, and cinnamon. Cook, stirring, until mixture has begun to brown, 2 to 3 minutes. Add beef, and cook, breaking it up with a spoon until no longer pink, about 5 minutes.
• Add tomatoes with their juice, beer, and beans. Bring to a boil, and reduce to a rapid simmer. Cook over medium heat until chili has thickened slightly and beans are tender, about 5 minutes. Reserve 4 cups for Cheesy Hash-Brown Bake. Sprinkle with cheese, if desired, and serve.

My notes: I cut this recipe in half, so that Josh and I each had a 2 cup serving for dinner, I reserved 4 cups for the other recipe, and I had about a cup leftover for lunch the next day. This chili had too much of a cinnamon flavor to it, in my opinion, even after adding extra chili powder. The next time I make it I think I will decrease the amount of cinnamon, increase the chili powder, and add some cumin or red pepper flakes. Also might add some jalapeno in with the onion and garlic.

Cold Weather & Warm Stew

In all honesty, I had no idea that it was going to get so damn cold and wet here this weekend when I decided to make a batch of beef stew in my Crock Pot earlier this week. But now that it's chilly & damp everywhere but in our tiny apartment, I am pleased to have a giant container of it in the fridge. This is actually the only recipe I have made with the Crock Pot my sisters got us as a shower gift. I registered for this one, not because I thought it would be perfect for us, but because it came with the additional Little Dipper Crock Pot. So, in the end we ended up with a 5.5 quart slow cooker for a family of 2. And I have yet to use the Little Dipper, ha. But, it is useful, and I have lots of other recipes that I am aiming to try eventually. I came thisclose to buying some pork spare ribs the other week, but it was the same week I was purchasing the stew meat, which isn't all that cheap when you need the family pack for your big cooker. Anyway, I follow an incredibly simple recipe from my mom's slow cooker owner's manual. She made it once or twice before and I always liked it. Josh loves this stew, and it's great to have something in the fridge that he can easily heat for lunch or dinner. And, once again I totally stole this pic from Everyday Food, despite it not being the same recipe. I don't have a pic of my own stew, and even if I did, it wouldn't look as appetizing as this one.

Slow Cooked Beef Stew
Recipe from Crock Pot; Serves lots

For a 5.5 to 7 quart slow cooker:

2 lbs. baby carrots
3 pounds boneless beef chuck roast, cubed
4 large potatoes, cubed
2 10.74 oz. cans tomato soup
1.5 cups water
2 1.5 oz. envelopes beef stew seasoning mix

• Cut carrots in half crosswise. Place beef, carrots, and potatoes in slow cooker.
• In a bowl, whisk together the soup, water, and seasoning packets. Pour over beef and vegetables.
• Cover and cook on low for 8 hours, or high for 4 hours.

Hint: I scrub the potatoes well and leave the skins on, it adds texture, nutrients, and fiber.