Disaster Chef: Traditional Beef Stroganoff

Last month I posted about a beef stroganoff with wine sauce. While I was looking for stroganoff recipes, I found many, most with cream of mushroom soup. While I liked the wine sauce, I wanted to try my hand at a more traditional stroganoff, too. So I made this for my family.

I'm not big on using prepackaged foods, so I made my own cream of mushroom soup. See recipe on last week's post, here.

The recipe I used this time was a quick and easy one from Everything in Moderation, again using ground beef, although I used lamb. I admit, I'm not the hugest fan of lamb, and I ended up with a lot of it when one of my friends offered me a year-old sheep. Since it was raised outdoors and not mass-market, of course I accepted. I have to find recipes that will somewhat disguise the flavor, so this one seemed like a good one for some of the ground lamb. But I don't think it would be much different using beef, except beef may have a bit more fat in it.

Here is the recipe. It was super easy!

1 lb. lean ground beef (I used lamb)
1 med. onion, chopped
1 T. Cornstarch
1/4 cup cold water (I used milk here)
1 tsp. garlic powder (here I substituted 3 cloves of fresh garlic, minced)
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. black pepper
2 cans cream of mushroom soup (I used 2 c. cream of mushroom soup and 1/2 c. whole milk)
1 (16 oz.) pkg. dried egg noodles (we used quinoa for a bed instead of noodles since my sister is gluten free)
1 cup sour cream (or plain yogurt)

Brown beef and onion in skillet till meat is done and onion is transparent (I also added about a cup of sliced portabella mushrooms to the pan with the onion and meat). Drain grease (I didn't do this). Dissolve cornstarch in cold water and pour onto meat. Stir in garlic (saute another 1-2 mins if using fresh), salt & pepper and soups. Cook for five minutes, stirring constantly. Reduce heat to low and simmer for another 10 minutes (everything was done, so I removed from heat after about 3 minutes). Meanwhile, cook noodles (or rice or quinoa) according to pkg. directions. When done, drain . Remove meat mixture from heat and stir in sour cream and mix well. Add to noodles and mix till well blended.

We topped the quinoa with stroganoff, though you can mix if you want. One of my sisters did not like this recipe at all, but everyone else thought it was okay. I liked it, and my son ate some, though he complained and picked out all the mushrooms. So, for a picky eater, maybe not.

Recipe: 4 of 4 spoons.

Clear instructions, very easy.
Product: 3 of 4 spoons. Tasty enough. I'd make it again, though my family isn't a big fan.

Disaster Chef: Beef Stroganoff with Wine Sauce

For my very first post on my new blog, it's back to Pinterest for some recipes.

This week I had some ground beef defrosted, and I went looking on Pinterest, the old stand-by when I can't decide what to cook. I realized that I don't think I've ever had stroganoff before, although it is apparently a staple. My family was never into the whole noodly-meat thing. They all had memories of eating it in the school cafeteria, and everyone agreed it tasted like dog food.

Nevertheless, I forged onward with my search for a recipe. I found two I wanted to try, and of course I chose the easier one first (easier for me, since I had all the ingredients).

Here's the link to it on Pinterest, and on the website Manila Spoon. Here is My Take on it:

Olive Oil for frying
1 lb ground Beef
 5 garlic cloves, minced
1 medium/small Onion, chopped
1 teaspoons Salt
Ground pepper
2 teaspoons ground Paprika
2 teaspoons Worcestershire Sauce
1/2 cup red wine (I used sweet, because that's what I had)
 8 oz Mushrooms, sliced
1 c. frozen peas
2 teaspoons Italian seasoning blend
1/2 - cup water for cooking (I didn't have beef broth)
1/2 cup Sour Cream
2-3 cups brown rice

Directions: 

Put the rice on to cook first. It took me just as long to make this dish as the rice took, so it all came out at the same time. Brown rice does take about 40 minutes to cook, so if you use white, adjust accordingly. While the rice is cooking, heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Saute the onions for about 3-5 minutes until they are translucent, then add garlic and cook for a minute. Crumble the beef and cook until it's fully browned. Season with salt, pepper, paprika, and Worcestershire sauce. Stir occasionally.

Pour in the red wine. Let it boil until it has evaporated.

Add the Italian seasoning, frozen peas and chopped mushrooms and cook until the juices/liquid of the mushrooms have been released. Pour in the water or broth and stir in the sour cream. Simmer, while occasionally stirring, until the mixture thickens slightly roughly 5-7 minutes.

Remove the rice and stroganoff from heat. Top rice with stroganoff and a dollop of sour cream.

I did vary the recipe a bit, adding peas so it would have a little more vegetables, adding extra garlic and leaving out the garlic powder, etc, from the original recipe. But I stayed pretty close, and it turned out well. It isn't my favorite food, but it was certainly better than dog food! I am going to try the ole cream of mushroom soup variety next time, as I think I would have liked it a little more creamy. The source recipe was good, though, and the wine adds a bit of a twist. Even my son ate his whole plate of it, once he got past the less than lovely appearance. He promised to try it to be polite, and then ate up the whole thing. Around here, that qualifies as a success!

Recipe: 5 spoons of goodness
Product: 3.5 spoons of goodness

Disaster Chef: Cheesy Zucchini Cups: #foodiefriday #projectpinterest

So, I had this post all planned out, only to realize all my pics from this recipe were erased in my phone crash. I decided to do the post anyway. The pictures weren't that great, anyway!

Sometimes you have some ingredients, and you want to use them, but you don't know what to make... This was one of those times. I had some zucchini from my mom's garden, and I didn't want to waste it. And that's pretty much all I had, at least the only fresh vegetables I had for a side dish. So of course I headed straight to Pinterest and found this recipe.

It sounded simple and easy and good. So I started to make it. Here's the recipe and directions.

Ingredients
1 cup zucchini grated
1 egg
1/4 cups yellow onion diced
1/4 cups cheese (cheddar or Parmesan work the best)
1/4 cups bread crumbs (I used Italian Style)
2 tablespoons fresh parsley, finely chopped
Salt and Pepper

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 400F. Spray a mini-muffin tin with non-stick spray, set aside.
2. Grate the zucchini and then place in a dish towel to squeeze out the excess water- like when using frozen spinach; if you skip this part, the middle of the zucchini tots will be really soggy while the outside gets crispy and no one wants that.
3. In a bowl combine, the egg, onion, cheese, bread crumbs, zucchini, parsley, salt and pepper.
4. Using a spoon or a cookie scoop, fill the muffin cups to the top. Bake for 15-18 minutes, or until the top is browned and set.

I grated a huge zucchini, which took forever. Then I squeezed all the liquid out by hand, since I didn't have any paper towels. With clean hands, just pick up handfuls of the stuff and squeeze until the liquid drips out. I did the same with an onion. Then I went to get out the rest of the ingredients...only to find that my husband had no eggs and no bread to make bread crumbs. So again I will advise...when cooking, get out all the ingredients before you begin!

I had already grated the vegetables, and I wasn't about to throw them out. Oh, yeah, did I also mention that my husband doesn't have muffin tins? I kind of made the 'batter' into blobs and formed thin cookies out of them, hoping they'd cook all the way through, even in the centers. Did they turn out well,  you ask? Well...in a word...No. They did not. They didn't hold together well without the egg, and the centers never got really nice and cooked. They were a little crunchy, and not in the good way.
In the undercooked-onions way.

I might actually try these again, because they were SUCH a disaster that I'd like to try them again. The recipe sounded good. I just need to go shopping before I try them again!

Disaster Chef: Foodie Friday: Stuffed Zucchini, Squash, and Peppers

Today I'm putting aside Project Pinterest to share one of my very own recipes. It is super simple and delicious.

I started out trying to find a recipe on Pinterest for stuffed zucchini, but I couldn't find any that matched what I wanted to do. I already had in my head what it should be like. I found quite a few recipes, but none that looked like what I wanted. So, I kind of winged it (that's my usual cooking style anyway). They turned out really well! I was so dern proud of my little old self for making something tasty that I just had to share my own recipe. I later used this same exact formula for making peppers, and they were also excellent.

First, I put on some brown rice to simmer, since it takes 40-45 minutes. I left the timer on for this, and asked my sister to turn the stove off when it went off, and I took a little walk. Of course she didn't turn it off, even though she was home, so the rice got a little scorched. But I managed to salvage all but the bottom layer, which by this time was hopelessly fused to the bottom of the pan. The rest of it tasted fine, so I forged onwards. Word of warning, do not count on others to turn off your food, even if you set the timer, even if they are going to be eating said food!

I would recommend just letting your rice simmer while you do the rest of the dish.

First, cut your squash lengthwise into halves and scoop out the seedy soft part in the center. Save this and cut it into small pieces. (If you're using peppers, just cut out the stem and core, pull out any veins and seeds you can and tap the top of the pepper on the cutting board to knock loose any seeds. Throw that stuff out).

Then you will put the hollowed out veggies in a steamer basket and steam them for a few minutes if you don't want them to take a long time to bake. (If you have an hour or so to bake them, you can skip this step).




While your veggies to stuff are steaming, cook the stuffing. You will need:

Ground meat--beef or sausage (I used about 1/2lb for 6 small zucchini/squash)
1/2 large onion
2 large tomatoes, or a 16 oz can diced/chopped/stewed tomatoes with juice
1-2 cloves garlic
olive oil for frying
1 bell pepper chopped, any color (omit this if you're making stuffed peppers)
handful of fresh basil (or dried if you don't have fresh)
a few pinches of fresh oregano (or dried)
grated cheese (any kind)
parmesan cheese

Put olive oil in your pan and fry your onions and peppers for a few minutes. Then add the meat and zucchini innards and saute until cooked through. Add tomatoes, cooked rice, parmesan and basil and simmer for 2-3 minutes.

Now, retrieve your zucchini or peppers from the steamer. If they are still firm, that fine. I'd try to steam them for about 10 minutes after water comes to boil.

Spoon filling into zucchini, squash, or peppers, top with cheese and fresh oregano. Bake for 15-20 minutes. If you're stuffing raw veggies, 40 minutes to an hour will be needed to cook them. If all your ingredients are already hot, these cook super fast! 

I cooked these in a bread pan, so they wouldnt tip over. Worked great!

I also added some very mild homemade salsa to one batch and it turned out great. When I made stuffed peppers, I used 2 fresh tomatoes and 1 c. canned tomatoes. Feel free to experiment and mix it up!