Ground Beef Stroganoff

Photo: Betty Crocker, the recipe is not Betty Croker.

I love one-skillet dinners. What's not to love? A mishmash of flavors and textures, and all your food groups tossed into one pan to cook a balanced meal. You can add a salad, grainy bread, and a glass of wine if you wish. After eating your meal, the breezy cleanup consists of a single pan and a few plates and utensils. Here is the recipe:

Ground Beef Stroganoff

Ingredients:

2 tablespoon olive oil

8 ounces mushrooms, sliced

1 large onion, diced

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 stalk celery including leaves, diced

1/4 cup red pepper, diced

1 - 1 1/2 lb ground beef

1/4 cup wine - red or white

4 cups water

2 large any flavor bouillon cubes, or 4 small cubes

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

salt and pepper to taste

1 teaspoon each of dried chives, garlic, and parsley

A dash of Worcestershire sauce

8 ounces of curly noodles

1 cup of sour cream (which I never have so use plain Greek yogurt.)

Directions:

1) Add a tablespoon of olive oil to a 12'' chef skillet or a dutch oven and bring to a simmer to tenderize and brown the sliced mushrooms. Sprinkle in some salt. Set aside in a separate dish.

2) Use the same skillet to add another tablespoon of olive oil and tenderize the diced onion, garlic, celery, and red pepper (takes 3 - 5 minutes).

3) Toss in and brown the ground beef. A dash of salt and

pepper. It cooks for about 5 minutes.

4) Sprinkle in the all-purpose flour to coat the ground beef and cook for another 3 minutes so the flour won't taste raw.

5) Pour in the wine and 4 cups of water and dissolve the bouillon cubes. Use a wooden spoon to stir and mash up the bouillon into the liquid.

6) Add the dried spices and Worcestershire sauce.

7) Next toss the dried uncooked curly (egg or any) noodles into the dish and cook until al dente.

8) Return the mushrooms to the pan and stir. Turn off the heat.

9) Finish off with sour cream (or substitute Greek yogurt). If using Greek yogurt be mindful of curdling. Temper the yogurt with a small amount of stroganoff sauce before dumping it all into the dish.

A simple one-pan meal that sticks to your ribs. Delish!

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Spicy Ground Beef and Eggplant Stirfry

Luckily my local supermarket always has delicious lean, ground beef for sale, so I have it for dinner at least once every other week. Sometimes as burgers, chili, or spaghetti with meat sauce. But at other times I like to try something new -- mix up the meat and vegetables to eat a variety of colors in a diet.  A few days ago, I made ground beef and eggplant stirfry, but you could easily substitute chunks of beef or chicken and whatever vegetables are in season. This is a good way of eating vegetables you don't love that are nonetheless good for you. [For me it could be asparagus or okra. I don't hate asparagus or okra, yet never crave them either.] My recent dinner, featuring ground beef and eggplant is a quick one-pan meal that turned out tasty:

Spicy Ground Beef and Eggplant Stirfry

Ingredients:

2 stalks celery, diced

1 small onion, diced

3 cloves garlic, cut up

1 jalapèno pepper, sliced

1 1/2 pounds lean ground beef, broken up

1 eggplant, diced

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon basil, or a bunch of fresh basil

Season to taste, I use rosemary, parsley, dried garlic and basil, as well as, fresh.

Directions:

1) Dice the carrots, celery, onion, garlic, jalapèno pepper and grill with the broken up ground beef in a skillet uncovered until the beef starts to brown. Uncovering it at first lets the liquid evaporate so that you don't end up with a stew.

2) Salt and spice to taste. Add diced eggplant.

3) Cover with a lid and simmer until the eggplant is tender. (It's fine to cover it now so the eggplant can steam.)

Serve on brown rice; a grain of your choice; on top of grainy bread; or rolled inside a tortilla with cheese. The stirfry dish is very versatile. Enjoy!
 

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Chicken Fried Dishes Using My Breadcrumbs

Chicken Fried Steak at Cracker Barrel

It's not that I don't enjoy cooking or eating, but we must do it every day! The rigmarole of buying food; putting it away; cooking; and the cleanup is time consuming. If we didn't have to eat, we'd save a heap of time each week. How would you spend it? 

Furthermore, I get tired of my own cooking! That's why I try and post new recipes on THE SAVVY SHOPPER. Like you, I can return here, myself, to see how to make them again.😁

My latest dinners are pan fried Chicken Breasts Thin Sliced and Chicken Fried Steak -- fast, delicious and easy to make, therefore worth sharing! (I won't lie, sometimes what the supermarket puts on sale inspires my week of dinners. To switch up your diet, it's as good of a system of meal planning as any other.😄🤣)

Before we start, let's make the "breadcrumbs" --

Debra's Breadcrumbs

Ingredients: 

1.5 cups of uncooked oatmeal
spices to taste. I use: Zataratin's Creole Seasoning; dried garlic, oregano, turns of the black pepper mill, parsley, rosemary, thyme, a dash of the nutmeg.

Directions:

Pulse together in a food processor.

Dump into a shallow dish to coat your meats. Feel free to use real breadcrumbs if you buy them. I don't because I'm lazy. I don't want another food item to restock, and that's the reason I started making my own ''breadcrumbs" with uncooked oatmeal, and hey, it works! (If you are one step lazier than me, you can simply season all-purpose flour as meat coating. Still edible, it works too.)

Here is how I use my oatmeal breadcrumbs:

Pan Fried Chicken Breast, Thin Sliced

Ingredients: 

3 - 4 thin chicken slices per person
spicy brown mustard
extra virgin olive oil
butter
Breadcrumbs

Photo of Chicken breast: Food Network

Directions:

1) Brush your frying pan with a coating of olive oil and a couple pads of butter. The butter is for flavor. Only a coating of oil is needed to "fry" food. I usually turn the heat on low while I prepare the chicken, then turn the heat up to let it get hot before dropping the breaded chicken slices into the pan.

2) Rub the mustard on both sides of the thin raw chicken slices; dip both sides in the breadcrumbs and lay them in a hot frying pan to brown.

3) I reduce the heat to medium, put a lid on the chicken and cook it for 3 - 5 minutes on both sides. When the chicken turns from pink to white, it's done. (While you could bake this dish in the oven, I don't since the chicken cooks in minutes on a stove top.) 

+++++++++++++++++++++++

Ground beef was also on sale at my supermarket leading to the 2nd recipe:

Chicken Fried Steak (Using Ground Beef)

Photo of chicken fried steak: Taste of Home

Ingredients:

For the "steak" --
1 lb lean ground beef
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
a dash of Creole seasoning (or just salt and pepper, your choice)
1 scrambled egg
My breadcrumbs

For the gravy --
2 - 3 tablespoons of pan drippings and all the brown ground beef bits 
2 tablespoons flour
1 1/2 cups milk
1 small beef or chicken bouillon
12 turns of the black pepper mill
a dash of dried celery
a dash of dried garlic

Directions for the "steak:"

1) Combine the ground beef with Worcestershire sauce and season to taste. Form into patties.

2) Triple dip into the egg and my breadcrumbs. Shake off the excess each time before dipping again -- this will make it stick and not drop off creating bare spots while frying.

3) Lay in a hot pan brushed with olive oil. You don't need to deep fry the "steaks," just use enough olive oil to coat the pan.

4) I cover my pan with a lid and let it cook on medium heat, flipping the patties over when the first side is golden brown. Repeat on the side  side.

Directions to make the gravy:

1) Cook 2 tablespoons of all purpose flour, whisking it into the pan drippings and ground beef bits. Cook for a couple of minutes and continue stirring.

2) Add the milk and seasonings and stir the mixture until it thickens. 

Often tenderized cubed beef is used to make chicken fried steak, but lean ground beef is easy to buy, make and works. Convenience rules!

The origin of chicken fried steak is sometimes attributed to the Texas town of Lamesa, brought over by German immigrants who modified the recipe from wiener schnitzel. Although interchangeable in many restaurants with country fried steak, traditional chicken fried steak is crispy and served with a milk peppery gravy, while traditional country fried steak soaks in a pan of brown gravy and onions. Regionally, this isn't always followed. Country fried steak is sometimes also served with a milk peppery gravy. The dishes have a slight variation [i.e., more crispy with milk gravy vs. soaked in brown gravy with onions ... but often a milk gravy too] using nearly the same ingredients. Enjoy your fast, stick-to-your ribs and yet still healthy dinner!

Country fried steak at Cracker Barrel

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My Rustic Beef Stew

Photo: msbuenavida here

A hearty beef stew is a popular dish. Definitely, comfort food, which many of us grew up eating, often in winter. I made a pot over the weekend using ingredients I had on hand. It turned out especially delicious! Sooo. I'm sharing the recipe for a purely selfish reason ... so I'll remember how to make it again. I can always come back here to look it up! Here are all the ingredients that went into the pot:

Rustic Beef Stew (my style, um, um!)

Ingredients: 

1 ½ - 2 pounds of beef, cut into cubes (chuck, top round, London broil, or whatever is on sale)

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon ground black pepper (12 turns of the pepper mill)
1 tablespoon flour

1 onion, chopped, big chunks

3 stalks of celery, diced

4 carrots, cut into big bite-size pieces

2 parsnips, sliced
3 medium potatoes cut into chunks
1 tomato, diced.
1 teaspoon dried garlic

1 teaspoon onion powder

½ teaspoon dried rosemary

sprinkle of thyme
sprinkle of nutmeg
5 cups water

1 big bay leaf
dash of dried cilantro
dried parsley

A tiny sprinkle of red pepper flakes (Adds a kick without the heat. Careful: Too much adds heat.)

2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce (Sprinkle and just eyeball the amount.)

2 large beef, or chicken bouillon cubes (Doesn't really matter which flavor.)

1 teaspoon vinegar

Optional: I had a handful of mushrooms in the refrigerator, so they went in, but don't go to the store for them; you have enough beef and vegetable chunks and flavor without mushrooms. In the spring if you have asparagus, dice and toss it in. Sometimes I have a turnup or lima beans or peas I add. Stew is a good dish enabling a cook to get rid of vegetables.

Directions: 

1) Sear the beef cubes with a tiny bit of olive oil in a 6-quart enameled cast iron pot until golden brown. While browning, salt and pepper the beef.
2) Next add the onions, celery, carrots, parsnips and spices as listed. Saute for about 5 minutes.
3) Add the water, bay leaf, cilantro, red pepper flakes, Worcestershire sauce, bouillon cube and vinegar.
4) Bring to a boil and simmer on low heat for about 1 hour.

5) Cut the potatoes into big chunks and dice the tomato; add to the pot and let simmer on low heat for another 1/2 hour, or so. Garnish with iron-rich parsley.

6) When the beef and vegetables are tender, dissolve 2 - 3 tablespoons of all-purpose flour in water and carefully add it to the pot to thicken the stew. Simmer on medium-low heat for about 5 minutes.

Tips: In cooking, if you want vegetables to disappear into the sauce, dice them up small. If you want the vegetables to remain spearable-with-a-fork, cut them into big pieces. With this stew, the only vegetables I dice small are the tomato and celery.

This evening a cup of green beans, a cup of peas and carrots, baby carrots, parsnips, potatoes, a big onion, and celery went into the beef stew.

The cooking time may vary, depending on the cut of beef you use. Cook until the meat is tender. Lean cuts of beef (for example top round London broil) are cheaper, tougher, and require a longer cooking time to break down the tissues, but are very flavorful when tender. Lean is good!

Extra tips: If you have frozen peas in your freezer, throw a cup or so into the pot at the end of the cooking time. It adds nutrients and a pop of green to the dish. Frozen peas and carrots and frozen green beans are perfect complements.

Click here to learn more about beef cuts.

Needless to say, beef stew is scrumptious on day 1 and excellent as leftovers. Serve with cornbread or hard-crusted, whole-grain bread.

My next post will address how to reduce your grocery bills, so check back in a couple of days for tips.

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