Harvest Beef Stew

I love fall so I was super excited to try this new recipe that just sounds like fall!  A rich, hearty beef stew from the same place I got the yummy baked penne .  Also, I was excited to cook with butternut squash for the first time!  But you'll see how that turned out later - ha.  This recipe was good, but could've been better with a few modifications for our family.  More on that later!  But it was perfect for a welcome to fall & perfect with ...cream biscuits!!  It was also very good with potatoes that I'll post about later - you don't want to miss those!!

The original recipe called for lamb, but this was another option they suggested.  Since beef is easier for this mama to stomach than lamb, we went with the beef version.  My husband said he felt like he was eating dinner in England.  That has to be a good thing, right??

For this stew, you'll need:

• 2 1/2 lb beef stew meat
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp freshly ground pepper
• 1/4 cup all purpose flour
• 4 tbsp olive oil
• 1 6 oz. can tomato paste
• 1 14.5 oz can beef broth
• 1 cup chopped celery (about 2 stalks)
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 3 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1 small butternut squash, peeled, seeded, chopped

Rinse meat, pat dry.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper, toss in flour, shake off excess.

Cook half of meat in 2 tbsp hot oil in Dutch Oven until browned.  I don't have a Dutch Oven and thought I'd just use my big pan.  If you have a Dutch Oven, use it!  The yummy brown bits on the bottom would've worked better if I'd had a Dutch Oven :)

Repeat with remaining meat.  Here's what my set up ended up looking like.

I returned all meat to pot, then added tomato paste.  Cook 1 minute.  Add beef broth, stir to loosen particles from bottom of pan (this is where having a Dutch Oven would've come in handy)

Transfer mixture to a 6 qt crockpot.  This is where things were getting crazy in my kitchen.  I know crockpots are supposed to make our life easier, but I'm not sure I'm on board that bandwagon!!  It's just hard for me to get it together early enough to have it cook for X amount of hours.  It's easier for me to just cook dinner right before we eat it.  At this point, I'm throwing stuff in the crockpot at a fever pace, children are screaming, and I'm thinking, "This better be worth it!!"  Sorry, I digress...

Stir in celery, onion, and garlic.

Then came the squash (that's right, it wasn't over yet!!  I think I have issues with this recipe...).  I cut it open and seeded it with a spoon.  This process was easier than peeling the squash.  I wasn't quite sure what the best course of action was to peel it, so I just used the same knife that I chopped it up with.

Butternut Squash went right on top (don't stir in).

Cover and cook on LOW 4 1/2 hours or until meat is tender.

Sidenote:  it was at this point I noticed my hands were burning.  From the squash.  I'm allergic to cantaloupe and this squash had a very similar smell to cantaloupe.  So that was first red flag.  Then once I chopped it up my hands started burning.  Second red flag.  Then I tried some of the stew, had a giant allergy attack.  Had to get out the Benadryl.  Good times.  Next time I plan to use potatoes instead of squash.  But that's just me.  Anywho...

It did look super yummy and fall appropriate - especially with the cream biscuits!  If only I hadn't had the allergy attack it would've been perfect ;)

Game Day Steak Fajitas

I don't know why I never tried fajitas before - they were SO easy!!  I started from a recipe off the back of the Mission tortilla bag and went from there.  I didn't get a "before" ingredient picture because I prepared everything in stages.  Again, I did a quick freeze on the meat so that I could cut it into strips - this makes it SO much easier!  I even had some that defrosted a little too much so I just stuck it back in the freezer a little longer and once it firmed up, easy once again.  Start to finish, cooking time for this meal took less than 30 minutes.  It took about 15 minutes to prep the meat and slice the veggies, prior to that, but all in all, an easy meal!  You'll need:

• about 1 pound of sirloin steak
• Italian dressing
• chili pepper
• 1 green pepper, cut into strips
• 1 sweet onion, sliced
• 2 tbs olive oil
• tortillas
• tomatoes (optional, garnish)
• avocado (optional, garnish)
• sour cream (optional, garnish)
• shredded cheese (optional, garnish)

The original recipe said to marinate steak strips in Italian dressing for 6-24 hours beforehand.  This would be great if I had made time to do this that far in advance.  However, reality strikes and I marinated my steak for about 2 hours prior to cooking.  It turned out fine, but I'm sure the longer time in the marinade, the better.  Use enough Italian dressing to thoroughly coat all meat.

Before you get started cooking, wrap tortillas in foil and put in oven to warm.  I put mine in at 350 and then lowered it to 'warm' after about 15 minutes until we were ready to eat.

Cook marinated meat in 2 tbs olive oil, over medium heat until browned

Add onions and green peppers, cook to desired tenderness.  I covered the pan here and it worked well.  In the last few minutes of cooking, I added about 1 tbs chili pepper.  You can easily adjust any of these measurements to suit your own taste.  We like chili pepper at our house, so the more, the better!

This next step is only for mushroom-loving crazies like me.  I've decided that I have a love of mushrooms that parallels my love of garlic powder.  You get the idea.  Anyway, so I removed the meat/onion mixture and left the juices in the pan...and you know what comes next - I added the mushrooms right to that!  Oh, yummmmmy!  (I know for you fajita enthusiasts, this is blasphemy, but I'm telling you, I just wanted mushrooms on this night.  And let me tell you, it worked!)

Last step - load up your fajitas!!  We will be having these again!  I was initially skeptical about the Italian dressing marinade for the fajitas, but it totally works.  Everyone in the family made their fajitas differently and the way they wanted so it was fabulous!

What's your favorite fajita?

Beef Stroganoff

This is one of the Mister's favorite dishes.  He LOVES it.  It's relatively easy to make, tastes good, and it's an excuse for me to cook with mushrooms (which I love, but no one else in the house does - I'm hoping the baby will grow up to like mushrooms so I'm not completely outnumbered, anywho...).  I found this recipe years ago from my trusty red and white Better Homes & Gardens cookbook.  Hubby has requested it ever since.  This dish also has me wishing for fall!  Fall weather, football, holidays, I do believe I am ready!!

For this you'll need:

• 1 lb boneless beef sirloin steak
• 8 oz sour cream
• 2 tbs flour
• 1/2 cup water
• 2 tsp instant beef bouillon granules
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 2 tbs butter
• 1 1/2 cups sliced fresh mushrooms
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 cups hot cooked noodles

It starts out kind of gross, but that's just the way it goes.  Mix the sour cream and flour in a small bowl

Add water, bouillon granules, and pepper.  Set aside.  Get your water starting to boil on the stove to get ready for your noodles while you make the rest of the sauce.

Here's a great tip that has helped me greatly with this recipe & others:  trim fat from meat and freeze for 30-45 minutes prior to slicing it - it makes it so much easier!  Cut the meat in bite size strips.  I also chopped my onion and sliced my mushrooms before I got started, just so everything was ready before the burner was turned on.  Notice I sliced the mushrooms big - that's so Hubby could easily pick them out and give them to me!!  Win-win!

Now, melt butter in skillet over high heat and cook half of the meat until desired doneness.  I always seem to overcook my meats, but I don't like it red so that's my justification.  Better safe than salmonella, I say - ha.

Remove meat from skillet.  Add remaining meat, mushrooms, onions, and garlic (see picture above) - this smelled SO yummy!!  Cook and stir until meat reaches desired doneness again.  I added a little extra butter here.  Then I added some water because I didn't want it to burn and I didn't want to keep adding butter because that's just crazy.

I cooked it down and drained the fat, then I returned all the meat back to the skillet.

Pour in flour mixture.  Cook and stir until thickened and bubbly.  It looks so yummy at this point you could just eat a taste out of the pan.  Because you're the cook and that makes it okay.

Drain your noodles and mix with sauce - so easy!

And so yummy!!  I love this dish!