Philly Cheese Steak Sloppy Joes

This is great when you need a quick and easy version of a old favorite.


Philly Cheese Steak Sloppy Joes
Ingredients:
2 tbsp butter
1 green bell pepper, diced
4oz mushrooms, diced
1 onion, diced
1 lb ground beef
3 tbsp worchestershire sauce
1/4 cup broth
salt and pepper

sliced cheese (provolone, pepperjack, and american all work well)
4 buns or hoagie rolls

melt the butter in a large skillet over medium. Add veggies. Cook until well softened, about 10 minutes. Remove from pan. Add meat and cook until well browned. Drain, and return to pan along with veggies. Add worchestershire sauce, broth, salt and pepper. Simmer on medium low for 5-10 minutes. Serve on a soft bun and top with a slice of cheese

Shredded Beef Enchiladas with Homemade Red Enchilada Sauce

A while ago,  I decided to cook a roast with little seasoning, shed, divide up, and freeze for later meals. This ended up being a great idea and I have since made french dip sandwiches and "philly" style beef sandwiches. I decided to use my remaining meat for this dish. You could easily use left over pot roast for this as well. Or you can throw a small roast in the crock pot to shred up.

And homemade enchilada sauce! Who knew it was that easy! Never buying it again!

Shredded Beef Enchiladas with Homemade Red Enchilada Sauce

Enchilada ingredients:

2 cups shredded beef
2 cups drained beans (black, pinto whatever. I used kidney this time.)
2.5 cups shredded cheese, divided. (I suggest cheddar, mexi blend, or pepperjack)
1 can diced green chills
8 tortillas (medium)

Sauce ingredients:
3 tbsp oil
2 tbsp flour
2 heaping tbsp chili powder
8oz tomato sauce
1 cup broth (or water in a pinch)
2 tsp garlic powder
2 tsp onion powder
2 tsp cumin
salt and pepper to taste

In a pan over medium, heat oil. Whisk in flour and chili powder. Cook for 1 minute

Whisk in all other ingredients. Bring up to heat, and then put on low for 10 minutes.


In a medium bowl, mix together the beef, beans, 3/4 cup cheese, can of chilis, and a few spoonfuls of sauce.

In a 9x13 pan, ladle a bit of sauce on the bottom. Enough to just coat the bottom.

Assemble enchiladas and place seam side down in pan.

Top with remaining sauce and then cheese.

Bake at 350 for 30-40 minutes, until heated through.

Chili

How interesting that my 200th post is my chili recipe. I have actually made this a dozen or more times since I started blogging, but I felt nervous about posting it. I figured basically everyone has "their chili recipe" and no one would bother wanting to try mine. Which is sad, because its GOOD. So I decided to blog it today. And I hope that some people try it.

I have a few tricks up my sleeve.

Corn is one. I know I have seen it in a few chili recipes before, but I really like it. It gives a nice visual change, but also a sweetness.

Another is worcestershire sauce. Nectar of the gods.

Roasted red bell peppers is my latest addition. Yum!

And last but not least....a packet of brown gravy mix. It is worth it to toss out my "crunchy" card for this. I think it helps thicken it up a bit and gives a boost of flavor. I don't think I can replicate it well enough.


Also, for the longest time, I seasoned it with 1 packet of mild chili seasoning and 1 packet of hot chili seasoning. And in a pinch, I still do. But using the regular seasonings is cheaper and you don't get all the anti caking additives and what not. And you can also season to your own personal tastes.

All my seasoning amounts are guesses. I use my palm to measure. So feel free to add more if you feel it needs it.

I also *highly highly* suggest throwing this all together the night before and letting it sit in the fridge overnight, and then letting it cook on low all day. Time is the biggest tip on this. Every day it sits, it tastes better and better.

You can use 3 cans beans in this (whatever type you like. I do kidney and pinto) or you can make up some dried beans. One bag of dried beans is a little less than 4 cans, so when I do this, I make a large batch of chili with the higher amount of beef and maybe an extra can of tomatoes and just freeze some leftovers so we don't eat it for a week.

If you use that many beans, it might be too big for a normal crock pot, and you might need to use your stock pot on the stove.

I posted this on another recipe, but my new favorite way to cook dried beans is this:

Inspect and rinse beans

Put in a oven safe lidded pot with 1.5 inches of water on top.

Bring to boil, cover, and place in 275 oven for 1 hour and 15-30 minutes. Drain and wah-la!

Chili

Ingredients:

1-2 lbs ground meat. (depends on how meaty you like it. I use either beef or turkey and it doesn't make a huge difference)
2 onions, diced
28oz can diced tomatoes, not drained
14.5 oz can tomato sauce
4oz can tomato paste
2 cups frozen corn
1 small jar roasted red bell peppers, drained and rinsed and chopped
6 cups of drained beans of choice (around 3 cans)
1/4 cup worcestershire sauce
1 packet brown gravy mix
hot sauce (I like Chalula, and use this to help make it as hot or mild as you like)
3 tbsp chili powder
1 tbsp cumin
2 tbsp garlic powder
2 tbsp onion powder
2 tsp seasoning salt (lowrys or the like)
1 tsp-1 tbsp red pepper flakes (to your heat preference)
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp ground coriander

In a large skillet, cook the meat and onion until meat is cooked through.

In a large crock pot or stock pot, combine meat, onion, all tomato products, corn, bell peppers, and beans.

In a medium bowl, whisk all remaining ingredients (with a little water if needed) and add to pot.

Add enough water to cover all ingredients.

Preferably, let sit overnight in fridge and cook low all day long.


We serve ours with fritos, shredded cheddar, and sour cream.

Stuffed Bell Pepper Soup

Oh my goodness this was so yummy. I actually doubled it and froze half. With fall and winter coming (for all you people lucky enough to not habitat the surface of the sun), this is a GREAT recipe to keep on hand. This bell pepper loving family will be making this often.

I made it with ground turkey, but italian sausage, ground beef, or ground chicken would be equally good. Or any combination there of.

You can make this more or less bell pepper-y too

Stuffed Bell Pepper Soup

Ingredients:

1 lb ground meat
1 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 jalepeno, deseeded and deribbed, diced (optional)
5 bell peppers, cut into 1 inch squares
8 cups low sodium chicken broth
1 14 oz can petite cut diced tomatoes, not drained
1 small can tomato sauce
2 bay leaves
1 tsp basil
1 tsp oregano
couple shakes hot sauce
salt and pepper to taste

2 cups cooked rice
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese


Brown meat, onion, garlic, and jalapeño in a large skillet on medium until meat is done.

Add meat mix, bell peppers, broth, tomatoes, tomato sauce, bay leaves, basil, oregano, and hot sauce.

Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer, and cook until peppers are desired doneness. 15-30 minutes


Serve over a scoop of rice and top with cheese.

Classic Pot Roast, with a Twist

Everyone does pot roast their own way. I just thought I would share mine!


The most important part? Sear the meat before putting it in the crock pot.

Classic Pot Roast, with a Twist

Ingredients:

1 3-4 pound pot roast
salt and pepper
1 tbsp oil
1 package onion soup mix (or make your OWN :) )
1 mini bottle of red wine (about 3/4 cup if you want to use a big bottle and drink the rest)
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup worcestershire sauce
4 carrots, peeled and 2 inch chunks
3 stalks of celery, 2 inch chunks
2 onions, peeled and quartered (or 1 leek, washed and cut into 1 inch rings)
2 parsnips, peels and 2 inch chunks (optional, but recommend)
1 pound new potatoes, halved (or gold/red potatoes quartered. I used yummy white avalanche)


Heat a skillet on high until piping hot. Add the oil. Generously salt and pepper all sides of the roast. Place in skillet and let sit 1-2 minutes to get nice and golden. Repeat on all surfaces.

Place roast in crock pot. Mix onion soup mix, wine, vinegar, and worchestershire and pour over roast. Cover and cook on high 2 hours.

Add veggies to the sides of the roast (as much as possible) and lower heat to low and cook 4-6 more hours.

If you want to make a gravy, strain out the liquid. Melt 2-3 tbsp butter in a skillet on medium. Add 2-3 tbsp flour and cook while stirring for 3 minutes. Whisk in as much liquid as needed to make the gravy consistency you want.

Reuben Stuffed Bell Peppers

I love reubens. A lot.

So, any way I can incorporate that into our lives, I will make it happen.

We love stuffing peppers here, so it wasn't long before this gem was born.

The rye topping is a important part of this process. It gives the bread flavor that is so important the entire profile of the dish.

Reuben Stuffed Bell Peppers

Ingredients:
4 bell peppers, cut in half stem to end, and stem and seeds removed
8 slices thin sliced swiss cheese
3/4th pound corned beef, from deli, thin sliced
8 oz can sauerkraut, drained and squeezed
1/3rd cup thousand island dressing
2 slices rye bread
2 tbsp butter

Preheat oven to 350

Bring a pot of heavily salted water to boil. Place the peppers in and let boil 3 minutes. Drain and let cool enough to handle

Meanwhile, chop or tear up the corned beef into smaller pieces and mix with sauerkraut and dressing.

Place 1 slice of cheese inside all the peppers. Stuff with mixture. Top with another slice of cheese.

Place on baking sheet and cook 25 minutes.

Meanwhile, put bread in a food processor or blender, and pulse until coarse crumbs form.

Melt butter in a saucepan over medium. Add crumbs and stir until well combined. Take off heat

Take out peppers, and top with crumbs. Put back in oven and broil 2-3 minutes (watching CONSTANTLY) until crumbs are toasted

Philly Cheese Steak Stuffed Mini Peppers

These little gems are AMAZING. This is my husbands favorite stuffed pepper. And that is saying something. You could always use a regular bell pepper of course, but these are fun and also great as a appetizer at a party. 

For the steak, you can pop the steak into the freezer for a hour and use a really sharp knife to cut thin slices. OR, you can fully freeze the steak and VERY CAREFULLY use a mandolin to slice very thin slices! It was amazingly easy. Or you can ask the butcher to slice for you.

Philly Cheese Steak Stuffed Mini Peppers

Ingredients:

10-12 mini bell peppers (or 4 regular, blanched for 3 minutes in boiling water) cut in half and deseeded and deribbed

1 tbsp butter

1 medium onion, fine diced

1 half green bell pepper, fine diced (optional. I liked the addition because the mini's lacked the green bell pepper taste that is so vital.

1 cup mushrooms, fine diced

1 6-8 oz sirloin steak, sliced very thinly

1 tsp dried mustard

2 tsp worchestershire sauce

6 slices provolone

Dice the veggies very small. This is a small pepper we are stuffing!

Preheat oven to 375

Heat a skillet over medium heat. Add butter, mushrooms, onion, and pepper

Cook 5-8 minutes until softened. Remove from skillet into a bowl.

Turn skillet to high.

Toss the steak slices in the dried mustard and worchestershire sauce. Add to the skillet. Cook 1-2 minutes until done, breaking the steak up a little with your utensil.

Add steak to veggies.

Shred cheese into strips. Place some cheese inside the pepper halves and top with filling. Once all are completed, place in oven for 20 minutes.

Put out tray, top with more cheese slices and return to oven for 5 minutes until cheese melts.

Enjoy!

Salisbury Steak

I am not much for things made from ground meats, but this is a nice comfort food and pretty economical and easy to make.

You can substitute the homemade gravy with a can of condensed french onion soup mix if you would like. The gravy takes little effort, but does take time so plan for that.

Salisbury Steak

Ingredients:

Gravy:
2 1/2 cups beef stock (homemade or THIS)
2-3 yellow onions, sliced thin into rings
3 tbsp butter
1 tbsp worchestershire sauce
1 tbsp ketchup
1 tsp cornstarch or arrowroot powder

Patties:
11/4 pounds ground burger (I used 90/10)
2 tbsp onion soup mix (bought or make it )
2 tsp dried mustard
1 tbsp worchestershire sauce
1 tbsp ketchup
1 egg
1/2 cup panko bread crumbs


Place stock in a small sauce pan and boil for 10-20 minutes until reduced to 1.5 cups.

Meanwhile, melt butter in a skillet over medium and add onions. Cook, stirring often until well softened.

Remove around 1/4 cup of stock and whisk with cornstarch.

Add cornstarch slurry and onions to the stock and simmer on low for 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, mix all the patty ingredients except the meat. Add the meat and mix with your hands gently, but thoroughly. Form into 4 oval patties.

In the skillet, brown patties on medium high heat until no longer pink in the middle. It will depend on the thickness of the patty. 5-10 minutes. Drain fat.

Add gravy to the skillet (coating the patties) and simmer for 5-10 minutes.

Sherri's Easy Shepherds Pie

Ok, shepherds pie is one of those things that you ask for a recipe, and 10 different people will give you 10 different recipes. So this is ONE version of shepherds pie. Actually...if you want to get technical about it, its a version of cottage pie. Shepherds pie actually uses lamb, and I just haven't gone there yet.

This makes a LOT but its good leftovers and cheap. You will need a bigger pan than a 9x13. A lasagna pan would be great, or split it between 2 smaller pans.

Sherri's Easy Shepherds Pie

Ingredients:

3 pounds gold potatoes, cubed (peel if desire. I never do with golds)
2 tbsp butter
1/4 cup milk
S&P
1 lb lean burger
1 large onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 BIG cans french style green beans
2 cans diced tomatoes (I prefer the petite cut for this)
1 regular (14-16oz??) can tomato sauce
1 small (8oz?) can tomato sauce
Salt and pepper to taste

Place potatoes in cold water. Bring to boil, reduce to simmer. Cook to fork tender. Drain.

Mash hot potatoes with butter, milk, and salt and pepper.

Brown burger, onion, and garlic until burger is cooked through. Drain if needed.

Mix burger with tomatoes, green beans, and tomato sauce. Add salt and pepper if needed.

Place burger mix in the bottom of the baking pan. Place glops of mashed potatoes on top and smooth down. Top with cheese.

Cover with foil and cook at 375 until heated through and bubbly. About 30 minutes. Take off foil and let cheese melt

From Scratch: Homemade Hamburger Helper

So, pregnancy makes random cravings appear. And this was a result of one of those cravings.


I was actually floored at how good it turned out. I expected it to take longer, for one. Two, well, I just didn't expect it to "hit the spot" in regards to craving that boxed crap. But it satisfied!

Homemade Hamburger Helper

Ingredients:

1 lb lean burger
2 cups elbow pasta (I used whole grain)
2 1/2 cups milk
1 1/2 cup hot (like hot tap) water
1 1/2 tbsp garlic powder
1 1/2 tbsp onion powder
1 tbsp chili powder
1 tbsp flour (or cornstarch, or arrowroot powder)
2 tsp salt
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp cayenne
2 cups sharp shredded cheddar cheese


Brown meat in a large skillet (with a lid) over medium. Drain any juices.

Add pasta, seasonings, milk and water. Stir well. Cover. Bring to boil, and reduce to a simmer.

Stir often over the next 5-10 minutes. The liquid will be absorbed, but if its looking too dry, add a tad more milk/water until the pasta is cooked through.

Add the cheese, and adjust the seasonings to your taste.





You can also make baggies with the seasonings and the pasta to make this even faster (basically like the "real" thing, but you will have to add REAL cheese instead of the powder.)

Simple Stuffed Cabbage Rolls

I have been wanting to make this for a long time now. And getting a cabbage in my organic produce box this week made it finally happen. We are trying to eat lighter this month so I decided to do it with ground turkey but you could go the more traditional way and use ground beef. I have seen several recipes for this, but they seemed like a ton of ingredients which I wasn't in the mood for at the time, especially for my first attempt. So I modeled mine off a more simple recipe and it turned out well!

Simple Stuffed Cabbage Rolls

Ingredients:

1 head of cabbage

Filling:
1 lb ground turkey (or beef)
1 onion, diced
2 cups cooked rice
1 tbsp worcestershire sauce
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper

Sauce
28oz can crushed tomatoes
1/2 cup chicken or beef stock
1 tbsp parsley
1 tbsp garlic powder
1 tsp salt
3 tbsp sour cream

Preheat to 375

Heat a large stock pot of salty water on high on stove until rapid boiling.

Core the cabbage and remove the loose, outer leaves if they are still on the head. Peel about 12-14 leaves off the cabbage. Remove a V shape out of the leaf to cut out a inch or two of the stem/core/tough part. Nothing too crazy though, just a little chop chop.

Once water is boiling, drop in leaves and boil 3-4 minutes. Remove, drain, and cool enough to handle.

Mix filling ingredients together with your hands until well mixed.

Place some of the filling into the leaf and wrap or roll up. If the leaf tears, use a bit of one of the smaller leaves you boiled to patch it. You should end up with 10ish rolls. Place rolls in a 9x13 pan

Mix sauce ingredients together and pour over top of the rolls. Cover with foil and bake an hour.

Dish up and top with extra sauce.

Zucchini Lasagna

Sometimes you just have to make something different. Even if you already make a mean lasagna already, sometimes you get a wild hair to do something different. Like use zucchini slices instead of pasta.

You could easily make this fully vegetarian. Just straight up omit the meat. Adding mushrooms instead might be a good idea!

Zucchini Lasagna

Ingredients:
3-4 zucchini (I used 3, I think it could have used more!)
salt
1 lb lean hamburger
1 onion, diced
1 28oz can crushed tomatoes
1 small jar roasted red bell pepper, drained
4 garlic cloves
1 14oz can diced tomatoes, drained
1 tbsp fresh basil (or 1 tsp dried)
1 tsp dried oregano
2 tsp dried parsley
1 15oz container ricotta (I really prefer whole, not part skim or fat free. Ick)
1 egg
4 oz cream cheese (I like the 1/3rd fat one) room temp
1.5 cups mozzarella

Slice the zucchini into 1/8th inch slices. Mandolin's are your best friend. There is a GREAT one on Amazon for like $20

Lay on a clean dish towel. Salt a bit (allllll over) and let sit 20 minutes. Dab off salt and moisture. Flip and repeat.

Cook hamburger and onion until cooked through. Drain.

In a blender (or food processor, or in a bowl with a stick blender) mix the crushed tomatoes, garlic, and red bell peppers. Blend until smooth. Don't go too crazy though

Combine tomato mix, diced tomatoes, herbs, and cooked meat.

Mix ricotta, egg, and cream cheese well.

Put a very thin layer of sauce on the bottom of a 9x13 pan.
Put a even layer of zucchini slices.
Smear some ricotta mix (this part sucks. Accept it and move on)
Sauce.
Repeat until done, ending with sauce.

Layer with cheese.
Cover with tin foil and cook at 375 for about 45 minutes and then uncovered for 15

Cool for at least 5-10 minutes

Vegetable Beef Stew with Onion Herbed Dumplings

I came across a variation of this in my websurfings. Husb likes Chicken and Dumplings, so I thought this style of it would be a interesting mix. I tweaked it to my tastes and it came out great. Nice for the changing seasons.


Vegetable Beef Stew with Onion Herbed Dumplings

Ingredients

2 lbs stew meat
1 can beef broth
1 cup water
1 can diced tomatoes, with juice
4 carrots, peeled and sliced in buttons
2 celery, sliced
2 onions, sliced
1 package sliced mushrooms
2 bay leaves
2 tsp dried basil
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1 1/2 tsp dried mustard
salt and pepper
1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup water



Dumplings:
1/2 cup (a few more TBSP if needed)
1 1/2 cup flour
2 tbsp cold butter, in small pieces
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp dried basil
1/2 tsp dried rosemary (crushed up)
1 tbsp dried minced onion


Stew:

Get a skillet hot on medium high heat. Add meat, in batches to sear each side.

Put meat in the crockpot with broth, water, tomatoes, carrots, celery, onions, mushrooms, bay leaves and spices.

Cook on low 8-10 hours or high 4-5.  Add salt and pepper to taste. Whisk water and flour and add to soup.

Put all the dry ingredients of dumplings into a bowl. Add butter. Cut in with pastry cutter, forks, metal whisk, or even your hands. Make sure the butter is mixed well. Add milk and stir until just mixed.

Drop glops of this into the stew, cover, and cook on high until toothpick comes out clean.

Beef Stroganoff, Two Ways

Ok, so I make this two different ways. Both are good and fast, in their own way. One is with stew meat and cooked in the crock pot. The other is made on the stove in about 30 minutes, and uses ground beef. I don't currently have a pic of the first method, but I will add it the next time it is made.

Yes, it has a cream of mushroom soup can in it. I try to avoid it. But sometimes I can't. In this case, I compromise with organic. Its only about 1$ more and it makes me feel better. *or you can make it from scratch!

And, yes, I know its not pretty. But its yummy. God doesn't give with both hands all the time.

Ingredients:

1.5 pounds lean ground beef OR lean stew meat.
1 diced onion
1 lb sliced crimini mushrooms
1 can of organic cream of mushroom soup (or 1 recipe from scratch)
1/2-2/3 cup of sour cream

2-3 pounds of gold potatoes, diced.

Method 1, crockpot:

Sear the stew meat on high heat until all sides are browned. Add to crock pot along with mushrooms, soup, and onion. Cook on high 4-5 hours or low 6-8. Add sour cream 20 minutes before serving

Method 2, stovetop:

On medium heat, cook ground beef and onion until well browned. Drain. Add mushrooms and cream of mushroom. Simmer on medium until mushrooms soften, about 15 minutes. Add sour cream and serve.


Cook the potatoes in salty water. Either drain and serve, or make into mashed potatoes.

Some people use egg noodles. I think this is gross. But more power to you.

Corn is a must side to this for us.

Santa Fe Burger

AKA the best burger ever. Oh my. So yummy.

I'll admit, I am not a big fan of Bobby Flay's attitude. He is a cocky mo fo and he bugs the crap out of me. In fact, I watch Throwdown JUST hoping he will lose.

But, the guy knows how to cook. Not only does his meatloaf knock my socks off, but this burger was the bomb. Totally worth being one of our meat meals for the week.

Burger slathered with queso, topped with roasted poblano and crumbled blue corn chips. Yeah. Told ya. Put it on a fresh baked challah roll, and you will die very very happy

Santa Fe Burger
Adapted from Bobby Flay

Ingredients:

1 lb 80/20 burger
Montreal Seasoning
1 lg poblano pepper
1 tsp oil
4 hamburger buns or challah rolls

Queso:

1tbsp butter
1 tbsp flour
1 1/2 cup whole milk
8oz fresh grated monterey jack cheese
salt and pepper

Form the 4 patties and season well with the Montreal Seasoning. Cook on grill to desired doneness.

Coat pepper in oil and roast in 375 oven for about 15 minutes, until skin browns. Remove from oven, put in bowl and cover with plastic wrap for 15 minutes. Peel off the skin. Remove seeds, and dice

Heat skillet to medium. Melt butter. Add flour and cook 1 minutes Add milk, turn up heat to high, and stir constantly for 5 minutes, until thickened. Remove from heat and whisk in cheese. Keep warm

Top burger with diced pepper, a generous helping of queso, and a few crumbled corn chips. Ah-may-zing.

Taco Stuffed Shells

A nice change from the regular taco night. 

Taco Stuffed Shells
Adapted from Blogchef


Ingredients


alb lean ground beef
1 package taco seasoning or cumin, chili powder, garlic powder, and onion powder.
4 oz 1/3rd fat cream cheese
18 large pasta shells
1 cup salsa
1 cup taco sauce
2 cups mexican mix shredded cheese




Taco fixings: Sour cream, lettuce, tomatoes, avocado, etc



Preheat to 350


Cook the shells as per box directions.


Meanwhile, brown meat in a large saucepan. Follow taco seasoning directions, or just add spices to taste


Add the cream cheese. Melt and mix well. Take off the heat. Let cool.


Coat the bottom of a 9x13 with salsa


Stuff the shells and line up in pan.


Top with taco sauce.


Cover with tin foil and cook 30 minutes.


Uncover and top generously with cheese.


Cook 15 more minutes


Serve with your favorite taco fixings!

Steak with Veggie Tomato Pasta

This pasta is so good. And different. You have a nice steak that is tender and flavorful. A little goes a long way so its not too terribly pricey. There are lots of layers of flavor. Lots of veggies and textures. So good.

You can easily substitute fresh green beans for the asparagus.

Steak with Veggie Tomato Pasta

Ingredients

2-3 cups uncooked pasta. 
1- 1 1/2 lb boneless beef sirloin steak
1 lb asparagus, cut into 2 inch pieces
2 medium onions, thin sliced
1 1/2 cups beef broth, divided
1 cup tomato puree
2 tbsp fresh chopped basil
3 tbsp chopped sun dried tomatoes, patted dry
2 garlic cloves, minced
salt and pepper


Cook the pasta per instructions.

Trim the fat off the steak

Cut beef (with grain) to 2 inch strips. Cut against the grain into 1/8in slices. Set aside

Heat large skillet over medium high heat

Add asparagus, onion, and 1 cup broth. Cook 5-7 minutes until broth evaporates. (turn heat higher if needed)

Remove veggies from skillet. Add beef. Cook until evenly browned. (2 minutes)

Add back in the veggies, the remaining broth, the remaining ingredients. Cook 2 minutes, stirring often.

Serve.

Sauerkraut Stuffed Bacon-Wrapped Hot Dogs

Holy yumminess. This is a way to take a hot dog up a notch with just a few more minutes of prep.

Sauerkraut Stuffed Bacon-Wrapped Hot Dogs
Adapted from Simplyrecipes

Ingredients

4 jumbo kosher hot dogs
2 oz of block sharp cheddar cheese, sliced into sticks
1 cup sauerkraut, drained well
4 slices of bacon (not thick cut)


Cut the hot dogs from end to end, but not cutting all the way through. I cut about half deep and pulled it to open a little more.

Put the sticks of cheese in the cut.

Top with a few tbsp of sauerkraut.

Wrap bacon around the hotdog (not super tight) and secure with toothpicks

Grill, turning 1/4 turns until the bacon is cooked

Mushroom and Beef Burger

Hamburgers can be so much more than just boring beef thrown on the grill. This recipe mixes diced up mushrooms mixed into the patty. Its delicious.

Mushroom and Beef Burger

makes about 6 burgers.

Ingredients:

2 lbs 80/20 ground beef
6 cremini mushrooms, diced in pea sized pieces
1 tbsp Lowrys seasoning
2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tsp pepper

Cheese for topping (suggested monterey jack or swiss)

Simply mix all ingredients together lightly with your fingers (don't over mix) and form into patties. Don't use too many mushrooms or the patties won't form well.

Cook on a grill to desired done-ness and top with cheese

Runza Pull-A-Parts!

Ok, you don't know what a runza is?

Its a midwest thing. A roll or bun stuffed with meat, cabbage/sauerkraut, and seasonings.

We like to add mushrooms and cheese to ours. I also prefer the use of sauerkraut. It gives a nice tang to it.

I use the same bread recipe as in my Pizza Monkey Bread post

Runza Pull-A-Parts!

Ingredients

One recipe boule dough, risen for a few hours. (it is really best if you refrigerate it too. It gets SUPER sticky otherwise. If you can make it the night before, it would be easiest. But not required)
Or a couple packages of pizza dough. Or a few cans of biscuits.

1 lb lean hamburger
1 onion, diced
1 oz pkg mushrooms, sliced
salt and pepper
1/2 cup breadcrumbs
1 cup sauerkraut, drained and patted dry
1 egg
1/2 cup french dressing (or Dorothy Lynch dressing if you are lucky enough to be where they sell it)
1 cup shredded Swiss cheese.
1/2 cup melted butter

Preheat oven to
Place the onions in a saucepan on medium heat with a little oil. Cook until soft.

Add burger and mushrooms.

Once burger is done and mushrooms and onions are soft and browned, season with S&P and set aside to cool.

In a bowl, combine breadcrumbs, sauerkraut, egg, french dressing, and cheese,

Add meat mixture. Combine

Flour your hands. Grab a lime sized piece of dough and pinch it flat. Add a few tbsp of mixture to the middle and pinch closed.

Place in a greased bundt pan. Once you have one layer, brush with melted butter.

Repeat for other layers.

Bake for 40-50 minutes. Add more cheese a few minutes before done, if you wish


Invert on a cooling rack and let sit 10 minutes.