Beef Stroganoff (Crock Pot Style)

We all know how much I love my crock pot, right? It's coming in especially handy late in this pregnancy. Easy peasy meals coming from my kitchen!

Another one of my favorite things is Beef Stroganoff. And this recipe couldn't be easier!

Beef Stroganoff

1 lb beef stew meat
2 cans Cream of Mushroom Soup (I used reduced fat and couldn't even tell the difference!)
2 cubes of beef bullion
1/2 cup sour cream

Directions:
Dump it all in the crock pot. Cook on low for 6-8 hours (the longer it cooks, the more tender the meat will be). Serve over egg noodles.

Pei Wei Mongolian Beef!

Sorry I totally forgot to take a picture...

PEI WEI MONGOLIAN BEEF

2 tsp. vegetable oil

1/2 tsp. ginger, minced

1 Tbsp. garlic, chopped

1/2 c. soy sauce

1/2 c. water

3/4 c. dark brown sugar

1 c. vegetable oil

1 lb. flank steak

1/4 c. cornstarch

2 large green onions

Preparation:

• Make the sauce by heating 2 tsp. of vegetable oil in a medium saucepan over med/low heat. Don't let the oil get too hot. Add ginger and garlic to the pan and quickly add the soy sauce and water before the garlic scorches. Dissolve the brown sugar in the sauce, then raise the heat to about medium and boil the sauce for 2-3 minutes or until the sauce thickens. Remove it from the heat.
• Slice the flank steak against the grain into 1/8" thick slices. Dip the steak pieces into the cornstarch to apply a very thin dusting to both sides of each piece of beef. Let the beef sit for about 10 minutes so that hte cornstarch sticks.
• As the beef sits, heat up one cup of oil in a wok (you can also use a skillet for this step as long as the beef will be mostly covered with oil). Heat the oil over medium heat until it's nice and hot, but not smoking. Add the beef to the oil and saute for just two minutes, or until the beef just begins to darken on the edges. You don't need to thoroughly cooking here since the beef is going to go back on the heat later. Stir the meat around a little so that it cooks evenly.
• After a couple minutes, use a large slotted spoon to take the meat out and onto paper towels, then pour the oil out of the wok or skillet. Put pan back over the heat, dump the meat back in and let it simmer for about a minute. Add the sauce, cook for one minute while stirring, then add all the green onions. Cook for one more minute.

Serve over rice or noodles..Makes enough to feed 4-5 people. (depending on how much everyone eats...)

I added zuccini, snow peas, and celery to mine and it was DELICIOUS! Seriously it was so good!

Pasta Caraba

Notes: I got this (kinda) from Rendy.   I hope that we can get him to add some of his recipes to this site

Fry some bacon in a large skillet until crisp (Take out of pan when done)
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 cups sliced mushroom
3 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
3 8 oz chicken breast or thighs, grilled and cut into strips
1 pound penne
pasta
Fresh Rosemary to taste
Fresh Basli to taste
2 cups grated Romano cheese
salt to taste
pepper to taste


1. In the bacon grease in the large skillet, add garlic and sauté for a few seconds , add mushrooms, sauté for 3 minutes over a medium flame.

2. Cook Penne in salted boiling water until al dente (13 minutes).

3. Add heavy cream, chicken and Rosemary to sauce. Bring to a boil. Drain pasta and add to sauce, along with the crumbled up bacon, and toss pasta and bacon with the sauce. Sprinkle cheese and Fresh basil evenly over pasta and toss until sauce is a creamy consistency.
4. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Italian Red Sauce

This was given to me by our good friend Dave Porter. He served a mission in Italy were he learned how to make the sauce.
In a big sauce pan combine
1 Bottle of home canned tomatoes ( I sometimes use a quart size store bought can)(Rendy uses fresh tomatoes and purees them if you do this be sure and add 1 tsp salt and 1 tsp sugar)
1 Large can of tomato paste
2 Tbs. Italian seasoning (Rendy uses fresh Italian herbs in his)
2 cloves of garlic crushed
1 medium onion diced
Let come to a boil over medium heat and then simmer a day or a couple of hours stirring occasionally.

Cranberry Sauce

Already thinking about Thanksgiving :)

Ingredients:
1 c cranberries
2 T frozen concentrated O.J. (thawed)
1 1/4 t orange marmalade
1 t sugar

Directions:
Combine together in blender or food processor.

We double the recipe for larger parties because it just doesn't seem to make enough. I love this stuff! And it's totally worth buying a whole jar of orange marmalade even if you only use 1 1/4 teaspoon out of the whole jar!