Beef Bourguignon

We love old fashion pot roast, but loved this spin on it. YUM!

Beef Bourguignon

3 pounds beef roast, or beef stew meat (I used a chuck roast I had in the freezer)
6 slices bacon--no need to cook (I used turkey)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, sliced in rings
1 cup carrots (chopped or baby, your choice)
4 garlic cloves, smashed and chopped
1 tablespoon herbs de provence
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 tablespoon tomato paste (not pictured, oops!)
2 cups red wine (you can use non-alcoholic if you wish)

The Directions.

Use a 6 quart slow cooker. In the bottom of your stoneware, smear around the olive oil. Then lay down 3 slices of bacon. Add sliced onion and garlic. Put the meat into the pot on top of the onion and garlic, and sprinkle on dried spices and herbs. Toss the meat to distribute the spices to all sides. Add tomato paste. Lay the other 3 slices of bacon on top of the meat, and throw in the carrots. Pour wine over the whole thing.

Cover and let cook on low for 8-9 hours, high for 4-5, or until meat has reached desired tenderness. If you are using a roast, you may want to flip the meat about an hour before serving so more liquid is absorbed into the meat. You can also cut the meat into chunks and return to the pot, if you would like more moisture to absorb.

Original Here!

Our Favorite Beef Chili

Chili
1 lb. beef for stew
1 cup chopped onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 (14.5 oz) can diced tomatoes
1/2 cup green pepper
1 (15 oz) can dark red kidney beans, rinsed and drained
1 (8 oz) can tomato sauce
2-3 tsp of chili powder
1/2 tsp dried basil
1/4 tsp pepper

Cook beef, onion, and garlic in pan until onion is tender. I put this mixture in the crockpot on low one day before I want to serve the chili. This might be unnecessary, but I like the beef to be very tender. In the morning I pull apart the beef and add all the other ingredients. Cook on low for 6-8 additional hours. I always double this recipe.
Optional: serve with sour cream, cheddar cheese, and fritos.

Italian Beef Dippers

We had this for lunch yesterday and it was so filling that John and I skipped dinner. So it might not be that healthy (see nutrition info below) but it seems justifiable when it's 2 meals, right? And we thought it was YUMMY! Which is always the most important thing to me!

Italian Beef Dippers
Pillsbury Kids Cookbook Copyright 2005

1 can (18.5 ounces) ready-to-serve French onion soup
1/2 teaspoon dried Italian seasoning
3/4 pound thinly sliced roast beef from the deli
6 crusty French rolls (each 3 to 4 inches long)
6 slices ( 3/4 ounce each) provolone cheese

Pour the soup into a saucepan. Measure out the Italian seasoning. Toss it in the saucepan. Mix the soup and the seasoning.

Heat the soup over medium heat until it is hot. Stir every once in a while. Add the slices of beef to the soup. Continue to heat for 4 to 6 minutes, until soup and beef are heated all the way through. Stir every once in a while so it doesn't stick to the bottom of the pan

Use a serrated knife to cut the French rolls in half sideways on the cutting board. Use a slotted spoon to remove the slices of beef from the soup. Put the beef on the bottom halves of the rolls. If you like onions, put a few onions from the soup on the beef.

Cut each slice of cheese into two pieces. Put two pieces of cheese on top of the beef on each sandwich. Cover the beef and cheese with the top halves of the rolls.

Scoop out 1/3 cup soup and put it in one of the custard cups. Put the same amount of soup in each of the other custard cups. (If there's any soup left over, divide it into the cups.) Serve the sandwiches with the warm soup for dipping.

Makes 6 servings.

Approximate values per serving: 280 calories, 10 g fat, 47 mg cholesterol, 20 g protein, 28 g carbohydrates, 2 g fiber, 1,410 mg sodium, 32 percent calories from fat.

Vegetable Soup

We've been eating a lot of soup this winter. It's comforting, can be extremely healthy, and cheap too. So here's the recipe of the soup I made tonight.

Vegetable Soup

• 1 pound beef for stew (I usually buy mine pre-cut, cause I'm lazy and busy too)
• 1 clove of garlic
• a little flour
  
• 1 (46 ounce) bottle V8 vegetable juice
• 2 cups of chicken/beef/vegetable broth (this is approximate - I just emptied the box I had in the frig from last week. So add as much as you want, I say)
  
• 1/4 of an onion, chopped (we can't tolerate much onion in our home, so use more if you want)
  
• 2 carrots, sliced
  
• 2 potatoes, diced
• 2 cups of frozen corn or 1 can whole kernel corn
• 1 (14.5 ounce) can green beans (I would have used fresh if they were in season)
  
• 1 pinch ground ginger (I'm not sure why, but I tried it)
  
• salt and ground black pepper to taste

Throw some flour, salt, and pepper along with the meat into a ziploc bag and shake it around a bit. Heat a little olive oil in the bottom of your pan and brown a clove of garlic. Then throw the meat in there. Let it brown the outside and then drain the fat. Put the beef back in the pot along with all the other ingredients. Let it cook for over an hour or all afternoon. This would also do great in the crockpot.

I hope these instructions aren't too general. You pretty much can't go wrong on this one, so enjoy making yours just right for your family!

Beef Stroganoff

I have been looking for a good Beef Stroganoff recipe that didn't include a lot of 'cream of soups' since Noah can't have it and I finally found one I love. Aaron even went back for seconds:)

3 lb. beef round steak, 1/2 inch thick
1/2 cup flour
2 teaspoons salt
1/8 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp dry mustard
2 medium onions, sliced thin
1/4 cup flour8 oz sliced mushrooms
1 can condensed beef broth (10.5 oz)
3 tablespoons dry white wine
1 1/2 cup sour cream

Trim all excess fat from steak and cut into 3 inch strips about 1/2 inch wide. Combine 1/2 cup flour, salt, peppers and dry mustard. Toss with the steak strips to coat. Place coated strips in a crock pot; stir in onion rings and mushrooms.Add beef broth and wine, stir. Cover and cook on low for 8-10 hours.Before serving, mix the sour cream with 1/4 cup of flour then stir into the crock pot. Serve with rice or noodles.

Check out the original recipe here