Beef Stroganoff

It's recipe time!!
For as long as I can remember, my mom always made beef stroganoff the same way, she bought a box of hamburger helper in stroganoff flavor and instead of using ground beef she used stew meat. That was it...so boring (sorry, mom) and kind of funny tasting in that way that only hamburger helper can manage to taste (does all HH taste the same to you too?).

So, when I started cooking, I naturally did the same thing, until I got older and realized there was other ways of cooking things and not always having to rely on boxed meals (and especially when I realized how much sodium was in those things). That bring us to todays recipe.

This is my version of stroganoff. I'm a saucy kinda gal, so theres gonna be lots of nice creamy sauce, it's really filling, and heres the fun part... You can make it with stew meat (and ground beef too, if you really want) OR CHICKEN. Yes folks, chicken too, you're excited, I can tell.....You can also use the low sodium or non-fat cream of mushroom soup (i think they are called campbells healthy choice?), as well as non-fat sour cream, if you wanna make it a bit healthier.
Ok, onward we go to Stroganoffland.

What you need:

1lb of stew meat (or ground beef or boneless skinnless chicken breast) cut into chunks
2 cups of egg noodles
1 can cream of mushroom
1 can of beef gravy (you can use beef broth as well and just thicken it with some cornstarch . If you're making this with chicken use chicken gravy/broth instead of beef)
1 cup of sliced mushrooms (not the funny kind that make you see rainbows and talking walls though...)
1 cup of all purpose flour
1table spoon of butter
2 tablespoons of olive oil
1/3 cup sour cream
You're also gonna need some salt, pepper, and garlic powder but no specific amounts of any of those

Make it: 

 First thing you wanna do, is pour the olive oil and the butter in a skillet and turn it on to med-high heat. 

You also want to start boiling the water for the egg noodles.

While thats heating up, you want to place your beef chunks into a brown paper bag or a large-ish tupper wear container. 

In a small bowl, mix the flour with just enough salt, pepper, and garlic powder to season the flour (i also like to throw in some meat tenderizer...just for kicks. totally not necessary though). 

Add the flour mixture to the meat, close the bag or container up and..... 

Shake-shake-shake. 

Shake-shake-Shake. 

Shake your stew meat...

Shake your stew meat.... 

Ok, ok, i'll stop. It sounded much funnier in my head anyway. Sorry guys. 

ok, so, moving on...

Once you've shook the meat up and coated it all nicely in that flour mixture you're gonna take it out and add it to the hot oil. 

 Let the meat brown on both sides. You just want to brown the meat, not cook it through completely. 

Once the meat is browned, remove it from the pan and set it aside. 

Add the sliced mushrooms to the same pan the meat just came out of and cook the mushrooms until they are nice an tender. 

The water in the other pot should be boiling at this point so add in those noodles.

Add the gravy (or broth that you've thickened with some cornstarch) to the mushrooms.

Add 1/3 cup of water and stir it together, make sure to scrape up all those browny tastey bits at the bottom of the pan where all the flavor lives.

Then, add in the cream of mushroom & sour cream.

Mix that all together til it's all creamy (like Baileys...mmmmm, Baileys) and add in the meat.

Lower the heat to med-low and just let it hang out for a bit.

By then, your pasta should be cooked, and you can remove it and drain it.

I like to serve the meat and sauce on top of the noodles and sprinkle it with parsley (because i'm fancy y'all) and because it adds a pretty green brightness to the dish.

That's it. You're done!

 Eat. Drink. Be Merry.

 And tell me how you liked it.

CHOW! 

(get it? chow? like ciao'!...no? ok, im not funny...)

My version of a Chicken Florentine pasta

So, I honestly had no intention of blogging this recipe, which is why theres a serious lack of pictures but it smelled so good in the middle of my cooking that I snapped a quick few and thought I should share it. It was absolutely delicous. I have 3 people and a tiny little man that will vouch for that, instead of just my husband, for once. 

This is my spin on a chicken florentine dish. I don't even have measurements for it all because, like I said I didnt plan on blogging this so, nothing was measured out, I have a bad habit of just eyeballing things. Especially because I was cooking for 5 people and not just 2. So bare with me.

What you need (for the most part anyway):

1 box of Penne pasta (like always any short pasta will do, im just using penne today)

1 (6oz) bag of baby spinach

2 large boneless skinless chicken breasts

1 can diced tomatoes

10 garlic cloves peeled and minced

6-7 white mushrooms sliced

Salt

Black Pepper

Garlic powder

Grated Parmesan cheese 

1 cup of chicken broth

Make it:

Get your salted water boiling for your pasta. 

While you wait for the water to boil, you want to mince the garlic cloves, save about 1/2 tbsp of the garlic for later.

put about 2 table spoons of olive oil in a large nonstick skillet and heat the garlic on medium heat til it's wilted and you smell that nice garlicky smell. 

DO NOT BURN IT. 

You will have to start all over. It gets bitter and gross and not at all appealing.

OK, moving on. while the garlic is getting all yummy in the pan,

dice the chicken breast up into pretty good sized chunks, nothing too big.

Season the chicken with a little salt, a good amount of black pepper, 

and garlic powder and add it to the pan.

Turn the heat up a bit, and cook the chicken.

While the chicken is cooking, slice up the mushrooms.

When the chicken has those nice golden brown spots and it's cooked through, and theres all those browny bits at the bottom of the pan add in the mushrooms.

While the mushrooms are wilting, open up a can of diced tomatoes and drain 1/2 the liquid into a bowl, and the rest of the liquid with the tomatoes into the skillet.

Add a little salt (to help the tomatoes reduce), and lower the heat while the tomatoes do their thing.

By now, your water should be boiling, add in your box of pasta and cook it until its done. 

Don't worry about your stuff in the skillet, just keep it on medium-low heat.

While the pasta is cooking, add a cup of chicken broth to that bowl of liquid from the tomatoes. 

Add about 1 tablespoon of cornstarch and wisk it.

When it's all mixed, add it to the skillet and mix it in really well.

If it's too thick, add a little extra chicken broth, if its too runny add a little extra cornstarch.

In a seperate frying pan, add that 1/2 tbsp of garlic you saved and 1 tbs of olive oil. 

Heat it up and add in the bag of spinach. 

Cook the spinach until its wilted and still bright green.

Add about 1 tbs of grated parmesan cheese and mix it in well.

Toss the spinach into the skillet with the chicken and mix it all in evenly.

When the pasta is done (you really want it al dente for this dish) drain the water out of it really well and toss it into the skillet with the chicken, spinach, mushrooms and tomatoes.

The pasta should soak up all the liquid in the pan and just be glazed with the flavors.

Serve with grated parmesan cheese and try not to eat so much that you dont have any to snack on later... Please let me know if you try this and what you thought. 

Enjoy!!

Cous Cous! The food so nice they named it twice...

Todays second recipe is a Tex Mex Cous Cous Salad. It is a cold salad, and perfect for a light lunch, or even a little snack. It's packed with crisp veggies and lots of flavor. I found this recipe online a couple years ago and just adjusted it to suit my tastes better. I apologize for the picture. I took this picture of it when I made it a for lunch a few months back and since I wasn't making a fresh batch today I had to use the old picture.

What you need:

 1 cup uncooked couscous
1 1/4 cups chicken broth
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon red wine vinegar
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 of a large onion, chopped
1 red bell pepper, seeded and chopped1 yellow bell pepper, seeded and chopped
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley (or cilantro)
1 cup frozen corn kernels, thawed
2 (15 ounce) cans black beans, drained
salt and pepper

Directions:
Bring chicken broth to a boil in a sauce pan and stir in the couscous.
Cover the pot and remove it from heat and let the cous cous sit, covered for 5 minutes.
While the cous cous is resting, In a large bowl, whisk together the olive oil, lemon juice, vinegar and cumin.
Add the green onions, red & yellow pepper, corn and beans to the dressing.
Remove the lid from the cous cous, and Fluff the couscous well with a fork, breaking up any big clumps and transfer to the bowl containing the vegetable & dressing mixture.
Mix everything well, making sure it's all coated evenly.
Season with salt and pepper and garnish with Parsley (if you're feelin fancy, I always feel fancy...)