No Mushroom Beef Stroganoff

I'm not a big mushroom fan. I'll eat them, but it isn't my preference.  This recipe is particularly nice because it only uses one pan.  The addition of the cream cheese to the sour cream makes for a very creamy stroganoff.  It is a nice addition, but it's optional.

  

No Mushroom Beef Stroganoff

1 Tablespoon olive oil
1 pound steak, cut into thin slices
salt and pepper to taste
4 Tablespoons flour, divided use
1 cup diced onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 Tablespoons butter
3 1/2 - 4 cups beef broth
2 Tablespoons red wine vinegar
3 Tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon dried thyme
8 ounces wide egg noodles
4 ounces cream cheese, optional
1/2 cup sour cream
parsley

  

Place the sliced steak into a medium bowl and season with the salt, pepper and 1 Tablespoon flour. Mix well.

  

Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium high heat.

  

Cook until brown.

   

  

Add the onion and garlic and cook until the onions are soft, about 4 minutes.

  

Remove the meat mixture to a plate and set aside.

  

Reduce the heat to medium and melt the butter in the same pan.  Whisk in the remaining 3 tablespoons of flour.  Whisk for 1-2 minutes while the flour and butter makes a roux and the flour just starts to turn golden brown.  Pour the beef broth in a cup at a time, reserving about 1/2 cup of broth.  Whisk thoroughly between each cup until smooth and thickened.   Add the red wine vinegar, Worcestershire sauce and thyme.  Mix

  

Remove about 1/2 cup of the sauce and set aside.  Place the egg noodles in the skillet and stir to coat.

  

Reduce the heart to medium low. Cook for 10- 15 minutes, until the noodles are cooked al dente.

  

You may need to add more broth if the sauce becomes too thick.  The noodles will absorb a lot of the sauce and be very flavorful!

  

Add the sour cream and the cream cheese, if you chose to use it.

  

Stir to combine.  Taste and add salt and pepper, if needed.

  

Return the steak and onions to the pan and cook a few minutes to warm through.  Pour the reserved sauce over the steak mixture and mix in.

  

Serve with freshly chopped parsley. We served the stroganoff with a simple salad.

  

This comfort food was creamy and delicious and we had enough to serve for leftovers another day.

  

Marry Me Cookies

I saw Marry Me Cookies when I was cruising around the internet.  It was on the site, iambaker.  The premise is that these cookies are so fabulous that they will seal the deal on a proposal.  While they are very good cookies, I don't think I would marry someone based primarily on being presented with these cookies.  But you are welcome to try it!



Marry Me Cookies

1 cup butter
1 1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups flour
1 cup oatmeal
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup white chocolate chips
1 cup milk chocolate chips

  

Clear a shelf or two in your refrigerator or freezer.  You will need to chill the batter at various times.  Don't preheat the oven just yet.

  

Melt the butter in a medium saucepan.  Remove from the heat add both sugars and stir until smooth.  Pour into a large bowl and chill the mixture for 10 minutes.  This will cool it enough for when you add the eggs.  Scrambled eggs in cookies are unpleasant.

  

Remove the bowl and stir in the eggs and vanilla.

  

Add the flour, oats, baking soda, salt and cinnamon and mix well.  Fold in both flavors of chocolate chips.

  

Chill the dough about 30 minutes, until it is firm enough to form balls.  Use a medium scoop or roll about 2 teaspoons of dough into balls.

  

Place on parchment or Silpat lined baking sheet.  I did both to see if one was better than the other.  It was not.   Place  the baking sheets and any remaining dough in the bowl in the fridge for 30 minutes or the freezer for 10.

  

Preheat the oven to 325º.  Bake the cookie dough for 12 to 14 minutes.  The edges should just be starting to turn brown.  It took 14 minutes for me.

  

Remove from the oven and cool for 2 minutes.  Then remove to a cooling rack to finish cooling.

  

Eat a few and then take some to your favorite library.  You shouldn't be eating all of these by yourself.



Do you think this will work?

Cheesy Chicken Fritters

I found this recipe at Natasha's Kitchen.  It sounded delicious and I decided to make it.  The recipe made way more than we could eat, but I'm a firm believer in cook once and eat leftovers.

I just heated the leftover fritters in a small amount of olive oil and they were still delicious.

Cheesy Chicken Fritters

1 1/2 pounds chicken breasts
2 eggs
1/3 cup mayonnaise
1/3 cup corn starch or flour.  I used corn starch.
1 1/3 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
1 Tablespoon chopped fresh dill.  I used basil, because I had some and didn't have dill.
1/2 salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
2 Tablespoons Olive Oil for cooking

Garlic Aioli Dip

1/3 cup mayonnaise
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1/2 Tablespoons lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper

  

Dice the chicken into 1/3 inch pieces.

  

Place the minced chicken into a large bowl.

  

Add the eggs, mayo, corn starch, mozzarella, dill (or basil!), salt and pepper.  Mix well.

  

The recipe called for chilling this mixture for a few hours or overnight.  I didn't want to do that, so I put it in the freezer while I made the aioli, set the table and prepped the rest of the dinner.  I also made smashed red potatoes, so when they were almost ready to come out of the oven, I heated the olive oil in a non-stick pan and I took the chicken mixture out of the freezer. It was in there for about 15-20 minutes.

  

To make the aioli, simply add the garlic, lemon juice and seasonings to the mayo, stir and chill until ready to serve.

  

I used a medium sized scoop to place about 2 Tablespoons of the chicken mixture in the heated oil.

  

Use the back of the scoop to flatten the fritters and cook until browned on the outside and completely white on the inside, about 3 minutes on each side.

  

This was a really nice treat.  The aioli sauce made the dish.  Don't leave it out.  It was even delicious on the potatoes.

  

Collecting The Dead

 

I have found a new series to love.  I read the second book first, which is usually a mistake. Then I went back and read the first one in the FBI Special Tracking Unit Series.  It is Collecting The Dead by Spencer Kope.

In this new and exciting series Magnus "Steps" Craig has special abilities that enable him to see where people have been.  A traumatic event in his childhood left him with synesthesia.  This is when one sense is felt by another sense, such as seeing colors invokes a taste.  Yellow may taste like lemon, for example.  For Steps, he can see the tracks or touch of people as a particular color and texture.

This sense can be overwhelming, so he has to wear special glasses to block the streaks and splotches of neon color taking over his field of vision.

But this special power can help him in tracking the lost child and even the tracks of a serial killer.  Each person has a specific color, so Steps is able to determine immediately if a dead body is the result of a serial killer, assuming he has seen the tracks on another body.  He has to pretend to find actual clues, so that he isn't considered a nut and his evidence gathering isn't dismissed.  A Special FBI Tracking Unit has been established so that Magnus and his partner, Jimmy Donovan can fly out to a murder or abduction that fits into their skill set.

Not only is this new series fascinating because of this unusual team, but Spencer Kope is a fabulous writer.  He gives you insight into the characters and the toll this job takes on them.  His books have moments of great tension, but they also has a lot of humor.   One example is a line that hit too close to home for me, " It's not that I am in bad shape, I can run ten miles with the best of them; I just prefer to do it a half mile at a time with twenty-four-hour breaks in between."

The second book in this series is Whispers Of The Dead.  It is also a wonderful book.  I probably read 50 to 100 mysteries in any given year, so when I recommend a book you should believe me. Read this series.  I can't wait for the third one.

Fresh Peach Cobbler

My favorite orchard store, Bryant Orchards, now has fresh peaches.  They are the best.  My summer of making peach SOMETHINGS has begun. I decided on a cobbler.  Usually with a cobbler you place the fruit in a baking pan and dot or cover the top with the topping for a cobbler.  This is a bit different.   For this cobbler I placed fruit on the cake mixture.

I made a 9X13 baking dish but you can halve the recipe for an 8X8 pan of dessert.

  

Fresh Peach Cobbler

4 cups peeled and sliced peaches
1 cup sugar
1 Tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 cup melted butter (1 stick)
1 cup flour
1 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup milk

  

Preheat the oven to 375˚.

 

Mix the peeled and sliced peaches with the 1 cup of sugar and lemon juice in a large bowl.  Add the cinnamon and baking powder and stir to combine.

  

Place them in a sauce pan and heat over medium heat until the sugar is all melted and the peaches are so juicy!

  

In a medium bowl whisk together the flour, brown sugar, baking powder, salt and cinnamon.

  

Add the milk and whisk until just combined.

  

Pour the melted butter into the baking dish.

  

Top the butter with the cake batter and then gently place the peaches evenly on top.

  

Bake for 30 to 40 minutes until the cake rises to the top and browns.  Remove from the oven and place on a rack to cool for 10 minutes.

  

Serve by itself,

  

or even better, with a very large scoop of vanilla ice cream.

  

What could be better than fruit, cake and ice cream!