When I finished my pot roast on Sunday I saved the beef broth from the pressure cooker in a separate container and saved the leftover beef and veggies as well. Yesterday I made a quick roux with butter and flour and then thinned it out with the reserved beef broth. I added my veggies to simmer and then cubed some of the leftover meat. When the veggies were warmed through and ready I added the cubed beef, heated through this made a quick and easy beef stew. I still had some beef leftover, so I wrapped it well in foil and put it in the freezer. I may use it later for another beef stew, or even shred it down and make BBQ beef, or some other reason. It was a super economical meal because I got two dinners out of the one roast plus 2 lunches and now I can even use it round out a third meal. It was also economical because I bought the roasts on a buy one get one sale at Winn Dixie, so I have another untouched roast in the freezer. I wasn't intending on buying beef that day but when I see a sale like that I have to jump on it.
For tonight's dinner I will be setting up my rotisserie and roasting a whole chicken. I will flavor it with lemon, salt, white pepper, and butter rubbed generously under the breast skin to keep things moist and flavorful. I am making a side of rice, some artichokes (just steamed with butter) and some yellow squash.
Showing posts with label beef stew. Show all posts
Showing posts with label beef stew. Show all posts
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Tuesday: beef stew in the pressure cooker
I have put the beef stew recipe up before, but there is a reason I go back again and again to making it. It is super fast and super easy, contains inexpensive ingredients and is very tasty. I recently got a new super tiny gas grill that just fits the front step so I am hoping to start grilling out more often. One of my Mom's most go-to Summer recipes was to simply make some hamburger patties, a side of cottage cheese and a big "dinner salad" with lots of greens, carrots, garbanzo beans, chopped boiled eggs, and tomatoes. I make that and also grilled chicken breasts and grilled veggies. The more I cook outside the less I heat up the house, the less air conditioning I need and the happier I am. :)
Another hot weather favorite of mine is to take some canned salmon (super healthy wild caught) and form it into patties with beaten egg, chopped celery, seasoned bread crumbs, and minced onion, salt and pepper. It bakes or grills (in a grill pan) in no time at all and pairs well with one of those bags of 90 second seasoned rice and a green salad.
Rice salad is another delicious hot weather favorite. You can make rice in a flash the night before in a pressure cooker and refrigerate it for the next day before mixing it up with other ingredients. I like it made with chopped broccoli, or peas, chopped bell pepper and corn, it pairs nicely with fresh fruit and some sweet dinner rolls.
What are your good recipes for hot weather?
Another hot weather favorite of mine is to take some canned salmon (super healthy wild caught) and form it into patties with beaten egg, chopped celery, seasoned bread crumbs, and minced onion, salt and pepper. It bakes or grills (in a grill pan) in no time at all and pairs well with one of those bags of 90 second seasoned rice and a green salad.
Rice salad is another delicious hot weather favorite. You can make rice in a flash the night before in a pressure cooker and refrigerate it for the next day before mixing it up with other ingredients. I like it made with chopped broccoli, or peas, chopped bell pepper and corn, it pairs nicely with fresh fruit and some sweet dinner rolls.
What are your good recipes for hot weather?
Saturday, February 19, 2011
Pressure Cooker Beef Stew and Individual Cheesecakes
Dear readers, I have a confession to make. My husband helps with dinner.
*GASP*!
I know, I know, I am not in fact a superwoman capable of bringing home the bacon AND frying it up in the pan, my husband is in fact a huge help to me. The only real downside so far to the Dinner 365 challenge is that I haven't been letting him make dinner on the weekends as he has been accustomed to doing. He still helps me, jokingly calling himself my sous chef; he chops vegetables, starts water boiling, helps me get ingredients off the high shelves, that sort of thing. He's a very good cook himself so I count on him for bouncing ideas around and getting his opinion on any ingredient substitutions. We make a pretty good team that way.
I have been pretty ill off and on for a week, the baby has been sick and getting in bed with us at night. No one around here has slept much lately. Today we took the kids swimming with our good friends and soaked up some Keys sunshine (yay Florida winters) and when we got back I was beat. I accidentally fell asleep around 4 and woke up at 6 just befuddled. I scuttled into the kitchen to find my awesome husband had gotten dinner started already. Pressure cooker beef stew. And he had even remembered to look for the oldest stew meat in the freezer (by date on the bag) and to chop up our oldest vegetables first. I was so impressed. Then I happened to glance into the oven and there were 4 miniature cheesecakes cooking on a tray! Seriously, the man is a saint.
I think I told you that I had made my first sweet cheesecake yesterday, right? I forgot to mention that I had made a mistake with the cheesecake. After I pressed in the chocolate graham cracker crust I poured in the filling, and I got concerned because after only half the filling had gone in it was already up to the top of the crust! The crust mind you had only come halfway up the pan. Apparently forgetting ALL the cheesecakes I had ever eaten before that had only half a crust I panicked and quit pouring and baked it that way. I put the rest of the filling into a tupperware container and put it in the fridge. DH took the initiative and put the filling into well buttered tart pans and baked them, just to see if it would work. They are cooling in the fridge now and we may not get to eat them until tomorrow, but I will let you know if they come out. They look wonderful! The stew was great, I am almost sure I have written about it before, but if not here is the recipe again.
Take stew meat and roll it in seasoned (salt and pepper or even House Blend) flour and brown it in the bottom of your pressure cooker. Chop an onion and add that. Add a quart sized container of beef broth and a teaspoon of marjoram (or oregano) and a teaspoon of worcestershire sauce and place on the lid and cook at high pressure for 15 minutes, then release the pressure. Meanwhile chop up your favorite stew vegetables. We used carrots, potatoes, celery, garlic, and one can of chopped tomatoes (with the juice). We added the vegetables to the pressure cooker and cooked for another 5 minutes at high pressure. When the stew is done stir and taste and adjust seasoning. It will taste like it cooked all day, very, very good! Oh, DH added a few dashes of "Liquid smoke" seasoning as well and I thought it was a great addition. If you do not have a pressure cooker you can make the same stew in a crockpot on high for 4-6 hours or on the stove top in maybe an hour or two on medium heat.
*GASP*!
I know, I know, I am not in fact a superwoman capable of bringing home the bacon AND frying it up in the pan, my husband is in fact a huge help to me. The only real downside so far to the Dinner 365 challenge is that I haven't been letting him make dinner on the weekends as he has been accustomed to doing. He still helps me, jokingly calling himself my sous chef; he chops vegetables, starts water boiling, helps me get ingredients off the high shelves, that sort of thing. He's a very good cook himself so I count on him for bouncing ideas around and getting his opinion on any ingredient substitutions. We make a pretty good team that way.
I have been pretty ill off and on for a week, the baby has been sick and getting in bed with us at night. No one around here has slept much lately. Today we took the kids swimming with our good friends and soaked up some Keys sunshine (yay Florida winters) and when we got back I was beat. I accidentally fell asleep around 4 and woke up at 6 just befuddled. I scuttled into the kitchen to find my awesome husband had gotten dinner started already. Pressure cooker beef stew. And he had even remembered to look for the oldest stew meat in the freezer (by date on the bag) and to chop up our oldest vegetables first. I was so impressed. Then I happened to glance into the oven and there were 4 miniature cheesecakes cooking on a tray! Seriously, the man is a saint.
I think I told you that I had made my first sweet cheesecake yesterday, right? I forgot to mention that I had made a mistake with the cheesecake. After I pressed in the chocolate graham cracker crust I poured in the filling, and I got concerned because after only half the filling had gone in it was already up to the top of the crust! The crust mind you had only come halfway up the pan. Apparently forgetting ALL the cheesecakes I had ever eaten before that had only half a crust I panicked and quit pouring and baked it that way. I put the rest of the filling into a tupperware container and put it in the fridge. DH took the initiative and put the filling into well buttered tart pans and baked them, just to see if it would work. They are cooling in the fridge now and we may not get to eat them until tomorrow, but I will let you know if they come out. They look wonderful! The stew was great, I am almost sure I have written about it before, but if not here is the recipe again.
Take stew meat and roll it in seasoned (salt and pepper or even House Blend) flour and brown it in the bottom of your pressure cooker. Chop an onion and add that. Add a quart sized container of beef broth and a teaspoon of marjoram (or oregano) and a teaspoon of worcestershire sauce and place on the lid and cook at high pressure for 15 minutes, then release the pressure. Meanwhile chop up your favorite stew vegetables. We used carrots, potatoes, celery, garlic, and one can of chopped tomatoes (with the juice). We added the vegetables to the pressure cooker and cooked for another 5 minutes at high pressure. When the stew is done stir and taste and adjust seasoning. It will taste like it cooked all day, very, very good! Oh, DH added a few dashes of "Liquid smoke" seasoning as well and I thought it was a great addition. If you do not have a pressure cooker you can make the same stew in a crockpot on high for 4-6 hours or on the stove top in maybe an hour or two on medium heat.
Friday, January 7, 2011
Beef Stew and Beer Bread!
I love my pressure cooker. I think I have mentioned that here before oh, maybe eleventy million times. I did have a big hunk of roast beast to deal with today, a beef round tip roast. It was approximately the size of 2 regulation basketballs put together. We got 2 nice sized roasts out of it and 3 bags (at 1 pound each) of stew meat. We had just under a pound of meat left so that went into tonight's stew.
This is the basic preparation method.
Dredge stew meat pieces in seasoned flour (salt and pepper). Then brown it in 1 TB of oil in your pressure cooker. Let the meat really sit there and sear to get the maximum flavor. Turn and let the other side brown as well. To this add 1 small chopped onion, 2 C of beef broth (or water, or water with a bullion cube in it) 1 TB of Worcestershire sauce, a couple of shakes of liquid smoke (optional), and a tsp of dried marjoram. Put the lid on your pressure cooker and bring it up to high pressure for 15 minutes. Release the pressure and add your choice of stew vegetables. Add any or all of the following, carrots, potatoes, sweet potatoes, celery, garlic, mushrooms, green beans, hunks of zucchini, yellow squash, and 1 can of diced tomatoes (or of course, fresh chopped tomato in season). Put the lid back on and then bring up to high pressure for 5 more minutes. The stew is ready in about 30 minutes total and tastes like it simmered all day!
Easy Peasy Beer Bread:
3 C of flour (can be half and half white and whole wheat)
1 TB of sugar (optional)
1 t salt
1 TB of baking powder
1 12 oz bottle of beer
1 cup of finely grated cheese (I did 4 cheese Mexican blend)
2 tsp of chopped fresh or dried rosemary
Mix all dry ingredients in a bowl, add the beer, mix together and pour into a greased baking pan and bake at 375 for 40-45 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean. Let cool on a rack for 10 minutes. SUPER YUMMY! Bread is done in about an hour counting baking time! Please try it sometime, because it is quick and easy and delicious!
This is the basic preparation method.
Dredge stew meat pieces in seasoned flour (salt and pepper). Then brown it in 1 TB of oil in your pressure cooker. Let the meat really sit there and sear to get the maximum flavor. Turn and let the other side brown as well. To this add 1 small chopped onion, 2 C of beef broth (or water, or water with a bullion cube in it) 1 TB of Worcestershire sauce, a couple of shakes of liquid smoke (optional), and a tsp of dried marjoram. Put the lid on your pressure cooker and bring it up to high pressure for 15 minutes. Release the pressure and add your choice of stew vegetables. Add any or all of the following, carrots, potatoes, sweet potatoes, celery, garlic, mushrooms, green beans, hunks of zucchini, yellow squash, and 1 can of diced tomatoes (or of course, fresh chopped tomato in season). Put the lid back on and then bring up to high pressure for 5 more minutes. The stew is ready in about 30 minutes total and tastes like it simmered all day!
Easy Peasy Beer Bread:
3 C of flour (can be half and half white and whole wheat)
1 TB of sugar (optional)
1 t salt
1 TB of baking powder
1 12 oz bottle of beer
1 cup of finely grated cheese (I did 4 cheese Mexican blend)
2 tsp of chopped fresh or dried rosemary
Mix all dry ingredients in a bowl, add the beer, mix together and pour into a greased baking pan and bake at 375 for 40-45 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean. Let cool on a rack for 10 minutes. SUPER YUMMY! Bread is done in about an hour counting baking time! Please try it sometime, because it is quick and easy and delicious!
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