We're doing a happy dance here. Why? We have flowers - YAY! The first crocus of the season is happily blooming and the second one is close.
Typically, a yellow crocus is the first but this year the lavender one wins. We also have hellebores blooming like crazy. I'd never had one before and am loving this guy. I have room for a couple more so will hunt for a couple I like this summer.
We've also got tons of daffodils with buds. The hyacinths and tulips have loads of leaves up. And the daylilies, rhubarb and peonies are just now starting to pop up. Wow. I love spring!!! Hopefully this weekend we'll have an opportunity to go dig in the yard a bit. Well, that is if the weather cooperates... I'm reading that it's supposed to drop below freezing again on Sunday and I've got appointments all day on Saturday. So, probably Connie'll get to dig and I won't :-(
Back to food... My friend Christiane at Taking on Magazines posted a blog about a stroganoff recipe from Fine Cooking. Boy oh boy did that bring back memories. When I was a kid, Mom used to make Nikki's Beef Stroganoff. It's very good and very quick.
Then, when I was working at Indiana National Bank one of my colleagues gave me her recipe for beef stroganoff. It also has ground beef in it but is made with consomme rather than tomato soup. Along the way my "other mother's" (aka my high school best friend's mom) stroganoff came along. It's got dill and ripe olives and waterchestnuts and is amazing. Finally, back in 1994 a date fixed me stroganoff made with steak. Yummmmm!
Over the years I've tried probably a dozen more stroganoff recipes. And, I've loved them all. I've narrowed down my favorite to one made with consomme. So, here I am with a huge package of stew beef to make Lou's Barbecue Beef. And, Christiane posts her blog. I've just got to try this. I held back about a pound of the better pieces of stew beef. It's better on the budget than steak but doesn't tend to be as tender. After teaching my Social Security class way west in Danville, I finally got home at 7:30. My desire to follow a new recipe had waned. I wanted MY stroganoff. I read Christiane's recipe and it was pretty darned close to my recipe. She used beef broth, I used consomme. I added more mushrooms and onion. And, I used lowfat sour cream. We did miss the steak but our wallets were happier! One interesting note here... Fine Cooking does a segment where they have a chef prepare a classic preparation then have a different chef create one with a twist. Christiane's version was the classic.
Stroganoff
Ingredients:
1 lb steak or stew beef
1 medium onion
12 oz mushrooms
2 T olive oil
1 T chopped garlic
1 can consomme
1 T red wine
1 T flour
1 c light sour cream
Directions:
Pour one tablespoon of olive oil into a medium saucepan. Add the sliced onions.
Pour 1 T olive oil in a large saucepan. When it is sizzling hot, add the beef. Try not to let the pieces touch or they'll steam rather than brown.
When the beef is browned, remove it from the pan and set it aside. Add the sliced mushrooms to the pan. When the mushrooms are almost cooked and the onions are just starting to brown,
add the garlic to the onions. If it's added too early, it'll burn. After the garlic has cooked for about a minute, sprinkle the flour over the onions stir it in and allow it to cook for about a minute. Pour in the consomme and red wine and stir well. When the onion mixture has thickened a bit, add it to the skillet with the mushrooms. Add the beef and the sour cream and stir well.
Serve over wide egg noodles.
Growing up we had our fair share of meals made with Campbell's Soup. Mom was a very good cook. But Campbell's Soup frequently makes for a quicker meal. And, that's important when you're working and still trying to get a good meal on the table for a family. Some of my favorite dishes like Chicken Green Bean Casserole and Chicken Elegante have Cream of Chicken Soup in them. But, this is the only one with tomato soup. The original recipe came from a friend of Mom's by the name of Nikki, ergo the name of the dish. It's ultra quick and easy to make and is pretty darned good. Best of all, it freezes beautifully. All you have to do is cook some rice or noodles, heat up the sauce and fix a vegetable or salad for the side and you're in business.
Having a frozen dinner or two available was important this week. You see, since our house has been in total chaos since March we were anxious to finally get a room done. And, since the painting is complete upstairs that meant that the little guest room could be completed. Pictures hung on the wall et al. Now, the other three rooms upstairs, not so much. Soon, we'll have movers here to take a large file cabinet to the office and take an old desk to the garage where a charitable organization can pick it up. Then, they're heading to the storage unit to clear it out. I've had a bunch of our old furniture stored there since we bought this house five years ago. Some of mine that didn't fit in the house and some of Connie's that's his ex's taste and is too formal for my taste. And, some that we just plain couldn't use. I thought one of his three kids or my niece or nephew would certainly want some of it. But, to date, no takers. And, I'm tired of paying for the storage unit. So, it's all going elsewhere. Whew. Once all of that is done, I'll easily be able to put together two more rooms. The sports guest room will be last. I've got to make t-shirt pillows for the bed. And, buy a bedspread. Means I can finally get rid of the one with the gold and green and rose that I've disliked since day one. But, it came with Connie and until I knew what I wanted to do in that room it didn't make sense to spend the money on an interim quilt. Hopefully, by the middle of September, I'll have the upstairs put together. I'd better be because by then, I'll be out of freezer meals!
Nikki's Beef Stroganoff
Ingredients:
1 lb ground beef
1 can Campbell's Tomato Soup
1 large onion, sliced
1 8 oz box mushrooms or a 4oz can of mushrooms
1 t Worcestershire sauce
1/4 t - 1/2 t garlic powder
freshly ground black pepper
1/2 c sour cream
Directions:
Brown and drain ground beef. If you don't mind using multiple pots and pans, you can saute the onions and the mushrooms in two separate pans. Otherwise, once the beef is done, wipe out the skillet, hit it with a good dose of cooking spray and saute your onions and mushrooms. Once they're nice and softened and a bit brown, add in all the other ingredients except the sour cream. Simmer the stroganoff for about 20 minutes. Stir in the sour cream and serve over rice or noodles. I love to serve roasted broccoli with it.
Are you all getting tired of the New Belgium Brewing posts? We're certainly not getting tired of trying new recipes with beer. I've learned an important lesson with all of this: break the rules. Just because you've always put white wine in stroganoff doesn't mean you need to continue to do that. Try something different. The night before I made this, I knew I'd get home really late and want something quick. So, I picked up one of the refrigerated boxes of roast pork. The kind packed in gravy. The kind we eat about once a year but should probably use more often so I'd spend a bit less time in the kitchen and more time catching up on my reading.
I called Connie when I left my Columbus office. He knows it's 52 miles and 62 minutes door to door. He greeted me at the door with a glass of wine. Inside, mushrooms simmered on the stove and provided an incredibly welcoming aroma. I quickly sliced an onion and added it to the mix. Then, I stopped. White wine's always gone in next if it's pork stroganoff. Red wine if it's beef stroganoff. Hmm, what about beer? Fat Tire to be specific. We poured on in and took off on our evening yard tour.
A new hellebore is blooming. My favorite lily is looking great. The yellow iris have fat buds. The wisteria is budding. There are two plants I don't recognize in one of the beds by the neighborhood entrance. There are a LOT of thistles popping up. As much as I hate chemicals, it may be time for some Roundup. Our neighbor across the street came over and thanked me for getting involved. He wasn't home when the guys were mounding the bark mulch up around his tree trunks. I went over and told them they really needed it to look like donuts and not volcanos because the volcanos will kill the trees. They said they'd never heard of that. Somehow Ernie heard about that exchange and they researched it and I was right. He spent the evening digging the mulch away from his tree trunks. Finally time to head in and check on dinner.
The mushrooms and onions looked wonderful. The beer had reduced to a lovely sauce. I added the pork and let it simmer for a bit. Then, in went the pork gravy and some sour cream. Ah, dinner. As we ate, we discussed. Should I come clean and tell you all I'd used the packaged, refrigerated pork? Or, should I just say I'd used pulled pork. My take was that we all need convenience at times. And, life happens. Sometimes in order to get dinner on the table it's necessary to use convenience foods. Around here it doesn't happen often, but it does happen. So, there you have it.
We loved the stroganoff. I'll absolutely make it with Fat Tire next time. I'm very much enjoying stretching my cooking brain here. Thanks, New Belgium Brewing for the stipend to purchase the beer. We've enjoyed every bit of it!!!
New Belgium Brewing Pork Stroganoff
Ingredients:
8 oz box cremini mushrooms, sliced
1 large onion, sliced
12 oz bottle Fat Tire Ale
1 16 oz box cooked pork
1/2 c lowfat sour cream
brown rice
Directions:
Spray a large skillet with cooking spray. Add the sliced mushrooms and saute until they're softened. Add the onions
and beer
and simmer until the onions are nice and soft. Shred the pork and add it.
Stir in the sour cream and heat through.
Serve over cooked brown rice.
I received New Belgium Brewing products through the Foodbuzz Tastemaker Program.
