"Super Suppers" Steak Soup

Happy Monday to you!
I am thrilled to have gotten the Recipe Archive page up for you. I hope that you use and enjoy it! I will, of course, be adding every new recipe to it as I post them. :)

Speaking of new recipes...I have one! :) Yay!
This is another recipe courtesy of Super Suppers Cookbook.
For your reviewing pleasure, I bring you....Steak Soup. Oh...and by the way...this one's a One Pot!!!! Yeah!!! :)

"Makes 6-8 servings"
Ingredients:
2 slices bacon, slivered (We love bacon so I used 4 slices precooked bacon, then crumbled)
1 lb round steak, trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces
2 cups finely chopped onion (I used "many" shakes of dried minced, as per usual)
1 lb fresh white mushrooms, thickly sliced
1 tsp minced fresh garlic
4 cups water
2 15oz cans beef broth
1 tsp Kitchen Bouquet (this is a brand name "browning sauce containing a vegetable base and caramel coloring. It adds a small amount of flavor but is used mostly to give rich color." I omitted this as it was just for color)
1 tsp salt (or to taste)
1/2 tsp black pepper
(I added egg noodles to ours to "fill". Both it, and us!)

Directions:
In a 4-6 quart Dutch oven or soup pot cook bacon over medium-high heat until crisp. Remove bacon with a slotted spoon; set aside. (I used pre-cooked bacon so in place of this step, I nuked 4 strips and used a tablespoon or so of olive oil in the pan) Add steak pieces to drippings in pot; brown on all sides. Add onion, mushrooms, and garlic; cook and stir 3 minutes more. Stir in reserved bacon, water, beef broth, and Kitchen Bouquet. Turn heat to low. Cover and simmer gently about 1 1/2 hours or until steak is very tender. Stir in salt and pepper.

This one is a keeper. :) I personally loved it, even though it was a tad bland. That's totally fixable. (As a matter of fact, I'm having the last of the leftovers as I type!)
Everyone else enjoyed this one as well. Justice even ate a few of the noodles!!! (She normally won't eat any pasta that's not macaroni. Even though we tell her it's noodles, she doesn't believe us. LOL!)
I served this with delicious heaping salads and it was wonderful.

This one would be great in the winter as soup is so wonderfully suited to cold weather (in my humble opinion that is) but it was great for us for the middle of August too. :)

I hope you try it and enjoy.

Mo

Rosemary Steaks, Sweet Potato Fries & Lemon Green Beans...Yumm

Another new recipe! Yay!
~~Warning, probably not a vegetarian friendly read (course, they probably wouldn't read this one based on the title...) LOL~~
This one was on the plan for Wednesday but got pushed back to Thursday. We don't do beef all that often in our house, Dominic's not a huge fan of beef plus he needs to stay away from the high absorbable iron content. I however, am all about dead cow! Bring it on!! I love me some red meat!! Mmmmmmmm!!!!!
Anywho....
I saw this recipe somewhere (I cannot for the life of me remember where I found it) and held onto it for one of our rare beef ventures. We've done a little more lately since Dominic has been in a rare beef friendly mood and I'm all about taking advantage of it. :)
So-I tried this out Thursday to good reviews. I threw in some bagged Sweet Potato Fries and tried a Lemon Green Beans recipe I found on MealsforYou.
This can be done with real steaks on a grill or, like I did with Eye of Round Thin Cut 'Steaks' on the George Foreman.

Rosemary Beef
Prep: 10 min, Marinate: 15 min, Cook: 10 min.
1 tsp. rosemary, crumbled or 2 tsp. fresh, minced
2 tsp. salt (optional)
1 Tbs. plus 1 tsp. pepper
2 cloves garlic, crushed (I used some garlic salt instead)
4 strip steaks, about 1/4 lb. each (I used 10 thin cut eye of round steaks)
2 Tbs. olive oil
Prepare grill or broiler. Mash rosemary, salt, pepper, and garlic together in a bowl. Rub mixture into meat and let sit about 15 minutes.(I added it all to a gallon zipper bag and rolled it around to coat then let it sit about 20 mins or so) Grill meat 3 minutes per side for medium-rare meat; cook longer as desired.

Lemon Green Beans
Prep: 10 min, Cook: 15 min.
1 lb. green beans
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup lemon juice (I used a little less)
1 Tbs. plus 1 tsp. unsalted butter
1 tsp. lemon zest
1 tsp. parsley, chopped
Place beans in a steamer basket over boiling water. Cover saucepan and steam 5-7 minutes or until green beans are tender. Rinse under cold water and drain.
Combine water and lemon juice in a heavy nonstick skillet over medium heat. Simmer 2-3 minutes or until reduced by half. Stir in butter. Add green beans and lemon zest. Simmer 3-4 minutes or until green beans are heated throughout. Remove from heat. Add parsley and salt to taste and toss.

Everybody loved it all. Almost- Dominic is not a lemon fan and thought the green beans were a little too 'sour' (good thing I didn't add as much lemon as the recipe called for huh?!) but the rest of us enjoyed them.
I hope that you do too when you try this easy well balanced meal at home! :)

Mo

Steak & Zucchini Fettuccine

Wednesday is here. It's gloomy outside and I'm sitting with a delicious cup of peppermint hot cocoa as I bring you Tuesdays dinner. We had Steak & Zucchini Fettuccine. Normally I'm not a fan of pasta without some kind of sauce, but this was quite yummy. This is another http://www.mealsforyou.com/ find.

Fettuccine with Steak and Zucchini
Prep: 10 min, Cook: 15 min.
1 lb. fettuccine or other pasta
1 Tbs. unsalted butter
2 Tbs. olive oil
3/4 lb. onions, thinly sliced (we're not big on onions so I used a few shakes of dried minced)4 cloves garlic, crushed
3/4 lb. zucchini, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
1 tsp. basil, or 1/3 cup fresh, chopped
1 lb. round steaks or top sirloin, thinly sliced across the grain (I used just over 1lb of stir-fry beef)1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese (I used about 1/2 cup)

Cook fettuccine in boiling salted water until al dente. Drain. Return pasta to saucepan. Toss with butter and keep warm. Heat oil in a heavy nonstick skillet over medium high heat. Sauté onions 2-3 minutes, stirring frequently. Add garlic and zucchini and continue to sauté another 4-5 minutes or until zucchini softens. Stir in basil, and salt and pepper to taste. Transfer vegetables to a platter and keep warm. Add steak slices to skillet and sauté 5 minutes, stirring frequently, or until meat is just cooked throughout. Combine vegetables, meat and pasta in a serving bowl. Serve with Parmesan.

One of the comments was that the meat was too tough and it should be tried with chicken or just by itself. The rest of the family enjoyed the steak (not often used in our house) and thought that it was quite good the way it was.
I hope that you try this and enjoy it, in whatever incarnation you choose. :)
Mo