TIPSY TUESDAY

Morning Everyone

Well today is Tipy Tuesday so I have been thinking of all the tips that I can give you and I have come up with this one for today. Hoping that you have tried some of the recipes on my previous postings and if you have you will notice that I do like to use the oven alot. So my tip is going to be about the oven. When you know that it is a night to cook in the oven the first thing you do after you take off your shoes and coat is go and turn the oven on to the temperature for the meal that you are going to cook. The reason being for that is when you get into the kitchen and start getting the food ready for dinner you have all the prepartion done and then you have to wait for the oven to heat up. If you have the oven preheated then you prepare the dinner put it in the oven go and get cleaned up and before you know it supper is ready. Now that is becoming a good organized cook....

So todays recipe is :

Salisbury Steak

This is the classic salisbury steak made fancy but easy. My Mom used to make this cause it was fast and easy and my brother and I really enjoyed it . My brother Jim and I had chores growing up and one of them was to get supper ready. Our father died when we were very very young so helping out around the house was a must. So I have taken an old favorite and added a few things to makes it fun and more flavorful.

Ingredients:

1 ½ lbs ground beef

1 pkg onion soup mix

1 egg beaten

¼ cup bread crumbs

Now these ingredients above are if you want to make your own hamburger patties. But on my grocery list on Saturday there were Salisbury steaks premade on sale so you can use those or make your own.

2 pkgs of brown gravy mix

Mushrooms and onions sliced in rings(optional but good)

Potato Filling

2 servings of instant mashed potatoes(Or make you own)

2tbs bacon crumbles

Dash of parsley

Dash of garlic salt
Dash of chives (green onions)

1 Clove of minced garlic

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

1. Prepare potatoes as directed on package except while boiling the water add the bacon, parsley, garlic salt, and chives.

2. Once it’s boiling add the flakes and milk, stir together, remove from heat and set aside.

3. In large mixing bowl combine beef, onion soup mix, egg, and breadcrumbs and mix until well blended.( or prepared patties)

4. Separate meat into 4 sections (each one will make one stacker)

5. Now separate each section in two and make two round patties

6. Fill the middle of one patty with ¼ of potato mixture and then top with second patty and pinch the sides together so that the potatoes are not visible (making one large round filled patty)

7. Repeat this on remaining 3 sections of meat making four stackers total

8. Prepare brown gravy as directed on package and set aside.

9. In frying pan brown each stacker turning carefully to keep them intact. About 3 minutes on each side

10. Layer half of the gravy on bottom of baking dish and them place the stackers in baking dish carefully about an inch apart

11. Drizzle gravy over each stacker so that it covers the top and drizzles over the sides

12. Bake uncovered for 25 minutes

13. Remove from oven

14. Garnish with sauteed mushrooms and onions (Optional) and then drizzle gravy over each stacker and serve.

These also freeze well .

Hoping you are now getting some premade food in your freezer for those nights where your time is short . The best thing is that when you have them in the freezer and you know you are short of time you will not be tempted to stop and pick up something at the fast food places cause you can take it out that morning let it defrost in your fridge and then you are ready to put in the microwave when you get home.

I have posted what you need to do tonight to have your supper ready for tomorrow night.

Homework for Slow Cooker Wednesday

Balsamic and Onion Pot Roast in the Crockpot

3-4 pound boneless chuck roast(you can use a cheaper cut of meat cause you are slow cooking
1-2 T steak rub
black pepper to taste
1-2 T olive oil (depends on your pan)
1/4 cup water to deglaze pan
2-3 large onions, peeled and thickly sliced1
1 cup beef stock, reduced to 1/2 cup (can use a can of beef broth, but be sure to reduce it)
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup tomato sauce (You can substitute one can diced tomatoes, drained well. you might puree the tomatoes if you like.)

Trim as much fat as you can from roast, and cut if necessary to fit into Crockpot. Rub meat well with steak seasoning and black pepper. Heat heavy pan with small amount of olive oil and brown roast well on both sides. This will take a few minutes; don't rush the browning step.While roast browns put 1 cup beef stock in a saucepan, bring to a boil and cook until reduced to 1/2 cup, then let cool slightly and mix in balsamic vinegar and tomato sauce. Peel onions and cut into thick slices. Deglaze( means getting the good stuff off the bottom of the pan that you browned the roast in) with 1/4 cup water and add to sauce mixture.
(You can stop at this point and refrigerate browned roast, cut onions and mixed sauce ingredients and then put them in the Crockpot when you go to work in the morning. Don't refrigerate them in the crockery liner cause it takes a while to get the crockery pot to warm up. Just refrigerate all the ingredients in a large bowl. Having the meat start out cold will add several hours to the cooking time, which will be good if you're cooking it all day while you're away.)

Enjoy

Granny