Picture Perfect Cooking

My husband, C, is a meat-and-potatoes kind of guy, and when I say meat, I mean BEEF!  I am always on the lookout for a steak or ground beef recipe that I think he will enjoy.  This recipe comes from the website, www.allrecipes.com, which is one of my favorite places to look for fresh cooking ideas.  There are thousand upon thousands of recipes and you can adapt them to the amount of servings you need.  Check it out!

This is the original recipe which was listed for 6 steaks.  I made six steaks and they were huge!  You can easily make 8 or more depending on the size you want.  I used 2 skillets to cook them at the same time and divided the sauce into each one.  The only change I would like to make is regarding the sauce.  It is so good, but there just isn’t quite enough of it.  I am going to have to tinker with it so there will be more sauce.  If you have a beef lover in your family, this is a winner.

1 10.5oz can condensed French onion soup

1 1/2 lbs lean ground beef

1/2 cup dry bread crumbs

1 egg

1/4 tsp salt

1/8 tsp ground black pepper

1 tbsp all purpose flour

1/4 cup ketchup

1/4 cup water

1 tbsp Worcestshire sauce

1/2 tsp mustard powder

In a large bowl, mix together 1/3 cup French onion soup with ground beef, bread crumbs, egg, salt and pepper.  Shape into 6 (or 8) oval patties.

In a large skillet (or 2) over medium-high heat, brown both sides of patties.  Pour off excess fat.  In a small bowl, blend flour and remaining soup until smooth.  Mix in remaining ingredients until combined.  Pour over meat in the skillet(s).  Cover & turn heat to low. Cook for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Come join the fun at the My Baking Addiction and GoodLife Eats Holiday Recipe Swap sponsored by Le Creuset

Do you ever cut recipes out of magazines with the intent on making it “soon” and then never get around to it?  Well, I do…a lot.  I finally took a few minutes and went through my recipe file to do a little purging.  I threw away several of them because I knew I would never make them, but I found a few keepers in the bunch.  Back in 2005, (I told you these were old) I had copied a recipe out of a Southern Living magazine that caught my eye then.  When I found it again recently, it still looked good to me so I gave it a try.  This would make a great family dinner with a salad on the side. That is how I fixed it, and we had plenty for leftovers the next night. In fact, it was really too big for the two of us but I think it would be easy to scale down.

2 lbs lean ground beef

1/2 medium onion, chopped (The original recipe called for 2 whole onions chopped, but that was way too much for me.)

1/2 cup chopped sweet peppers

3 tsp Italian seasoning, divided

1/4 cup all purpose flour

1 jar tomato and basil pasta sauce (I used Paul Newman’s 24 oz marinara.)

2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

1 can refrigerated pizza crust

1 tbsp olive oil

Cook the ground beef, onion, peppers, and 2 teaspoons of Italian seasoning in a large skillet over medium-high heat, stirring until beef is no longer pink. 

Add the flour, stirring until blended.  Stir in the pasta sauce.  Bring mixture to a boil, stirring constantly.

Spoon the meat mixture into a lightly greased 13×9” baking dish.  Sprinkle evenly with the mozzarella cheese. 

Unroll the pizza crust and place it on top of the cheese.  Tuck the edges into the baking dish if necessary.  Brush the crust with olive oil and sprinkle the remaining tablespoon of Italian seasoning on top.

Bake at 425 degrees for 15-20 minutes until golden brown.

It is Ingredient Spotlight day at Eat At Home Cooks!  This week the focus is on dried or canned beans. Check it out here!

I love finding new recipes to try and cooking blogs seem to have an unending supply of ideas.  This recipe came from bakingbites.com.  If you have not had the chance to read this blog, I highly recommend it!  It is full of wonderful recipes and beautiful, mouth-watering photos of them.  These blondies have their roots in the classic snickerdoodle cookies, but they are quicker to make.  Here is a little warning to the wise though: this recipe only makes enough for an 8×8” baking dish so if you are feeding a crowd, you might want to stick with the classic cookie recipe posted here:

https://pictureperfectcooking.wordpress.com/2009/06/22/snickerdoodles/

If you want a small treat, you can’t go wrong with these sweet, buttery, cinnamon-flavored bars.  These did dry out a little in a couple of days, so I suggest eating them on the day they are baked or maybe one day later at the most.

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 cup granulated sugar

1/4 tsp salt

1 large egg

1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup all purpose flour

1 tbsp granulated sugar mixed with 1 tsp ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease a 8×8” baking pan.  I just used the butter wrapper.  In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light.  Beat in salt, egg, and vanilla extract until well combined.  Add in flour and stir until no streaks of dry ingredients remain.

Pour dough (it will be thick) into the baking dish and smooth it into an even layer.  Sprinkle dough evenly with cinnamon/sugar mixture.  Bake for about 30 minutes until the bars are set and the edges are just very lightly browned.  Cool in the pan before slicing.