Skillet Beef Stroganoff

Although I’m not a fan of the shortening days of Autumn, there is one thing I love about this time of year – the food. With the cooler temperatures, cooking inside no longer makes me feel like I’m fighting the air conditioning, wasting energy.

I’ve been in the mood for beef stew, but I spent the day writing and didn’t have time to put together a stew. So I decided to come up with something that I could make on the stovetop in half an hour, that would give me the same hearty pleasure. I came up with this easy recipe for Skillet Beef Stroganoff. From start to finish, 30 minutes… and a delicious Autumn treat!

Recipe: Skillet Beef Stroganoff

1 lb beef sirloin, sliced thin and cut into two-inch pieces
3 T flour
½ t black pepper
½ t salt
½ t ground mustard
2 T vegetable oil
8 oz sliced mushrooms
1 small onion, chopped
1 small green pepper, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 C beef broth
1 t Worcestershire sauce
1 C sour cream

Put the flour, pepper, salt, and ground mustard into a large Ziploc bag. Mix well. Add the beef and toss to coat. Set aside. Heat the oil in a large, heavy-bottomed skillet over medium heat. Sauté the mushrooms, onion, pepper, and garlic for five minutes. Add the floured beef. Stir frequently. Once the beef is brown, add the broth a little bit at a time, stirring well, then add the Worcestershire sauce. Stir frequently, breaking up any brown bits from the bottom of the pan. Heat to boiling, then simmer, uncovered, for 15 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in sour cream. Serve over egg noodles or mashed potatoes.

Mushroom Gravy over Slow Cooked Roast Beast... er, Beef

Download a free, printable version of this and many other recipes at www.susanmallery.com/recipes.php!

I’ve made roast beef in the slow cooker before (Slow Cooked Beef with Garlic and Red Wine, Slow Cooker Cheesy Beef, and Slow Cooker Java Roast, but this time, I decided to put the focus on the gravy. Could I come up with a delicious, hearty gravy using juices from the slow cooker? The answer is yes! And best of all, there are lots of chopped mushrooms in the gravy, which means you don’t have to worry about lumps. It’s supposed to be lumpy!

I decided to skip my usual step of searing the beef in a cast iron pan before putting it in the slow cooker. I wanted to see if it really made a difference. Honestly, I couldn’t tell the difference at all. Certainly not enough to warrant the extra dish washing. So there was no fussing at all in the pre-cooking stage, but because of the gravy, there was a slight amount of fussing afterward. I’d say it took 30 minutes from the time I removed the beef from the slow cooker until we were eating it – although that was partly because I needed to take a picture. And what a festive picture it is! You can see my Christmas tree in the background.

Mushroom Gravy over Slow Cooked Roast Beef

1 4-pound roast beef
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 envelope onion soup mix
2 t Worcestershire sauce
3 cloves garlic
1 medium onion, sliced thick
8 oz whole mushrooms
Black pepper to taste
2 T vegetable oil
2 T flour

Place the onion slices on the bottom of the slow cooker, and put the roast on top of them. Mix together the soup, soup mix, and Worcestershire sauce. Spread over the beef. Toss the mushrooms and garlic on top of everything. Sprinkle with fresh ground black pepper. Cover and cook on low heat for about 8 hours.

Remove the roast from the slow cooker and set aside. Remove the mushrooms to a cutting board and mince. Pour the liquid through a strainer. You’ll need 2 to 2 ½ cups of liquid. If you don’t have enough, supplement with water or beef broth.

In a small, heavy-bottomed sauce pan, heat the oil. Toss in the flour and stir to coat. In small increments, add 2 cups of beefy liquid, stirring well to break up the flour. Heat to a simmer, stirring frequently. Once the gravy is thickened, add the minced mushrooms. If the gravy is too thick, add more beefy liquid in small increments until the consistency is what you like. Serve with mashed potatoes.

Slow Cooker Java Roast

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ONLY HIS was released last week and, as always on release week, I feel the need to treat myself, more as a distraction than a celebration. As I write this, I’m still waiting to find out whether ONLY HIS will hit the New York Times bestsellers lists as the first two books in the trilogy did, and if so, how high. I live in Seattle, where coffee is worshipped like cats in ancient Egypt. We were the first city in the country to have a Starbucks on every corner, and Seattlites are known to coffee-hop from Starbucks to Starbucks all the way to work. (Okay, I made that up, but we do love our coffee.) So my treat of choice has been Starbucks coffee… which, admittedly, might not be the best way to calm one’s nerves.

I once found a recipe in a Better Homes & Garden cookbook for Secret Ingredient Barbecue Sauce. The secret ingredient was coffee, and it gave the sauce a nice smoky quality. I wondered whether coffee would work with a roast beef in the slow cooker. After all, I’ve heard of (but haven’t tried) roast beefs cooked with a can of Coke, and I thought coffee would have to be better than that.

I whipped out my iPhone and did a quick search, and I discovered several recipes for Slow Cooker Coffee Pot Roast, including this one from Kristen at Dine & Dish, one of my favorite cooking blogs: Slow Cooker Coffee and Garlic Roast Beef. I wanted to give my recipe a unique twist, so I looked around my pantry and came up with two additions I thought would work: coffee liqueur and onion soup mix.

The meat was delicious, infused with just a hint of sweetness from the liqueur, and fall-apart tender. I turned the juices into gravy. Made you want to lick your plate, it was so good.

Recipe: Slow Cooker Java Roast

1 4-5 pound beef roast
6 red potatoes
2 small onions
16 oz whole mushrooms
5 cloves garlic
1 ½ C prepared coffee (I used Hazelnut flavor)
1 envelope onion soup mix
¼ C Kahlua or other coffee flavored liqueur (optional… but it’s really good!)
Black pepper

Brown the beef in a heavy pan on the stove, turning to brown all sides. While it’s browning, cut the onion into thick slices and cover the bottom of the slow cooker with the onions. Place browned beef in the slow cooker. Pile the potatoes and mushrooms around the beef. Toss in the garlic cloves, peeled but left whole.

Mix together the coffee, Kahlua, and onion soup mix. Pour over the beef and vegetables. Pepper the beef and vegetables generously. Cook on low for 8 hours.

For the gravy: Transfer two cups of the liquid to a measuring cup. Allow to sit for a while so the fat rises to the top. Carefully skim 2 T of oil from the top, placing in a small heavy-bottomed saucepan. Heat over low heat. Add 2 T of flour to the drippings, stirring well. In small increments, add the liquid, whisking well each time. Once the liquid is all added, continue to heat until the gravy has thickened, stirring occasionally.

Marinated Steak and Mushroom Fajitas

You can print this recipe – and lots of others – from www.susanmallery.com/recipes.php!

You may have heard that I have a new book out this week. In ONLY YOURS, the second of the Hendrix triplets of Fool’s Gold finds love. (ONLY MINE came out a month ago, and ONLY HIS will be out on September 27.) What you may not know about me is that I am always, always very nervous whenever a new book is released.

You’d think that after more than 100 books being published, I’d be more Zen about the whole process, but you’d be wrong. In fact, I’m probably more nervous now than I was in the early days because the expectations are higher. ONLY MINE hit #10 on the New York Times list. Will ONLY YOURS do as well or better? This month, a lot of big name authors released books on the same day as me, which makes me even more nervous. I know that readers have a limited entertainment budget. Will they choose ONLY YOURS as the book to entertain them this week?

Whenever I’m nervous or stressed, I turn to comfort food which, for me, is any food that’s really delicious. (I don’t want to waste calories on something that’s just okay.) These Marinated Steak and Mushroom Fajitas were very delicious and very comforting… but I’m still nervous.

Recipe: Marinated Steak and Mushroom Fajitas

2 lb steak, raw
8 oz mushrooms, sliced thick
½ small onion, sliced thick
1 red bell pepper, sliced
1 green bell pepper, sliced
2 T olive oil
4 oz Pepper Jack cheese, shredded
Flour tortillas

Marinade:
1 ½ C red wine
½ C soy sauce
2 T red wine vinegar
4 cloves garlic, minced
¼ C onion, juiced (or minced very small, if you don’t have an onion press)

Lay the steak flat in a glass or ceramic dish. Combine the marinade ingredients and pour over the steak. Marinate for 2-6 hours, flipping the steaks occasionally.

Grill the steaks whole for four minutes per side, then allow to rest for 10 minutes before slicing. If you’re not in the mood for fajitas, you can eat the steaks on their own. This marinade is easy and truly yummy.
While the steaks are grilling, sauté the mushrooms and onions in olive oil. After ten minutes, add the bell peppers.

Warm the tortillas and assemble the fajitas with a generous helping of each ingredient. Eat while reading ONLY YOURS. Comforting, no?

Oven-Baked Chimichangas with Queso

You can download a printable version of this recipe (and many other delicious recipes) at www.susanmallery.com/recipes.php!

Ever since I started this cooking blog, I have begun to analyze flavors in restaurants. I haven’t decided yet whether this is a good thing or a bad thing. Does it make me enjoy my meal more, or does it distract me from pure pleasure? In any case, when I eat something delicious, I now try to figure out whether I can recreate it at home.

(The answer to that question is often “no.” I’m not what you would call a natural cook.)

Recently, we stopped at a Mexican restaurant we hadn’t tried before, and we both ordered the Chimichanga with Chili con Queso. I thought the Chili con Queso was going to be a red, beefy sauce with some cheese mixed in. Instead, it tasted like queso dip, really delicious.

Chimichangas are fried, but I wanted my home version to be a little bit lighter. (By no means can I call this a “light recipe.” But at least it’s lighter than it would’ve been if I had fried the chimichanga.)

I came close to the deliciousness of the restaurant’s version. This was really tasty, and very easy, too!

Recipe: Oven-Baked Chimichangas with Queso

1 5-oz box of Spanish rice
1 lb ground beef
1 packet of burrito seasoning
1 can of black beans, drained and rinsed
1 can green chilis, drained
½ C water
Flour tortillas

Queso:
16 oz Velveeta
1 can green chilis
1 t cumin powder


Cook the rice according to the package directions and set aside.

Brown the meat, drain and rinse. Put the meat back into a heavy-bottomed pan over medium heat. Add the burrito seasoning, beans, 1 can of chilis, and half a cup of water. Simmer until it thickens, about 10 minutes. Stir in the rice.

Preheat the oven to 425. Put a generous amount of beef mixture on each flour tortilla. Roll up the tortillas and tuck the ends under. Spray with cooking spray or brush with a small amount of olive or vegetable oil. Place seam-side down on a pan lined with aluminum foil. Leave plenty of space between each chimichanga so they’ll crisp up. Bake until they’re golden brown and hard to the touch.

While they’re baking, cut the Velveeta into ½-inch chunks and put in a microwave-safe bowl with other queso ingredients. Microwave for 30 seconds to 1 minute at a time, stirring each time, until melted. Spoon the queso sauce generously over each chimichanga.

Slow Cooker Cheesy Beef

Download a printable version of this recipe for free – and lots of other recipes! – at www.susanmallery.com/recipes.php

Everyone knows I’m on a diet. Slow Cooker Cheesy Beef is not diet food. Which is sad for me because it’s really, really delicious, and I could only have a taste. The thing is, my husband’s not on a diet, and I’m a good wife.

Also, not all of my readers are on a diet, and I created the recipes page on my website as a gift for the readers who have been such enthusiastic, wonderful fans. Every month, I get a report from my webmaster that shows me where readers go when they visit SusanMallery.com. The free excerpts of my books are the most popular pages, thank goodness, but the recipes have been a big hit, too. One of the recipes that’s been downloaded the most is for Slow Cooker Cheesy Potatoes (PDF). So I bought a four-pound chuck roast, brought it home, and thought, “How am I going to make something new and interesting with this in the slow cooker?”

I opened my cabinet, and angels smiled down upon me. There, right at eye level, sat a can of cheddar cheese soup and a box of onion soup mix. Nothing bad could possibly come of that combination! I mixed them together, added a couple spices, then threw them over the beef, onions, and mushrooms in the slow cooker.

The only thing that would’ve made this better would be if I had thrown in some potatoes, too. But I’m a good wife, not a great wife. I couldn’t stand to watch my husband eating potatoes while I denied myself.

Recipe: Slow Cooker Cheesy Beef

1 chuck roast, about 4 pounds
1 can cheddar cheese soup
1 packet onion soup mix
1 t dried thyme
1 t black pepper
8 oz mushrooms, sliced
1 large onion, sliced
3 T flour
1 C cheddar cheese, shredded
1 C sour cream

Mix together the soup, soup mix, thyme, and pepper. Layer the bottom of the slow cooker with onions and mushrooms, and put beef on top of them. Pour the soup mixture over the beef. Cook on low about 8 hours.

Remove the roast and vegetables from the slow cooker and set aside. Pour 3 cups of the liquid into a saucepan. Discard the rest of the liquid. Heat the liquid to boiling, then add the flour, a little at a time, stirring with a whisk to remove lumps. When it’s nice and thick, stir in the cheddar cheese until it’s melted. Then stir in the sour cream. Return the beef and vegetables to the slow cooker and pour the cheese mixture over it. Cook on low another half hour to an hour.

Don’t forget, ALREADY HOME will be released on March 29!

Minted Roast Beef

You’ll find a printable version of this recipe at www.susanmallery.com/recipes.php.

Since I started this cooking blog last year, I have begun to follow other blogs that share free recipes online. There are a lot of very talented cooks in the world… and many of them are also very talented photographers. Sadly, my pictures don’t do my recipes justice.

Recently, I joined Tasty Kitchen. I have shared a couple of my recipes online there already and plan to share more as time permits. While I was on the site, I was very excited to stumble upon the Pioneer Woman’s Food Photography Tips. Maybe by following these tips, I can get a photo accepted by FoodGawker.com, described to me as “food porn.”

Unfortunately, I hit a stumbling block with the first and second tips. The first is to turn off the flash, and the second is to rely instead upon natural light for the food pictures. The problem is, this time of year, the sun goes down in Seattle before 5 pm, and I don’t start cooking until after I finish my writing for the day. And even when the sun is up, we don’t see it very often in this cloudy city. I create recipes as a way to connect with readers, but I think most of my readers would prefer that I spend my best, most creative hours writing the books they love.

But for this recipe, because the meat would benefit from a few hours to absorb the flavors of the rub, I did do some prep work during daylight hours… with a rare Seattle peek of actual daylight! And I must admit, I love how the garlic cloves look in the natural sunlight.

Oh, and by the way, this roast beef tasted amazing. The flavor really didn’t taste much like mint, but it did have a nice little “bite” that was different from the same-old, same-old.

Recipe: Minted Roast Beef

1 beef roast, 2-3 pounds
2 T fresh mint leaves, loosely packed
3 cloves of garlic
1 t dried oregano
1 t kosher salt
½ t black pepper
1 T vegetable oil

Mince the mint leaves and garlic and place in a small bowl. Mix with the oregano, salt, and pepper, then rub over the meat. Place the meat in the refrigerator, uncovered for about two hours.

Pre-heat oven to 225 degrees. Heat heavy-bottomed, oven-safe pan on the stovetop over medium-high heat. Add oil. When oil shimmers, put the roast in the pan. Sear on each side for about 2 minutes. Place the pan with the roast in the oven and cook on low heat until the center of the roast reaches about 150 degrees, about 60-90 minutes. Allow the roast to rest for 15 minutes before slicing.

This picture was taken with a flash, long after the sun went down.

Easy Slow Cooker Beef Fajitas

You can find a printable version of this recipe on my website, www.susanmallery.com. Hover over Members Only Lounge, then click Recipes. Enjoy!

I wanted to treat my husband to a home-cooked meal on Sunday, but I didn’t want to spend all day in the kitchen. I pulled out my slow cooker so that we could enjoy the aroma of the beef wafting through the house all day, but I could also spend the day with Nikki curled up in my lap while I finished reading Seduce Me at Sunrise by Lisa Kleypas. (Wow, is she good!)

Readers have told me that they want more slow cooker recipes, so I decided to make up a recipe that I could share on my blog. Beef fajitas sounded like just the ticket, and I came up with the simplest possible recipe. It turned out amazing! Seriously amazing.

Instead of using flour tortillas, I served our fajita beef with romaine lettuce leaves. We’re trying to cut down on our carbs, and this was a delicious way to do it. A piece of lettuce, shredded beef that had been slow cooked all day, and shredded cheddar cheese … ah, life is good.

Recipe: Easy Slow Cooker Beef Fajitas

3-lb boneless beef roast
Salt & pepper
Vegetable oil
2 onions
1 C orange juice
1 packet of taco seasoning
1 4-oz can of diced chilies

Sprinkle the roast with salt and pepper. Preheat a cast iron skillet over medium/low heat, then add 1-2 tablespoons of vegetable oil and heat for 30 seconds. Brown beef roast for 2-3 minutes per side, adding more oil if needed.

Slice onions about ½ inch thick and do not separate the slices. Lay them flat in the bottom of the slow cooker. Put the browned beef roast on top of the onions. Mix together the orange juice, taco seasoning, and canned chilies, then pour over the beef. Cook on low for 8-10 hours.

Shred the beef with a fork. Wrap in flour tortillas or whole leaves of romaine lettuce for a low-carb option. Serve with shredded cheddar cheese and, if desired, sour cream, onions, tomatoes, avocados, chips, and salsa.

Slow-Cooked Beef with Garlic and Red Wine

It’s interesting how a recipe comes together. Last week, I posted my recipe for Flour-Dusted Roast Chicken to my Facebook page, and my fan Maggie said something about wanting a beef recipe. Near the same time, another fan, Susie, shared with me her son’s recipe for “Lomo con Ajillo” (Pork with Garlic), and yet another fan, Jennifer, mentioned that she relies on her slow cooker.

Put them all together, and what do you get? My recipe for Slow-Cooked Beef with Garlic and Red Wine. Dedicated to Maggie, Susie, and Jennifer, even though Jennifer’s kids won’t eat anything beefy. I served this with a simple salad tossed with vinegar and oil, and a hunk of fresh bread from the store.

By the way, the next time I make this, I’m going to spring for the pre-peeled garlic cloves from the store. I can’t imagine they’re that expensive, and I’m willing to pay a couple bucks to avoid having to peel 40 cloves of garlic in one shot.

Slow-Cooked Beef with Garlic and Red Wine

4-5 pound beef roast, cut into two-inch chunks

40 cloves of garlic, peeled

4-5 sprigs of fresh rosemary

1 t Kosher salt

½ t ground pepper

1 C dry red wine

Brown the meat on all sides, in batches. (Don’t overcrowd the pan you’re using to brown the meat.) Add the meat, garlic cloves, and rosemary sprigs to the slow cooker.

Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Pour in wine and the accumulated beef juice from browning. Cook on low for 6-8 hours.

Serve with a salad and bread for dipping.

Thai-ish Cashew Beef with Garlic Brown Rice

One of the fun things about cooking is that there are many ways to cook just about everything. So if you see a recipe that looks good but you don’t have all the ingredients on hand, you can come up with creative alternatives.

That’s just what I did when I got this month’s Taste of Home magazine in the mail. They had a feature on Thai food, but I couldn’t find one of the ingredients for Cashew Curried Beef at the store. (You can see their recipe by clicking the link. You have to join their website, but it’s free!)

I couldn’t find red curry paste. Now, if I had a better work ethic when it came to cooking, I probably could’ve tracked it down. I could’ve asked someone who worked there, or I could’ve tried another store. I’m a hard-working writer, but I’m a lazy cook.

So I modified the recipe and came up with Thai-ish Cashew Beef with Garlic Brown Rice. I used stewing beef, which was too gristly, but other than that, this was delicious.

Thai-ish Cashew Beef

Marinade:
2 T Thai sweet red chili sauce

2 T Creamy peanut butter
2 T Soy sauce
1 can Coconut milk
¼ t Cayenne pepper

1 lb. Beef, sliced in ¼-inch strips
2-3 t Peanut oil, divided
2 Carrots, sliced into matchsticks
½ Red bell pepper, sliced
½ Green bell pepper, sliced
1 Small onion, sliced
½ C Salted cashews

Mix the marinade ingredients, adding more cayenne if you like spicy food. Pour half the marinade over the beef in a non-reactive bowl. (I feel so smart for saying “non-reactive” like I know what I’m talking about!) Allow to marinate for at least a couple of hours. Reserve the other half of the marinade.

Drain the beef.

Heat 1 teaspoon of peanut oil over medium-high heat in a wok or a deep skillet. Brown the beef, trying not to stir too often. It’s difficult to resist the temptation to stir, but the beef will brown better if you let it be. Remove the beef to a large bowl. Add a little more oil to the pan and cook the vegetables until the carrots are crisp-tender, just a couple minutes. Put them in the bowl with the beef. Then pan-roast the cashews for about 30 seconds in a little more oil, just until they become fragrant. Put them in the bowl with the beef mixture. Toss and serve over Garlic Brown Rice.

Garlic Brown Rice

1 T Vegetable oil
2-3 Garlic cloves, sliced thin
1 C Brown rice
2 ½ C Water

Heat the vegetable in a heavy-bottomed pan over medium heat. Sauté the garlic slices for about 30 seconds, then add the rice and water. Raise to a boil. Once boiling, lower the heat and cover the pan. Simmer until all the water is gone, about 50 minutes.

Voilá! Doesn’t it look pretty?