at least for the foreseeable future...
Tonight I continued on my 2008 goal of cooking and eating real meals twice a week. I haven't done that well in the in-between times - let's just say there have been a lot of Girl Scout cookies, nuts and pretzels involved - but when I have made dinner, it's been yummy and healthy :).
Last night and today I defrosted 2 containers of London broil I had bought apparently in September (judging from the date on the package). Some meat-safety sticklers would probably say that's too old, but I've never been a meat-safety stickler. That may come back to bite me someday, but until then I'll keep eating 4-month-old meat from my freezer :).
Anyway, I figured I should defrost both containers while I was at it since they were pretty old, so beef will be the theme of many meals to come. Luckily, I got all Robin Miller-esque and came up with 3 different recipes to make with said meat for some variety, since that's the point of my cooking goal. (Robin Miller has a show on Food Network where she makes food for a week and she always reuses leftovers to turn into a different meal for the next night, etc.)
I prepped the meat for all 3 recipes and just made 1 dish for dinner tonight. Using my food scale and my wonderful santoku knife, I weighed and cut 1 lb of meat into thin slices for Mongolian beef, 1.5 lbs into thicker slices for barbecued round steak, and cubed the rest for beef stroganoff.
In making the stroganoff and prepping the sauces/marinades for the other 2, I used up
> the rest of some about-to-expire sour cream
> part of an onion in the fridge leftover from my quesadillas
> the end of a bottle of soy sauce
> almost all the rest of my Worcestershire sauce
> and a half container of cherry tomatoes that were starting to get wrinkly
The tomatoes actually went in some tomato basil soup I made for quick weekday lunches - using my new immersion blender from Christmas - so fun! I love using my kitchen gadgets and using ingredients up right before they go bad :).
Anyway, I decided to have the beef stroganoff tonight, and it is really really easy actually. Just brown the meat with some onions, simmer that with beef broth, ketchup and garlic, and then add in flour/broth roux and sour cream at the end. Here it is cooking in the pan:
And the complete meal: with whole wheat elbow macaroni and steamed green beans (also a use-up ingredient almost past their prime). We always had egg noodles with stroganoff growing up, but this is what I had and I really liked the combo. Plus it's a lot more nutritious.
And the chef, in the kitchen after all the dishes were done:
Now I not only have leftover stroganoff, but I also have:
> 4 servings of tomato soup
> Bread in the freezer and pepper jack/provolone cheeses in the fridge for grilled cheese
> The sauce mixed up and the meat & onions already browned for barbecued round steak
> And the marinade mixed up and meat sliced for Mongolian beef
Ah, I love feeling domestic and making things easier for myself for the coming week!
4 comments:
Apparently my Pampered Chef party is coming at a good time for you, little Miss Domestic!
I totally agree, however, that cooking is a great feeling, leftovers are amazing (for when there's no time to cook), and using things up (in general and especially just before they go bad) is awesome.
I would caution you though - thawed beef will only last a few days in the fridge if you don't cook it. I've got some burger patties that I pulled out on Monday, and I'm gonna eat them tonight before they get too brown. I learned this lesson the hard way a few months ago, when I had to throw out 1.5lbs of ground beef. Ugh.
very true...i'm planning on cooking the mongolian beef, which is still raw at this point, tomorrow (friday) night. the other stuff is cooked - just waiting to be re-cooked in the sauce.
omg... I want to eat your food. I am tired of PB and J for lunch because I don't know how to cook!
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