Runza Pie

Barbara O’Hanlon Dineen

  • 1 lb. ground beef
  • 1/2 C chopped onion
  • 1 C chopped cabbage
  • Salt and pepper to taste
  • Grated mozarella cheese
  • 1-8 oz. package Poppin’ Fresh pull apart dinner rolls

Preheat oven to 350. Brown ground beef, onion, and cabbage. Add salt and pepper. Drain well. Open tube of dinner rolls and spread dough out in the bottom of a greased 9 x 13 pan. Top with beef mixture. Sprinkle with cheese. Bake for 30 minutes.

by Tim Dineen

Marcy's Burritos

Marcy Dineen Medeiros

SAUCE:

  • 2 tbsp cumin
  • 2 tbsp chili powder
  • 8 oz can tomato sauce
  • 1 tsp garlic, chopped
  • 1 tsp sugar
  • 1 tbsp salsa (or more)
  • 1/2 chopped onion
  • 1/2 chopped tomato
  • 1/2 chopped bell pepper

And then:

  • 10 large flour tortillas
  • 1 lb hamburger meat
  • 1 16 oz can chili con carne
  • 1 lb cheddar cheese
  • 1 onion, chopped

Mix all ingredients together, add water as needed. Simmer until vegetables are cooked. Vary the strength of the cumin and chili powder according to taste.

Directions for Burrito: Cook ground beef. drain grease. Add cooked sauce and can of chili beans. Simmer for 5-10 minutes.

Take 5 tortillas and put between 2 very wet napkins in the microwave for one minute on high. This will soften up the tortillas. Do again for second set. Shred the cheddar cheese. (Large shredder).

Make the burrito:

Put a heaping spoon of the meat/bean/sauce mixture on flour tortilla. Add a handful of cheddar cheese and some onions and put on top. Roll up and put in glass pan. Leave enough cheese and onions to spread over top of burritos. If you heat in oven, heat at 375 degrees until hot, or put in microwave if in a hurry, which I always am, and heat on high for 5-10 minutes to melt cheese. Serve with salsa on the side, tortilla chips and/or guacamole.

This is a once-a-month must-serve dish. It makes 8-10 burritos and lasts for two nights. Yeah – one night without cooking!

by Tim Dineen

Mexican Lasagne

Kate Kelly Hodsdon

  • 1T oil
  • 2 lbs ground beef
  • 4 c tomato juice
  • 1 – 15oz can red kidney beans, drained
  • 1 – 6oz can tomato paste
  • 1 – 1 5/8 oz pkg chili mix
  • 10 uncooked lasagne noodles
  • 2 c cottage cheese
  • 2 c shredded cheddar cheese

Heat oil in skillet. Add beef and cook until browned, crumbling with a fork. Pour off fat. Add tomato juice, beans, tomato paste, and chili mix. Reduce heat. Cover partially and simmer 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Lightly grease 9×13 glass baking dish. Arrange 5 noodles in dish. Cover with 2 cups meat mixture, then 1 cup cottage cheese and 1/3 of cheddar. Repeat with noodles, meat mixture, cottage cheese and cheddar. Top with remaining meat mixture and cheddar. Cover with foil. Bake until bubbly and noodles are cooked through, about 30 minutes. Let stand 15 minutes before serving.

Only a crazy mixed up Mexican named Kelly living near the border could come up with this one!

Or maybe a crazy mixed up Italian living in Puerto Vallarta! In any case, this dish really confuses the New England in-laws!

by Tim Dineen

Beef Teriyaki Sauce

Marcy Dineen Medeiros

  • ½ C Soy Sauce
  • ½ C Olive Oil
  • 4 T Wine (White or Red)
  • 2 t Sugar
  • 1 t Ginger
  • 2 Cloves of Garlic
  • Add vegetables as desired, i.e. green onion, mushrooms, onions, etc.

You can use this sauce over chicken or beef. I prefer beef. I slice Chuck Steak, brown it in oil, add water and simmer for an hour until meat is tender. Drain water and pour sauce over meat from above. Simmer for 10-15 minutes. Mix 1-2 T of flour with water to thicken (or cornstarch) in a cup. Mix to make paste and add to sauce to thicken. Let cook another 5-10 minutes at low temperature until thickened.

This recipe usually gets made about once a week since, it just goes over cooked Minute Rice, some vegetables on the side and a roll. Easy and hardly any work for a worknight. Even the picky ones like this one.

by Tim Dineen

Easy Beef Stroganoff

Colleen Gentleman Minturn

Not a “family” recipe except in our immediate family. A favorite request for birthday dinners served with a big salad, good bread and Carrot Cake.

  • 2 lbs (or more) round steak or stew meat
  • 1 onion
  • ½ tsp pepper
  • ½ tsp salt
  • 8oz fresh mushrooms
  • 2 cans beef bouillon
  • ½ cup catsup
  • 8oz sour cream
  • 1 cup wine (optional)

Cut meat in bite-sized pieces and brown in a small amount of olive oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, barely cover with water, bring to boil and simmer for 1 hour, checking water. Add bouillon, catsup (and wine).
In frying pan, saute onion and sliced mushrooms in small amount of olive oil until onion is softened. Add to meat mixture and cook for 10 minutes or so. Thicken with flour and water ’till like gravy. Just before serving, gradually add sour cream, stirring in rapidly. Serve over rice, noodles or mashed potatoes.

by Tim Dineen

Simply Steak

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I bought a whole eye of the round the other day.  It was a good price and will keep us in beef for a while.  They usually have some good flavor, but are not always the most tender cut of meat.  I like them for stew meat, swiss steak - things I'm going to braise - although a center-cut roast usually cooks up pretty well, also.  Steaks can be iffy.

We lucked out, tonight!

Food Saver at the ready, I cut one roast, four thick steaks, and a goodly amount of stew beef.  I vacuum-sealed everything but tonights dinner, and into the now-full freezer it went.  I often wonder how I can go from empty to full in such a short amount of time!  And then I remember little things like making homemade sausage, the extra brasiole, the two pork loins, the frozen fairytale pumpkin, pasta sauce, the last of the summer tomatoes, and all those chicken breasts...  Have I ever mentioned how much I like my Food Saver?!?

But I digress...

The steaks tonight were simplicity; salt and pepper and a hot skillet.

When they were about 3/4 cooked, I added a handful of mushrooms.  I pulled the steaks out, cooked the mushrooms a bit more and then added some red wine.  It cooked down quickly, and I added some mushroom broth.  Scraped up the yummy bits, and then added a pinch of cornstarch to thicken.

Served with mashed potatoes and broccoli.

Simplicity, indeed.

by Tim Dineen

A Food Fest

We have friends in town.  It's 6pm...  We've been eating since yesterday...  There's still more to come!

It started with New England Clam Chowder yesterday.  I was so excited to have them here I forgot to put the potatoes in the chowder.  So much for pretending I know what I'm doing!

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And I forgot the cukes for the salad...

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Breakfast this morning was our spin on Eggs Benedict - poached eggs on whole wheat English muffins, with andouille sausage and langostino, topped with a jalapeno hollandaise sauce...

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We skipped lunch so we could start dinner at 3pm. We invited Victor's mom over to meet the girls and have dinner with us; Brasiole, Italian sausage, meatballs, pork, rigatoni and sauce, salad, tomato basil bread... and later tonight a puff pastry and apple dessert...

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Brasiole...

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Meatballs and the homemade Italian sausage

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Pork

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Rigatoni

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The simmering sauce...

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Fresh-baked croissants and omeletes tomorrow for breakfast...

We are having so much fun!

by Tim Dineen

Brussels Sprouts

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Okay... raise your hand if you knew Brussels Sprouts grew on stalks!    Now...  Raise your hand if you like Brussels Sprouts!

I'm one of those weird folks (big surprise, eh?!?) My favorite vegetable is Brussels Sprouts.  Love 'em.  Baked, boiled, broiled, fried, steamed, creamed, fancy, or plain.  Love 'em.

So, tonight - having all of these fresh sprouts on the stalk, I decided to roast them - with walnuts, garlic, salt, pepper, and a bit of olive oil.

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425° for about 25 minutes.  They were really, really good.

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I paired them with a quick beef stroganoff over wide egg noodles.  I omitted the heavy cream and the sherry in the recipe.  This was the quick (and lighter) version!  (I haven't broken 210, yet!)

But I'm working on it!

by Tim Dineen

Hot Soup Cold Day

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It was cold today.  And wet.  One of my favorite weather combinations.  I like cold, wet, and windy, too.  That icy wind that penetrates right to the marrow, no matter how many layers one is wearing.  Ah, yes.  My kind of weather.

Actually, I think weather like that really is just fine - provided I don't have to go out in it, there's a roaring fire in the fireplace, plenty of oil in the tank, and a nice soup or stew on the stove.

The weather wasn't really that bad, today, but it was the first really cold day we've had - a perfect excuse for a pot of simmering something on the stove.

I had taken some stew beef out of the freezer this morning, but I really wasn't sure until I got home whether it was to be stew or soup.

Soup won.

Ingredient-wise, I could do either, but a thin-broth beef and bean soup was really calling my name.  I had made a sausage and bean soup at work for the crew today which whetted my appetite, so to speak.

As one of six kids, I was raised on soups, and like my mother, I find cooking them to be a natural.  Unless I'm making a very specific soup recipe - like a Mulligatawny or something - I don't go to the store to buy ingredients to make a soup; I open the cupboards and refrigerator to see what I can throw into the pot.  9 times out of 10 they're clean-out-the-refrigerator concoctions, using up stray bits of this and that.

The local grocery store had canned beans on sale several months ago and over the course of a couple of shopping trips, I probably bought a dozen assorted cans or more. There were 6 left in the cupboard this afternoon and I've been on a kick to use up what's in the house before going out and bringing in more.  Now there are only 2 - I can almost justify that trip to the new Wegmans this coming Monday!

Beef and Bean Soup

  • 1 small onion, diced
  • 4 ribs celery, chopped
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 pound stew beef
  • 1 cup red wine
  • 1 (28 oz) can diced tomatoes in juice
  • 6 cups beef broth
  • 4 cans assorted beans, drained and rinsed (I used canellini, garbanzo, black, and pinto)
  • 1 tsp French herbs
  • salt and pepper

Wilt onion, celery, and garlic in a  bit of olive oil.  Add beef and brown.

Add red wine and cook to reduce by about half.

Add remaining ingredients and bring to boil, then simmer, covered,  about an hour or so.

Taste for seasoning and serve with a crusty bread.

Speaking of Wegmans, the cupboards are getting a bit bare around here since we were in DC and I didn't do my normal weekly shopping ...  We've received LOTS of circulars, coupon books - all sorts of freebie-goodie-come-ons to get us into the new Collegeville store that opened last Sunday.

The goal is to spend a couple of hours walking the aisles, resisting all of the things I flat-out don't need, and make it out of the store under $200.00.

I can do it.

I am a professional.

(Famous last words?!?  I'll let ya know Monday afternoon!)

by Tim Dineen

It All Started With Potatoes...

I did my weekly shopping yesterday, because I'm still taking Victor's mom shopping on Monday's - and I don't like the store where she shops. (If the car is still not ready and we need to do this again next Monday, we're going to PathMark.)

In the nice big produce display right inside the door, there  were 5 pound bags of potatoes buy one, get one free.  10 pounds of potatoes for 30¢ a pound.  I rarely buy a 5 pound bag of potatoes, because they tend to go bad before I can use them.  10 pounds is insane.

I passed them by and went over to see what else they had.  Loose potatoes were anywhere from 99¢ to $1.49 per pound.  I did the math.  Back to the front to pick up 10 pounds of potatoes.  I'm committed. (Or should be committed...)

So... 10 pounds of potatoes means I have to think meals in terms of what goes with potatoes.  (It doesn't make sense to get a deal like that and then throw them out.)

Also at the store, yesterday, I picked up a head of cauliflower.  I wanted a bit of cauliflower au gratin, or something cheesy. I really like cauliflower, but, like those potatoes, a head goes a long way.   There's only two of us, after all...

Tonight, I started with a classic - London Broil.  Salt and cracked black pepper.  That's it.  Plain and simple.  On the grill 5 minutes per side.  Done.

I decided on a Guinness cheese sauce for the cauliflower au gratin, and a mushroom sauce for the steak.  I started making the base for the Guinness sauce and realized I had enough for both the cauliflower AND the steak, so half went to cheese and the other half went to mushrooms and green peppercorns (along with a splash of brandy).

Guinness Cheese Sauce/Mushroom and Green Peppercorn Sauce

  • 2 tbsp butter
  • 2 tbsp flour
  • 1/2 cup Guinness Stout
  • 1/2 cup beef broth
  • 1/2 tsp worcesterhire sauce

Melt butter, add flour and cook until lightly browned.  Add Guinness and beef broth and cook and stir until thickened.

For the cheese sauce add to half of the base:

  • 4oz shredded cheddar cheese

Stir until melted.  Thin with additional broth, if necessary.  Season with salt and pepper

For the Mushroom and Green Peppercorn Sauce:

  • 2 oz mushrooms, diced
  • splash brandy
  • 1 tbsp green peppercorns, drained

Saute mushrooms in a bit of butter or olive oil until browned.  Add a splash of brandy and cook down.  Add sauce base and green peppercorns.  Check for seasoning and add salt and pepper, if needed.

Thin with additional beef broth, as desired.

The cheese sauce would also make a most excellent Welsh Rarebit.  Poured over toast with fried eggs on top... (Hmm.....  I think I see a Sunday Breakfast in my future!)

I steamed the cauliflower, mixed it into the sauce, and placed it into 6oz souffle cups.  I topped them with buttered panko bread crumbs and into a 350° oven for about 20 minutes.

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And the potatoes that started this whole thing?!?

Really simple:

I cubed the potatoes and boiled them until tender. (I left them unpeeled.  I like the skins!)  Drained, I mashed them a bit and then put them into a hot skillet with just a bit of olive oil, salt, and pepper.  I browned them a bit, stirred in 2 diced green onions and a bit of salt and pepper.  Browned them a bit more. and that was it.

It really was easy, and I can see that Guinness sauce being used for all sorts of things.

Life is good!

by Tim Dineen

Beef Pot Pie

We had pie crusts at work yesterday for the first time in forever, so I had to pick up a couple of packages.  I know I constantly and continually rant and rave about scratch cooking and processed foods, but every now and again I have to eat my words, so to speak.  Good-quality pie crusts are a great thing to have in the freezer.

The filling was pretty much a basic beef stew simmered for several hours and then ladled into a crust-lined plate, topped with another crust, and brushed with an egg.

It went into a 400° oven for about 30 minutes and dinner was served!

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There's enough left for at least another meal.

Life is good.

by Tim Dineen

Corned Beef - No Cabbage. Bread, Instead.

 

I bought a corned beef quite a while ago and it's been sitting in frozen storage ever since.  Last night before going to bed, I decided I wanted that corned beef!  Out it came to thaw, and off to bed I went.

About noon it went into a pot filled with water.  At 4pm it came out.  At 4:30pm, a couple of whole potatoes went into the pot.  At 5:15pm, in went some carrots and celery.  At 5:45pm, dinner was served.

I also popped a loaf of bread into the oven about 4:15pm, inbetween taking the corned beef out of the pot and putting the potatoes in...  Organization is key in all thinks.

The bread was my most favorite Quick Beer Bread.  I used a bottle of Guinness thin time around.

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Since Victor doesn't really care for cabbage all that much, I didn't make any.  Actually, since it was snowing outside, I decided not to go shopping today.  I was planning to cook some for myself.

Oh well.  It was really good without it!

by Tim Dineen