Salisbury Meatballs - Instant Pot Inspirations #3

 I love when I am perusing social media and I come across a recipe that sounds easy and delicious. I was scrolling through Insta this week and saw an Instant Pot picture for Salisbury meatballs. Checked out the recipe and it looked super easy PLUS I already had all the ingredients AND needed a recipe for Thursday's dinner. Winner, winner MEATBALL dinner! You can find the original recipe HERE!

Instant Pot Salisbury Meatballs

Ingedients:
1 lb ground beef
1 egg
1/4 cup panko breadcrumbs (any are fine)
salt and pepper
2 1/2 cups beef broth
1 onion, sliced
8 ounces sliced mushrooms
1 packet onion soup mix
1 tbs tomato paste
2 tbs Dijon mustard

***EQUIPMENT NEEDED: pressure cooker

Directions:
Start saute function on pressure cooker. Heat up 2 tbs olive oil. Meanwhile mix together ground beef, egg, breadcrumbs, and salt & pepper. Form into golf ball size meatballs. Saute meatballs in olive oil until browned on all sides, about 5 minutes. Remove meatballs. Deglaze bottom of pot with 1/2 cup beef broth. Stir in remaining broth, tomato paste, and Dijon. Stir in onion soup mix and fresh onions. Place meatballs back in, top with mushrooms. Place lid on pressure cooker and set to high manual pressure for 10 minutes. Once pot comes to pressure, then has its 10 minute cook time, do a quick release when 10 minutes is up. If you like a thicker gravy, feel free to make a cornstarch slurry and stir it in and cook for 5 minutes on the saute function on high. We served ours with some cheesy mashed potatoes. Yum - Enjoy!

Maafe - Pinterest Pick #26

 I have been hearing a lot about West African food lately and I realize I haven't really cooked any African food before. When I came across a recipe for Maafe in one of my food groups, I thought it sounded delicious and easy enough to give it a try. So I made this dish yesterday and it was a very different flavor than what we usually eat. I liked it, hubby was on the fence. It was spicy and nutty. The dish comes from Senegal in West Africa. Peanuts are their largest crop, which explains the peanut butter in the dish. A lot of their cuisine are stewed dishes, often eaten with bread. I served the dish with garlic biscuits, but you could also serve it with rice, couscous, or a flatbread like Naan. I hope this recipe influences some of my dear blog readers to branch out and try African cuisine if you haven't before. I did leave out the jalapeno and green bell pepper as I did not have any on hand, but the dish was spicy enough with the red pepper flakes. If you prefer a milder flavor, I would reduce the amount of red pepper flakes or leave them out entirely. You can find the original pin HERE and the original recipe HERE,

Maafe (Beef Peanut Stew)

Ingredients:
2 lb beef stew meat (or a chuck roast cut into 1 inch pieces)
(Marinade)
1 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1 tsp garlic, minced
1 tsp ginger, minced
(Stew)
1 onion, diced
6 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbs minced ginger
3 tbs tomato paste
8 ounces tomato sauce
1 tsp smoked paprika
2 tsp red pepper flakes (use half or leave out depending on your spice tolerance)
1 jalapeno, finely diced (I omitted)
1 red bell pepper, largely diced
1 green bell pepper, largely diced (I omitted)
12 baby carrots
3 cups beef broth
1/2 cup peanut butter (I used creamy, but crunch is fine too)
salt & pepper
*I also used a spice from Trader Joe's called Ajika which is spicy, garlicky, and nutty so it fit in with this dish (I used about a tablespoon)

Directions:
Marinate meat for a few hours (or overnight like I did) in the paprika, salt, pepper, garlic, and ginger.

Sear meat in vegetable oil for 5 minutes on each side. Remove from pot (I used a 6 quart Dutch oven) and set aside. Add a touch more oil to the pot and add in onions. Saute until tender. Add in ginger and garlic, and jalapeno if using. Cook for 1 minute then stir in tomato paste. Let cook for an additional minute then add in salt & pepper and red pepper flakes. Let cook for 5 minutes. Add in broth and carrots. Stir in peanut butter then add beef back to pot. Simmer for an hour then add in bell pepper. Let cook an additional hour. Serve with rice, couscous, or bread. Enjoy!

French Onion Beef Casserole - Home Cooked Recipe #87

 Tis the season for comfort food! And what is more comforting then a creamy casserole? Nada. I present to you the French onion beef casserole. It is easy to make, great for a weeknight, and inexpensive. It is a delicious dish that is perfect for the fall/winter season.

French Onion Beef Casserole

Ingredients:

• 
  1 pound ground beef
• 1 small onion, diced
• 1/2 package egg noodles, cooked according to package directions
• 1 can cream of onion soup (really, any cream soup you have would work)
• 1 8 ounce container of French onion dip (I use a refrigerated brand)
• French's fried onions
• salt and pepper

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350. While egg noodles are cooking, brown ground beef with diced onion. When beef is browned drain and season with salt and pepper. Mix together noodles, beef mixture, soup, and dip. Pour in to greased 9x13 baking dish. Top with fried onions. Bake for 30 minutes. Enjoy!

Dijon Beef Stew - Home Cooked Recipe #86

 Once in a while I come across a gem of a recipe either on television or the internet. This particular recipe I saw on Rachael Ray a week or so ago. It looked so good I couldn't even wait for it to get cold here in FL to make it. And I am really glad I didn't wait because it is SO delicious! I made slight adjustments to the recipe based on ingredients I had on hand, but you can find the original recipe HERE if you want to make it exactly as she does. I hope you enjoy it as much as we did in our house. 

DIJON BEEF STEW

Ingredients:

(STEW)

• 2 lbs stew meat (bite size chunks)
• 1 cup flour
• 1 tbs ground sage
• salt & pepper
• 4-6 tbs butter
• 1 onion, chopped
• 6 shallots, sliced
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 cup dry sherry 
• 1/2 cup Dijon mustard
• 2 cups beef broth
• 1 tbs Worcestershire
• 1 bag baby carrots
• 4-6 red potatoes, quartered
• 1/2 cup grainy dijon mustard

(MUSHROOMS)

• 16 oz white mushrooms, sliced 
• 4 tbs butter
• salt & pepper
• 1 tbs ground thyme
• 4 cloves minced garlic
• 1/2 cup dry sherry
• juice of 1/2 a lemon

Directions:
(STEW) Heat 4 tbs butter in a Dutch oven over medium heat. Mix sage, salt, and pepper into flour. Coat stew meat pieces lightly with flour. Brown stew meat pieces in the butter, in 2 batches. Set beef aside. Add more butter if needed to Dutch oven. Add in shallots and onions. Season with salt and pepper and add in bay leaf. Cook until soft, approximately 8 minutes. Deglaze pot with sherry. Let reduce by half. Add Dijon, broth, and Worcestershire. Stir beef back in. Reduce heat to low and simmer beef for 90 minutes. Add in carrots and potatoes, and simmer for 45 more minutes. Stir in grainy mustard. Once mustard is in, turn off heat and prepare mushrooms.
(MUSHROOMS) Heat butter in large sauté pan. Add mushrooms and cook until browned. Season with salt, pepper, thyme, and garlic - cook one minute. Deglaze pan with sherry. Turn off heat and squeeze in lemon juice. Top stew with sherry mushrooms.

ENJOY!

Cheesy Italian Chicken - CROCK*POT CAFE 16

Hey all! It has been really strange time hasn't it? 2020 has to be the oddest year of my life yet, and I am sure many of yours too. With pandemic happening, a civil rights movement sweeping the nation, murder hornets, and who knows what else, the last thing we have time to think about is what's for dinner. So I have a solution for you! This easy, 4 ingredient, tasty recipe that you can set and forget. I found the recipe on TikTok. Several users posted it so I am not sure where it originated from. But I am glad we tried it because now it is a household favorite!

Cheesy Italian Chicken

Ingredients:

• 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts ( you can easily double or triple the chicken in this recipe - or even sub boneless, skinless chicken thighs - and the other ingredients can remain the same)
• 1 block cream cheese
• 1 bottle Olive Garden Italian salad dressing (or sub whatever Italian dressing you like best)
• 1/2 bag shredded Parmesan (I would reserve the other half for topping)

Directions:
Place chicken in slow cooker. Cover with Italian dressing, cream cheese, and Parmesan. Cook on low for 4 hours. You can shred the chicken once cooked like we did or leave the breasts whole. Serve with rice or noodles & top with additional Parmesan if desired. Enjoy!