Brown Stew Beef with Potatoes and Carrots

Brown Stew Beef with Carrots, Potatoes before I add the water

Brown Stew Beef with Carrots, Potatoes

Ingredients

• 5 whole carrots – peeled and chopped
• 3 whole potatoes, peeled and cut in chunks
• a whole small onion
• salt and pepper
• browning/casreep or burnt brown sugar
• about a pound of beef chunks or beef stew
• about 2 tablespoons of cooking oil or olive oil

Directions

1. Pressure the beef in a pressure cooking for 20 to 30 minutes or until the beef is tender
2. In a saucepan put two tablespoons of oil and saute onions for 2 to 3 minutes
3. Add the carrots, potatoes, browning and constantly stir and let cook for about 5 minutes.
4. Now add the beef, cover and let cook on medium heat for 10 minutes.
5. After 10 minutes add a cup of water and salt and pepper, stir and cover.
6. Check every 5 minutes to see if the potatoes are cooked.
7. Once the potatoes are cooked, your done!

Total cooking time about 45 minutes to an hour.

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Mother’s Day Meal – Buttermilk Oven Fried Chicken with Mac & Cheese, String Beans and Roasted Red Potatoes and Carrots

This year for Mother’s Day my wife and I tried a new spin on fried chicken.

Ingredients for Marinade

• 2 cups of Low fat buttermilk – (We chose low-fat because we are both on diets)
• Half of an onion, chopped
• 4 cloves of garlic, crushed
• 4-5 sprigs of thyme
• 1 fresh lemon
• Breadcrumbs or crushed Cornflakes
• Parmesan Cheese
• Chicken – of course! – This recipe did about a whole cut-up chicken

Directions for Chicken

Combine the buttermilk, crushed garlic, thyme, entire squeezed lemon, chopped onion and chicken into a large bowl and let marinate for 3 to 5 hours in the refrigerator.

After the chicken has finished marinating. Combine the Parmesan cheese and Breadcrumbs/Cornflakes into a separate bowl. Generously coat the chicken in the Parmasean mixture and put into a baking pan with a mesh. The mesh is to ensure that the chicken doesn’t touch the bottom of the baking pan. I coated the mesh with Pam Cooking Spray. Bake for 45 to 60 minutes or until chicken is well cooked.

Ingredients for Mac and Cheese

• 1/2 pound elbow macaroni
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 3 tablespoons flour
• 1 tablespoon powdered mustard
• 3 cups milk
• 1/2 cup yellow onion, finely diced
• 1 bay leaf
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• 1 large egg
• 12 ounces sharp cheddar, shredded or grated
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• Fresh black pepper

Topping:

• 3 tablespoons butter
• 1 cup bread crumbs
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Directions for Macaroni and Cheese

Bring a large pot of water to a boil, include a pinch of salt. Once its boiling add the macaroni elbows

While the elbows are cooking, in a separate pot, melt the butter. Whisk in the flour and mustard and keep stirring for about 5 minutes, make sure it doesn’t settle or burn. When there are no more lumps, stir in the milk, onion, bay leaf, and paprika. Simmer for ten minutes and remove the bay leaf.

Add the egg. Stir in 3/4 of the cheese, add a small pinch of salt and pepper. Keep stirring as you don’t want any lumps.
By now your macaroni should be finished. Drain the macaroni of all the water in a colander.
Pour the drained macaroni into the mix and pour into a 2-quart casserole dish. Top with remaining cheese.

Melt the butter in a saute pan and toss the bread crumbs to coat. Top the macaroni with the bread crumbs. Bake for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and cool for five to ten minutes then it’s ready to serve

Roasted Veggies and Stringbeans

Combine all veggies into a baking pan, coat in olive oil and add a tablespoon of oregano. Use your hand and mix all the ingredients together and bake for 45 minutes to an hour.

Saute the string beans into a saucepan with olive oil. You can add some salt and pepper for flavor

You don’t have to go to Culinary School to cook like a chef.

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Orange Marmalade Pork Chops

Last year when Border’s Bookstore was having it’s liquidation sale, my wife and I picked up a few cookbooks. So now on most Sundays we’ll try different recipes and deserts from the cookbooks.

The first one we decided to try was Orange Marmalade Pork Chops. None of us have ever even attempted to make pork chops before and the pictures in the book looked irresistible.

It took us a lot of looking putting together all the ingredients.

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