Italian Style Beef and Vegetable Soup

This soup was a request from my mom, but I can't just leave things alone. She loves beef and vegetable soup, I decided to change the vegetable line up and add cannelinni beans instead of potatoes so I could cut down on the amount of beef. Let me say this, this is as a very tomatoey (it's a word, shut up) beef and vegetable soup. It's as much tomato as beef, because my mom and I like it that way! I always remember when we had busy nights and would have soup for dinner, everyone had their preferences. My brother was picky and pretty much wanted tomato with cheese, if he had any. My dad always had one of those big "chunky" soups, you know those ridiculous ones that shouldn't be a soup flavor? Like Big Beefy Super Steaky Goodness with Potatoes? Those ones. My mom pretty much always had beef and vegetable, and I liked the smell of hers the best. This is just a little bit of a twist, and its so convenient to go in the slow cooker. This broth is great with some crusty bread! I'm also doing a post on my Hasselback Garlic Bread...its fantastic...just sayin'

Beef and Vegetable Soup

Let me just say, this is easily the best picture I found in terms of how similar my actual recipe turned out. The only difference is there is baby carrots, and mine was a whole carrot that was cut up. This picture was a win in my book

Italian Beef and Vegetable soup:

1/2 lb fatty steak (cheap is good here, I used chuck eye round)

1 can undrained fire roasted or stewed tomatoes

1 can drained cannellini or white beans
Half a can drained cut green beans

One carrot, peeled and cut into half moons

½ cup frozen peas

¼ to ½ cup frozen spinach or greens of any kind

3 beef bullion cubes and 1 ½ cups water, or 1 and ½ cups beef broth

½ small white or yellow onion, chopped

2 garlic gloves, diced fine

½ tbsp. Italian seasoning

½ tsp black pepper

Let me say about this steak business, you could use stew meat, but they were big packs, and they were expensive! You can totally slow cook smaller cuts that have decent marbling, and shred it. Its a personal choice, you can use stew meat, I didn't feel like paying extra. Your first step is to liberally salt and pepper your steak, and sear it on high just until it browns on both sides. It's pretty easy peasy from here on out. Add all the rest of your ingredients (except your salt) into your slow cooker. I used 3 bullion cubes and half the amount of water to start with because I wasn't going to get a lot of beef flavor from my smaller cut of steak, and its beef soup after all! You can always add more water later, but you can't take it out if you put too much in! That's the same reason we reserve the salt to the end. Your veggies could soak up a lot or a little, and your broth is salty, so just hold off until close to the end. I cooked on high for one hour, then on low for three. This all depends on how cooked you like your veggies, as long as your beef is shredable (also a word...dont judge me), you're good to go! This is so freakin good with crusty bread

Stuffed Double Bacon Cheeseburger with Guacamole

I know sometimes I have parts of my recipes that are healthy, or shortcuts where I leave certain ingredients out for the sake of your arteries. This is not one of them. Is it ridiculous? Yes. Is it bad for you? Absolutely. Do I regret it? NO I DO NOT. It was my boyfriends birthday, and he loves cheeseburgers. I also had a special request from my mom to do a pepper jack burger. I had the time and the funds, so I decided to take this burger to the next level. Let me just preface by saying this and getting this out of my system. I LOVE making burgers. When I didn't have bills to pay and could spend my money on food, I made burgers ALL the time. I think I'm pretty damn good at it. Then Bobby Flay took a bunch of my burgers I already made. I swear, he planted bugs in my head and took them. I made a certain southwest burger, and I got a piece of jalapeno in my eye that resulted in my whole face burning for an hour. Its now at his burger restaurants, almost the exact same one I made years prior...I realize this was a rant, thank you for sticking with me through that. Just grinds my gears man. Make this burger!!! And don't give it to Bobby Flay...This monster has pepper jack on the inside of the burger patty, cheese on top, thick sliced bacon, and homemade guacamole on a toasted sesame seed bun. At least guacamole has the good for you fat ;)

Bacon Juicy Lucy

This above pictured is the Juicy Lucy, the quintessential original cheese stuffed burger. This one doesn't have quacamole, but what can I say? The picture still looked pretty good :D

Stuffed Bacon Cheeseburger (serves 2):

12 ounces of ground beef

4 ounces of pepper jack cheese (divided into four equal parts)

Homemade guacamole (or store bought if you don't have it)

4 slices of crispy thick cut bacon

Sliced tomatoes

Iceberg or romaine lettuce 

Premium sesame seed buns (potato buns would also work great here)

Condiment of choice

Salt and pepper

This is not a burger with a bunch of spices and fancy things. This is a good ol' fashioned beef burger, and it tastes like it. Save your bacon fat, whether you bake it or do it on the stove, because you're cooking your burger in it! Heat up a large skillet or cast iron pan inbetween medium and medium high heat (depending how rare you like your burger) while you make your patties. Liberally salt and pepper your meat, since its your only seasoning, make it count. It's up to you how much you actually put, I probably put almost three quarters teaspoon of salt. Divide your meat into four parts. You're taking one part (one ounce) of your cheese, and putting it in the middle. Take another section of meat, and use it as a lid, and form it around the cheese, closing the sides and smoothing the seams. Repeat one more time. Form them slightly bigger than your buns because they'll shrink. Lay them in your pan, and cook for about 3 or 4 minutes per side for medium rare/medium and 5 minutes for no pink. While they're cooking, toast your buns a little in the oven. Flip your burger and place your remaining 2 ounces on the top of each burger and let it melt. Take your buns out, and put on your condiment of choice (I love mayo on one side and mustard on the other). Layer your burger, guacamole, tomatoes, lettuce, bacon, and top bun! Its so damn good, it just is. You're welcome :D

 

Deboning a Chicken Thigh

I get enough chicken thighs that you would think I would debone them all the time. Guess what? I don't! Most of the time I'm using it in a shredded fashion and I like to cook it on the bone for the flavor. But sometimes, every now and then, I like to glaze them whole, or roast them with the skin on. Now I myself don't mind this at all! It's almost impossible to make dry, and I like to get my hands on some meat and eat it off the bone. However, if you're like me, you may have some picky family members *cough cough* Jeremy *cough*, who just prefer boneless. Tonight, I'm actually making tacos, so my meat will be shredded. I just didn't want to cook it in the oven, and I don't want to boil it since I actually want this meat to have a little chew and texture from the carmelization. I'm also really short on time, but the other reason sounds so much better doesn't it? I had to debone it, and am I glad I did! I've never done this, and it took me about a minute and a half per thigh, so with practice, this will be a two minute job for as much chicken as I need. It will save you SO much money over buying boneless chicken thighs!

I don't have a picture for this one, but I have a video I saw, and I will describe it as I did it. I started at the knob at the top, with a sharp, smaller knife. You cut down the center along the bone (you can feel the bone down the center). Once you can see the slit along the bone, you pick one side to work down, and cut as close to the bone as you can, then you do the other side. Take the knob in the middle of the thigh, and cut as close as you can along the top of it, I found there was some cartilage. Once I got past that, I could hold the knob, and cut as close to the bone, down the back, and I hardly wasted any meat. I also found, once I was that far, I could use my knife to kind of "scrape" my way down the bone which saved even more meat. Take a look at the following link to see what I mean. Get your knives, get deboning!

Debone That Chicken Thigh!!! 

Italian Sausage with Onion Gravy and Egg Noodles

Its been REALLY cold. And I'm getting REALLY pregnant. Between trying to clean for at least an hour (it's challenging, trust me), and put last touches in the nursery, I have not been making things from scratch. This wasn't a complete short cut meal, but it warmed my stomach and tasted like it had taken all day long. Kids wouldn't even notice the onions, and it pleases adult with all its developed flavors. It was perfect to make my easy green beans on the side, and things could cook away for about twenty minutes while I went and did whatever I needed to do. With all these storms coming, you're going to want to make this (if you still have power)! :D

 

Beef Gravy and Noodles 

I found a picture as close as I could, the only difference in this picture, is there chunks of stew meat, and mine had chunks of sausage. My gravy was also a little thicker, but it's the same general idea.

Italian Sausage with Onion Gravy:

1 package of hot italian sausages (mine came in packages of 5 and I used 3)

1/3 cup finely diced onion

3/4 cup frozen greens

1 package onion soup mix

1 package brown gravy mix

2 tbsp butter or vegetable oil

2 1/2 to 3 cups water

1/2 of one big package of egg noodles, cooked

Salt and pepper to taste

It seems like its kind of a lot of ingredients, but it's really easy. Heat up a large cast iron skillet (or just a big regular skillet) over medium high heat with the butter or vegetable oil in the bottom. Once hot, you can cut open your sausage casing or push the meat out the small hole in the top and bottom and into your skillet. Spread it out a little with your spoon, and leave it alone to brown for about 3 minutes per side. Turn the heat to medium and add your onion, you can then break up your meat into smaller pieces, but still leave it chunky. After about five minutes, add your soup and gravy mix along with your water. Add in your frozen greens, and turn your heat to high. Stir frequently until it boils for a minute or two, then turn your heat to medium low and simmer for twenty minutes. You can cook it down longer if its not thick enough for you. Add salt and pepper to taste, and serve over your cooked egg noodles. This was EASILY my favorite dinner of the week!

 

 

Slow Cooker Teriyaki Chicken Legs

The grocery store was having buy 1 get 1 free on the value packs of chicken, so I knew I was gonna be fixing some chicken! By the way, I know that pork loin, or filets of salmon probably look really good, but if you're watching your dollars, get the B1G1 sales! You'll find recipes to make it work, trust me. Back to the point of the story. I needed to fix some different chicken to break up the monotony that is poultry. I don't know if you've caught on to this, but I DO have an Achilles heel. I cannot cook Asian food from scratch, it's an epic fail every time! I know! You're like, "Oh my gawd, I thought you could cook everything. You ruined my perfect dreams of you!". I know, and I'm sorry. But with some store shortcuts, its still perfectly affordable, and let me tell you, it was GOOD!

 

Slow Cooker Teriyaki Chicken 

Teriyaki Chicken:

5 chicken legs, skin off

1/2 a bottle of teriyaki marinade, about 6 ounces

2 scallions, thinly sliced

1 tsp ginger

1 tbsp lemon juice

2 tsp corn starch

Toasted sesame seeds

Water

This is a really simple recipe, though since we're working with chicken legs, it's not one you can leave going and go to work or something. Put the first five ingredients into the crock pot, and stir everything around so it's evenly coated. Cook for 2 hours on high, or four on low. Take the lid off and mix the corn starch with an equal amount of water. Stir it in and leave the lid off on high (whether you cooked it on low or high), for about 30 minutes to an hour. That depends on how thick you want your sauce. Serve with steamed rice and extra sauce from the crock pot. Top with extra chopped scallions and toasted sesame seeds. This is a gorgeous one to serve as well. If you wanted to, you could leave out the ginger, scallions, lemon, and sesame seeds. Those are extras, so if you strip it down, this recipe is even more affordable!