Salisbury Steak Recipe!

So even though we've primarily cut red meat from our diet, I do still make the occasional steak or ground beef meal.

This recipe is so ridiculously simple, I swear you will be amazed.

Salisbury Steak

1 Lb Ground Beef
1 1/2 tsp Seasoned Salt
1 tsp Pepper
2 tsp Garlic Powder
1 tsp Onion Powder
1 Egg
1/4-1/2 Cup Italian Bread Crumbs
1 Onion
3 Cloves Garlic
1 packet of McCormick Au Jus mix.
3 and 1/4 C Water
1 TBS Cornstarch


Combine your first 7 ingredients. Start by using only 1/4 cup of breadcrumbs and if the meat is still to moist, gradually add more. I had two types of ground beef, 80/20 and 90/20, it took more breadcrumbs for the 80/20 than it did the 90/10. So if you use something with a higher fat content you may need more.

Knead the meat with your hands, do not overly mix or it will fall apart. Form your meat into 6-8 small oval shaped patties. Heat 2 Tbs oil in your pan (I use EVOO for everything) and add your patties. Brown both sides and then remove them from the pan.

Slice your onion and mince your garlic. Add your onions to the pan and sautee over medium heat until they start to become transparent. Add your garlic and saute for another minute, just until the garlic is fragrant.

Add 3 cups of water to the pan and whisk in the Au Jus mix. Place the patties back into your pan and cover. Cook for about 10 minutes until the patties are cooked through. Mix 1 Tbs cornstarch into 1/4 C COLD water and stir it into the gravy. Allow the gravy to thicken and then remove your steaks from the heat.

Serve over mashed potatoes.

Delicious!

6 Ways to Stretch Ground Beef

I'll admit, B and I are still learning how to budget. There was a time not long ago that we were stupid college kids who lived well beyond our means. And when the end of the month came and we were just too broke to afford groceries, we learned really fast how to make what we had last or else we were eating PB&J until the next paycheck. Thankfully we no longer live beyond our means and have actually started saving money (imagine that!), but there was once that time.

Ground beef can be pretty cheap. Cheaper than most things anyway. We stock up on ground beef, in fact I have 8 Lbs of it in my freezer right now.

When you're short on money though, 1 Lb of ground beef may need to last more than a day. So I've made a list of the top 10 ways we stretched our ground beef.

1) Chili. Chili is simple and cheap to make. A pound of ground beef, a can of tomato sauce, a can of diced tomatoes, 4 cups of water, 2 beef boullion cubes, 2 cans of kidney beans, and a can of tomato paste.

There are multiple things you can do with chili. You can eat it over rice or noodles. You can put it on hot dogs. You can put it over nachos with cheese. Mix it in with mac and cheese and you have chili mac. Put it over burgers. There are many things you can do with chili to give yourself something different and still make it last 2 or 3 days.

2) Tacos. Like chili, tacos are quick, cheap, and easy. A lb of beef and a packet of taco sauce.

You can take taco meat and mix it with refried beans, now you can stretch it further. Eat it as a taco, put it in a burrito, make quesadillas , make enchiladas. Put it on nachos, burgers, hotdogs, etc.. Taco meat is very simple to last a few days.

3) Pasta Sauce. Tomato sauce, dried Italian seasoning, some diced tomatoes, ground beef and if you have sausage you can add that too.

Pasta Sauce can obviously be used over noodles, you can turn it into lasagna, you can turn it into Chili later on, then you have all the things you can do with chili.

4) Shepherds pie. Ground beef, frozen mixed vegetables, and mashed potatoes. Shepherd pie is filling so you're sure to have leftovers.

5) Meatballs. Take your ground beef and mix it with a cup of cooked rice and you can get twice as many meatballs. Meatballs can be turned into subs, added to pasta, put over buttered noodles, made into sweedish meatballs, or even put over rice with gravy.

6) Vegetable soup. Add ground beef to vegetable soup. Soup will typically last 3-4 days in my family.

If we ever need to make something stretch (or I just feel like I'm getting sick and won't want to cook for a few days) these are our go-to meals when we have ground beef on hand. Tonight or tomorrow I'll have a post for pork and one for chicken.

Recipe Set - Prime Rib & Yorkshire Pudding

Well due to my previous email being hacked multiple times, I have shut down the Life's Little Indulgences blog. I know that I had a few popular recipes passed around on Pinterest and to keep those recipes alive they are now being moved here. Nothing has changed except the blog site, please, if you followed my other blog, feel free to follow me here instead.

Onto the recipe!

Typically my recipes are budget friendly, but every once in a while I budget a little more and decide make a really nice meal for my family. This is one of those meals. Prime Rib roasts usually go for 10-13 dollars a pound here in Northern Indiana, it may be different depending on your location. On this particular occasion the boneless roasts were on sale for 6.99 a LB which was an amazing deal!

A good rib roast is a beautiful cut of meat. It is well marbled, with a nice layer of fat along the top. If you get a bone in roast you should be able to get 2 dinners per rib portion. So take that into account when ordering a bone in roast, a family of four should only need 2 ribs.

When cooking a rib roast you always cook it fat side up. The juices from the melting fat will run down the meat during cooking and you will have a juicy and well seasoned piece of meat. Over-cooked rib roast is dry and tough, be careful when cooking, take it out 10 degrees before your preferred temperature (so if you want med-rare at 145 degrees, take the meat out at 135 degrees) and let it sit for 20 minutes. Not only does this allow the residual heat to finish cooking the meat, it also gives the roast a chance to rest so you lose less of the juices in the process.

Ok so anyway, after sharing my juicy meat knowledge (haha, I crack myself up!) lets share some recipes!

GARLIC PRIME RIB ROAST

INGREDIENTS

• 4.5LB Boneless Rib Roast or 2 Rib Bone in Rib Roast
• 10 Cloves of garlic
• 2 TBS Olive Oil
• 2 Tsp Salt
• 2 Tsp Pepper
• 2 Tsp Ground Thyme

DIRECTIONS

Place your roast fatty side up in a roasting pan. If your roast is boneless, place the roast on a rack in the pan.

Peel and mince the garlic in the food processor. 

Once you have the garlic minced, add olive oil to the garlic and pulse a couple times until well blended. Pour the mixture into a bowl, add salt, pepper, and thyme.

Spread the mixture over the fatty layer of the roast, if you have some extra you can spread it down the sides as well. Let it sit until the roast and mixture are at room temperature.

Preheat your oven to 460 degrees Fahrenheit. Cook roast for 12 minutes, then turn the temperature down to 400 degrees Fahrenheit for 8 minutes. Finally turn the temperature down to 325 degrees Fahrenheit and cook until done. (At this point, if you are using a large roasting pan and plan to make the pan gravy, you may need to add a cup or two of water at the bottom.) It should take about 13-17 minutes per pound. For rare remove the roast from the oven at 115 degrees Fahrenheit, for med-rare remove from the over at 135 degrees Fahrenheit, and for well done remove from the oven at 155 degrees Fahrenheit. Let the roast sit under a foil tent for 20 minutes to finish cooking and settle.

TO MAKE PAN GRAVY

The pan gravy for the Rib Roast is very simple. First take 1/2 cup of the pan drippings and set aside, you will need this for the Yorkshire Pudding recipe.

Pour a can of beef broth or 1 cup of water and a beef bullion cube into a pot. Add remaining pan drippings. Bring to a rolling boil. Mix 1 TBS cornstarch into 1/4 cup COLD water. (Must be cold) Add this to the boiling broth and drippings. Simmer until thick then remove from heat.

CAST IRON SKILLET YORKSHIRE PUDDING 

INGREDIENTS

• 3/4 Cup Self Rising Flour
• 1/2 Tsp Salt
• 3 Eggs
• 3/4 Cup Milk
• 1/2 Cup Pan Drippings
• Cast Iron Skillet

DIRECTIONS

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit. Sift together flour and salt and set aside. Beat together the eggs and the milk until it is light and foamy. Stir in the ingredients until incorporated, it is ok for there to be some lumps. Do not over mix this. 

Pour the meat drippings into a 10" cast iron skillet.

Place the skillet in the oven until smoking hot. Carefully remove the pan and pour in the batter. Place back into the oven and cook until puffed and dry, about 15-20 minutes.

I typically make this dinner for holiday parties or birthdays/anniversaries/etc... It is delicious and absolutely worth the price!