Easy Beef Stew

Yummy!  There is nothing more wholesome to me than serving my family some warm stew made from natural ingredients!  

Meat and vegetables.

...And it's easy. 

...And it's made in the crockpot.  

...And it's delish!

I'd say you need to have this in the crockpot by 9:00 am if you want to have this ready by 5 or 6 pm.

I browned the outside of 2-3 lbs. of chopped stew meat in 2-3 Tablespoons of vegetable oil and put in the crock pot with 2 cups of water.  Then I semi-peeled 6 red potatoes and diced those.  I also added a small red onion, diced.  Add half a jar of marinara or Spagetti sauce.  Toss in 1-2 cups frozen mixed veggies.  Add a Tablespoon of salt. Stir with a wooden spoon and cook on high until lunchtime, turn to low for the rest of the day.  I break up the chunks of stew meat with the wooden spoon before serving. Taste the soup and add any salt or pepper you think it needs before serving.

Crock Pot Beef Stew:

Ingredients:

2-3 pounds chopped stew meat, browned in frying pan.

1/2 jar marinara sauce

1-2 cups frozen veggies

6 red potatoes, peeled and diced

2 cups water

Salt and pepper to taste.

Directions:

Add all ingredients to a crockpot on high for 4 hours. Reduce to low and add salt and pepper, if necessary.  Cook 4 hours on low.  Serve with crackers or cornbread.

Orange Dream Salad

Fluffy orange creamy pineapple salad.  Perfect side for sandwiches, pot lucks, holiday dinners, etc. This recipe was handed down from my Mother in law, per my husbands request. :-). It usually comes with chopped pecans, but my husband prefers it without the added protein, so I usually oblige to his wishes.

Whip this up in 5 minutes and refrigerate for 2 hours and you are in business!!

The star players:

Ingredients:

(This recipe can be used with double or half of any of the ingredients listed, so I'm  not going to be specific on the amount or size of containers.

-tub whipped cream, thawed.

-tub cottage cheese, drained if there is juice on the top.

-can of mandarin oranges, drained

-can of crushed pineapple

-orange jello packet (powder)

-chopped pecans, if desired

Directions:

1. Mix pineapple and jello powder in a bowl.

2. Stir in oranges.

3. Stir in whipped cream.

4. Stir in cottage cheese and pecans.

5. Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.

6.  Serve it to those you love :-)

Golden Raspberry Grilled Cream Cheese Sandwiches

This is like eating a pastry for breakfast!  

Easy raspberry grilled cream cheese sandwich:

Toss a few Tablespoons of butter in a frying pan on low heat.  Spread cream cheese and jelly on your bread and smooth together and fry in the butter until both sides are golden.

Ham & Potato Hash

Crunchy breakfast potatoes with diced onions and ham!!!

The secret to my success is making extra baked potatoes the night before and saving them to use for breakfast!  

Put a frying pan on low and toss in 4 Tablespoons of butter.  Dice 1/2 cup of onions and throw those in the hot butter and cook until clear and soggy.

Meanwhile, cut off the peel from the potatoes and dice into small pieces.  Throw those on top of onions.

Add 1/2-1/4 cup finely diced ham.

Add a dallop of mustard and 4 shakes of spicy sauce.

Season with salt and pepper and mix together in pan.  Cook on medium/low until golden.  I added a couple of Tablespoons of butter towards the end because it got dry.

Ham and Potato Hash:

- 4 cups of baked potatoes, skins cut off and diced.

-1/3 cup diced ham

- 1/2 cup diced onion

- 6 Tablespoons butter

- 1 teaspoon mustard

- hot sauce (Tobasco, Franks, etc)

- salt & pepper

1. Cook onions in butter until clear.

2. Add remaining ingredients and fry on medium/low until golden!

3. Serve with fruit.

Spicy Italian Sandwiches

Another lazy summer day calls for an easy meal.  The Spicy Italian!

A long time favorite, since my college days.

Ingredients:

-French bread loaf, uncut. 1/2 loaf per adult serving.

-Smoked ham, not honey ham.  Deli sliced thin.

-(Pepperoni and salami, if you've got some.  I did not have any on hand today.)

-provolone cheese, sliced

-Chopped black olives

-Italian dressing (vinegar and oil in a pinch)

-cherry peppers, blended. (Just dump a jar of cherry peppers in a blender to make this.) I learned that trick while working at a deli!

-Romaine lettuce

-Thinly sliced tomato

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 350'.

2. Start slicing lettuce and tomatoes and olives.

3. Put French bread in oven to warm, 6-8 minutes. Uncovered.

4. Pull bread out and cool until you can handle it. 2-3 minutes.

5. Cut bread into 2 halves.

6. Slice open bread from one side, do not cut through, so you can open it like a book. 

7. With your fingers, remove most of the soft doughy inside of the loaf.

8. Layer meats, cheese and olives on the open faced sandwich and return to oven until cheese is melted. About 5 minutes.

9. Place tomatoes and lettuce on one side of the sandwich, drizzle italian dressing and blended cherry peppers on the veggies.

10. Close the sandwich. Slice at a diagonal and serve!

Smoked Turkey and Swiss on Rolls!!!

Smoked Turkey and Swiss on rolls!

I just got back from the grocery store and the last thing I want to do is cook!  So, I warmed up some yeast rolls (Hawaiian rolls work well too) leftover from last night's meal and filled them with Smoked Turkey, Swiss cheese, Romaine lettuce, and put condiments on the table.  Serve with an easy side such as chips, fruit, or potato salad. Voila!  Family fed :-)

***Poor Girl Tip*** These are an excellent finger food when feeding a crowd.  Fill a platter with Hawaiian rolls loaded with cheese and turkey and ham!!!  Effortless, yet more creative than plain sandwiches.

Creamy Tomato Chicken Spagetti

Creamy goodness!!!!  

This was a happy accident from leftovers that turned out better than the originals!!  

Ingredients:

1 cup marinara sauce

1 cup chicken tortilla soup leftovers

2-3 cups cooked spaghetti leftovers

Directions:

1. Cook chicken soup in medium pot over medium.

2. Add marinara. Stir.

3. Add pasta, mix until heated through.

Easy Lo Mein

Was this REALLY that easy?  Yes!

Better than Chinese Take Out!!  My husband loved this!!

Easy Lo Mein:

Ingredients:

3 packs of cup O noodles

3 tablespoons butter

1/4 cup soy sauce

1/4 cup diced onion

2 celery stalks thinly sliced

1 Tablespoon minced fresh garlic.

Directions:

1. Fill a pot about half way with water, turn to high.

2. Place butter in frying pan on medium low. 

3. Toss in onions, celery and ginger.  Sautée for about 8 minutes.

4. Turn veggies to low.

5. Empty cup O noodles into boiling water.  

6. As soon as they become soft, transfer to the sautéed veggie pan with a slotted spoon.  It only takes a minute or two, so act quick!

7. Stir veggies and noodles.

8. Add soy sauce.

9. Serve warm!

Makes 2 servings.

S.O.S. Recipe

Okay, this is a beloved family recipe passed down from my Grandfather who was a marine.  It is a breakfast that we love and it is basically gravy on toast, err..."shingle".  The name stands for "Something" on a shingle. 

S.O.S. Ingredients:

1/3 to 1 cup diced ham

2 diced hard boiled eggs

2 Tablespoons butter

2.5 Tablespoons flour

1.5-2 cups milk

Salt and pepper to taste

Toast

1. Melt butter in a skillet on Medium-low temp.

2. Sprinkle in flour and a couple of tablespoons of milk. Whisk until flour is blended.

3. Slowly whisk in remaining milk.  This is the gravy base. If too thick add milk, it will thicken as you continue cooking.  Sprinkle in more flour to thicken.

4. Add ham and eggs and stir with wooden spoon.

5. Salt and pepper to taste.

6. Serve over toast.

**Poor Girl Tips**  Could be garnished with shredded cheese or chives. 

Chicken Tortilla Soup (with bone broth recipe)

This is a favorite around here lately.  So comforting and I make it extra healthy with bone broth!!!

Ingredients:

2 cups chicken broth (see Poor Girl Tip below to make easy bone broth)

1.5 cups chopped, cooked chicken

1-2 cans mild Ro-Tel tomatoes with chilis (drained). 

1 cup frozen corn

1 packet taco seasoning

1 cup sour cream

Salt, to taste

Tortilla chips crumbled (as garnish).

Shredded cheddar cheese (as garnish)

(Additional garnish suggestions, green onions, cilantro, or avocado.)

Poor Girl Tip: Beans or rice could be added.

Instructions:

1. In a large pot, over medium heat, mix all ingredients except salt, sour cream and garnishes.

2.  Once heated through, salt, to taste. Reduce to low and simmer, covered, for 25 minutes.  Stir occasionally, so nothing sticks to the bottom.

3.  Stir in sour cream, whisk if needed.

4.  Serve warm, topped with tortilla chip crumbles, cheddar, and green onion as a garnish. 

Use the leftovers to make creamy chicken tomato spaghetti!!!  See recipe on Poor Gurl Cooking blog!

Makes 4-6 servings.

***Poor Girl Tip**** Make bone broth the day before you make this recipe.  Place a whole chicken in 1-2 cups of water in a crockpot on high for 5 hours or low for 8-10 hours.  Turn off crock pot. Let broth cool for a while, then remove chicken to a plate to carve.  Filter chicken broth through a strainer into a bowl.  Add 1.5 cups diced chicken, drained ro-tel, taco seasoning, and corn to broth. Refrigerate until ready to make Enchillada Soup.  Use any remaining chicken for tacos, chicken salad, quesadillas, casseroles or freeze for later use.  Discard bones, or they can be used to make a second round of bone broth.  If it turns to jello in the fridge, it's a good bone broth (rumored to be excellent in healing cavities in teeth, the flu, colds, etc).

Almond Sugar Cookies with Easy Peppermint Icing

Sugar Cookies in a snap!

Sugar Cookies!

It's a rainy day and I'm still in my pajamas but want to eat something sweet...  

Ingredients:

1 cup melted butter 

1 Teaspoon salt

1 cup powdered sugar

1 egg

2.5 cups of flour

1.5 teaspoon extract (vanilla, almond, peppermint or *water*)

Directions:

Turn oven on to 375' F.

1. Mix egg, salt, sugar, and extract with a whisk.

2. Mix in butter.

3. Using a wooden spoon, add flour, 1 cup at a time until dough is the right consistency to form into "patties" or cookies.

4. Place on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet and bake for 8-10 minutes; until edges turn golden.

Yields 20 cookies.

***Poor Girl Tip***  I just shake off the crumbs and toss the cookie sheets back in the oven with the parchment paper when I'm finished and get a couple more uses out of that parchment paper! ;-) I learned that tip while visiting a baker in Edmond, OK.

Easy Icing:

1-2 cups powdered sugar.

1 tablespoon milk (or water or melted butter)

1 teaspoon extract (I used peppermint, could use vanilla or *none* here).

Mix with a spoon in a medium bowl.  Add  a tad more milk if too stiff to spread on cookies, add more sugar if too runny!