Steak in Mushroom Sauce

There are two easy ways to heat our little cottage on these cold, wintry days.  Our wonderful wood burning stove with our pile of fir and cedar logs, or as I used today, having the oven on for about 6 hours straight - I had both going at one point and if it wasn't for the occasional pile of lingering snow outside (which I can see from my kitchen window), I would of thought I was on some desert island on the equator!!

I started off making the berry-licious sour cream berry muffins, and then had this steak dish in the oven for five hours on a low heat so that the meat came out melt-in-the-mouth fork tender with a rich brown gravy.  It only has simple ingredients but it definitely tastes like a lot more effort went into it.  I served it with some roasted asparagus and 'Crash Hot Potatoes' from The Pioneer Woman's website (if you haven't checked out her website go now, she's awesome - well, after you've checked out all of mine of course :o)

Steak in Mushroom Sauce
serves 4

2 lbs round or sirloin steaks (cut into serving sizes)
1 package dry onion soup mix
1 can condensed mushroom soup
1/2 can water
1 tsp dried garlic (or 1 clove, chopped)
salt and pepper

• preheat the oven to 300 F.
• place the steak in a casserole dish.
• sprinkle the dry onion soup mix over the meat.
• in a small bowl mix the can of mushroom soup with the water and pour evenly over the meat.
• cover and bake for 5 hours.

 Steak with Mushroom Sauce ingredients.

sprinkle the dry onion soup mix over the meat in a casserole dish.

mix the mushroom soup, water, garlic and seasoning in a small bowl.

pour the wet ingredients over the meat and cover.

after five hours it's browned and thickened and delicious :)

I served it with some simple roasted asparagus - tossed in olive oil, salt and pepper, and baked alongside 'Crash Hot Potatoes'.

 it didn't take a fraction of the time to eat it as it did to cook it :o)

Zucchini-Sausage Casserole

I love the concept of 'one-dish' cooking (that's probably why I have not one, but two slow cookers in my cupboard!), so when I saw a magazine by Better Homes and Gardens entitled 'One-Pan Recipes' at the grocery store the other day, you can bet I was leaning over my trolley to grab it from that shelf they put deliberately alongside the till, just for that impulse buyer (ie: me :o)

I do have one small criticism about this first recipe that I tried from the magazine, although maybe that's my own pre-conceived notions about what 'one-pan' really means.  For me, like most of my slow cooker recipes, I just want to throw everything into the dish, pop on the lid, turn it on, and leave it - and ultimately (apart from the plates/dishes I serve it in), I only have the one dish to wash up.  With this zucchini dish, aside from the dish I baked it in, I also had another two bowls and a skillet - that's just me though!! :o)

I altered the quantities of ingredients just a little and added garlic (only because I use garlic in as many dishes as I can), just for my own personal taste.

Zucchini-Sausage Casserole
serves 4

500g sausage meat (I used italian sausage, and just took the meat out of the skins)
1 tsp dried garlic (or 1 large clove, chopped)
1 medium zucchini
1 (10.75 oz) can condensed chicken soup
3 Tbs sour cream
salt and pepper
1 package Stove-Top stuffing mix
1 Tbs butter, melted

• preheat oven to 350 F.
• lightly grease a 13" x 8" deep dish and set aside.
• in a bowl, empty the stuffing mix and mix with the melted butter until well combined; set aside.
• in a large skillet, cook the sausage and garlic over medium heat until the meat is browned; drain off any fat.
• meanwhile, half the zucchini lengthwise and slice crosswise into 1/4 inch pieces.
• add the zucchini to the sausage in the skillet, and fry slightly until beginning to colour.
• in a small bowl combine the chicken soup and sour cream; stir into the sausage mixture.
• spoon half of the stuffing mixture into the prepared baking dish.
• spread sausage mixture over the stuffing in the dish, and spoon the remaining stuffing mix evenly over the top.
• cover with foil and bake until heated through - about 30 minutes.

 Zucchini-Sausage Casserole ingredients

 greased baking dish, stuffing topping and chicken soup mix.

I didn't have any bulk sausage meat, but just take the skins off of your favourite sausage and that works great.

don't slice the zucchini too thinly - you want them to still have a little 'bite' to them once they're cooked.

I didn't saute the zucchinis for very long, just enough to get a little colour.

add the chicken soup/sour cream mixture

spread half of the stuffing mix on the bottom, then the sausage and then remainder of the stuffing to make a crispy topping.

I popped a quick dish of roasted tomatoes in the oven alongside.

(just half some cherry tomatoes and sprinkle with a little salt, pepper and italian seasoning - roast at the same temperature and same time as the zucchini-sausage casserole.)

 simple and tasty.

Chicken Casserole with Biscuits

Everyone should have at least one recipe in their repertoire that requires the absolute minimum of preparation, using ingredients that will probably already be in your fridge, freezer or pantry.  Just for those days when the least amount of effort for a huge and tasty payoff is required.  This one is even cooked in the slow cooker, so even better.

This is mine.....
(By all means, if you have the time or inclination, please, please make your own biscuit dough for the topping, but I'm more than happy with using those tube biscuits - like I said, 'minimum preparation'!! :o)

Chicken Casserole with Biscuits
6 servings

6 skinless, boneless chicken breasts
2 Tbs butter, softened
1 onion, sliced
1 can condensed chicken soup
1 can condensed mushroom soup
1-2 tbs dried garlic (or 1-2 cloves, chopped - but that was just too much effort today :o)
2 Tbs chicken seasoning
pinch salt & pepper
vegetable stock
1 tube refrigerator biscuits

• in a 4-6 quart slow cooker, combine the chicken breasts, butter, onion, soups, garlic, chicken seasoning and salt and pepper; pour in enough vegetable stock to almost cover the chicken, and mix well.
• cover and cook on LOW heat for 4 hours.
• remove the chicken breasts and chop into bite size pieces; return to the slow cooker and mix well, check the seasoning and add more salt and pepper if needed.
• break each biscuit in half and arrange across the top of the casserole, sinking them into the sauce slightly.
• turn the heat to HIGH, and cook for a further 1.5 - 2 hours, until the biscuits are puffed up and golden.

 Chicken Casserole with Biscuits ingredients.

this is about the hardest of the prep work that you'll have, apart from opening a few cans ;o)

I just love the concept of throwing everything in the slow cooker and leaving it to do it's own thing - ingenious!

mix everything up well.

I didn't even use a knife to cut the chicken, just the spoon that I was going to mix it back into the sauce with - it's soooo tender.

I always jump at the 'pop' as the tube explodes open - I usually expect them to fly across the room!!

tear the biscuits in half and submerge them slightly in the sauce.  Don't worry if you think the sauce is a little too 'liquidy' at this stage - the biscuits will soak some of that up as they bake.

the biscuits puff together and are wonderfully moist.

if, like today, I wanted as little work as possible I make ours pretty basic, but on occasion I'll add some frozen vegetables (peas, corn, green beans - whatever's handy) just before I put the biscuit topping on and it's delicious that way too.

One Pan Roast Chicken and Vegetables

Yay, we finally have a stocked fridge and pantry again - and it only took us three weeks to get to the grocery store!!

Of course, after that heinous expedition (believe it or not, I don't particularly like grocery shopping :), the last thing I wanted to do was cook some elaborate dinner even if we did have some awesome ingredients to choose from.  So out came the deep dish roasting pan for a simple chicken and vegetable roast.  It all goes in together, gets roasted to perfection and tastes divine.

Roast Chicken and Vegetables
2 servings

2 chicken portions (whatever you prefer works, we had a couple of full leg portions)
2 medium russet potatoes
1-2 carrots (depending on size)
1 red onion
1 red pepper
4 garlic cloves
1 Tsp olive oil
1/2 tsp chicken seasoning
pinch salt & pepper

• preheat oven to 425 F.
• cut the potatoes, carrots, onion and pepper into 1 inch size pieces.
• chop one of the garlic cloves into slices but leave the other three whole (in their skins is okay).
• place the chicken into a large deep roasting pan surrounded by all the vegetables.  Pour the olive oil over everything and stir until everything is coated evenly.
• sprinkle salt and pepper over everything, and the chicken seasoning over the chicken.
• bake for 45 minutes, turning the vegetables halfway through cooking.
• serve with a little gravy if desired.

simple ingredients = good food

cut all the vegetables to uniform bite size pieces.

don't crowd the pan too much, otherwise the vegetables won't get crispy.

looks delicious!!

a little homestyle gravy finished it quite nicely :o)