December 16, 2011: Cube Steak With Mushroom Sauce Recipe

Usually when I prepare cube steak it comes out as chicken fried steak. Sure, that’s yummy, but it’s also calorie-laden – and that’s the last thing I need during the holiday season! So instead of frying it, this time I baked the cube steak to make it tender.

Cube Steak with Mushroom Sauce served with cheddar mashed potatoes and green beans.

Cube Steak With Mushroom Sauce

2 cube steaks (about ¾ pound)

Salt and pepper

½ cup flour

1 T. olive oil

4 ounces mushrooms, thickly sliced

1 t. beef bouillon

1 cup water

1 t. Worcestershire sauce

Sprinkle the cube steaks with salt and pepper. Dredge in the flour.

Heat the oil in a heavy, oven safe saucepan or Dutch oven to medium. Add cube steaks and cook just until crispy on each side, turning once. Remove steaks from pan and add mushrooms. Cooke for about a minute, until mushrooms are soft. Add bouillon, water and Worcestershire sauce. Place steaks on top of mushrooms and sprinkle with any remaining flour. Cover and place in low (250 degrees) oven. Bake for about 1 ½ hours, until sauce is thickened.

Serves 2

Tip: You can also make this dish in a crock pot. Just brown the meat before putting in the crock pot and set it to cook on low for 4+ hours.

December 12, 2011: Crock Pot Chicken and Potatoes Recipe

Here’s another easy way to cook the ever popular chicken in the crock pot. Especially during these hectic weeks around Christmas and New Year’s, it’s a real blessing to be able to put dinner in the crock pot in the morning and come home at night to a fully cooked meal.

All the ingredients in the crock pot, ready to cook all day on low.

Crock Pot Chicken and Potatoes

1 T. olive oil

6 – 8 garlic cloves, peeled

1 medium-sized yellow or white onion, cut into big chunks

2 large white potatoes, peeled and cut into large chunks

2 t. fresh rosemary, coarsely chopped

2 large bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts

2 T. butter

1 t. dried sage

½ t. paprika

½ t. garlic salt

¼ t. cumin

1 t. Montreal Chicken Seasoning (McCormick Grill Mates)

Set your crock pot heat to high. Add the olive oil, garlic cloves, onions, potatoes and fresh rosemary. Place the chicken breasts, skin side up, on top of the vegetables. Melt the butter and add the seasonings. Pour over the top of the chicken; sprinkle with Montreal Chicken Seasoning. Cover the crock pot and reduce heat to medium. Cook for 5 – 6 hours (or 7 – 8 hours on low).

Optional: Just before serving, heat a skillet to medium high. Add the chicken breasts, skin side down. Cook for a minute or so, just until skin crisps up.

Variation: For something a bit different, use yams in place of white potatoes and a Vidalia (sweet) onion in place of yellow or white onion.

Serve chicken over vegetable mixture and add a green vegetable, such as peas or green beans, for a complete meal.

Serves 4

May 3, 2011: Slow Cooked Round Steak with Mushrooms Recipe

One of the better values today in regards to meat is round steak. Being a cheap cut of meat, it requires a cooking technique that doesn’t make it tough as shoe leather. Outside of pounding it thin and cooking it quickly, like my fried round steak recipe, the best method of getting tender round steak is to use a crock pot.

This recipe is an original of mine that is somewhat similar to Stroganoff; if you wished to, you could certainly add a cup of sour cream right before serving.

Round Steak, Stroganoff style

Slow Cooked Round Steak with Mushrooms

1 pound round steak, sliced across the grain into pieces approximately 2” long
2 T. flour
Salt and pepper to taste
2 T. olive oil
2 t. Italian seasoning
Garlic
½ can stewed tomatoes, diced
1 small can mushrooms, undrained
1 packet dry onion soup mix
½ cup water

Sprinkle the steak strips with salt and pepper, then toss with the flour. Add the olive oil to a crock pot heated to high heat. Add the flour-coated meat and stir occasionally, just until slightly browned on all sides.

Add the remaining ingredients and turn heat to medium. Cover and cook for about 6 hours, until tender. Serve over hot buttered rice or noodles.

Serves 2 - 3