Beef Stroganoff Casserole with Dumplings

Recipe: Taste of Home

I thought it was good. Mike liked it. But, mushrooms are one of his favorites. The biscuits (or dumplings) are the star of this dish. Without them, you would just be eating mushroom soup. You can make it in a skillet and then just pop it in the oven to finish baking. You don't have to use a lot of dishes. If your handle isn't oven-safe, just wrap it with tin foil. (Rachael Ray trick).

1/4 cup olive oil
2 cups raw sirloin stewing meat, cubed
1 small sweet onion, diced
1/3 cup flour
1 tsp paprika
1 cup beef broth
2 cups mushrooms, sliced
2 (10 ounces) cans cream of mushroom soup
1/4 cup cooking sherry (optional)
1 cup sour cream
1/2 TBSP Worcestershire sauce
1 TBSP butter, melted
1/4 cup fine bread crumbs

In a small bowl, combine the flour and paprika. Coat the meat cubes in the flour mixture and brown the meat and onions in heated olive oil in an oven proof 2 1/2- quart saucepan over medium-high heat, stirring frequently. Add the beef broth and mushrooms and simmer while you make the biscuits. (See recipe below)
Add the cream of mushroom soup, optional cooking sherry, sour cream, and Worcestershire sauce to the simmering meat. Stir to combine and heat just to boiling. Turn off the heat.
In a separate bowl, add the melted butter to the bread crumbs and mix well. Drop biscuit batter by teaspoonfuls onto the casserole and sprinkle with the buttered bread crumbs. Place the casserole in a preheated 350-degree oven and bake for 25 minutes or until the biscuits are cooked throughout and lightly browned.

Herb Biscuits

1 cup flour
¼ tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
½ tsp poultry seasoning
½ TBSP dried parsley
½ TBSP celery seed
½ tsp onion powder
½ cup milk
Make the biscuit dough by mixing together the flour, salt, baking powder, poultry seasoning, parsley, celery seed, and onion powder. Add the milk all at once and stir just to combine.

Chocolate Malt Pudding

Recipe: Prepared Pantry

2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/3 cup malted milk powder
1/2 cup sugar
2 1/2 cups milk
1 large egg
2 large egg yolks
3/4 cup milk chocolate chips
2 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon vanilla

1. Combine the cornstarch, malted milk powder, half of the sugar with 1/2 cup of the milk. Stir to dissolve the sugar. Add the egg and egg yolks and whisk until smooth.
2. In a heavy saucepan, cook the remaining 2 cups of milk and the remaining sugar until it boils for several minutes.
3. Slowly pour the egg mixture into the hot milk while whisking the mixture to keep it smooth. Cook until bubbles rise through the liquid but not to a boil. Remove from the heat. Add vanilla.
4. Melt the chocolate chips and the butter in the microwave. Stir the melted chocolate into the hot pudding.
5. Pour the pudding into serving dishes or a casserole dish. Cover the pudding surface with waxed paper placed directly on the pudding. Let cool for one hour and then place in the refrigerator to chill.

We took this out of the fridge after about 4 hours of chilling and it was still pretty runny. It is supposed to taste like an old fashioned malt, which it does. It's very rich with a definite malt flavor. Tastes different than the regular pudding in the box, so if you're looking for a homemade version of Jell-o, this isn't it. Overall, pretty good. If I make it again, I will cut down on the malt powder.

Blueberry Pound Cake

Recipe: Pioneer Woman

I made this a while back and forgot to post the recipe. It's been hiding in my computer. The yogurt makes this moist. It's a heavy rich loaf bread/cake. I liked it. I didn't make the dipping sauce and I couldn't find Rachel's yogurt. I substituted low-fat regular vanilla yogurt.

Cake
1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 (6-ounce cartons) Rachel’s Vanilla Chai Yogurt
1 ¼ cups sugar
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
½ cup canola oil

Dipping Sauce
1 cup blueberries
4 tablespoons sugar
1 6-ounce carton Rachel’s Vanilla Chai Yogurt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a loaf pan.
Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside. In a separate bowl, mix together 2 cartons yogurt, sugar, eggs and vanilla until just combined. Pour over dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Gently stir in 1 cup blueberries. Do not over beat.
Pour into a loaf pan and bake for 50 minutes to 1 hour. Remove from oven and allow to cool.
While cake is cooling, dump 1 cup blueberries into a small saucepan. Add 4 tablespoons sugar and 1 tablespoon water, and stir together. Over low heat, cook mixture until syrupy, about five minutes. Remove from heat and stir in 1 carton yogurt.

Asparagus

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Wash and dry 1 large bunch fresh asparagus with thin stalks (it's more tender and yummy if it's thin). Place on a shallow baking pan in a single layer. Melt 2 T butter and drizzle over the aspargus. Salt and pepper generously (I don't do this.) Bake for 15 minutes and enjoy.

Whole Wheat Bread

5 c warm water
3 T instant yeast
1/4 c oil
1/2 c honey
3 T dough enhancer
1/2 c gluten
1 T salt
12 c whole wheat flour

Mix yeast and the water. Add the oil and honey. Mix. Add the dough enhancer, gluten, salt, and half of the flour. Mix for a few minutes, then add the other half of the flour until I have a slightly stick dough. Knead (I let it go for about 5 minutes).

Divide into 4 loaf pans and let rise into doubled. Bake 25-30 minutes at 350 degrees.

Apple Pie

Recipe: Betty Crocker

Apple Pie is at the top of Mike's all-time favorite desserts. I made this for him around Christmas time. I didn't taste it, as I don't like apple pie, but he said it was good. I didn't get a picture of the finished pie - oops!

Crust
2 cups Gold Medal® all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons shortening
4 to 6 tablespoons cold water

Filling
1/3 to 1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup Gold Medal® all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon salt
8 cups thinly sliced peeled tart apples (8 medium)
2 tablespoons butter or margarine

In medium bowl, mix 2 cups flour and 1 teaspoon salt. Cut in shortening, using pastry blender (or pulling 2 table knives through ingredients in opposite directions), until particles are size of small peas. Sprinkle with cold water, 1 tablespoon at a time, tossing with fork until all flour is moistened and pastry almost cleans side of bowl (1 to 2 teaspoons more water can be added if necessary).
Gather pastry into a ball. Divide in half; shape into 2 flattened rounds on lightly floured surface. Wrap in plastic wrap; refrigerate about 45 minutes or until dough is firm and cold, yet pliable. This allows the shortening to become slightly firm, which helps make the baked pastry more flaky. If refrigerated longer, let pastry soften slightly before rolling.
Heat oven to 425°F. With floured rolling pin, roll one pastry round into round 2 inches larger than upside-down 9-inch glass pie plate. Fold pastry into fourths; place in pie plate. Unfold and ease into plate, pressing firmly against bottom and side.
In large bowl, mix sugar, 1/4 cup flour, the cinnamon, nutmeg and 1/8 teaspoon salt. Stir in apples until well mixed. Spoon into pastry-lined pie plate. Cut butter into small pieces; sprinkle over filling. Trim overhanging edge of pastry 1/2 inch from rim of plate.
Roll other round of pastry into 10-inch round. Fold into fourths and cut slits so steam can escape. Unfold top pastry over filling; trim overhanging edge 1 inch from rim of plate. Fold and roll top edge under lower edge, pressing on rim to seal; flute as desired. Cover edge with 2- to 3-inch strip of foil to prevent excessive browning.
Bake 40 to 50 minutes or until crust is brown and juice begins to bubble through slits in crust, removing foil for last 15 minutes of baking. Serve warm if desired.

Caramel Chocolate Pretzels

Recipe: Kris Hill

1 cup sugar
1 cup karo syrup
1 square butter

Put in large microwaveable bowl. Microwave until butter is melted.

Add: 1 can sweetened condensed milk

Microwave on high for 12 minutes, stirring every 3 minutes.

Add: 1 tsp. vanilla

Let cool slightly. It will be dark brown and boiling.

Dip pretzels. (Snyder's large, thick pretzels) Let set up.

Melt chocolate. Dip pretzels in chocolate. Let set up.

Green Smoothies

I've read about these here but never tried them until my sister Nic said they were good. Now I'm hooked! Basically you just add spinach to a fruit smoothie with yogurt or cottage cheese. You really can't taste the spinach, and I seem to eat healthier the whole day if I drink one of these for breakfast. I think it keeps me full for a long time.

Here's what I put in today. Spinach, cantaloupe, blueberries, peaches, yogurt, orange juice, and a couple little oranges. It was yummy!