Hamburger Steak with Onion & Mushroom Gravy

Hamburger Steak with Onion & Mushroom Gravy

I had planned to wait and publish this blog post in a week or so when I know I won't have time to write. But the recipe is too good to keep under wraps. So here you go. Enjoy it now!

You would have to have known Mommy as a newlywed to fully appreciate this meal. When she married, she was accomplished in so many things. But cooking was not one of them. She made a lot of cheese quesadillas, Kraft macaroni & cheese and hot dogs in those days. But 14 years later, after many phone calls to mom, watching FoodTV, reading food blogs and simply having to put meals on the table day after day for years, she is an excellent cook, as comfortable in the kitchen as she is singing before an audience.

I had heard about this recipe for quite some time and was happy when she offered to make it for our dinner while everyone was here over Thanksgiving week. Her daughters all love this. J-Daddy loves it. And now we see why. The seasoning is perfect—even with our tweaks.

This is a long list of ingredients. But it's not a difficult recipe. When I make something like this, I usually set out all the ingredients and measure all the spices before I start cooking. Slice your onion and mushrooms. Then it's just a matter of adding them into the pan as you go. 

Don't let the long recipe scare you. It's well worth a little extra effort. It's one of the best dishes we've tasted in a while. Better than many restaurant meals we've had. Mommy spooned the gravy over her homemade mashed potatoes this time. She said she's also served it with noodles and rice, depending on what's in her pantry. It's all good.

HAMBURGER STEAK with ONION & MUSHROOM GRAVY

1-1/2 lb. ground beef (80/20 is best)

2 tablespoon olive oil

salt

pepper

For the gravy:

2 tablespoons butter

1 large yellow onion, thinly sliced

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1/2 teaspoon onion powder

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1/2 teaspoon dried thyme

1/2 teaspoon Montreal steak seasoning

1-1/2 cups baby bella mushrooms, thinly sliced

1 teaspoon cornstarch

1 cup low-sodium beef broth

2 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce

2 teaspoons yellow mustard

2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar

chopped fresh parsley (optional)

Handling lightly, form ground beef into 4 patties. Don't overwork the beef.

Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat and add olive oil. Salt and pepper burgers.

Cook burgers about 3 minutes or more, until one side is deep brown. Turn burgers over and cook until desired doneness. Remove from pan and set aside.

Reduce heat to medium. In the same skillet you cooked the burgers in, melt the butter. Add onions about 4 minutes. Stir occasionally, scraping up the browned bits in bottom of pan. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, thyme and cajun seasoning.

When onions are very tender, add mushrooms and stir to combine. Cook about 2 minutes more. Add cornstarch and stir to combine. Reduce heat to simmer and add beef broth, soy sauce, mustard and vinegar. Continue cooking, stirring until sauce thickens, 4 or 5 minutes more. 

Return burger patties to pan and spoon gravy over them. Top with parsley and serve

I normally buy extra-lean ground beef, but Mommy said much of the flavor comes from the beef drippings so she uses the 80/20 mix here. If you are feeding 5, just make the burgers a little smaller.

If you are into clean eating, doing Whole30, or need gluten free, check the original source of this recipe, Defined Dish. Mommy makes the original version, but I don't normally stock arrowroot powder, ghee or coconut aminos in my pantry. We reworked it to use ingredients that I had here. She said the taste was a little different with our substitutions but equally good. 

July Lake Life

I'm so tired today. But this is a good tired. We got home last night from a week at the lake with family. It was such a good week. You know having that many people in a small space for a week could have gone all Chevy Chase on us. (You've watched those National Lampoon movies, haven't you?) But it was all good. The weather was unbelievable. Here in the Deep South, July is typically hot and muggy. Miserably so. This week, though, was like magic, with low humidity and moderate temps. If you could order weather from Amazon, this would have been the week I would have added to my shopping cart!

Here's what our week included:

Swimming. Giant Jenga. Skiing. Boating. Cornhole. Scrabble. Kayaks. Farkle. Hammock. Porch sitting. Reading. Puzzles. Wading pool. 4th of July family dinner. Lots of cousins. Spot-It! Bedknobs & Broomsticks movie. Fishing. Coloring books. Morning coffee on the porch.

Peach Ice Cream. Barbecue. Low Country Boil. Hushpuppies. Lemon Pound Cake. Macaroni & Cheese. Quesadillas. Blueberry Pie. Peach Cobbler. Food Truck Pizza. Baked Rotini. Burgers. Blueberry Pancakes. S'mores. Bean Salad. Homemade Lemonade. Fresh Cucumbers. Shrimp Dip. Snow Cones. Boiled Peanuts.

Here. You can see for yourself. And don't miss the recipe at the very bottom!

The cooking was shared, so no one was burdened. I headed to the store on Tuesday to find something for dinner. No particular plan in mind. Which worked out well because I tried the food sample that day. And bought everything needed for the burgers they were demonstrating. Really easy to put together and totally delicious. It's the Thousand Island dressing that makes it special.

It's from Publix Simple Apron recipes. Because it calls for pre-made burger patties, precooked bacon and bought pimento cheese and Thousand Island dressing, it's very easy. It's really more assembly directions than a recipe. We will do this again for sure. Daddy-O grilled the burgers. Big Sister microwaved the bacon (according to package directions) and Jecca sliced the tomato and onion. Many hands make light work.

PIMENTO CHEESE BURGERS

4 ground beef patties, about 1-1/2 lb (we used pre-made ground chuck patties)
1/2 cup pimiento cheese, divided
8 slices precooked bacon
4 hamburger buns
1 medium tomato, thinly sliced
1 small onion, thinly sliced
4 lettuce leaves
8 teaspoons Thousand Island dressing, divided

Preheat grill (or grill pan). Place burgers on grill; cook 4–5 minutes on each side and until meat is 160°F. Top each burger with 2 tablespoons cheese spread during last minute of grill time, then close lid (or cover) for cheese to melt.

Microwave bacon following package instructions. Slice tomato and onion. Separate lettuce leaves.

Spread 2 teaspoons dressing over top halves of buns. Assemble each burger in this order: bottom half of bun, beef patty, bacon, tomato, lettuce, onion, and top half of bun and serve.

Makes 4

Pot Roast

3 Packet Pot Roast

One of the best and easiest recipes I have ever made is the 3-Packet Pot Roast. (I found the recipe online years ago.) If you are a meat eater and haven't tried this yet, it's time. Put the ingredients—all four of them—into the crockpot in the morning and by suppertime, it's ready to eat. It's an easy recipe good enough for a company meal or a church dinner.

It's also the perfect week night supper when everyone is busy. Hay season is upon us. Daddy-O will be spending his days on a tractor and needs a good meal when evening comes. I've actually worked in the yard some this week. And I'm finishing up a big knitting project. My work is not as hard as his, but still keeps me busy. This recipe lets me have supper done when he is ready without me spending the afternoon in the kitchen.

I used a sirloin tip roast this time because it was on sale. I might rethink my usual chuck roast choice—this sirloin tip was awfully good. I also used Zesty Italian dressing mix after I grabbed it by accident and didn't notice until I had sprinkled it over the roast. That worked fine, too

3 PACKET POT ROAST

beef roast, about 3-lbs (I like a chuck roast, but others will work)
1 packet Italian dressing mix, dry
1 packet ranch dressing mix, dry
1 packet brown gravy mix, dry
1 cup water

Place roast into crockpot. Sprinkle all the dry mixes over the top. Pour water over all. (I used a fork and lightly mixed the dry stuff up a little here.) Cook on LOW for 8-10 hours.


A couple of small portions of roast with the gravy went into the freezer. I'm starting to restock the freezer with things for Daddy-O to have at the ready. I'll be gone again soon and I don't want him to starve.

Wondering why there is such a tiny bit of roast on my plate? Lately I've been eating less meat and more vegetables. Lots more vegetables. So far, I like this. I'm not giving up anything. Just rearranging my portions.

Falling Rain...Football...Food

 

What a day to be under the weather. And there is certainly plenty of "weather" to be under. It doesn't look like we will get the predicted 14 inches. Still, a lot of rain has fallen and it's not over yet.

Fortunately there has been plenty of football on television to keep us entertained today. Sadly, in the first game, Daddy-O's team lost. In the second game, it's not looking good for Boyfriend's team. We don't have any big fans for the third game that will be on later, but that's the college that my dad attended and loved. And that college was my employer for ten years. So I'll pull for the Tigers to win tonight.

Since we are all staying in, I put supper on the stove this afternoon. It can simmer until someone gets hungry. I made a double batch of chili and beans. There will be plenty to put in the freezer (I think) for another game day. Because I knew my energy was low, I chopped the peppers and onions this morning and measured the seasonings. This afternoon, I only had to brown the meat and vegetables and mix it all together. It seems like it's less work when it's done in steps like this.

DAMN GOOD CHILI

2 lbs. extra lean ground beef

1 large onion, chopped

1 large green pepper, chopped

1 8-oz. can tomato sauce

1 8-oz. can water

1 tablespoon chili powder

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1/2 teaspoon oregano

1 teaspoon ground cumin

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped (I used the refrigerated jarred kind)

1 teaspoon salt

1 16-oz. can light red kidney beans, drained & rinsed

*1 15-oz. can diced tomatoes

Brown meat, onion and green pepper in large skillet. Put into large Dutch oven or stockpot. Add remaining ingredients. Simmer for 2-3 hours.

*I add a single 15-oz. can of diced tomatoes to the recipe whether I'm making a single, double or triple batch. The original recipe didn't call for this but I thought it needed to look "redder." Other than that, I never stray from the original recipe.

Interesting fact—this recipe came from a 1977 ad for Presto pressure cookers. I found it in the booklet that came with my first pressure cooker and I've been making it ever since. I also won 1st prize with this recipe at our church contest in 2012.

A Feast For Fathers

Daddy (of the sisters) & Daddy-O (king of the castle)

They came by plane (Mommy and Baby Sister) and they came by cross-country car trip (Daddy, Big Sister and Little Sister) and thanks to stormy weather, the car contingent arrived at the farm before the air travelers. But by yesterday, everyone was at the farm. So we celebrated. We celebrated being together and safe travels. And of course, we celebrated Father's Day.

We didn't get home from the airport pick-up until the wee hours of Saturday morning and then Mommy and I were up the rest of the night with the littlest traveler who had a hard time getting settled. So I tried to think of an easy menu for lunch today. We liked this one so much, I'm putting the entire meal here for future reference. Everything was simple. The two salads could be made ahead. The vegetables just required minimal preparation. The biscuits are pretty easy (the bonus is the dozen unbaked biscuits I put in the freezer for another meal) and oh, so good.  

I'm going to give you the link for each recipe. Yes, these are all ones I've made before. And they are among our favorites. We all thought this was just right for a summer meal.

Bourbon Marinated Pork Tenderloin

Bowties with Tomatoes, Grapes & Feta

Apple Coleslaw

Corn On The Cob

Roasted Asparagus*

Sweet Potato Biscuits

Blueberry Pie & Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream

(I'll post the recipes for these tomorrow.)

We managed well for a tired bunch of folks. 

Tomorrow they can think about unpacking the suitcases.

I just realized that I've never put this recipe here. 

*ROASTED ASPARAGUS

1 bunch of asparagus, washed and tough ends trimmed off

olive oil

House Seasoning

Lay asparagus spears in a single layer on a baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil. (I use my hands and roll the spears around to coat with oil.) Sprinkle with house seasoning. Roast in hot oven (400-425 degrees) for 18-20 minutes, or until beginning to brown.