Skillet Burger & Gravy, Roasted Potatoes & Carrots

Dec 08 2016

I sure messed up getting the pics of tonight’s cook. When I served the wife I said I forgot to get pics of the potato and carrot dishes. After downloading my pics I saw I also did not have a pic of the skillet full of gravy!

This is pretty easy to make and tastes good too. I had a pound of ground chuck and made up 4 patties. I seasoned them with a little McCormick’s gourmet burger seasoning. My sides were roasted baby Dutch potatoes and baby carrots. I made just enough for tonight’s meal. I added butter to the dishes, some garlic salt on both and a little Mirin on the carrots. They went in the microwave 1.5 minutes to melt the butter and stirred to coat. They went in a 350 deg. oven covered for an hour.

When they were in I made a batch of Pioneer Country Gravy and heated the skillet to do the burgers. I sprayed in some olive oil and did the burgers about 4 minutes per side. I removed them to a plate and took off most of the grease then added a handful of chopped onions. I added the burgers back in on top of the onions. They would help hold them off the bottom. I added the 2 cups of gravy and as soon as it was all bubbly I turned it down to a simmer.

I removed the covers on the veggies and stirred, the last 25 minutes were uncovered and stirred a couple of times. After I added the gravy the burgers went another 20 minutes partially covered. We had are usual toasted English muffins with the meal.

Even though I didn’t get as many pics as I wanted I did get a pic of the wife’s plate before I put some gravy over her potatoes. She doesn’t need her potatoes all smashed up like I do so I get plenty of potato gravy ratio!

Browning the burgers

Back in over the onions

Missing photos here!!!

Wife's plate

My supper

Soups On! Chicken & Veggies

Dec 07 2016

I had another easy meal tonight but it is soup weather! It was just 35 deg. today and the next 3 days will be in the high 20’s. I started out to make beef veggie soup but had some chicken and stock left to use so I made chicken veggie soup.

I didn’t have a recipe to follow I just bought what veggies looked good to have. I used; onions, celery, carrots, French green beans and a can of corn. Seasonings were salt, pepper, teaspoon of Savors WOW and a good teaspoon of dried parsley. I steamed some eggs for on top.

I heated my soup pot with a little olive oil and threw in the diced chicken breast meat; when it was starting to turn white I added the chopped onions, celery and seasonings. I let that cook a while stirring then added the chicken stock and all the rest of the other veggies.  I didn’t measure anything but had about a cup of each veggie. I brought it to a boil and turned down to a simmer and let cook about 40 minutes. It took just over an hour to prep and cook.

I served it up with a hardboiled egg on top and we both had buttered crackers with it. It sure hit the spot for a cold day’s meal. Most of the time I make beef veggie soup and the wife said she thought this was better but I still like beef. I think the Savor’s WOW (Way Out West) seasoning really enhances the broth and would do well in about any soup. You don’t need much I used a teaspoon for a quart of stock and probably a quart of veggies.

Ingredients

Chicken, onions & celery in

All in the pot

My supper

Skillet Chicken & Veggies over Rice

Dec 06 2016

I haven’t been feeling too perky and haven’t had much of an appetite. We had a few days of eating carry ins but last night I wanted home cooked. An easy meal is always cooked up in a skillet. I had chicken and veggies in the skillet over some yellow rice.

I bought some nice boneless skinless chicken breast strips. Some of them were tenders. For the veggies I had onions, garlic, red peppers, a few baby carrots, sugar snap peas and water chestnuts. I did the rice in my rice steamer. Seasoning was soy sauce and mirin. I added about a Tbs. of corn starch mixed in some water so give it a sauce coating.

I don’t know why but I have a devil of a time cutting the little tendon out of the chicken tenders. They make it look so easy on the cook shows.

I cooked the chicken in some olive oil, 5 minutes per side and removed from the skillet.

I added the chopped onions and garlic to a hot skillet with some more olive oil. I added the carrots and let cook until the onions were getting brown then added the peppers, water chestnuts and snap peas. I let it all heat a while then added the chicken and a few splashes of soy sauce and mirin. I stirred it all and then added the corn starch slurry and stirred some more.

I served it over the yellow rice that was done and tasted pretty good. The chicken at the front of my plate was the dogs share.

Browning the chicken

 All in about ready to serve

My supper

Beef Trisket (Tri Tip) Baked Potato & Skillet Asparagas

Dec 02 2016

I never heard of a beef tri tip and I grew up around my Uncles slaughterhouse and grocery. I guess they have been popular in California for a long time; and done over a red oak wood fire on an Argentina style grill. They are done kinda hot & fast to the desired doneness. I have done 4 so far and they were done for an hour of smoke at 200 deg. then went to 325 deg. to an IT of 145 deg.

I enjoyed getting back out on my smoker even though it was a cold damp 39 deg. I was glad when I went to my butcher the other day and he had a beef tri tip roast in the meat counter. I have wanted to cook one like a brisket since most in LTBBQ forum have tried it and says they are great.

It weighed 2 ½ lbs. and I trimmed a ½ pound of fat off. Thursday night I rubbed on a little olive oil then seasoned with salt, pepper, granulated garlic and parsley. I wrapped in plastic wrap and in the fridge overnight.

I got the Traeger heated to 210 deg. and after the roast had set out about ½ hour I got it on at 1:00 PM. I planned to eat at 6:00 and hoped to get it done by 4:30, wrap in towels and in the micro wave so I could do the sides.

A half hour in I knew it was going to get done early; I should have known it was not as thick as other tri tips I have done. At grill level I was running 225-230 deg. I was going to wrap at 140 deg. IT but decided to wait until 150 deg. In an hour and 15 minutes it hit 150 deg. IT. I laid it on two sheets of foil, added 3 pats of my gorgonzola garlic chive butter, double wrapped and back on.

To slow it down some I just went to 250 deg. at grill level I usually go to 300 with briskets.  It hit 200 deg. IT at 3:45, 2 ¾ hours total. I wrapped in towels and in the microwave.

At 4:30 I put a potato with potato rod in the oven at 350 deg. to bake 1 ½ hours. I cleaned the asparagus and made the sauce. I found the recipe at Seasons and Suppers by Jennifer and was called Skillet Asparagus Supreme. We love asparagus and this was a little extra good! It went into the oven at 5:30 to bake for 25 minutes. I forgot to get a photo of it out of the oven; I had already plated our plates. It does make a nice presentation.

It all came together at 6:00 and we sure enjoyed it. I served the wife first and poured a little of the pan juice over the beef but it would not have needed it. I sampled a piece while slicing and it was beefy tasting and moist. I toasted some English muffins and we had the gorgonzola butter on it. Before I got set down with my plate the wife said the beef sure is tender! 

Click Here for asparagus recipe link

The trimmed tri tip

Seasoned & ready for the fridge overnight

At 150 deg. IT ready to wrap

Some good butter added

My Skillet Asparagus Supreme ready to bake

Beef ready to slice

Slicing across the grain

My supper

Instant Pot Pork Chop Dinner

Nov 30 2016

I found a recipe at peggyunderpressure.com that sounded good and easy to throw together.  I changed a little on the cooking method.

Ingredients

·         4 thick-cut, bone-in pork chops

·         1 green pepper, chopped. I used a half pepper

·         1 onion, chopped

·         6-8 carrots, peeled & coarsely chopped. I had some baby carrots to use

·         6-8 Russet potatoes, peeled & coarsely chopped, I only used 3 large

·         1 small can of mushrooms, with liquid, or 1-2 cups of button mushrooms coarsely chopped (your preference)

·         1 small can of tomato sauce, or homemade tomato sauce or tomato soup (your preference)

·         Add enough water to the sauce to make 12 oz.

I had two kinda large chops from my butcher and browned them in a little olive oil on sauté, normal mode. I removed from the pot and added the chopped onions and cooked a minute or two then deglazed the pot with a little water. I placed the chops back in and then added all the veggies and tomato sauce.

I locked the lid and cooked on Meat stew normal mode for 15 minutes.  I served it with some toasted English muffins. Tasted pretty good; next time I would not add the water and use 2 cans of tomato sauce.  The sauce was a little thin and I like it a little thicker.

Chops and ingredients

Browning the chops

Onions and chops added

Rest of the ingredients added

My supper

Our TG Dinner 2016

Nov 25 2016

Our daughter was home for the weekend and ate on Thanksgiving Day, our son and family went to her parents to celebrate. We had our family TG dinner Friday.

I fixed some Skillet Dinner Rolls and Spinach Artichoke Dip for an appetizer we had at 4:00. I posted pics and a link in the previous post. I took the easy way out and had some precooked ham I heated sliced and a little water in a foil pack in a Crockpot. I did a green bean casserole in a Crockpot and did cheesy potatoes and corn pudding in the convection oven.  I had some meatloaf leftovers and some ate it and the ham. We ate at 5:30.

It was all pretty good, my ham was from Walnut Creek Amish Country; it was above average but I like my butcher Kah Meat’s smoked hams better.  For desserts there was Black Raspberry Pie, Custard Pie and a Pumpkin Roll all from Amish Country.

We all stuffed ourselves then sat around listening to some good music and talking and joking. It was fun family get together!

Wife set a pretty table

The ham

Cheesy potatoes

Corn pudding

Green bean casserole

My plate

Skillet Rolls & Spinach Artichoke Dip

Nov 25 2016

This recipe makes for a delicious bread and dip appetizer. I found the recipe on Seasons and suppers blog. I used Pioneer Women’s recipe for the spinach artichoke dip. For my rolls I used some frozen dinner rolls that are about the size of a golf ball.

I thawed them out and then coated a skillet with olive oil. I placed a bowl in the center sprayed with some olive oil. I added the rolls, 16, around the bowl. I covered with plastic wrap and placed in a heated 200 deg. oven that I turned off for 30 minutes until the rolls had doubled in size. In the mean time I had made my dip.

I had a little trouble getting the bowl out after the rolls had risen. Next time I would put some foil around the bowl to lift out, mine had a vacuum seal and had to use a knife to get it out. I spooned the dip in the center and baked for 20 minutes after brushing with butter on convection bake. For standard ovens it may take 30 to 35 minutes.  If they are brown and you tap on them and sound hollow they are done.

This makes a pretty presentation and for those that like to make their own rolls would be great. You could also use about any cheese dip with it. I served this for an appetizer at our family Thanksgiving dinner.

Click Here for link to recipe

2016 Thanksgiving Day Dinner

Nov 24 2016

Our daughter is home for the weekend and I am fixing our family dinner tomorrow. For tonight I fixed a Lipton onion soup meatloaf and potatoes; I used beefy for the meatloaf and original for the potatoes. The potato recipe is on the back of the onion soup box and you can get both recipes on Lipton’s site. For the lack of any other veggie I did peas in country gravy. I am having ham tomorrow and the meatloaf for anyone who doesn’t want ham.

I did the meatloaf on my Traeger pellet grill, It was in a little over 1 ½ hours at 300 deg. It was done a little early but held nice in the microwave. I did the potatoes in my oven at 380 deg. convection and was done in 35 minutes.  I made the gravy stovetop and added a bag of frozen peas. We had toasted English muffins with the meal.

Tasted good, I have other meatloaf recipes I like better than the Lipton’s but the wife and daughter loved it and had seconds. I liked the potatoes, thanks LTBBQ member, Art for telling me to look on the back of the box!

Hope all are having some good food and a fun and safe weekend with family! I wish the same for all who are not celebrating Thanksgiving.

Meatloaf

Country gravy peas

Lipton Roasted Potatoes

My TG dinner

Sausage Burgers & Mac n Cheese

Nov 18 2016

I think I just had the last nice day sitting out in shirt sleeves and enjoying the 70 deg. temps before cold weather sets in.  Supposed to be 40 tomorrow with snow! I told the wife I would grill some sandwiches, we had beef last night so it was some sausage burgers tonight.

I got a pound of fresh sausage from my butcher. The wife wanted hers plain so I made up a patty for her, using 1/3 pound of the sausage. The rest I added a teaspoon of Penzey’s Italian sausage seasoning, a ½ teaspoon of crushed red pepper and some diced green peppers and green onions.

They went on my Traeger at 195 deg. to smoke for an hour and then browned on my Weber Spirit about 3 minutes per side. I toasted the buns and added some cheese to my wife’s. I had some Bob Even’s double cheese pasta with Applewood smoked bacon I did in the microwave. It is about as good as I can do myself and a lot easier!

It tasted pretty good for a simple fast and easy meal! We both had some olives on the side and I just had mustard on the sandwich.

Sausage patties

An hour of smoke

Browning on the grill

My supper

Instant Pot Beef, Mashed Potatoes & Haluski

Nov 17 2016

It was a beautiful fall day here an unusual warm day of almost 70 deg. It was great to be out cooking. I was hungry for beef and noodles. I went to my butcher looking for a nice arm roast; he didn’t have any but had this nice English cut chuck roast. It has the short ribs included with a chuck.

It was too big for my Instant Pot and for the wife and me. I cut the ribs off and a tail piece to save and use for some Asian style ribs later, I seasoned the roast with just some pepper to smoke on my Traeger first. There would be enough salt in the onion soup and gravy mix.

I had wanted noodles but had almost a half head of cabbage left from making kraut so I would have some Haluski. The roast went on my Traeger at 3:00 PM for an hour of smoke at 195 deg. Then I seared it in my Instant Pot on Sauté mode about 3 minutes per side. I then added some chopped carrots and onions and let them cook a while until the onions started to brown. I deglazed with some beer and then placed the roast on top. I mixed a packet of Lipton’s beefy onion soup mix and Pioneer brown gravy with about 2 cups of water and poured over the roast.  I set the IP to Meat Stew normal mode for 55 minutes.

When the beef was done I let set about 10 minutes then released the steam, removed from the pot, and shredded; it was fall apart tender. I added the meat back to the pot and set on slow cook normal while I cooked the noodles and cabbage. When the noodles and cabbage was about done I nuked some Bob Evans garlic mashed potatoes.

I served it all with some toasted English muffins and butter. It sure was good tasting, the more I use my instant pot the more I like it.

The English cut chuck roast

Divided it up

It got an hour of smoke

Seared in the IP

Carrots & onions sauted

Beef added with soup & gravy mix in water

Roast was done

Shredded then back in the pot

Frying the Haluski

My supper