Beef + Mushrooms = Excellent Stew

I'm a complete slackasaurus. Life has been busy lately with job hunting, social outings, motorcycle rides, cooking and basic household chores. Last week . . . at least I think it was last week, possibly the week before . . . I made something I've been dying to try. I love beef stew and mushrooms, so The Pioneer Woman’s beef stew with mushrooms looked perfect for moi. It was fairly easy to make, tasted great (the beef consumme & wine really added a nice touch) and made excellent leftovers the next day as well. I didn't have cremini mushrooms on hand, so I had to sub in white button ones instead. Probably not as good as the creminis would have been, but still yummy. Check out The Pioneer Woman’s blog for the recipe and much, much better pics. Enjoy!

Italian Vegetable Soup

Good thing I had some leftover carrots after making this soup; the kids just came inside to get one for Buppy's snowman's nose!

Back on topic though. I was perusing through blogs yesterday (something I just don't have enough time for these days) and I happened upon a recipe for Italian vegetable beef soup on Aggie’s Kitchen. She has some really great looking recipes, and since it's been a snowy, blustery weekend, I thought this soup would be just the ticket. Plus, I had some extra veggies in the fridge that I needed to use up. I made some changes to the recipes, but overall the concept is still the same. It's good, although to suite my personal tastes, next time I'd add a few less veggies. I like veggies and all, but this soup has lots! But hey, I don't feel guilty eating it at least. Buppy and I plan to have this for dinner with some nice crusty bread and a little Parmesan sprinkled on top.

Italian Veggie Beef Soup
Adapted from Aggie’s Kitchen

3 Tbsp. olive oil, divided
2 zucchinis, quartered & chopped
1 yellow squash, quartered & chopped
1 large carrot, chopped
3/4 of a large onion, chopped
1 can whole kernel corn, drained
1 tsp. each dried basil, dried oregano & dried thyme
1 heaping tsp. minced garlic
1 (14 1/2 oz.) can diced tomatoes with basil, garlic & oregano
6 c. beef broth
1 lb. beef stew meat, cubed
Parmesan cheese (optional)
Salt & pepper, to taste

Rinse cubed stew meat in water and pat dry (I forgot this step today). Shake in a large Ziploc bag with just enough flour to lightly coat the meat. Heat a large skillet to med-high heat, add 1 Tbsp. olive oil and let it come up to temp. Add the meat, turning pieces occasional, until nicely browned on all sides. It's not overly important to cook the meat thoroughly since it'll be added to the soup and can finish cooking in the liquid.

In the remaining olive oil, saute zucchini, squash, carrot & onion until tender (approx. 10-12 min.). Add seasonings, tomatoes, garlic, corn & broth. Heat to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Add the cooked stew meat and simmer for approximately 30 min., or until all veggies are cooked to your liking. Salt and pepper to taste. Serve with Parmesan cheese if you'd like.

Aggie’s recipe calls for small cooked pasta as an optional addition, which I haven't decided about yet. I'm not sure what we have in the cupboards, so I'll have to check that out at dinner time. It already reminds me of minestrone, and the addition of pasta will only make it more so. This is a good, healthy, warming soup.

Recipe Critique: Rosemary Encrusted Pork Loin

Sunday night's dinner this past weekend was a new recipe Buppy and I tried called Rosemary Encrusted Pork Tenderloin. I found the recipe on Le Petit Pierogi and decided it was worth a try. Her photos made it look very appealing, and we have a rosemary plant that is completely weighed down with too many leaves. It was time to put it to good use. Originally we were going to use the recipe I blogged about here for Menu Plan Monday for a roasted pork loin that was somewhat similar but had a few key differences. Not to say that we won't try the roasted pork loin recipe sometime in the future, but I can easily say I'm very happy we used the one we did.

It's funny, but for awhile now I've thought that I didn't really like rosemary. Buppy is a huge fan and he's asked me at least 20 times since we've been together if I like it. He seems to forget he's already asked and that I've told him I'm not a huge fan. That, or he hopes I'll change my answer. Well honey, you're in luck!

About a year or so ago (give or take), Buppy decided I should try a rosemary and red wine marinated steak. They're a favorite of his. I obliged, thinking it wouldn't be too bad. It's wasn't, but the steak was a little old, a little over cooked (sorry Buppy, but I still love you!) and just not my thing. What I've come to realize with our recent kitchen trials is that it's not that I don't care for rosemary, it's that I don't care for the overpowering flavor of red wine or balsamic vinegar. Don't get me wrong, I'm not grouping them together to say they're one in the same, but they both can easily overpower dishes and make me think I don't like other ingredients when I actually might.

So back to the rosemary encrusted pork tenderloin.

Rosemary Encrusted Pork Loin
Adapted from Le Petit Pierogi

Pork loin (ours was about 1 1/2 lbs.)
Fresh rosemary (maybe 1 tsp.)
Rubbed sage (maybe 1/2 tsp.)
Minced garlic (maybe 1 tsp.)
Salt & pepper (enough to taste)
Olive oil (enough to make a paste when mixed with other ingredients)

Mix the oil and spices (herbs, whatever) together, then rub it all over the outside of the pork. Cook it in the rotisserie as per rotisserie instructions for pork loin. Viola!

To be honest, I was cooking praline apple bread and zucchini pizza casserole as Buppy made this for dinner, so I'm really just guessing at how much of each herb he used. Use whatever suits your taste and looks about right, ok? Or use the original recipe from Le Petit Pierogi! Our piece of pork was loin and just happened to be in the fridge (not tenderloin as the original recipe called for.) We had to substitute fresh rosemary for the dried and rubbed sage for the fresh. It was kind of backwards from her recipe actually. We didn't inject it as the recipe suggested since she made it clear that skipping this step wouldn't result in disaster. The simple mixture of rosemary, sage, garlic, salt, pepper and olive oil rubbed on the pork turned out so flavorful; I thought it would be good but I was surprised at just how good it really was! And cooking it in the rotisserie made the outside wonderfully crispy, just the way we like!

This recipe is definitely a keeper in our book. And I'm so happy I found Le Petit Pierogi's blog; she has so many recipes I can't wait to try!

Recipe Critique: Easy Italian Spiced Pork

Last week on Menu Plan Monday, I blogged about how I wanted to make a recipe I'd found once upon a time for easy Italian spiced pork. The post with the recipe, for those of you who didn't catch it the first time around, can be found here.

Buppy and I made it for a late dinner this past Friday night. To be honest, we split one chop just mainly to try it and then saved the rest for left overs. We had made a batch of guacamole earlier in the evening for a snack and then ended up not hungry for a real dinner! Oh well, sometimes ya just gotta do it!

Back to the pork. While the recipe only called for 1/4 c. of balsamic vinegar, that seemed to be all I could taste in the chops. I guess you could say I'm not overly big on balsamic vinegar, although I do like to taste just a hint of it in dishes. It was, in my opinion, overwhelming. I couldn't taste the Italian seasoning at all, which really says something because there's an entire packet of Italian salad dressing mix (powder) as well as some Italian seasoning in it! Buppy didn't really think so and thought it had good flavor. I'm guessing this might be a recipe that he keeps on file and makes if I'm out of town. If you love balsamic vinegar, this is the recipe for you! I think next time I might cut it down to an 1/8 c. and see if I like it better.

Happy eating!