09 Sep
Chop, Slice, Dice
Posted in beef recipes, Cook Once Eat Twice on 09.09.10 by Smart Ingredients
Last week when I was in Pennsylvania, the first thing I saw when I walked into a grocery store, was the preparations for Philly Cheese Steak. I had to laugh at the cliche, but also thought, boy does that look good! It was just cut up onions and peppers, in a cooler alongside some meat, which one might think is nothing special. What WAS special about it was the promise of a great dinner with less effort. Isn’t this what we are all hoping for… a little help with domestic duties? A little time saved? In other parts of the country, you may find already cut up stew meat and veggies around this time of year (see recipes for both below).
While it’s a huge favor to buy ingredients that are already precut for us, it is also important to remember to do this for ourselves. Even those of us who love to stand in the kitchen and prepare for hours don’t often have the time to do it. We all need to maximize our time and efforts. Do yourself the favor of preparing some of your dinner ingredients (chopping, dicing, mixing) while you’re cooking the breakfast, or have a bit of downtime during the day. You will be one step ahead of the game, and one step closer to dinner relief at “crunchtime”.
Philly Cheese Steak
Ingredients
- 20 oz. thin sliced rib eye or eye roll steak
- 6 tablespoons oil
- Cheese (in PA, I heard a lot of talk of using Cheez Whiz®… I recommend Provolone)
- 4 crusty Italian rolls
- 1 large onion, sliced
- sweet green and red peppers, sliced
- mushrooms, sliced (optional)
Heat an iron skillet or a non-stick pan over medium heat. Add 3 tablespoons of oil to the pan and saute the vegetables to desired doneness. Remove the vegetables to a bowl, and add to pan remaining oil and meat. Sear meat on both sides.
Serve meat on rolls, topped with vegetables and cheese. Cheese can be premelted in microwave or double-boiler if desired.
Beef Stew
From the Cook Once…Eat Twice! cookbook, using leftover Eye of Round.
Ingredients
- Eye of Round, approximately 1 pound, cubed*
- 2 cups of a combination of chopped carrots, celery and onions (or precut stew vegetables offered at your local grocer)
- 1/2 cup dry red wine
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
- 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
- 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 con condensed tomato bisque soup
- 1 potato, cubed
Combine all ingredients in slow cooker, and mix well. Cook on low setting for 2-3 hours. Discard bay leaves before serving.
* This recipe comes from the Cook Once…Eat Twice! method, and therefore, the beef is already cooked. If using raw meat, increase cooking time by one hour for doneness.
