Roast Recipe (EASY)

Dishes used: Crockpot and a cutting board. Knife and a fork.

SUPER EASY

4/4 Stars here. My family ate the whole 2.5lbs of it in 15 minutes. Even the picky eater loved it.

Ingredients
Roast (I used my new favorite – Arm Roast. Any roast will work)
2 packets Au Jus
1 teaspoon Beef Better than Bullion
Sliced Onion
Water
Pepper

Procedure
1. Put roast in crockpot. (I put mine in totally frozen, therefore I heated up the water because of course I started too close to dinnertime. You can throw a frozen roast in with cold water if you start in the morning) 2. Mix water, au jus packs and bullion. Put in crockpot 3. Scatter sliced onion over roast 4. Pepper roast
5. Cook for 6-8 hours
6. Put on cutting board and let cool.   7. Shred it, and serve with plenty of the au jus liquid in the crockpot as gravy.

Throw it in, and forget it for hours upon hours. 😉

I suggest those Bob Evans Mashed potatoes as a side… because after all you have gravy. 😉

Prior to pouring on the fabulous gravy. We like it with a dab of horseradish.

Our Favorite Lasagna

Dishes to wash: Uses a skillet, a mixing bowl and a 9×13 pan.
4 out of 4 people in our house like it. (Note Miss Picky in the background of the pic sneaking a bite before the prayer)

I think it’s even better reheated. Yay leftovers.

I know you are jealous of our fine styrofoam and plastic table settings. 😂

Ingredients

  • 1ish pound of ground beef
  • 1 jar of spaghetti sauce or marinara
  • 2 teaspoons onion flakes
  • 1 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 2 Tablespoons Italian seasoning
  • 1 egg (beaten)
  • 15 oz ricotta cheese
  • 12 oz shredded Mozzarella cheese
  • Oven Ready lasagna noodles.* You just lay them in there all hard and they get soft in the oven like magic. **If you are low-carbing I found some lasagna noodles made from the heart of palm that were decent and worth a try
These are the low-carb option. I soaked them in water to get some of the salt out before using. Also I doubled the recipe and made a low carb one for me and a regular noodle one for everyone else.

Procedure

  1. Brown ground beef
  2. Add all the onion flakes, all the garlic powder, and 1/2 Tablespoon of the Italian seasoning to the ground beef
  3. Add the whole jar of spaghetti sauce to the ground beef and turn it down and let it simmer
  4. In a mixing bowl, mix egg, ricotta cheese, 10 oz (aka most of) the Mozzarella Cheese (keep back 2oz or like 3/4 cup, or….like three handfulls 😉 ) and the rest of the Italian Seasoning (1.5 Tablespoons)
  5. Oil a 9×13 pan
  6. Layer the meat sauce, then a layer of noodles, then a layer of the cheese mixture. Keep it up till you are out of ingredients or your pan is full. FINISH with a meat sauce layer.
  7. Put the pan on a cookie sheet to prevent any oven spillage. Bake 45 minutes at 350. Put your remaining cheese on top and put back in oven to melt.
  8. Take out and let cool 15-20 minutes before serving.
1st layer – meat sauce. Ignore my “saucy” skillet in the background.
2nd layer, lasagna noodles. Lay em in here straight out of the box. It’s magic.
Cheese layer. Carry on layering till you run out of ingredients or room in your pan.
Finish with a top layer of meat sauce. Bake at 350 for 45 Minutes.
After its baked, skatter the rest of the shredded cheese on top and let it melt. Don’t spill any cheese in the oven. Ask me how I know. 🤷‍♀️ Take it out and let it sit for like 15-20 minutes to cool a little. Hate to melt those disposable plates.

Mongolian Beef and Broccoli (FLANK)

I used one pan, and the first time I made it it took me 45 minutes from start to plates.

It is good served with Rice.

3 out of 4 Stars (Which means 3 out of 4 of us in this house approve. One of those is picky. **coughcoughCLAIREcough**)

Beef and Broccoli (Mongolian Beef)

Ingredients

  • Flank Steak (can use skirt steak…or a variety of steaks)
  • 1/2 Cup plus 2 Tablespoons Cornstarch
  • Vegetable oil
  • 1 & 1/2 teaspoons minced garlic
  • 2 Tablespoons minced ginger (this was fresh. If you used dried ginger powder probably use less)
  • 1 Tablespoon minced onion
  • 3 Tablespoons sesame oil
  • 1 Tablespoon Salt
  • 1 Tablespoon Pepper
  • Red Pepper flakes
  • 1 cup water
  • 2 heads of broccoli
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup sliced green onions (I didn’t have any!)
  • Optional – Sesame Seeds
  • Optional – soy sauce on the side

Steps

  1. Remove membrane and thinly slice flank against the grain *See below example pics
  2. Cut Broccoli florets into bite sized pieces
  3. Mix Salt, Pepper and 1/2 cup cornstarch and use that mixture to coat the strips of flank you just sliced
  4. Oil and heat your pan (I used vegetable oil) and sear a little meat at a time on both sides. You want it to be able to brown pretty quickly so don’t overcrowd your pan. *Don’t overcook it, just till it browns.*
  5. Take out the meat and set aside.
  6. Put broccoli in hot pan, and add water to steam it. Once the broccoli turns to a darker green take it out and set it to the side (I piled it on top of the meat)
  7. Put Sesame Oil, garlic, minced onion in the pan and brown it.
  8. Add brown sugar and stir in.
  9. Mix the 2 Tablespoons of cornstarch with the rest of the water to make a slurry and pour in the pan with the sugar etc.
  10. If it’s too thick, add water; if it’s too thin cook it another minute while stirring. I like it a little thicker consistency than say, pancake syrup.
  11. Add Red Pepper flakes if you like spicy (like Lynn does 😉)
  12. Throw Broccoli back in pan and stir around to coat with sauce
  13. Add meat and gently stir (You don’t want to knock off your browned coating)
  14. Feed the Family
I started with a frozen 2.235lb Flank Steak. Because that is what was in the freezer…
Here is the flank thawed. This one has a membrane you want to remove.

Remove the membrane like so (I used a knife to get it started and then just pulled it off)….and slice the flank super thin against the grain of the meat.

*Nerd Alert* Notice how the meat has “bloomed” or turned a brighter red after it was exposed to the air. This is naturally occurring. It is also why the shrink wrapped beef looks less “red” until it is opened…it can take up to 30 minutes to see it bloom. It has to do with oxidation and iron.
The blue line is the grain of the meat. The yellow is the direction you want to cut. If you cut the wrong way it will be too tough.
Pan sear the steaks, but just till they form a little crust (like the one with the green check I put on the pic) The one with a red X is overcooked. (A no-no)
I forgot to take more pictures, but here’s the end result. Except imagine it with chopped green onions and sesame seeds on your plate.

Slow cooker chili (with C&C Ground Beef of course)

⭐# of dishes to wash: I use one skillet to brown the ground beef and a crockpot, and a cutting board, knife and spoon.

⭐This makes a LOT, you can half the recipe if you don’t want to be eating it for a few days.

⭐3 out of 4 of us love it. Claire won’t eat tomatoes except in spaghetti sauce or pizza. 🙄

In the crockpot

Ingredients

  • 2 packs of ground beef (close to 2 lbs)
  • 1 chopped onion
  • 1 can diced tomatoes with chilis (like Rotel)
  • 2 cans diced tomatoes
  • 2 cans tomato sauce
  • 1 small can tomato paste
  • 2 cans of beans (drained) I used kidney beans but pintos or black beans work good too.
  • 1/2 Tablespoon of beef Better than Bullion
  • 1 1/2 cups water
  • 1 teaspoon dried oregano
  • 2 teaspoons cumin
  • 5 Tablespoon chili powder
  • 1 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 2 teaspoons salt (more or less to taste….I don’t like a lot of salt but the girls do abd said it was salty enough)
  • 1 Tablespoon black pepper
  • 1 bay leaf
Browned Ground Beef

Procedure

  1. Brown the ground beef. I do it one pack at a time because it makes less of a mess. There is not enough fat to drain off so I don’t.
  2. Put beef in crockpot
  3. Chop onion and put in slow cooker
  4. Put everything else in slow cooker and stir.
  5. Cook for 6-8 hours

We like chili with shredded cheese, sour cream and Lynn likes jarred jalapeno slices or hot sauce. We usually eat it with saltine crackers or tortilla chips. We frequently good on the third day over hotdogs. 😉

Caroline’s first bowl of Chili for dinner. 😉

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