A rainy fall day

I'd say its official. Summer has ended and fall is here...dare I say, to stay. It's been one of those rainy, chilly, brisk days that just screams to stay inside and enjoy the comfy cozy warmth of your home--and play with toys.

After a quick workout at the gym today, the kiddo and I headed to Safeway to get some items that I can't get at the commissary for tomorrow's dinner. Of course I had to get my Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte too! :) While I was there, I decided to grab some things for tonight's dinner. But here's the catch. I didn't know what I was making.

I knew I wanted something comfort-food-like, with the ingredients of beef and noodles. But I didn't want stroganhoff. Ever have that happen? You're craving for something that includes a few specific ingredients but you have no known recipe? So I did my best (and succeeded) in grabbing everything I would need AND finding a recipe.

As per my tradition, I found a recipe (in the red and white checkered book 2000 edition), but of course I Kaylie-fied it and tweaked it a bit. Below I have the exact recipe but included my changes in italics.


Beef and Noodles

1 pound boneless beef round steak (I used beef stew meat)
1 T cooking oil
1/2 C chopped onion (1 medium)
2 cloves garlic, minced
4 C beef broth
2 T vinegar
1/2 tsp dried marjoram or basil
1/4 tsp pepper
8 ozs frozen noodles (I used a smidge more than 2 C of dried small egg noodles)
1/4 C additional beef broth
3 T all-purpose flour (I ended up having to use 4 T total)
2 T snipped fresh parsley (optional)
3 medium carrots, diced
3/4 fresh green beans

1. Trim fat from meat. Cut meat into 3/4" cubes. (I strayed here to make the meat into bit-sized to be more kiddo friendly. To do this, I had the meat placed in the freezer for a couple of hours so it wasn't completely frozen nor thawed. Then I put it in the food processor using the slicing blade. This makes small pieces perfect for kiddos and its also a fabulous trick for making philly cheese steaks.) In a large saucepan brown half of the meat in hot oil. Remove from saucepan. Brown the remaining meat with the onion and garlic, adding more oil, if necessary. Drain off fat. Return all meat to the saucepan.

2. Stir in the 4 cups of broth, vinegar, marjoram, and pepper. Bring to boiling. Reduce heat. (I added 3 carrots chopped into bite sized pieces...anything to get more veggies in the kiddo. I went heavy on the carrots because she loves them so much.) Simmer, covered, for 1 to 1 1/4 hours or till meat is tender. (This is probably not necessary if you do the meat the way I did, but I did it anyway just because I had the time.)

3. Stir noodles into beef-broth mixture. Bring to boiling. Reduce heat. Cook, uncovered, for 25 to 30 minutes (10 minutes if doing the dried egg noodles) or till noodles are tender. (I also added some fresh green beans, again for more veggies for the kiddo. My timing was a little off and they were a little over-cooked for our liking.)

4. Drain meat and noodles, reserving 2 1/2 cups of the cooking liquid. If necessary, add enough broth or water to equal 2 1/2 cups. Return to the saucepan. Stir together the 1/4 cup beef broth and the flour. Stir into the reserved broth in the saucepan. Cook and stir over medium heat till thickened and bubbly. Cook and stir for 1 minute more. Stir in beef and noodles; heat through. If desired, garnish with parsley. Makes 4 servings.

This meal was a definite hit with the kiddo. She kept saying "mmm! mmm! mmm!" and she may even have said "delicious!" in her own way. I also paired it with a crusty french roll and it was sooo good!

Tomorrow I'm making my Chicken Pot Pie for a friend and her girls who are coming over for dinner. I'm semi-famous for it. Just kidding. But I do get a lot of rave reviews when I make it. I've been meaning to share that recipe for a while which is why it's pictured in my header.