Beef Bourguignon

I have no earthly idea how to say this, but I can cook it and eat it, and that should count for something. I saw Paula Deen make this on TV once. I'm sure she said it just fine but I apparently wasn't paying attention. This is not Paula Deen's recipe, by-the-way. Look, never mind her. I'm sorry I even gave you the link to her page. Her beef burgy-something probably looks better and tastes better than mine and I don't need you stopping by there every day to see her instead of me.

1 lb. boneless beef chuck roast, cut into cubes
1 TBS. cooking oil
1 medium onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 ½ cups Burgundy wine
¾ cup beef broth
1 tsp. dried thyme
¾ tsp. dried marjoram
3/4 tsp. salt
¼ tsp. black pepper
2 bay leaves
3 cups fresh mushrooms
4 medium carrots, cut into pieces
2 TBS. flour
2 TBS. butter, softened
2 slices bacon, cooked, drained, and crumbled

Hot cooked noodles


In a Dutch oven, brown the meat and onion in the hot oil.

Stir in wine, broth, thyme, marjoram, salt, pepper, and bay leaves. Bring to boiling; reduce heat. Simmer, covered, for 45 minutes. Add mushrooms and carrots. Return to boiling; reduce heat. Cook, covered for 25 minutes more or until meat and vegetables are tender. Discard bay leaves.

In a small bowl stir together flour and butter until smooth; stir into meat mixture. Cook and stir until thickened and bubbly. Stir in crumbled bacon.

Serve over hot noodles.

Blueberry Muffins

My kids told me this morning that these were better than cookies. Nuff said.


1¾ cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
¼ tsp. salt
1 beaten egg
¾ cup milk
¼ cup cooking oil
1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries
1 tsp. finely shredded lemon peel

1 recipe Streusel-Nut Topping (below)

Grease and lightly flour muffin pan; set aside.

In a medium bowl combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Make a well in the center of flour mixture; set aside.

In another bowl combine egg, milk, and oil. Add egg mixture all at once to flour mixture. Stir just until moistened (batter should be lumpy). Fold in blueberries and lemon peel.

Spoon batter into prepared muffin pan, filling each cup two-thirds full. Sprinkle Streusel-Nut Topping over muffin batter in pan. Bake at 400º for 20 minutes.

STREUSEL-NUT TOPPING

¼ cup packed brown sugar
3 TBS. all-purpose flour
2 TBS. butter
1/3 cup chopped walnuts

Combine all ingredients in small bowl with pastry blender.

Brownies

Another stolen recipe! These were originally "Bobby's Favorite Brownies", but I have changed that to the more exciting name you see at the top of this entry. Now, you know I have a bit more creativity than that. So why do I assign such uninspiring names? Let's just say, I don't feel the need for 20 different recipes for any one food. If it's the best in that particular category, it 1.) doesn't need a fancy name and 2.) earns its place on this recipe blog without competition. My recipes don't suffer from low self-esteem; they know they have been chosen from among many others and that I will cherish them forever and wouldn't trade them for the world.

P.S. If you send me a better brownie recipe, I will burn this one and bestow the strong, simple name "Brownie" on the new winner.

¾ cups unsweetened cocoa
½ tsp baking soda
2/3 cup oil
½ cup boiling water
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 1/3 cups flour
1 tsp vanilla
¼ tsp salt
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Stir baking soda and cocoa in bowl. Blend in 1/3 cup of oil. Add boiling water. Stir until mixture thickens. Stir in sugar, eggs, and remaining oil. Stir until smooth. Add flour, vanilla, and salt. Blend completely. Stir in chocolate chips. Pour in to lightly greased pan. Bake at 375 degrees for 35-40 minutes.

Banana Pudding

I made this for some guests we are having tomorrow. I also made it for some guests we had last week. I can't figure out why I can't lose weight.

This recipe is pirated from a good friend. (You know who you are.) I'm sorry, it was just so delicious that I needed to share it. Please forgive me for passing it off as one of my tried and true recipes. Actually, I'm not very original. Every good idea I've ever had came from someone else. Even that - what I just wrote - was what someone once told me.

1 large box (4.6 oz.) instant vanilla pudding mix
2 cups milk
1 can sweetened condensed milk
8 oz. Cool Whip
Vanilla wafers
2-3 medium bananas

Mix instant pudding with milk and sweetened condensed milk. Add Cool Whip.

In a bowl, layer pudding mixture with vanilla wafers and bananas. Chill.

Banana Bread

Look what we had for breakfast. Yummm.

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 ½ tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. baking soda
¼ tsp. ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp. ground nutmeg
¼ tsp. salt
2 beaten eggs
1 ½ cups mashed bananas (5 medium)
1 cup sugar
½ cup cooking oil or melted butter
¼ cup chopped walnuts

1 recipe Streusel-Nut Topping (below)

Grease bottom and ½ inch up the sides of a loaf pan; set aside. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Make a well in center of flour mixture; set aside.

In a medium bowl combine eggs, bananas, sugar, and oil. Add egg mixture all at once to flour mixture. Stir just until moistened. Fold in nuts. Spoon batter into prepared pan. Sprinkle Streusel-Nut Topping over batter.

Bake in a 350º oven for an hour or until wooden toothpick inserted near center comes out clean. Cool in pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Remove from pan.


STREUSEL-NUT TOPPING

¼ cup packed brown sugar
3 TBS. all-purpose flour
2 TBS. butter
1/3 cup chopped walnuts

Combine all ingredients in small bowl with pastry blender.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

I am sharing my secret with you. You can't imagine how many times I have been asked if these are the Nieman-Marcus cookies. I'm not charging you anything for the recipe (except maybe some feedback in the future about how they turned out for you). I've perfected this recipe over the course of many years and, chances are, if you know me you've eaten these.

¾ cup granulated sugar
¾ cup packed brown sugar
1 cup of butter, melted
1 tsp vanilla
1 large egg
2 ¼ cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
1 cup coarsely chopped nuts
1 bag (12 oz) semisweet chocolate chips (2 cups)
2 cups rolled oats

Preheat oven to 375º. Beat sugar, butter, vanilla, egg in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed, or mix with spoon. Stir in flour, baking soda and salt (dough will be stiff). Stir in nuts, chocolate chips, and oats. Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls about 2 inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until light brown (centers will be soft). Cool 1 to 2 minutes; remove from cookie sheet to wire rack.

Beef Brisket with Barbecue Sauce

I guarantee this to be one of the best pieces of meat you have ever put in your pie hole or your money back.

1½ cups water
½ cup Worcestershire sauce
2 TBS vinegar
2 tsp instant beef bouillon granules
1 tsp dry mustard
1 tsp chili powder
½ tsp ground red pepper
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 2½-pound fresh beef brisket

1 cup catsup
4 TBS brown sugar
2 TBS butter or margarine

For cooking liquid, in a bowl combine water, Worcestershire sauce, vinegar, bouillon granules, dry mustard, chili powder, red pepper, and garlic. Reserve 1 cup liquid for sauce; set aside in the refrigerator. Trim fat from meat. If necessary, cut brisket to fit into crockery cooker. Pour remaining liquid over brisket.

Cover and cook on low-heat setting for 10 to 12 hours.

For sauce, combine the 1 cup reserved liquid, catsup, brown sugar, and butter. Mix into the brisket sauce.

Chili

I know, I know, it's hot outside and this is the last thing on your mind. But it's ever so good with fresh summer tomatoes instead of canned.

2 lbs. lean ground beef
1 medium chopped onion
1 medium chopped sweet green pepper
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 15-ounce can dark red kidney beans, rinsed and drained
1 14 ½-ounce can diced tomatoes, undrained
1 8-ounce can tomato sauce
3 tsp. chili powder
2 tsp. cumin
½ tsp. dried basil, crushed
¼ tsp. black pepper

In a large saucepan cook ground beef, onion, sweet pepper, and garlic until meat is brown and onion is tender; drain fat. Stir in kidney beans, undrained tomatoes, tomato sauce, chili powder, cumin, basil, and pepper. Bring to boiling; reduce heat. Simmer covered for 20 minutes.

Meat Loaf

Doesn't sound exciting? Then why does my family love it so much? This is one of the few meals where both of my kids want seconds. I usually make it with mashed potatoes and peas. But for the love of all things edible, buy the good ground beef - it makes all the difference.

2 eggs
¾ cup milk
2/3 cup fine dry bread crumbs or 2 cups soft bread crumbs
¼ cup chopped onion
2 TBS snipped fresh parsley
1 tsp salt
½ tsp dried basil
1/8 tsp black pepper
1½ pounds ground beef

¼ cup catsup
2 TBS brown sugar
1 tsp dry mustard

In a bowl combine eggs and milk; stir in bread crumbs onion, parsley, salt, basil, and black pepper. Add meat; mix well. Lightly pat mixture into a loaf pan or small pie plate.
Bake at 350° for 1 hour.

In a bowl combine catsup, sugar, and mustard; spread over meat. Bake for 10 minutes more.

Spinach Quiche

This recipe is for all of you real men out there. Actually, not only do real men eat quiche, but they also admit it. So cook it up, eat it, love it, and tell all your friends. I stole this from Betty Crocker but I asked her and she said it was OK. I changed a few things to make it a little less ridiculously bad for you like the six slices of bacon (DON'T DO IT) in the original recipe. I use three or less. I figure one of the left-out pieces may contain the very particle of cholesterol that would have sealed the clog in my artery.

1 recipe pie crust (below)
½ cup chopped onion
3 slices bacon, chopped
8 beaten eggs
½ cup dairy sour cream
½ cup milk
¼ tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
Dash ground nutmeg
3 cups lightly packed chopped fresh spinach
2/3 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
½ cup shredded Swiss cheese
Cherry tomatoes, cut up

Prepare and roll out pastry for single crust pie. Line a 9-inch pie plate with the pastry. Trim, crimp edge as desired. Line unpricked pastry shell with a double thickness of foil. Bake in a 450º oven for 8 minutes. Remove foil. Bake for 4 to 5 minutes more or until pastry is set and dry. Reduce oven temperature to 325º.

Meanwhile, in a large skillet cook onion and bacon until onion is tender and bacon is crisp. Drain on paper towels.

In a bowl stir together eggs, sour cream, milk, salt, pepper, and, if desired, nutmeg. Stir in onion mixture, spinach and cheeses.

Pour egg mixture into hot, baked pastry shell. Bake in the 325º oven 45 top 50 minutes or until a knife inserted near center comes out clean. If necessary, cover edge of crust with foil to prevent overbrowning. Let stand for 10 minutes before serving. If desired, garnish with cherry tomatoes.

PIE CRUST

1 ¼ cups flour
pinch salt
1/3 cup oil
3 - 4 TBS. water

Makes one single crust.