Sirloin Beef Stroganoff

Sirloin Beef Stroganoff

I love, love, love beef stroganoff. So when I had the idea to create my own I was more than excited. Stroganoffs are fairly straight forward. Take some protein (beef, pork, chicken usually), add some liquid (usually a broth of some sort), throw in some veggies if you want, some spices, an ingredient to thicken the broth up. Let it simmer and then serve over noodles...or rice.

Seems simple right? Well, it is. Or at least it was for me. I've made Beef Stroganoff before from a different recipe and it was good, but I wanted to do something a little different. So after looking up a couple different recipes to see what other types of ingredients I could include I came up with this one! 

So here's what you need, equipment wise: a stockpot to make the noodles and either a sauté pan or a chef's pan. They're very similar. The one that I used for this recipe has straight edges not sloped. I wouldn't recommend making this one in a skillet, it needs to be a little deeper since you end up with everything in the pan, minus the noodles.

Anywho...let's get started with the ingredients

About 1 lb to 1-1/2 lbs top sirloin cut into 1 inch pieces

2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour

1-2 Tablespoons olive oil

1-2 Tablespoons butter

1 green pepper, chopped

3 Tablespoons dried minced onion

1 can (14 oz) beef broth

1/2 cup sour cream

2 Tablespoons tomato paste

2 garlic cloves, minced or crushed

1/2 teaspoon paprika

Dash of salt

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1/4 teaspoon parsley flakes

1/4 teaspoon ground mustard

1 Tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

Cooked Pasta of your choice

Alight, so what I did first was cut up my sirloin. If you don't want to use sirloin you can use pretty much any other beef you want. I just chose sirloin because I enjoy the taste of it.

Once that's all cut up, set it aside for a couple minutes.

Next, I chopped up my green pepper. This one actually chopped up easily. Sometimes I have a bit of a hard time getting the seeds out. This one worked with me.

Side note: If you've noticed I have specific cutting boards for different types of food. Red-Meat, Orange-Veggies, Green-Fruit, Yellow-Poultry.

I was doing my best to be organized. I was cooking dinner for my friend Taylor and I didn't want to feel like a chicken with my head cut off. So I managed to get everything together before I actually started cooking. So I got my beef broth, butter, garlic, spices, sour cream and tomato paste all together before I even started cooking the beef. And what do you know, it worked. I should really do that every time, shouldn't I?

So once you have everything prepped and ready, go ahead and put the 2 tablespoons of flour and the strips of sirloin into a Ziploc bag and shake to coat the meat with flour.

Also, around now is when you're going to want to start to boil the water for your noodles.

In a large sauté pan or chef's pan, whatever you have decided to use. You're going to melt the butter over a medium heat, add in the olive oil, and the crushed/minced garlic. Add the sirloin to the pan and brown the beef.

Once the beef is browned add in the chopped green pepper and dried minced onion. Cook that for probably 2 minutes.

Now you're going to gradually stir in the beef broth and bring it to a boil.

Once the broth starts to boil, let it cook for about a minute then reduce the heat to low and let it simmer as you get the next step ready.

In a small bowl, combine the sour cream, tomato paste, and the spices. Stir it so it's mixed together nicely.

You're going to stir that into the beef mixture. But DO NOT BOIL, keep this at a low temperature.

Add in the Worcestershire sauce and a bit of extra flour to help thicken the Stroganoff up. You're going to cook/simmer this uncovered over a low heat for about 15-20 minutes. Around now is when your water should be boiling...or almost boiling. I managed to time mine right around the 13 minutes mark of the simmering of the Stroganoff so both were done at exactly the same time. Couldn't do that again if I tried probably.

Mmmmm looking good, right? I was definitely beginning to drool over this right about now. I added a bit of extra flour to thicken it up a bit since I used a whole can of beef broth.

The timing worked out, so I believe I simmered this for about 22 minutes.

When you're noodles are done, drain them and spoon this deliciousness right on top of them.

This should serve about 4-6 people comfortably. I used Rotini noodles, they've been a new favorite of mine.

Well, I hope you enjoy this one! Clean up was fairly simple too. Just the couple of measuring ups, the cutting boards, and the 2 pots/pans. I did most of the cleaning during the 15-20 minutes that the Stroganoff was simmering.

Refrigerate leftovers if there are any!

'Til Next Time!!

Happy New Year!!

Happy New Year folks! So I spent my new years quietly at home, which was nice. No need to go out and get hammered and get pulled over or worse get in an accident. So I had a few friends come over and we just hung out and rang in the new year quietly. Then lucky me, I spent the whole next day in bed because I caught the bug that my entire family had up in Canada. Oh yeah, I was in Canada a few days before the new year. My cousin got married! It was a beautiful wedding and I have about 3 more of my cousins' weddings to go to within the next year or so. So I'll be seeing a lot of my Canadian family, which is GREAT! Growing up with them all around me then moving to California and only seeing them once a year was hard enough. Now I only see them if they come down to Arizona to visit me or if Dad is generous enough to fly me up to Winnipeg.

Well here I am a few days later and feeling better for the most part, still stuffy and congested, but the urge to stay in bed all day has subsided a bit. Luckily I have a few more days before I'm due back at work at the pre-school.

I've been feeling a bit of a cooking itch lately, I just want to go to the grocery store and buy all the food so I can make hundreds of different meals and snacks! Of course my bank account tells me otherwise, and also the small fact that I would have so much food and not nearly enough people to eat it. But I think I can manage a couple things and get a couple friends over here to share my food with me.

I think tonight I'm going to try my hand at my own Beef Stroganoff. I've made one recipe before (as you can see from the picture) and I really like it, but I think I want to try it again with some different stuff in it. Since Stroganoff is a pretty basic recipe, ingredient wise. Basically beef broth, sour cream, and some spices. The taste can vary however with what spices you use and of course the ratio of broth to sour cream. You can also use a cream of whatever soup instead of broth. Yes, I've been researching this since yesterday.


I've also been really wanting to explore some crab dips. I'm not big on seafood. I don't know, just the texture of most seafood doesn't sit well in my mouth. My parents think I'm weird for it, but who knows maybe one day I'll start to like it. Oddly enough, I do like crab I've had several crab dips and last week I had some crab along with my steak while out to dinner with the parents before our flight up to Canada. So who knows, maybe I'll venture into the depths of the ocean this year and try out some seafood stuff.

I've been trying to think of some new challenges for me. I like a lot of my recipes that I've made thus far, but I feel like I've got a good feel for my kitchen now and I think I can start to do some slightly difficult things. If you haven't noticed, I do a lot of recipes that call for the protein to be cut up into small pieces. I did this a lot with chicken in the beginning because I was worried about under-cooking it then the whole food poisoning thing wouldn't have been much fun. I also want to try to start working on some steaks. Who doesn't love a good steak? There's also this recipe for a Spinach Stuffed Pork Tenderloin I've been dying to try. Hmmm so maybe you'll be seeing some of this stuff in future posts.

So here's a few things to look for in the coming months...

Sirloin Beef Stroganoff
Chicken with Apple Cream Sauce & Sesame Asparagus
Spinach Stuffed Pork Tenderloin
White Russian Cupcakes & Blue Moon Cupcakes (you can thank Pinterest for finding me these ones)

Cinnamon Apple Pancakes...a healthy breakfast

3-Cheese Stuffed Manicotti Noodles

Grandma's Oatmeal Raisin Cookies...my dad's favorite

Just to give a preview of what 2013 will hold me for :)

See you soon!

'Til Next Time!!

It's Beginning to Feel A Lot Like Christmas!

Happy Holidays!!!

I feel like celebrating with...

Gingerbread Cake!!!

Gingerbread cake? Why yes! That's what I said! Gaahhh! I love the holidays! Just the lights and music and general cheeriness that occurs. Well, OK so that cheeriness kinda depends on the person and what they feel the holidays represent. There are some Grumpy-Guses out there. But I love the holidays. Sure they're a little stressful and spending money I don't have is a bit of a downer, but I love the feeling of giving someone a gift and watching their face light up. I especially love when I can give them something homemade and delicious, like this cake! Best part is, this cake is relatively easy as far as cakes go. It's not layered, there's no icing involved, it's just straight forward CAKE! I suppose you could frost it if you want. Mmmmm that would be delicious.

So for the holidays I always do a TON of baking. Everyone gets their own cookie tin of their favorite cookies, or a combo tin of a few different kinds...OK more like 5 or 6. This year I decided to include this cake in a couple of my combo tins. So I figured I would share the recipe with you as well! I spent a good part of the last 2 or 3 Sundays baking so I could get everything shipped out to people, since my family no longer lives in the same place. Holy hell shipping is expensive. Had to factor that into my Christmas shopping fund. Not the easiest thing to do.

Anywho, here's what you need for this marvelous dessert: either a hand mixer or a stand mixer with a whisk attachment, a 13 x 9 rectangle baking dish, and of course the ingredients...and an oven, but I'm sure you already got that part figured out. As far as ingredients...here we go!

1 cup of butter (2 sticks) softened
1 cup sugar
3 eggs
1 cup molasses
3/4 cup hot water
2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour (plus another 1/4 or so)
1-1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
Whipped cream and additional nutmeg

Seems simple enough, right? Let's get started!!

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.


In a large mixing bowl, you want to cream the butter and sugar together until it's light and fluffy. More like the bottom part here, not the top where there's still butter clumps. :)

Next up, add in the eggs and beat that on a low speed for about 2 minutes.

Now is when I start to get my water hot. I sometimes just let water boil then let it cool down for about 5 minutes. That works out quite nicely actually.

Gradually add in the molasses. This sticky stuff always gets everywhere with me, stuck to the side of the bowl or on the top part where the attachment of the mixer connects, so try your best to just get it in the path of where the whisk goes.

You're also going to add in the hot water now. Let it mix together for about 30 seconds. It should look like this...

Yes? Excellent! Moving on...

Combine the flour, ginger, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a separate bowl. Mix it together so the spices and baking soda/salt are evenly dispersed in the flour.

Gradually add the dry mix into the creamed molasses mixture. Once it's all in there beat on a low speed for about a minute...maybe 2. Feel free to add a touch more flour in here if it seem too liquidy.

Here's your batter! Now wasn't that easy? Didn't take too much time at all did it? OK So now grab that 13x9 baking dish and flour and grease it. By that I mean spread either some softened butter or shortening all over the pan in a thin layer, the shake some flour over it to coat it. This will help the cake from sticking to the pan. I even do this on my non-stick baking stuff just to make life a little easier on myself.

This is what your pan should look like once it's greased and floured. Now you're going to pour the batter into the pan and smooth it around so it is evenly spread, not really thick on one side and thin on the other. Also to make sure the edges are even with the middle.

Now I don't know if you can tell from this picture or not. But I have baking strips around the outside of my pan. Why you ask? Well you soak them in water and wrap them around your pan and it helps the cake cook really evenly so that it doesn't dome. Dome? I mean the edges cook too fast and don't rise as much as the center does. So I wrap these around the pan once they've been soaked in water and it cools down the edges so it has more time to cook like the center of the cake. Cool, right?

Pop that into the oven for about 45 minutes. Here's what I do, I put it in for 25 minutes. Then I turn the pan around and pop it in for another 10-15 depending on how the oven is. Sometimes I even go up to another 20 minutes. Basically you want a toothpick or cake tester to come out cleanly when inserted into the center of the cake.

Mmmmm baking cake...while you're waiting time to do those dishes!! Yep, yep, yep! And enjoy the delicious gingerbread smell that's filling the room!!

TADA!!! (You can see my cake strips better in this picture.) Your cake is done! Let it cool down for about 5-10 minutes before you dive in there and start eating it. I love eating it warm with a bit of whipped cream and nutmeg sprinkled on it.

So there you go! Simple, easy, delicious cake that is perfect for the holidays! With Christmas right around the corner this one is a definite hit! This cake keeps for about a week if you cut it up into pieces and wrap them in plastic wrap. Or if you just keep a piece of plastic wrap around the cut edges and cover the rest with foil, mine kept for a little over a week. Just ate the last piece today even and it was still delicious and moist. I hate dried out cake...

Just to leave you with a couple more pictures!

Enjoy this one!

Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas!

'Til Next Time!!

One of My All-Time Favs: Chicken Alfredo

Creamy Chicken Alfredo...with Grilled Chicken

**Drool...**

So, I love Alfredo sauce and I especially love Fettuccine Alfredo. Add some grilled chicken to it and, like much of my food when I think about it a lot, I feel my mouth start to salivate. There's just something about all that creamy, cheesy goodness that I can't get enough of! Although I try to limit myself on the Alfredo because of the calories and high fat content. Not that I honestly ever pay much attention to it, but knowing just by the ingredients that this one is chalk full of fatty yummy stuff. 

This was an interesting day, I decided I wanted to do my chicken in my Alfredo a little differently. So I have a Le Creuset Cast Iron Grill pan that my mum got me for Christmas last year. I wanted to grill the chicken rather than just cut it up and cook it in a bit of oil and spices like I normally do. So I got out my grill pan and got to work. It turned out pretty damn good if I do say so myself!

OK so here's what you'll need to acquire in order to make this wonderful dish. A grill pan is ideal if you don't want to use your BBQ or some way to grill the chicken. And I use my deep dish saute pan to make the Alfredo sauce...and of course a stock pot of some sort to cook the pasta.

For the chicken part...

About a pound of chicken, 2 or 3 boneless skinless breasts works well
garlic powder, onion powder, rosemary, and season salt...and a touch of paprika

Take the chicken breasts and butterfly them like so...you want to cut down the chicken breast, but you obviously don't want to completely cut it in half. So leave about half an inch of the breast uncut. I cut down the center, then the center of the two halves. Basically I cut it into fourths.

Take a couple pieces of plastic wrap, put one under the chicken and one over. Next, you're going to take a meat tenderizer/pounder and flatten the chicken. Use the smooth side of the tenderizer as you don't want to puncture the chicken. You want it to be an even thickness so that the chicken cooks evenly.






Now you're going to season the chicken with some garlic powder, onion powder, dried rosemary or fresh, season salt and a touch of paprika. With whatever you're using, grill pan, grill, or just a skillet, put it on a medium-high heat and cook the chicken. I liked using my grill pan so I could get the score marks on the chicken and make it look all fancy. You're going to cook the chicken about 6 minutes on one side then flip the breasts over and cook for about another 7 or 8 minutes, until the chicken is no longer pink and the juices run clear.

Looking sorta like that? Yes? No? Maybe? Does it look edible at least? I hope it does. Man I need to make this one again. So once the chicken is done let it cool down for a few minutes so you can cut it into bite sized pieces. I cut it into strips then cut the strips into thirds. I like big chunks of chicken in my Alfredo so cut the chicken however you want to.

Now set the chicken aside for a little bit. And get a pot of water going so it can boil. use about 8-10 oz of fettuccine noodles to make this amazingness, it'll serve about 4 or 5 pretty comfortably. And now you can get started on the Alfredo sauce! Yay!! Here's what you'll need:

6 tablespoons of butter, cubed/sliced
2 cups heavy whipping cream
3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese, the fresher the better
1/2 cup plus another few tablespoons Romano cheese (or Mozzarella)
2 egg yolks lightly beaten
1/4 teaspoon salt
some black pepper to taste
a pinch or two of ground nutmeg

Over a medium heat, you're going to melt the butter.

Add in the heavy cream and the cheeses. Stir so the cheese melts into the cream and also to get the butter to mix into the cream and cheeses.

Next, take those egg yolks...don't mind my dog she loves eggs and anytime I take eggs out of the fridge she's right there hoping to get one. Anyways, add those into the sauce and stir it all up.

Finally, add in the salt, pepper, and ground nutmeg. Stir is all up add some more pepper or nutmeg if you choose. Taste it a bit, more cheese? Sure why not! Yeah I add more cheese in all the time. It's like an addiction, cheese is delicious.

OK so cook and stir this awesome sauce over the medium-low heat until it reaches 160 degrees Fahrenheit. You do NOT want this sauce to reach a boil, no, no, no, no, NO. Don't do it. Keep it at a low heat and stir it until it reaches 160F that's it!!!

How are your noodles coming along? Just cook them according to the packaged directions. Then drain them and you'll be good. If you managed to get the timing just right to where the sauce is ready right as the noodles are, I congratulate you. It's a difficult thing. I suck at my timing sometimes. But I'm getting better, yay!

What's next? Yep you guessed it! Once the sauce is at the 160 temp and the noodles are done and drained. Toss them into the sauce. Stir it all up and get the noodles nice and coated. Once that's done add in the chicken! Remember that tasty chicken from before? Yeah, grab that and toss it in the pan too!

Also, you're going to stir the chicken in and get it nice and coated in delicious, delicious Alfredo sauce. Now here's the hard part. Cover the dish/pan that you're using and let it sit on a low heat for about 10 or 15 minutes. Why you ask? Well, the chicken has been sitting out on the counter for a bit and you want it to be warm in the pasta right? Yeah well that's why we cover it and let it heat throughout for a few minutes. It's going to be a long 10/15 minutes but it's completely worth it. Do a few dishes or something to make the time go by faster!

There you go! I top mine with a little more grated Parmesan cheese and a touch more black pepper. I love pepper, so I probably over do it on my food sometimes, but when I'm eating it I don't care at all! Like I said, this serves about 4 or 5 comfortably. I made this for myself, my brother, and our roommate and I still had plenty of leftovers to take for lunch the next day.

Well that's it!

Hope you enjoy!!

'Til Next Time!!