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Archive for the ‘Comfort Food’ Category

Beef Barley Soup

Posted in Comfort Food, Easy Recipes, tagged , , , on December 12, 2014| 2 Comments »

Beef Soup platedIf you’re looking for a warm bowl of comfort food on a cold wintery day, this hearty beef and barley soup definitely fits the bill.

Easy to make, you can serve a large group with this recipe.

Add a green salad and some toasted bread on the side and you’ve got a great meal.

Ingredients

Ingredients

Take about two pounds of stew meat and trim off most of the fat, cutting it into bite-sized pieces.

Take about two pounds of stew meat and trim off most of the fat, cutting it into bite-sized pieces.

Season with an all-purpose seasoning and salt.

Season with an all-purpose seasoning and salt.

Cover with foil and bake in a 350 degree oven for 2 1/2 hours.

Cover with foil and bake in a 350 degree oven for 2 1/2 hours.

Doesn't that look yummy? Don't you want to just snitch a piece?

Doesn’t that look yummy? Don’t you want to just snitch a piece?

When the meat is almost done, add water and broth to your stock pot.

When the meat is almost done, add water and broth to your stock pot.

Add the remaining ingredients and cover then cook on medium-high heat until it reaches a nice roiling boil.

Add the remaining ingredients and cover then cook on medium-high heat until it reaches a nice roiling boil.

Add meat, cover and let simmer on medium heat for about 15 minutes.

Add meat, cover and let simmer on medium heat for about 15 minutes.

Enjoy!

Enjoy!

Beef Barley Soup

2 pounds of stew meat, cut into bite-sized chunks

1 cup celery, cut into small pieces

1 cup frozen corn

1 cup frozen peas and carrots

4 cups chicken broth

8 cups water

1 cup Quick Barley

1 tbsp. parsley flakes

1 tbsp. all-seasoning

2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. onion flakes (or add real onion pieces if you like)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Using a nine-inch cast iron skillet, give it a light coat of non-stick cooking spray. Place stew meat in the pan, add 2 tsp. all-seasoning and 1 tsp. salt. Cover with foil and bake 2 1/2 hours.

Just before the meat is done, put eight cups of water on to boil in a large heavy-bottomed saucepan or stock pot. (I used an 8-quart pot).

Add the chicken broth, salt, vegetables, barley, remaining seasoning, and parsley flakes (I happened to find some left-over potatoes in the fridge and tossed them in, too!) Cover and bring this to a boil.

Once it gets rolling, add the meat. Make sure you scrape all the delicious beefy goodness from the bottom of the pan into the soup. Cover and turn heat down to medium, letting this simmer for about 15 minutes, until veggies are cooked through.

Serve and enjoy!

She Who Loves a Warm Bowl of Soup on a Cold Day

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Hash Brown Casserole

Posted in Captain Cavedweller, Comfort Food, Quick and Easy, Recipes, Sides, tagged , , , , on November 21, 2014| Leave a Comment »

Hash Brown Casserole PlatedOur weather has been incredibly and ridiculously cold the past week or so (although it seems like months!).

The bone-chilling temperatures just make me crave comfort-type food. Something warm and filling.

The other day, in a panic to come up with something edible for dinner before Captain Cavedweller arrived home, tired and hungry, I whipped up a hash brown casserole. Super easy, it proved to be quite tasty.

Simple ingredients

Simple ingredients

Start by giving your baking dish a good coating of non-stick spray.

Start by giving your baking dish a good coating of non-stick spray.

Melt the butter and crush, crumble or pulverize the crackers into the bowl.

Melt the butter and crush, crumble or pulverize the crackers into the bowl.

Stir together until cracker crumbs are well coated.

Stir together until cracker crumbs (in my case, chunks… did I mention I was in a hurry?) are well coated.

Mix together the rest of the ingredients.

Mix together the rest of the ingredients.

Then scoop into your baking pan. If you love cheese, go ahead and sprinkle some on top.

Then scoop into your baking pan. If you love cheese, go ahead and sprinkle some on top.

Finish it off with your cracker crumbs and bake in a 350 oven for an hour.

Finish it off with your cracker crumbs and bake in a 350 oven for an hour.

When it's done, you'll have a crispy ,crunchy golden cracker crust on top of a gooey layer of cheese.

When it’s done, you’ll have a crispy ,crunchy golden cracker crust on top of a gooey layer of cheese.

Hash Brown Casserole

2 lbs frozen shredded hash browns

1 can of cream of mushroom soup

1 cup of sour cream

2 cups shredded cheddar (or colby-jack cheese) grated

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. all-purpose seasoning (like Mrs. Dash)

1 tsp. parsley

1 sleeve of Saltine crackers, crushed

1/2 cup butter, melted

Preheat oven to 350°F and spray an 11 x 14 baking dish with cooking spray.

Melt butter then crumbled crackers into it, stirring until well coated. Set aside.

Mix the remaining  ingredients together, place in prepared pan, and top with 1/2 cup additional cheese, if desired. Top with the cracker crumbs and bake for an hour.

Remove and indulge in the deliciousness!

She Who Should Not Make This Again, but It Was So Yummy

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Not Your Granny’s Meatloaf

Posted in Captain Cavedweller, Comfort Food, Main Dish, Recipes, tagged , , , on April 11, 2014| Leave a Comment »

Meatloaf plated

Captain Cavedweller isn’t a meatloaf fan and I’m allergic to processed tomatoes, so we’ve avoided meatloaf at our house.

The other day I got inspired to see if I could either find or create a recipe that didn’t use ketchup or any kind of canned tomatoes. Boy, did that turn out to be a tasty decision. Finding a few recipes online, I combined elements of what I liked and came up with a meatloaf recipe that is nothing like the one Granny used to make, but delicious all the same!

Ingredients

Ingredients

Start by slicing and dicing your celery into small, thin pieces.

Start by slicing and dicing your celery into small, thin pieces.

Heat olive oil in a skillet on medium heat and add celery and onion flakes. If you want to use fresh onion and add garlic, you can certainly do that, too. Cook until celery is soft then let cool.

Heat olive oil in a skillet on medium heat and add celery and onion flakes. If you want to use fresh onion and add garlic, you can certainly do that, too. Cook until celery is soft then let cool.

Add celery mixture to remaining ingredients and mix thoroughly.

Add celery mixture to remaining ingredients and mix thoroughly.

 

Form mixture into a loaf on a rimmed baking sheet. I lined mine with foil because I'm lazy and don't like scraping goo off the pan. The loaf should be about twelve inches long, four to five inches wide and at least an inch and a half to two inches deep.

Form mixture into a loaf on a rimmed baking sheet. I lined mine with foil because I’m lazy and don’t like scraping goo off the pan. The loaf should be about twelve inches long, four to five inches wide and at least an inch and a half to two inches deep.

 

While the meatloaf is baking, pour two cups of chicken broth into a pan with butter. You can add a spoon of crushed garlic if you want, which we didn't. This is going to cook for about twenty minutes, until it starts to thicken (although it will still be thin, not like gravy).

While the meatloaf is baking, pour two cups of chicken broth into a pan with butter. You can add a spoon of crushed garlic if you want, which we didn’t. This is going to cook for about twenty minutes, until it starts to thicken (although it will still be thin, not like gravy).

 

Bake the meatloaf until nice and brown - about an hour.

Bake the meatloaf until nice and brown – about an hour.

 

Slice and serve with the "gravy" drizzled over the top.

Slice and serve with the “gravy” drizzled over the top.

 

Not Your Granny’s Meatloaf

2 pounds of ground beef

3 eggs

2/3 cup milk

1 tbsp. parsley

1 1/2 cups Panko crumbs

1 tsp. seasoning

dash of salt

1 tbsp. olive oil

1/3 cup of thinly sliced and diced celery

1 tsp. onion flakes (or you can add fresh onion)

2 cups chicken broth

3 tbsp. butter

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Thinly slice and dice celery. Heat olive oil in a small skillet on medium heat and add celery and onion (you can also add a little garlic if you want). Cook until celery is softened. Remove from heat and let cool.

Mix celery with remaining ingredients until thoroughly blended.

Line a rimmed baking pan with foil (if you’re lazy like me) and give it a shot of non-stick spray. Form a loaf in the pan that is about 12 inches long by 4-5 inches wide by 1 1/2-2 inches deep.

Bake for an hour, until outside is a nice, deep brown.

About twenty-five minutes before the meatloaf is finished baking, pour 2 cups of chicken broth into a heavy skillet with the butter. You can add a spoon of crushed garlic if you want or a spoon of seasoning.

Bring to a boil then simmer for about twenty minutes, until it starts to thicken. It will not get thick like gravy, but will be thicker than broth.

When the meatloaf is finished, slice and drizzle with the gravy and enjoy the delicious, yummy treat!

She Who Will Be Making This Again

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Fried Taters

Posted in Comfort Food, Recipes, tagged , , on September 6, 2013| 2 Comments »

fried potatoes

Growing up, on the rare occasions when all the men were gone and my brother’s kids weren’t at our house, my mom would make a meal that never failed to taste wonderful, despite its simplicity.

She’d start with left-over boiled potatoes. Since we ate potatoes at least once a day, there were always left-over potatoes at our house. Always.

More often than not, they were potatoes we’d grown. In the summer and early fall, those potatoes packed such a delicious flavor.

Starting with a big ol’ glob of butter, she’d warm it in a cast iron skillet then thinly slice the potatoes into the pan. Sometimes she’d add onion slices and salt and pepper. Other times I’d catch her before she added the onions and beg and plead for her to leave them out since I disliked them as much as broccoli.

While the potatoes pan-fried to a lovely shade of crispy golden brown, she’d cut big, juicy, ripe tomatoes (still warm from the summer sun) into slices and sprinkle them with just a pinch of salt.

To finish off the meal, she’d cut slices of cheddar cheese that had just enough tang to be the perfect side to the potatoes and tomatoes.

Mom, my sister, and I would eat this simple meal and enjoy every bite. I’m not sure if it was the meal, the fact the house was quiet, there weren’t a bunch of dishes to wash after the meal, or that we could savor every delicious forkful that made it so wonderful.

Whatever the reason, it was always one of my favorite “harvest” meals.

If you’ve never made pan-fried potatoes, here are some tips. Better Homes and Gardens offers three ways to fry your potatoes – pan fry, oven fry, or pan fry pre-cooked potatoes.

She Who Needs to Fry a Potato

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