One Pot Goulash

I love dishes that can be prepared in one pot. This one comes together really easily and tastes great!

Easy One Pot Goulash

One Pot Goulash

500 g ground beef, pork, or chicken

1 medium onion, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 cups water

1 can tomato puree (standard can--not the big one)

1 can tomatoes*

1 Tablespoon soy sauce

1 Tablespoon dried oregano

1 teaspoon dried basil

1 bay leaf

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

250g uncooked pasta (macaroni or spirals)

1 cup cheese, shredded

In a large pot, brown meat over medium heat, breaking it into small pieces. Stir in onions and garlic and cook until translucent. Add water, tomato puree, tomatoes, soy sauce, oregano, basil, bay leaf, salt and pepper. Stir together just to mix. Bring up to a boil. Turn heat to low, cover with lid, and cook 20 minutes**, stirring occasionally to prevent burning on the bottom. Add in pasta, cover, and cook on low until pasta is soft. Remove from heat, throw away the bay leaf, sprinkle with cheese, and stir everything together.

Notes:

* With canned tomatoes, I just stick scissors into the can to quickly chop them a bit smaller, nothing fancy. Cans with large tomatoes are the easiest to find and cheapest so this is an easy workaround. 

** If you are in a hurry, you can just dump your pasta in here and cook for 25 minutes. The only difference in the final dish is the richness of the sauce. If you have really hungry people, just fast track it!

Beef-a-Roni

Pinterest…that brilliant mixture of feeling like a failure and feeling inspired. Despite my love/hate relationship with it, I do often find amazing recipes through Pinterest, and I’m grateful for having that tool at my fingertips. This Beef-a-Roni from Mostly Homemade Mom is one of my lucky finds. Now, if you’re not American, you might be saying “What on earth is Beef-a-Roni?” Yeah…exactly. What is Beef-a-Roni? Really, it’s just a pasta bolognese with cheese on top. This recipe made enough for my family with 2 younger kiddos to have one 9x9 pan for dinner and save one for later.

Beef-a-Roni

1 lb./16 oz shell pasta or elbow macaroni, cooked and drained

500g ground beef/buff

2 cans tomato puree (or 1 large can)

1 Tablespoon oil

1 onion, diced

1 teaspoon basil

1 teaspoon thyme

1 teaspoon oregano

½ teaspoon salt, to taste

1 teaspoon sugar

2 cups shredded cheese

Sauté onion in oil until translucent. Add the ground beef to the pan over medium heat and sauté until meat is browned. To the ground beef and onions, add all the remaining ingredients except the pasta and cheese. Simmer covered for 10 minutes over medium-low heat. Taste and adjust sauce seasonings accordingly. Remove from heat and toss the cooked pasta into the sauce. In a baking dish, layer half of the pasta mixture with half of the cheese. Repeat. Bake in a 170C/350F oven for 20 minutes or until the cheese is bubbly and golden.

If you’re wanting to save some for later, split the pasta/cheese between two pans and freeze one before baking. When you’re ready to use it, let it thaw and then bake according to recipe instructions. Pat yourself on the back for preparing something for your future self, just when you needed a quick meal.

French Dip Subs

Only one meat dish in the past 12 posts! Can you see that I prefer the vegetarian diet? I think it's time for one though. I will apologize in advance for my hastily snapped photo. This is because I have made these twice and gobbled my food so quickly I forgot to take a picture. This time, mid-scarfing, I snapped a photo of my husband's plate. These are so good I have literally come home so excited to make dinner both times! The recipe is from a 2004 Country Woman magazine...is that really a real magazine?!

French Dip Subs
2 Tablespoons oil
1 large onion, sliced thinly
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon oregano
1/2 teaspoon rosemary
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
500g tenderloin steaks or chuck roast, sliced thinly
1 1/2 cups water
1/2 chicken bouillon cube (or 1 1/2 cups stock)
Hoagie rolls, toasted

Begin by slicing the beef thinly. Partially frozen meat tends to slice thinly the easiest because it doesn't move around. Heat the oil in the bottom of an open pressure cooker over medium heat. Add the onions, sauteing until golden brown. Toss in the garlic and cook about 30 seconds until fragrant. Next, add the dried herbs, salt, and pepper, crushing them slightly in your hand. Add the sliced beef and brown in the bottom of the hot pressure cooker. Once browned, pour in the liquid and chicken bouillon. Stir, then clamp on the lid of the pressure cooker. Cook over high heat until it reaches pressure (first "whistle), turn the heat down to medium, and cook for about 30 minutes or 20 minutes more if you have a thick or tough cut of meet. Turn off the heat and allow the pressure to release naturally. Serve on toasted hoagie rolls with toppings of choice. Scoop the liquid from the pressure cooker into little dipping bowls to dip the subs as you eat.

Cheeseburger Casserole

Don't hate me for indulging a little in my childish side. I was just thinking about different ways to use ground beef and thought, "How about a cheeseburger in a pan?" Neither of my kids is crazy about cheese, and they both ate a lot of this if that is any indication. What would win you the "Best Parent Ever" award is if you could figure out how to put crispy french fries on top! I'm pretty sure your kids would do whatever you asked (for at least an hour) after that. This recipe has lots of inspiration, from Paula Deen to her son Bobby, who tried to cut some of the fat, to Gina at Skinny Taste who made further adjustments. Then, I added some more. The pickles are a bit of a splurge, but they take it from "tomatoey pasta" to "Oh yeah. I'm getting the cheeseburger taste."

Cheeseburger Casserole
2 cups uncooked pasta (rotini or farfalle)
2 teaspoons oil
2 medium-sized onions, finely diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
500g ground beef or buff
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon fresh black pepper
2 Tablespoons tomato paste
1 can whole tomatoes, crushed by hand
3 Tablespoons mustard
2 cups grated cheese
1/4 cup chopped dill pickles

Cook pasta to al dente, according to package directions. While you're straining the pasta, use the same pot to heat the oil. Cook the onions on medium heat for about 5 minutes until they are soft. Add the garlic and cook 1 minute until fragrant, stirring often. Add the ground beef, Worcestershire sauce, salt, and pepper. Saute until the meat is browned and liquid has evaporated. Drain off any fat (usually not necessary here) and add the tomato paste, tomatoes, and mustard. Cook for about 2 minutes just until the sauce thickens a bit. Turn off the heat. Add the noodles to the meat mixture and stir to combine. Pour the mixture into a greased 9x13 casserole or deep dish pie plate. Top with grated cheese. To make it extra "cheeseburgery," add a few cheese slices to the top, too. Bake at 170C/350F until the cheese is melted and bubbly. Allow to rest a few minutes before sprinkling the pickles on top and serving.

Note: If you hate having to save leftover tomato paste, look for the little tiny cans available here. They are about 2 Tablespoons' worth and perfect for this.

Lip Smackin' Ribs

Now I know this is not an everyday meal for most of us, but when you want to do something special for your family or guests, it’s an easy knock-your-socks-off main dish. So few ingredients to produce something incredibly delicious and tender! I had been planning on experimenting with my rice cooker as a slow cooker for making ribs, but an extended nap in the afternoon left me with less than 2 hours for braising. Most recipes I came across suggested a minimum braise of at least 2 hours so that was out of the question. Out came my pressure cooker to the rescue, and in an hour I had mouthwatering, fall-off-the-bone-tender ribs. You’ve seriously got to try this! I bought my ribs from a cold storage meat supplier, but they are the local ones—not the crazy expensive imported ones. I would imagine you could just point to your own ribs at a local butcher and get the same thing, too. It might just require some trimming of skin and excess fat at home—from the pork, that is, not you. 

Barbecue Pork Ribs 
1 slab pork ribs, cut into smaller sections of 2-3 ribs

2 Tablespoons oil

¾ cup brown sugar

2/3 cup barbecue sauce (homemade or bottled)

1 ½ cups liquid (broth, red wine, beer, etc.)

Salt and Pepper

Once you cut the ribs apart, lightly cut an X into the back of them to keep them from curling during cooking. Heat the pressure cooker over medium heat and add the oil. You’ll need to vent your kitchen as this next part may get a little smoky. Sprinkle the ribs with a small amount of the brown sugar and season liberally with salt and pepper on one side. Lay the ribs sugar side down (do two batches) into the pan, allowing them to get some brown searing. Seasoning the other side while they are in the pan. When the ribs lift easily from the bottom, flip them and sear the other side. Remove from pan and sear the second batch. Once you’ve removed all the browned ribs, add your liquid to the bottom of the pan. As it heats, scrape the browned bits off the bottom to flavor the sauce. I used ½ cup red wine for this deglazing and 1 cup chicken stock. Add all the remaining brown sugar, barbecue sauce, and liquid. Keep on medium heat, stirring until the brown sugar has dissolved. Add the ribs to the pan, and clamp on the pressure cooker lid. Bring the cooker up to pressure on high heat, and after the first “whistle” or reaching of pressure, reduce the heat to low. That’s it! Wait 1 hour with it on low, release the pressure, and enjoy. The sauce will thicken some on standing. Serve with something that can soak up all that delicious sauce like roasted or mashed potatoes, rice, or bread.