easy one pot beef stew

I was looking for a recipe for braised beef and came across one. But it says it will take 2 hours in the oven, or 4-6 hours in a slow cooker. It was already 4:30pm and I only had an hour to make dinner. So I put everything in the pot and made it over the stove. It turned out really yummy and it only took 45-50 minutes! If I ever make the 2-hour oven braised beef, I will post it on the blog. For today, here's what I did (the picture doesn't look too appetizing... need to work on photo taking skill. haha)

Ingredients: 

Beef - 2 cups (cut in 1-inch chunks)
Water- 1/2 cup
Stock - 1/2 cup + more to add later one (if you have about 2 cups, it should be enough)
Red wine - 1/4 cup (optional)
Soy sauce - 4 TBS
Apple cider vinegar - 4 TBS
Salt - 1/2 tsp
Pepper - 1/2 tsp
Brown sugar - 1/2 TBS

Carrots - 3 medium (chopped into 1 inch)
Onion - 1 small (chopped)
Potatoes - 3 small (chopped)

Prep:

1. Cut all veggies & beef into chunks
2. Cook rice

Cook:

1. Put all the ingredients (veggies first then place beef on top) in a 5-qrt or bigger pot. Cover and bring it to boil on med high. Reduce heat to low. 
2. Check and stir occasionally. Add stock if it's getting dry. Simmer on low for 40-45 minutes.
3. Adjust taste if needed.

Serve:

1. Serve with rice.

roasted tomato soup

This tomato soup turned out really yummy and flavorful. It goes perfectly with grilled cheese sandwich (my craving these days) or with toasted bread sticks or sour dough. Fresh basil leaves  definitely give deeper flavor than the dried ones. 

Ingredients: 

Tomatoes - 12 regular or 15 Roma tomatoes (5 lbs)
Garlic - 8-10 cloves (minced)
Olive oil - 1/4 cup

Onion - 1 large
Chicken stock - 2 cups
Water - 1/2 cup
Paprika - 1 tsp
Salt - 1 tsp
Pepper - 1 tsp
Crushed red pepper flakes - 1/2 tsp

Heavy whipping cream - 1/2 cup
Fresh basil - few leaves (chopped) 

Prep:

1. Cut tomatoes in half (or quarter if using bigger tomatoes). Take out the seeds. 
2. Mince garlic. Combine with 1/4 cup of olive oil.
3. Cut onion into cubes.
4. Preheat the oven to 400F.

Cook:

1. Toss tomatoes in garlic/oil. Put it a baking dish big enough (should be single layer, but you can use 13 by 9 pan).
2. Bake at 400 F for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Set it aside. **see TIPS
3. In a pot (larger than 5 quart), heat 1 TBS of oil. Fry chopped onion until tender (about 3-4 minutes). 
4. Add tomatoes, chicken stock, water, and all the seasonings. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 30 minutes. Cool slightly.
5. In a blender, process/puree soup until smooth. Pour back into the pot.
6. Add 1/2 cup of heavy cream and make sure to heat through (put on low for 5-7 minutes).

Serve:

1. Garnish soup with fresh basil and sprinkle of paprika.
2. Serve with fresh bread sticks or grilled cheese sandwich. 

TIPS

• If you prefer a smoother soup texture or if you don't have super powerful blender, peel off the skin from the tomatoes after roasting. Take out from the oven, cool slightly and peel off. 

Meatloaf

Apologize for blurry picture

If you imagine meatloaf to be dry and bland, then you should try give this recipe a try! All you do is mix and put in the oven. I've researched several top rated meatloaf recipes and took out what sounded good to me and combined them into one. I was a bit worried about how it'll come out, but it was a success! 

Ingredients: 

Ground beef - 1 lbs 12 oz
Brown sugar - 2 TBS
Ketchup - 1/2 cup
Eggs - 2 (beaten)
Dry onion soup mix - 3/4 packet
Black pepper - 1/2 tsp
Shredded cheese - 1/3 cup
Buttery round crackers (like Ritz) - 1 cup
Worcestershire sauce - 1/2 TBS **see TIPS

[Glaze]
Ketchup - 1/2 cup
Worcestershire sauce - 1 TBS
Yellow mustard (powder) - 1 TBS
Brown sugar - 1/4 cup

Prep:

1. In a Ziplock bag, crush butter crackers. 
2. Prepare 5 by 9 (or 10) loaf pan. Line with double aluminum foil (or single layer of baking aluminum foil) 
3. Mix glaze ingredients together and set it aside

Glaze

Cook:

1. Preheat oven to 350 F.
2. In a big bowl, mix all ingredients together. Use your hands (important! make sure it's clean, though. haha) and mix in all together. The consistency should be somewhat wet - it's hard to make a meatball out of it, but solid enough to be pressed down into the pan. 
3. Bake in preheated oven for 40 minutes. 
4. Take it out and put the glaze. Return to the oven for another 15 minutes. Take it out and let it cool for 5-10 minutes before serving. 

 Serve:

1. It goes well with mashed potatoes, grilled veggies, salad and/or dinner rolls. 
2. Some people eat meatloaf as a sandwich - maybe give it a try with the leftovers? 

TIPS

• Instead of Worcestershire sauce, you can use BBQ sauce or Steak sauce. 

hidden valley ranch fried chicken

I was looking through my pantry today and found a packet of Hidden Valley Ranch dressing mix. I thought, "hmm... I wonder if I can make fried chicken out of this thing." So I went to the Hidden Valley official website and found this recipe! It turned out good, but I think it'll go much better with chicken with skin more than boneless, skinless chicken breast. But the taste was great! 

Ingredients: 

Whole Chicken (3 pounds) or 4 chicken breasts - cut into 8 pieces (rinsed and patted dry)
Hidden Valley Original Ranch Salad Dressing - 2 cups
Ground black pepper - 1/2 tsp
All-purpose flour - 3/4 cup
Salt - 1 tsp

Vegetable oil for frying

Prep: 

1. If you are using a whole chicken, cut into 8 pieces, wash and pat dry. If you are using chicken breasts, you can cut into thinner slices (cut in half) or into bite size pieces.
2. Prepare Hidden Valley original ranch dressing if you are making from a packet. 
3. In a shallow pan or in Ziplock bag, marinade chicken pieces with ranch dressing. Let is sit for at least an hour. 

Cook:

1. Remove chicken from the dish. Shake off any excess marinade. Discard any leftover marinade. On a large plate, mix flour, salt and pepper. Roll each piece of chicken in the seasoned flour.
2. In a pot or skillet, heat 1 inch deep vegetable oil. When it's ready (sprinkle some flour in the oil and when it bubbles and floats, it's ready), fry for 4 minutes on one side and 4 minutes on the other - or until golden brown.

Serve: 

1. Grilled veggies go perfectly with the fried chicken. 

Lions Tap - "Famous Hamburger"

Happy National Cheeseburger Day, everyone! I have to say, Lions Tap hamburger is REALLY good. If you are in Minnesota, for whatever reason, you're in for a treat! The burgers are just perfect. The seasoning is so yummy and they cook it medium, and all you taste is the juicy goodness of the meat. Yup. I love it and I want to go there again (even though we just went on Saturday - yes, it's that good).

Highly recommended:

• Root beer 
• Fries
• Cheeseburger with grilled onion

hearty slow-cooker beef stew

This is my mother-in-law's recipe. It's from a slow-cooker premix, but my mom-in-law  made it taste much better. All her sons know how to cook this dish. It saves you time since all you need to do is put everything in the slow-cooker. It's definitely mommy-friendly (or college student-friendly) dish. Thanks, mom for sharing your recipe!

Ingredients: 

Beef (your type of cut) - 1.5 lbs (cut in 2 inch cube)
McCornick beef stew seasoning mix - 1 pkt
Cornflour - 1 TBS
Salt - 1/2 tsp
Cooking oil - 2 TBS
Water - 3 cups

Button mushroom - 1 small can
Carrots - 2 med (cubed)
Celery - 3 stalks (wedges)
Potatoes - 4 med (wedges)
Tomato -1 big (wedges)
Onion - 1 big (wedges)

Get few of these and keep them in the pantry.

Prep:

1. Marinate beef cubes with light soya sauce (2 tsp), pepper and cornflour (1 TBS) for about half hour.

Cook:

1. Heat oil up and stir fry onions lightly.
2. Put in the beef cubes and fry until all sides are brown but not completely cooked.
3. Add in the seasoning mix and water. When water is boiling, reduce heat, cover and simmer for 10 minutes.
4. Add carrots, celery, potatoes, tomato and button mushrooms. Allow it to cook for 5 minutes.
5. Add salt and thicken the gravy with cornflour (1/2 TBS).
6. Pour the stew into a slow cooker. Turn to 'low' and cook for 5-6 hours. (**see TIPS)

You can put veggies directly in the pot, too.

I only browned the meat in a frying pan

Liquid should come no more than half of the ingredients

Serve:

1. Serve with rice and salad, or with toasted garlic french bread toasts.

TIPS

• If you are running short on time, no worries! Just put on high for 3-4 hours.
• You can also put veggies directly into the slow-cooker and just brown the meat in the frying pan
  

strawberry jello salad

It tastes better than it looks (I promise)!

When we were students in Utah, we tried all sorts of jello salads & desserts. Some were really good (like this recipe we got from our Utah family) and some were... let's say, 'interesting.' This jello is more like a dessert, but I don't mind having it as a salad, too! Our very good friends in Utah made this for Thanksgiving dinner one time and ever since then, we make it every Thanksgiving & Christmas (and other special occasions).

Ingredients:

Mini Pretzels - 2 and 1/2 cups (crushed)
Butter - 3/4 cup
Sugar - 2 TBS

Cool whip - 1 small tub (8 oz) **see TIPS
Cream cheese - 1 (8 oz) **see TIPS
Sugar - 2/3 cup

Strawberry or Raspberry Jello - 1 box (6 oz)
Hot water - 2 cups
Strawberries - 2 cups (sliced)
Crushed pineapple - 1 can small

Prep:

1. Put pretzels in a Ziplock bag. Use rolling pin and crush them. 
2. Take Cool Whip and cream cheese out of the fridge/freezer and let it soften.
3. Slice strawberries. 
4. Open pineapple can, but do NOT drain. 

Crush pretzel with rolling pin

Cubed butter will melt evenly

Cook:

1. Preheat oven to 400 F.
2. In a microwavable bowl, heat butter for 45 seconds. It should be somewhat melted and soft. Mix crushed pretzels, butter and sugar. Press down on 13"x9" pan. Bake in a preheated oven for 7 minutes. Let it cool completely.
3. In a Kitchenaid or in a bowl, combine cream cheese and sugar (2/3 cup). Blend it until smooth. Add in Cool Whip and mix together. Make sure you scrape the bottom of the bowl occasionally. Cream cheese tends to stick to the bottom. Mix until smooth. 
4. Spread cream cheese mixture on the pretzel. Cover and keep it in the fridge.
5. In a separate bowl, combine jello and hot water. Let the jello powder melt. Add in crushed pineapple can and mix. Let the jello sit in the room temperature for an hour, or in the fridge for 20 minutes (let the jello sit a bit). 
6. Take out the cream cheese/pretzel, and add sliced strawberries on top of cream cheese layer. Slowly add in jello mixture on top of the strawberries. Cover and chill for at least 4 hours. 

Before going into the oven

After 7 minutes in 400 F

Let jello sit for a while

Pretzel + Cream cheese layer

Blurry picture of three layers from the side

Serve:

1. Just scoop it out and enjoy! It can get messy, see TIPS for some option.

It serves 12 good size portions

TIPS

• You can make your own whipped cream instead of Cool whip. Just add 8 oz of it. 
• You can use low fat cream cheese and whipped cream. It gives lighter cream cheese layer, and still tastes good!
• If you want a clean scoop, line your baking pan with parchment paper or aluminum foil. Let the paper or foil come out of the pan a bit so you can lift them up later. You can also use spring-form pans. You can also make individual cupcake.