Recipe: Beef Carbonade

Beef chuck steak is on sale at HEB this week. This is a good cut of meat to use when making Beef Carbonade - this week’s “Bargain Meal of the Week” in affiliation with $5 Dinners.

2 slices bacon
1 1/2 lb beef chuck steak, cut into small pieces
1 Tbsp butter
1 cup onions, chopped
1/2 cup beef broth
1 cup beer
1 Tbsp red wine vinegar
1 Tbsp fresh parsley, chopped
1/2 tsp brown sugar
1/4 tsp thyme
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 bay leaf
2 Tbsp flour

Preheat oven to 325.

Cook bacon, remove from skillet (reserve), and use the bacon grease to brown your beef chuck steak. Remove beef from skillet. Add butter to the skillet and saute the onions until tender. Add half the beef broth and all of the remaining ingredients other than the flour. Cook for 2 minutes. Mix the beef into the skillet mixture and pour into a baking dish and bake for 75 minutes.

Mix the flour and the remaining beef broth. Mix into the casserole and bake for an additional 15 minutes.

Serve over egg noodles and top with crumbled bacon.

Recipe: Italian Chicken

Split Chicken Breasts are on sale at HEB starting tomorrow (August 19) for $1/lb!  If you don’t know how to turn split chicken breasts into boneless skinless chicken breasts, visit $5 Dinner’s awesome tutorial here.  This can really save you some money.

One of my absolute favorite crockpot recipes is Italian Chicken.  2 ingredients!

Ingredients

Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts
Bottle of Zesty Italian Dressing

Directions

1. Place chicken in crockpot.
2. Pour bottle of Italian dressing over chicken.
3. Cook on low all day.

Soooo easy!  I have a big crockpot so I usually fill my empty bottle of dressing with water and add it to the crockpot just to increase my amount of liquid.  My chicken always comes out packed with flavor so don’t be scared to add some water to your crockpot if you feel you don’t have enough liquid.

I always cook enough chicken for leftovers.  The following night I shred my chicken and fill a tortilla with chicken, lettuce, cheese, and ranch dressing for “Italian Chicken Wraps”.  One of my hubby’s favorite meals!

Posted as part of $5 Dinner’s Bargain Meal of the Week.

Slow Cooked BBQ Ribs

Here’s an easy and delicious recipe that I love to make. It takes about 5 minutes to throw together. The most labor is cutting up the onion, but you could use prepackaged frozen onion, or if you’re like me you freeze your own.

Posted as part of $5 Dinner’s Bargain Meal of the Week.

Ingredients:

4-5 lbs. Country Style Pork Ribs
1 bottle of your favorite barbecue sauce (14 oz.)
1 medium size onion chopped
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp. Liquid Smoke
1 tbs. Worcestershire sauce
1/2 tsp. garlic powder

Preparation:

Place meat in your slow cooker
Mix all other ingredients and pour mixture over meat.
Cook for 9 to 10 hours on low.

This makes a really great dish for those who are new to using a slow cooker because it is simple and easy. I served mine with canned Ranch Style beans, homemade potato salad (but you could buy some already made), and corn bread muffins.

Cook once and eat twice by shredding the leftover meat. You can store it in the freezer or in the fridge if you’re having it in a few days. Next week I’ll buy some fresh hamburger buns, defrost my shredded pork and add a little more BBQ sauce. Serve this with some chips and pickled okra. Mmmm….

Recipe: Breakfast Quesadillas

Tuesday nights are “Breakfast for Dinner” nights at our house. Breakfast sausage goes on sale tomorrow (August 5) at HEB for the excellent price of $1.67/lb. I will take advantage of this sale and make breakfast quesadillas next week. This is how I make breakfast quesadillas at our house:

Ingredients

1 lb. bulk pork sausage
6 eggs
2 Tbsp half and half
2 Tbsp sour cream
1 package taco seasoning
1 Tbsp butter
1 can Rotel tomatoes
1 cup shredded cheese
8 flour tortillas

Directions

1. Brown sausage and drain.
2. Beat eggs, sour cream, half and half, and taco seasoning.
3. Melt butter in skillet. Add egg mixture and cook over medium heat for a couple minutes.
4. Stir in sausage and Rotel tomatoes.
5. Cook a couple more minutes until eggs are done.
6. Place a tortilla down, top with egg mixture, sprinkle with cheese, and top with another tortilla.
7. Cook for a minute in the skillet until both sides are brown and crispy.

Top your quesadillas with salsa and sour cream, if desired!

Print our Breakfast Quesadillas recipe card.

Recipe: Pepperoncini Beef Roast

This is one of my family’s favorite recipes for beef roast.  I adapted this recipe from the awesome Taste of Home Cookbook, and it’s always a huge hit.

Ingredients

1 jar pepperoncini peppers
1 boneless beef roast (3 or 4 pounds)
1/4 cup water
1 3/4 tsp dried basil
1 1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 1/2 tsp dried oregano
1 1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 large onion

Directions

1. Drain pepperoncinis - reserve the liquid.  Pull the stems off the pepperoncinis - set pepperoncinis aside.

2. Cut roast into large chunks.  Place half the chunks in crockpot and add water.

3. Combine seasonings in a small bowl and sprinkle half the seasoning over the roast in crockpot.

4. Quarter your onion and top the meat & seasonings with the onion slices.

5. Top the onion with the pepperoncini peppers.

6. Pour the pepperoncini pepper liquid over the roast, onion, and peppers.

7. Top with remaining half of roast meat.  Sprinkle with the remaining half of the seasonings.

8. Cover and cook on low for 8 hours.

This roast is fantastic shredded and eaten on hoagie rolls.  Don’t forget to top the meat with the slow cooked pepperoncinis!

Print out our Pepperoncini Beef Roast recipe card.

Find more family recipes at Vanderbilt Wife’s Friday’s Family Recipes.