Minute steaks, Brussel sprouts with onions and bacon, creamed potatoes and homemade biscuits, yes please.
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| Minute Steak, Brussel Sprouts with bacon and onion, Creamed Potatoes and Homemade Biscuits |
Dinner isn't always a work of art. Sometimes, I'm in a hurry and just need to get things done and dinner on the table. Sometimes, I forget to plan ahead. Sometimes, I have to defrost things from the freezer in the microwave (grrr) but most of the time they turn out just fine!
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| Add 2-3 Tbs. vegetable/canola oil to pan, toss in steamed sprouts, pre-cooked bacon and onions. Toss and heat. |
Let me start by saying that I love Brussel sprouts! Love them! I didn't always! I think I could find any excuse in the world not to eat them, why they didn't taste good, how they made my tummy hurt...seriously. My poor mother!
This dinner is a quick fix! Like 30 minutes flat. I had to thaw some ground chuck because I forgot to set it out, but while it was thawing, I put a bag of frozen Brussel sprouts into a pan of water and brought them to a boil. As soon as they boiled, I turned them off, and put a lid on them. I wanted them bright green but not mushy or waterlogged. However, in my rush to make sure things were cooked to perfection, I added one too many irons to my fire!
While this was going on, I baked a pan of bacon (line your baking sheets with aluminum foil, lay bacon out flat, put in a cold oven, turn on 400 for 15-18 minutes) and sautéed some onions in a saucepan with a little veggie oil. If you're in a bigger hurry than I was, just use real bacon bits!
This dinner is a quick fix! Like 30 minutes flat. I had to thaw some ground chuck because I forgot to set it out, but while it was thawing, I put a bag of frozen Brussel sprouts into a pan of water and brought them to a boil. As soon as they boiled, I turned them off, and put a lid on them. I wanted them bright green but not mushy or waterlogged. However, in my rush to make sure things were cooked to perfection, I added one too many irons to my fire!
While this was going on, I baked a pan of bacon (line your baking sheets with aluminum foil, lay bacon out flat, put in a cold oven, turn on 400 for 15-18 minutes) and sautéed some onions in a saucepan with a little veggie oil. If you're in a bigger hurry than I was, just use real bacon bits!
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| A few too many irons in the fire yielded this tasty mess. Creamed Potatoes. |
I also had a nice pan of russet potatoes on to boil in some lovely, low-sodium chicken broth. Oh, the kitchen smelled so good. While I was multi-tasking, I put together a pan of biscuits (homemade) and baked them off while the bacon was finishing. I used a 10” and 6” iron skillet, coated well with baking spray to prevent sticking. I have this trick that I use when I'm in a hurry or don't want to take all the decorations off the kitchen table. I take a baking sheet, line it with foil and use it to roll out my biscuit dough. Before you toss the foil, use it for your steaks! I sprinkled some salt, pepper, garlic powder and onion powder on the sheet, tossed it around a bit and coated my steaks in an egg wash (1 egg + 1 tablespoon water, whisked) then placed it on the flour and coated it well. I heated about 3 tablespoons of canola oil in a heavy bottomed skillet and tossed in the “steaks”. They literally don't take more than 2 minutes on each side; even less if you want them less than well done.
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| 1 lb. lean chuck, 1 egg, 1 tablespoon water, mixed with onion powder, garlic powder, salt and pepper. |
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| Get in there with your hands, shape meat mixture into four equal sized patties, toss into all-purpose flour. |
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| Coat both sides of the patty. |
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| In a preheated skillet, add 3 tablespoons canola/vegetable oil, place patties down and allow to cook 2-3 minutes on each side, depending on thickness. Flip once. Serve after having rested for a few minutes. |
Now, can you guess what happened? It all got done at the same time! I was yelling for hubby to come and take the biscuits and bacon out of the oven while I was rushing to drain the Brussels sprouts and potatoes and to prevent the steaks from burning! Wow, what a scenario! I think it was probably quite funny and I’m glad I don't have any close neighbors! So, meal saved. While the steaks were resting, I took the sautéed onion, added 1 slice of bacon, chopped to it and tossed in the drained Brussels sprouts. I gave it a good toss to coat the sprouts with the oil and yummy flavors and heated it just allowed it to permeate.
While doing this, I had meant to make mashed potatoes but I mashed the potatoes, added a little butter, salt and pepper, a little starchy broth that they'd cooked in and some sour cream, stirred it, gave it a good taste and set it on the stove to keep warm. In my rush, I forgot that I’d already put in the sour cream so I gave it another good dollop of sour cream and a dash of heavy cream and I got runny potatoes! Yuck! A little quick thinking and voila! creamed potatoes. Do you really need the recipe? Just add too much liquid to your potatoes. They were really, really tasty and really, really heavy! A little goes a long way!
So, dinner was saved, done in less than a half an hour and I made a promise to myself to not rush another meal!
NOTE: Leftovers have a way of either being really good the second time around or really terrible. This meal gets better the second time! All the flavors have time to marry and oh my, they're wonderful! Freeze? You can freeze the meat after it's cooked, but I'd forgo the sprouts and potatoes. Not tasty after being frozen and consistency is mushy!
While doing this, I had meant to make mashed potatoes but I mashed the potatoes, added a little butter, salt and pepper, a little starchy broth that they'd cooked in and some sour cream, stirred it, gave it a good taste and set it on the stove to keep warm. In my rush, I forgot that I’d already put in the sour cream so I gave it another good dollop of sour cream and a dash of heavy cream and I got runny potatoes! Yuck! A little quick thinking and voila! creamed potatoes. Do you really need the recipe? Just add too much liquid to your potatoes. They were really, really tasty and really, really heavy! A little goes a long way!
So, dinner was saved, done in less than a half an hour and I made a promise to myself to not rush another meal!
NOTE: Leftovers have a way of either being really good the second time around or really terrible. This meal gets better the second time! All the flavors have time to marry and oh my, they're wonderful! Freeze? You can freeze the meat after it's cooked, but I'd forgo the sprouts and potatoes. Not tasty after being frozen and consistency is mushy!
