Hamburger Whoopy

When I was nine or ten I wrote down my first recipe in Gram's cookbook. I called it Hamburger Whoopy. It was very simple. I browned hamburger, added cream of mushroom soup, a little milk, mixed it together, and served it over mashed potatoes.

My other Granny used to make Beef Stroganoff, and pour it over potatoes and noodles. So this was my young version.

Today it's a little more sophisticated, adding onion and garlic, steak. Sauce and Worcestershire sauce.
1 Lb ground beef
1/2 med onion
1 4 oz can of sliced mushrooms
1 Tbl garlic powder
1 Tbl steak sauce
1 Tbl Worcestershire
1 Tbl vinegar
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1/2 cup light sour cream

Brown the ground beef. Add salt and pepper, garlic powder, steak sauce, soup, mushrooms - including the juice, and Worcestershire. Let simmer while the noodles boil.

Fill a 2 quart sauce pan about 2/3 full of water, and bring to a boil. Add salt and 3 cups of noodles. I like rotini or egg noodles. Cook 8 minutes.

When the noodles are cooked, drain the water. Add the sour cream to the meat and mushrooms. Fold in well.
Serve over the hot noodles. Enjoy.

Easy Mac and Cheese

Ingredients:

1 box of Mac and Cheese, made according to package
1 pound ground beef
1 can peas
1 can diced tomatoes
3 Tbls. Sour Cream
3 Tbls Parmesan cheese
salt
pepper
garlic powder.

Directions:

Brown ground beef, breaking it up as it cooks, add salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Prepare the mac and cheese according to package directions.
Add to the tomatoes and peas to the ground beef. Be sure to drain the peas first. turn heat to simmer. You don't want the tomatoes or peas to turn to mush.
Gently fold in the mac and cheese to the hamburger mixture.
Top with sour cream and Parmesan, and serve.

My Nemesis.

Let's face it.


We all have one. That one thing we can’t cook, bake, grill… etc

Mine is fried food. Basically, anything you have to batter and deep fry- chicken, country fried steak... . I can never get the coating to stick to the meat. Often it will stick to the pan, or just flake off completely.

Last night, we did something different for Easter diner, green beans with walnuts and bacon, baked potatoes and chicken fried steak. Beans were good potato was good,  gravy was perfect. And as always the coating came off the meat.

I have tried different batters, different pans, and different oils. I even tried different cooking temps, and times. Coating sticks to the pan or, coating burns. Well humph.

I'd like to just give up. After all fried foods aren't really that healthy, but just once I'd like to get it right. Maybe it go get one of Paula Deens' cookbooks.
 
Granny could make fried chicken that could make you weep. the crust was golden brown, and there was almost a custard layer just underneath.  Well humph, maybe it's just practice. f i had ever paid attention, i could do it.

She had a special aluminium skillet with a heavy bottom. and she'd cover it for a while, I think that's how she got the custard like layer.


Well, OK, OK, I went to the web. great fount of knowledge and home to my favorite blogs...  Paula, Ree, Lisa... hm... I am using similar ingredients, using the same a similar batter....  Ah, maybe, maybe it is the double dip. I'll try that. Next time.
 
 
OK, Kim's no so world famous Country Fried Steak.
 
makes 2 servings
 2 pieces of cube steak.
1/2 cup flour
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
garlic powder
salt
pepper
steak seasoning
 
Pat dry the steaks. in a shallow dish, mix the milk and egg. In another dish mix the salt, steak seasoning, garlic powder, and flour. Gently mix.
 
Dip the steak in the flour, then the milk,  then repeat....
in the mean time heat vegetable oil in a heavy bottomed skillet.  Make sure it is hot, but not burning.
Add the steak on at a time.
 
Fry 5 or 6 minutes depending on thickness of the meat. Gently turn over. You don't want to splatter the oil or tear up the meat.
 
Cook on the other side another 5 minutes.
 
Remove from heat, allow to to drain. If your not serving right away, put in a 200 degree oven to keep warm.