Quick & Easy Salisbury Steak and Gravy

I have not thought about making nor eating Salisbury steak for a long time.  For years, it has been a food that I associated with lunchroom mystery meat. Tasteless hunks of "meat" covered in some "gravy" that was comprised of congealed lumps rather than a smooth velvety blanket. Yes, this meal was something that brought to mind slow moving lines in which grumpy women in hair nets slopped it down on your plastic tray whether you intended to eat it or not.

So I was a bit taken aback when I ran across a recipe a few months ago for it, and even more surprised that I wanted to try it. After all, it's been...a while.

After making it, I decided that Salisbury steak just might have a some redeeming qualities to it after all. That said, it was just...missing...something. Onions! It was missing a lot of onions! I love the flavor that caramelized onions impart to ground beef, and that was what I wanted in my Salisbury steak. Especially if made with a sumptuous gravy that you can picture spilling down on a mound of creamed potatoes. Comfort food at its finest! As cold as it has been here for the last month, comfort food spreading its warmth through your belly is very welcome at my house.

Start by grabbing a pound of ground beef. Add one small diced onion - but leave out 1/4 cup, 1/2 cup bread crumbs, 1 egg, 1/4 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon pepper and 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce. Preheat oven to 350ºF.

That's it. Use a wooden or metal spoon to gently mix it all together until combined. I say that because if you use your hands, the warmth from them will start to melt the fat in the meat resulting in a tough patty. So there you have it...don't handle your meat too much.
It will make you blind.
*waits for other jokes*

Gently form the meat into patties. I got six big ones from my mix, but you can make them any size you wish. Just remember to adjust your cooking time to cover whatever size you choose. Heat a nonstick skillet over medium high heat and add a couple of tablespoons of oil to it. Sear the patties for about 5 minutes each side, and place them in an oven safe dish. Try use a large enough dish so that you can place all of the patties in there in a single layer. Pour off excess oil from the skillet, and reduce heat to low. DON'T scrape out the bottom of the pan.

Unless you burned the patties, because then you kinda will need a whole new pan for this next part, and it won't be as good. Truth.

This is where the magic happens. Gravvvvvvvvvvvvvy!

First, start with tossing that 1/4 cup of leftover onions into the pan. Stir them around just until they start to get a little brown and soft. Next, add about a cup of HOT water to your pan. Make sure it's not cold water, because cold water in a hot pan can warp the bottom and make it wobble...which is a true pain in the arse if you cook on a flat top. Trust me. I've cooked on many a wobbly pan because I was a moron.

After you add the HOT water, rip open a packet of dry Lipton Beefy Onion Soup Mix and add it to the pan. Stir the mix into the water, using any spoon or spatula that is not metal (because it will ruin your nonstick pan), and gently scrape along the bottom to loosen all that yummy goodness that was left by the patties. Now add some black pepper and stir. Let that cook for a few minutes, then make a water/cornstarch slurry to thicken things up.

Once you have the gravy the consistency you want it, pour it over top of the patties in the oven safe dish. Cover and put in preheated oven, and let it cook for 20 minutes.

You will be generously rewarded with moist, melt in your mouth Salisbury steak. Mmmm.

Initially, I had planned on eating one patty. After I finished the first one, I went back for another. My taste buds were singing, but my tummy was not. Apparently, the first patty in addition to the succotash I made to go along with it was sufficient whether I knew it or not. (and yes I am that weirdo that likes to put things in separate bowls so flavors don't mix.)

It should also be mentioned that I suffered a major party foul for dinner last night, seeing as I did not have any taters to make creamed potatoes. Massive party foul, precious.

It was still good, though.

Super Simple Lazy Day Chicken & Dumplings

Another "Polar Vortex" is attacking the part of the country where my hubby and I live. No less than five inches of snow on the ground and temps barely reaching double digits.
Polar Vortex. *derisive snort*
At the risk of sounding old - and I am turning the big 4-0 next month - but back when I was a kid, snow and single digit temperatures were just called Winter. Currently, it is snowing again. It's pretty, and I love watching it fall. What I don't like is my husband's hour long commute (on a clear day!) to and from work in busy Northern Virginia. It makes me worry.

Anyhow, when it's really cold outside and especially when there is rain or snow happening along with it, I crave comfort stick-to-your-ribs kind of food. Chili and cornbread, Salisbury steak and gravy with mashed potatoes, corned beef soup...and my mom's super easy chicken and dumplings.

Don't be fooled. This is not a recipe for anyone looking to lose weight.
That said, if you have spent a long day shoveling snow, scraping ice, or even just out playing in snow or cold weather, this is an awesome dish for those kinds of days.

The day before making this dish, I had cooked a whole chicken in the crock pot for dinner. Hubby and I ate the breasts only (minus the tenderloins because that was one huge bird), so the remainder of the chicken got de-boned, chopped and set aside for dinner the following night. I also strained the broth from the slow cooker, returned it to the crock, added water and the bare chicken bones. I set it to low and let it cook a few hours to make stock for the dumplings.

If you do that, put the whole crock in the fridge overnight. Then scrape off the fat from the top and strain the broth into a large stock pot. You may need to add a few cups of water or broth from a carton or can to fill the pot halfway. Now toss in your chicken, and turn the heat to medium. Let it come to a very low boil.

Okay now it's time to work on the dumplings. Here are the ingredients:

No, seriously. There they are. A four pack of cheap canned biscuits.
Truth? I don't know how to make homemade dumplings. I have never tried. While I am sure that I could, I just love these so much that I will more than likely probably always make them this way. They are so chewy and yummy and just soak up all the flavor in the broth...I have to stop. I just started drooling.

Okay so you flatten those bad boys a little bit and drop them, one by one, into the broth. Do the whole can. Done? Okay, do the second can.  

When you're done with that, do the third.

Nope. Not kidding.

Look in there. That's a lot of dumplings, isn't it? Well guess what? We're going to throw that last can of  biscuits as well.
What?! Is she insane?! Does she have no regard for fat and cholesterol?
Meh.
Do it. Feel the freedom. Throw caution to the wind. Embrace the inner fatty. Just work it off later...however you feel the need to do your cardio.  *wink, wink, nudge, nudge*

Seriously, though...the reason for so many is that by the time you get to the fourth can, the first can has melted into the broth...and that's great! It's what makes the chicken and dumplings get nice and thick and hearty. Plus, I just really like a lot of dumplings. I'm the girl who went to Cracker Barrel a few months ago and ordered their chicken and dumplings...with dumplings as my optional side. Yep. That happened.

Let that cook down for a few minutes so the biscuits you just added aren't raw. Look in that pot, what do you see? The chicken has broken up and is sticking to the dumplings as you stir, and stirring wasn't as easy as it was a few minutes ago! Don't forget to add salt and pepper to suit your taste buds.

Seriously, I am drooling writing this post. I need to go find something non-food related to do. Like laundry. Nothing like washing dirty socks and underwear to kill an appetite.

So, hey...if you try this...come back and let me know what you thought, okay?  Enjoy!

Chicken Casserole and the Unintentional Sabbatical

Wow that break went on for longer than I intended.

It's been both a busy and rough past couple of months:  father-in law visited for a week, immediately followed by being sick, followed by our annual Christmas movie marathon, followed by being out of town, followed by Christmas, immediately followed by the flu, which was topped off by my getting bronchitis after the flu.  It's been three weeks since hubby and I both had the flu simultaneously (that sucked!), and I am still doctoring a nasty cough from the subsequent bronchitis.  Ugh.

So, yeah...Merry Belated Christmas and Happy New Year and, uh, everything.

I think I promised to do the recipe for my mom's chicken casserole a few months ago.  Better late than never is my procrastinator's credo.

I absolutely adore this recipe.  It's SO good, and really simple to make.  There are literally only six ingredients:  chicken, stuffing mix, chicken broth, butter or margarine, cream of chicken soup and cream of celery soup.

So we start off with the chicken.  I boiled two large bone-in chicken breasts until cooked through, and reserved the broth I cooked them in and set it aside.  You can use a pre-cooked rotisserie chicken, leftover fried chicken, leftover turkey, or even canned chicken.  Just make sure you pull it all off the bones, remove the skin, and roughly chop it.

You want between 2 or 3 cups of chopped chicken. Divide chicken into 2 equal parts.

Now empty each can of cream soup into a separate dish.  Using the cans from the soup you just emptied, fill each one with broth and then add one can to each bowl of soup.  Stir until well combined.

Put your stuffing mix into a large bowl.  Grab the stick of butter/margarine and melt it.  After it has done so, pour it over the dry stuffing mix and stir it together very well. Divide stuffing mixture into three equal parts.

Now grab a large baking dish.  Put a layer of stuffing into the bottom.  Now take one half of the chicken and sprinkle that over the stuffing.  Pour the cream of chicken soup mixture over top of that.  Top with stuffing, then rest of chicken, then cream of celery mixture. Sprinkle the rest of the stuffing on the very top.

After everything is combined and ready, cover top with a lid or foil and place in preheated 425ºF oven.  Bake for 30 minutes.  The sides should be bubbling, and you should be about ready to climb into your oven with a fork because of the heavenly aroma.

I cannot tell you how many Sunday dinners were spent salivating and gorging ourselves on this dish.  I have no idea where mom came up with this recipe, but I can't make it without a smile on my face and memories in my heart.  I just know you will love it!