The Family Kitchen: Grandma Hazel dressing with a twist inspired from my mom

 My Grandma Hazel made the best dressing. I used her recipe to try and recreate it with a few tweaks inspired by my mom. 

My mom would make this dressing but would add either chicken or turkey into it to make it more of a chicken and stuffing bake. I followed the recipe except I added extra chicken broth (still could have used more in my opinion) and added chicken and fresh sage.  When Grandma made this, it was always so soft and only crispy on the edges same with my mom. However, mine was still on the drier side. I either need to use more chicken broth or water, or maybe add a can of cream of chicken soup. I also did not use any stale bread just the stuffing croutons. It still tastes great just not as good as Mom and Grandma's!

With this dish I also made southern green beans with red potatoes, and cubed ham in the crockpot. I used fresh green beans from the produce stand and red potatoes as well. 

The recipe:

I used 3lbs aprx of green beans trimmed

5-6 small red potatoes cubed or diced

1/2 C chicken broth

1 Ham steak cubed

1 TBSP butter

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp onion powder

red pepper flakes optional

salt to taste

I added it all to the crockpot and cooked on high for 3 1/2 hours

The finished product was very good and was a great comfort food/ classic recipe as well. This would be great to make for thanksgiving and in fact I did make this for myself for Thanksgiving last year. 

The Classic Kitchen: Beef Tips and Gravy over Rice

 

Growing up my mom would make us beef tips and rice on occasion, and I always loved it. Tonight's dinner was inspired by those memories. This is not my mom's specific recipe but is very similar.

 Step 1: coat the beef (I used stew meat) in a seasoning mix (I used a steak seasoning mix that I made) and 3 tbsp of flour. Cook the beef slightly on each side approx. 30 sec to brown. (It will cook the rest of the way later) Set aside on a plate.

                                       

Step 2: Mix together in a bowl or measuring cup the ingredients for the gravy minus the cornstarch and water. 1 tsp onion powder, 1 tsp garlic powder, 2 C beef broth, 1 beef bouillon cube (I used better than bouillon 1tsp), 1.5 tsp of Worcestershire sauce, 1/4 tsp of dried thyme and dried rosemary. Stir together. Add to pan with steak drippings add 2 TBSP of butter. Cook on medium heat and bring to a boil.

Step 3: Mix 3tbsp cornstarch plus 1/4 C cold water and mix until combined. Whisk into the sauce a little at a time, stirring continuously until you reached the desired consistency. 

Step 4: Reduce heat to medium-low and add the beef along with any of the juices from the plate. Cook with the lid partially covered for 10-15 minutes until the beef is cooked through. Remove from heat.

Step 5: Prepare rice. You can use white or brown rice. If cooking brown rice, I suggest 1 C of brown rice to 2 C chicken broth. It gives the rice a better flavor and texture. I cook my rice in a rice cooker. You can also serve this over egg noodles or mashed potatoes instead if you prefer. If you use brown rice the gravy really gives the rice a softer texture. It is very good. 

This is a classic comfort food dish at its finest. You can make this your own by adding things like veggies or make it into an open-faced sandwich by adding bread. 

The Classic kitchen: Pot Roast with carrots and potatoes in the multi cooker

 Tonight, I made a classic recipe...Pot Roast in the multi cooker with carrots and potatoes. I've made pot roast before, but it has never tasted as good. 

The recipe was simple and easy to put together on my lunch and only took 5 hours to cook on HI. 

The ingredients:

Round Roast 2-3 lbs

1/4 C flour

3 large carrots peeled and cut into pieces

6 small red potatoes quartered

1 tsp of onion powder

3 C of beef stock

1/4 C of soy sauce

3 tsp of thyme

2 tsp of rosemary

1 tsp of sweet paprika

2TBSP of cornstarch

2 TBSP water

Directions:

Place the beef on a plate or cutting board and coat with flour on all sides then place in the cooker with all other ingredients except for the cornstarch and water. 

Cook on Hi for 5 and a half hours

When there is an hour left, make a cornstarch flurry with the cornstarch and water and slowly add to the cooker in order to thicken the sauce as needed. 

When done cooking, meat should fall apart, and allow to sit for 15 minutes to allow the cooking liquids to be absorbed. 

Salt and pepper has been omitted. You can season as needed after as I did or you can add to the cooker as needed. 

I added some bread to the pot roast and allowed the juices to soak in. Yum!

For added flavor, you can sear the roast on both sides before putting in the slow cooker.