Grilled Steak Fajitas

We enjoy Mexican food a lot. We've been wanting to make fajitas for a while. The multi-colored peppers make this a colorful as well as delicious meal.

Ingredients
1 lb. steak
1 medium green pepper, chopped
1 medium red pepper, chopped
1 medium orange pepper, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
2 pkg. fajita seasoning
Olive oil
Tortillas
Shredded cheese
Sour cream

Grill the steak just enough to sear it and cut it into strips.

In a large, deep frying pan, saute the onion in olive oil until translucent.

Add peppers and saute until tender.

Add fajita seasoning.

Add steak.

Cook over medium heat until meat is cooked to your liking.

Fill tortillas and top with cheese and sour cream.

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Succulent Pot Roast

Yeah, I know that most people know how to "do" pot roast. I mean, it's a roast. You put it in a pot. You forget about it for a couple of hours. It comes out great.

Well, we do pot roast a little differently than most people I know. And the great secret? An electric deep fry pan. One of those big ones as long and wide as a griddle. Yup, that's the secret.

Okay, 'nough of that. Here're the goodies.

Ingredients:

4-5 lbs. pot roast

A lot of minced, dry onions

4-5 whole onions, peeled and halved

10-12 potatoes, peeled and halved

Many, many carrots, peeled and cut up however you want them

Oil

Heat oil in pan and brown the meat on each side. Cover meat with at least 1/4 inch of minced dry onions. It's okay if some fall in the pan and brown in the oil. Add water to the pan, avoiding the top of the meat, until it is at least half way up the meat. Cover and bring to a boil. Lower the temperature to 225-230 and let boil for about 3 hours. Check water periodically and add more if needed.

When there is about 45 minutes left, arrange the vegetables around the roast. Add water if needed. Cover and finish cooking.

When finished, remove vegetables and place meat on platter. The remaining water makes wonderful gravy.

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Beef Stroganoff

We at One crazy girl's kitchen would like to thank Bonnie Osterstock for supplying this recipe, and Pati Osterstock for suggesting we try it in the first place

Beef stroganoff is a staple of many families. And it seems each has its own take on how it should be made. Some love the quick, ground beef/canned cream o' mushroom soup variety and others prefer it with high quality steak and from-scratch sauce. And both are fine and taste good.

This recipe is a bit of a mix of both worlds, except this time the canned soup is tomato, and you only use 1 cup.

Ingredients:
2-3 C flour
Salt & Pepper to taste
3-4 lbs round or tri-tip steak, cut into 1" squares
1-2 sticks of butter
2 lbs. fresh, sliced or button mushrooms
2 lbs. chopped onions
2 C sour cream
1 C tomato juice
1 C tomato soup (canned)
1 Tbl Worchestershire sauce
dash nutmeg
1-1/2 tsp dry basil

Cut up meat and onions.

In a large (1 gallon) baggie, combine flour, salt and pepper. In small batches, coat the meat in the flour mix. Set aside.

In a large skillet, brown onions in butter. Set aside in a bowl.

In the same skillet, brown meat.

Add onions back plus 1 C sour cream, juice, soup, nutmeg, Worchestershire sauce, and basil.

Bring to a simmer. DO NOT ALLOW TO BOIL! Simmer covered until tender (approximately 2 hours).

When there is about 30 minutes simmering time left, cook mushrooms in butter and add to the meat and sauce. Thicken with the flour mix, if necessary (we didn't need this step).

Add remaining 1 C sour cream just before serving.

Serve with rice or noodles.

Yields 10-12 servings.

My take on Mom's version of Hungarian Goulash

Hungarian Goulash is a hearty stew-like dish with pasta and meat. We grew up eating my mom's variation of it, and I've made a few changes.

2-3 Tbl olive oil
2-3 cloves of garlic, diced or crushed
1/2 medium onion, chopped (as fine or chunky as you like)
1 lb. lean ground beef (or elk)
2 14.5 oz cans of diced tomatoes
1 quart stewed tomatoes
3-4 dashes of Worcestershire sauce
Salt and pepper to taste
Pasta of your choice (we like them all)

In large skillet, saute garlic and onions in olive oil until onions are translucent. Add meat and cook on medium until completely browned. Add diced tomatoes.

Cook pasta in large stew pot. Drain and return to pot. Add meat and tomato mix. Add stewed tomatoes. Add Worcestershire sauce. Salt and pepper to taste. Heat thoroughly.

If you like, you can top it with shredded cheese. The picture here shows it with Parmesan, French-cut green beans, and homemade rosemary bread.

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