Hamburger Steak and Semi-Homemade Comfort Food

In case you haven't noticed, I've been in a food rut for weeks now. Not only have I not blogged about food, I've barely cooked. I find myself home alone several nights a week, and I end up doing what I call "scrounging"--eating anything I can "scrounge" up without doing any major cooking--sandwiches, cheese and crackers, soup, even (yes!) milk and cookies. But I'm running out of "scrounging" ideas, and I know I need to eat better. So one night this week when my son came home early and unexpectedly, I decided to make us a simple, semi-homemade dinner of pure comfort food. Hamburger steak is one of his favorites, and I'm a rice-and-gravy gal from way back (waaaaay back--even as a kid I loved rice and gravy, any time, any place.)

First up was the hamburger steak. I'm blessed to have home-grown, farm raised beef in my freezer from my mom and dad's cows, so I started with a pound of extremely lean beef. This stuff is so lean that when you cook it "loose", you usually don't even have to drain the grease off of it. That's lean.

Ingredients:

• 1 lb lean ground beef


• dried onion flakes (about a tablespoon)


• 2 or 3 splashes of Worchestershire sauce


• Tony Chachere's Creole Seasoning, or your all-purpose seasoning blend of choice

Sorry I don't have exact proportions, it all depends on your family's taste. I want mine to be pretty well seasoned. Mix everything in well, so that the seasoning is blended throughout the meat. The best way to do this is with your hands! Divide the meat up into however many portions you want to make. At this point, I always form the meat into a ball and pat it back and forth in my hands and kind of pack it so that it will hold together well. I do this when I'm making hamburgers, hamburger steaks, meatballs, or whatever. Then I squish it start forming it into the shape I want. For some reason, when I do hamburger steak, I make the patties big and sort of oval. I smooth the edges and re-pat so that little pieces of meat won't break off while it's cooking. Once you're done and have your hands clean, put a straight sided frying pan on the burner to heat, starting off on medium-to-medium-high heat. Since I was cooking with such lean meat, I added a little bit of cooking oil to my frying pan to keep it from sticking--if I was using bought ground meat, it usually has enough fat in it to skip the oil. Once the pan is hot, I add the meat. After a few minutes, check to see if the bottom is lightly browned, and turn so that the other side can brown.

While I was waiting for the meat to brown, I got the rice started, 1 cup of rice, 2 cups of water, bring to a boil, then cover and turn to simmer. It takes about 15-20 minutes for the water to absorb. You can salt the water if you want, sometimes I do, sometimes I don't.

Check the meat, and once both sides are browned a little, cover and turn the heat down to low-medium.

Meanwhile, I measured water and started it boiling to make my gravy. Yes, I used a brown gravy packet--that's what makes this semi-homemade! Not just any brown gravy, but Southeastern Mills. They make the best gravy mix--I like their brown gravy and their beef gravy, which is harder to find.

Once I got the gravy made, I poured it over the meat in the frying pan, covered it, and turned the heat to about 3 (out of 10) on my knob--low medium, I'd say. I wanted the gravy to simmer, the meat to continue to cook, but nothing to scortch.

And then on the the next semi-homemade part of my meal--frozen steam-in-the-bag-in-the-microwave veggies. My son and I both love this particular one--Bird's Eye Steamfresh Vegtables--the one with aspargus, white and yellow corn, and baby carrots. Love, love, love this one. All I did was cook according to package directions, pour into a serving dish, add a sprinkle of salt and couple of dabs of butter, then stir.

And there we had it--a plate of comfort food, semi-homemade, done in about about 30-40 minutes, start to finish.

I felt like I'd made a gourmet meal!

My hubby will be home next week, so I'm gearing up to get back into my cooking mode.

Until next time, good cooking, and good eating!

This post is linked to:

Foodie Friday at Designs by Gollum

Recipe Swap at the Grocery Cart Challenge

Recipe Linky at MomTrends

(Disclosure--I haven't been paid or compensated in any way by Bird's Eye or Southeastern Mills. These are just two products that I've tried on my own and like.)

"Semi-Homemade" Spinach Dip

One of my favorite dips/spreads that I don't indulge in very often is spinach dip.

Way back when, I posted my version that I usually make around holidays--the traditional one that we all make, with sour cream, mayo, frozen chopped spinach, dry soup mix, and water chestnuts. I love the stuff, even though I'm not much for just plain old spinach. I usually make it around a holiday, any holiday, to take to a family dinner or church supper, because I'm the only one in my immediate household who eats it. (They tend to turn their nose up at things that have a certain look, or has ingredients they think they may not like. It's their loss!) At any rate, I usually only make it to take it.

Not long ago, though, I decided to try a semi-homemade version that an acquaintance had brought to a church dinner, and who willingly shared her "secret recipe" with me. It has only two ingredients, and while it makes enough, it doesn't make a huge bowl that I have to eat on for a week.


Ingredients:

• Pre-made Creamy Spinach Dip (pretend you can't tell I ate some straight from the jar--just to taste test for comparison, you understand)
• 8 oz pkg cream cheese

Soften the cream cheese, and mix well with the bought spinach dip. That's it.

Like all dips, it gets better as it sits and the flavors combine. The cream cheese makes it thicker than regular spinach dip, so you may want to let it sit out and soften a bit before serving, especially if you're serving it with chips, but the texture makes it a perfect spread to have with crackers.

This version is so tasty, I think I may add a chunk of cream cheese the next time I make the regular version, too, just to see how it turns out. Face it, anything with sour cream and cream cheese in it can't be bad!

This post is linked to:

Meatless Monday at My Sweet and Savory

Foodie Friday at Designs by Gollum

Until next time, good (un)cooking, and good eating!