Easy Stroganoff

Easy Stroganoff

  • Servings: 4
  • Difficulty: Easy
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Quite a few people are intimidated by stroganoff. I’ve seen recipes that are tricky, need so many ingredients, and hours of work. Here is a quick, easy, great tasting version that is on your table in just over an hour.

Ingredients

  • 1 lb extra lean ground beef
  • 1 onion chopped
  • 2 garlic cloves chopped
  • 1 tbsp of spicy steak spice
  • 1 cup chopped white mushrooms
  • 1 cup 5% sour cream
  • 1 cup of beef broth
  • 2 tbsp of non fat half and half cream
  • 2 tbsp of all purpose flour
  • 1 package of extra broad extra large Egg White Noodles (no yolks)
  • salt and pepper to taste

Directions

  1. Brown meat in large stock pot on medium. Make sure to crumble meat.
  2. Leave about 1 tbsp of fat and drain the rest.
  3. Add onion and mushrooms. Stir regularly.
  4. Once mushrooms are soft, add the spicy steak spice, beef broth and sour cream.
  5. In a separate bowl, add flour, cream and mix well.
  6. Add to meat mixture.
  7. Simmer for about an hour.
  8. Cook egg noodles per package instructions.
  9. Serve meat mixture over noodles.

Nutrition Per Serving

  • Calories 603
  • Fat 10.8 g
  • Sugar 5.9 g
  • Carbohydrates 71.3 g
  • Protein 51.3 g
  • Fibre 4.0 g

This is my version of quick stroganoff. I was at the store and saw the packaged one and thought I could make this and probably a little healthier version. It is really high in protein, so a good meal to have after a hard workout. It reheats well. Serve it with a salad, or veggies, and you have a complete healthy meal. You can change the ground meat to chicken or pork, or even economical round steak sliced thin.

Have fun and make it your own!

Beef and Vegetable Barley Soup

Beef and Vegetable Barley Soup

  • Servings: 12
  • Difficulty: Easy
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We love soup. What can I say? It can be a side, a main course, comfort food, even a snack. It’s even better when they are easy and you get to use leftovers to make it.

Ingredients


– 1 tbsp of butter
– 1 tbsp of olive oil
– 1 medium onion chopped
– 3 cloves of garlic minced or 5 garlic scapes minced
– 1 carrot thinly sliced
– 3 celery stalks sliced thin
– 1 1/2 – 2 medium zucchini sliced thin
– 1 cup of barley
– 8 to 9 ounces of cooked sirloin steak sliced thin about 1 inch long
– 6 cups of reduced sodium beef broth
– 1 tbsp of Worchestire sauce
– 2 tbsp of Soya Sauce
– 2 tbsp of Diana Sauce or ketchup
– 1/2 tsp of cayenne (optional)
– salt and pepper to taste
– 1 tbsp of cajun spice

Directions

  1. In a large stock pot, over high heat, add 1 tbsp of olive oil, butter and onion. Cook 3-5 minutes until onions are transparent.
  2. Lower heat to medium, add garlic. Stir constantly for 1 minute.
  3. Add the remaining ingredients, stir until well blended.
  4. Lower heat and let simmer for an hour.

Nutrition Per Serving

  • Calories 149
  • Fat 5.1 g
  • Sugar 2.6 g
  • Carbohydrates 17.6 g
  • Protein 7.7 g
  • Fibre 4.0 g

The vegetables are interchangeable. We had steaks the night before and that was the left over. You can sub for inside round which is a cheaper cut. Be sure to cut it against the grain. As a main course, I serve a double serving with a nice salad. Remember that what you put as a veggie, spice, is how you can make this your own. Enjoy and have fun.

Pasta Genovese CG Version

Pasta Genovese CG Version

  • Servings: 6 portions
  • Difficulty: Easy
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I always try a recipe as written the first time. Then I have fun and make it my own. One of the last recipes I posted was a recipe I found, Pasta alla Genovese. It was good, nothing wrong with it but it lacked a little something. Here is my version.

Ingredients


– 1 tbsp of olive oil
– 1 blade roast or cross rib roast of approximately 2 lbs or 0.8 kg
– 2 onion thinly sliced
– 1 onion soup mix package
– 1 tbsp of steak spice
– 1 tbsp of chilli powder
– 1 can diced tomatoes 16 oz or 540 ml(I used aylmer accent chilli, if you do, omit chilli powder)
– 2 tbsp of all purpose flour
– salt and pepper to taste

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 250.
  2. In a stock pot heat oil.
  3. Brown meat on all sides.
  4. Salt and pepper to taste.
  5. Cover with onions, spreading this evenly.
  6. Add onion soup mix.
  7. In a separate bowl, mix flour and beef broth until smooth.
  8. Add broth, steak spice, canned tomatoes, and chilli powder if you are using.
  9. Cover and cook for six hours.
  10. Once cooked shred meat with forks.

Nutrition Per Serving

  • Calories 260
  • Fat 10.9 g
  • Sugar 2.4 g
  • Carbohydrates 9.6 g
  • Protein 29.4 g
  • Fibre 1.2 g

You can serve this over a pasta of your choice (or someone told me over rice is nice too), not calculated in nutritional facts. A nice green veggie or salad complete the plate. Now is your turn to have fun and make it your own. Let me know how you have changed it.

Pasta alla Genovese

Pasta alla Genovese

  • Servings: 8 generous portions
  • Difficulty: Easy
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You find recipes in different places, different books, for different reasons. This book was created as a fundraiser for the Fondation du CHUS during the pandemic. This is a University Hospital in Sherbrooke. The recipes were contributed and paid for publication by doctors, students, and celebrities. This one is from Neurologist Sylvie Gosselin.

Ingredients


– 2 tbsp of olive oil
– 2 tbsp of butter
– 1 blade roast or cross rib roast of approximately 2.2 lbs or 1 kg
– 10 cups of thinly sliced onions, approximately 10 large onions
– 5 ounces of prosciutto, or 145 gr chopped
– 8 cups of large pasta as fettuccini or spaghettoni (2 lbs or 1 kg)
– Salt and pepper to taste
– Parmesean grated or shaved to taste

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 250.
  2. In a stock pot heat oil and butter.
  3. Brown meat on all sides.
  4. Salt and pepper to taste.
  5. Cover with onions, spreading this evenly.
  6. Top with prosciutto.
  7. Cover and cook for 7 to 8 hours. Baste meat occasionally.
  8. Once cooked, remove from broth. Remove bones and shred meat with forks.
  9. In a separate pot, heat salted water and cook the pasta, per package instructions.
  10. During that time, put stock pot on ring and bring to a boil and reduce the broth to approximately 3 cups. Return meat to broth (if necessary).
  11. Serve over pasta and sprinkle parmesan over it.

Nutrition Per Serving

  • Calories 435
  • Fat 14.7 g
  • Sugar 9.5 g
  • Carbohydrates 38.9 g
  • Protein 40.3 g
  • Fibre 5.6 g

You can serve this with a green veggie or a nice salad. I always make a new recipe as indicated the first time. Then I adjust to our tastes by adding spices and such. That’s the way to have fun and make it my own. Your turn to do the same.

Taco Pasta

Taco Pasta

  • Servings: 8
  • Difficulty: Easy
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I like tacos, I like pasta, I had no tortilla shells or wraps, so I thought, what the heck. How can I go wrong. Here is a quick meal, hearty meal, a fun meal.

Ingredients

  • 1 box of penne 454 g or 1 lb
  • 1 lb of lean ground beef
  • 1 large red onion
  • 1/2 red pepper
  • 1/2 yellow pepper
  • 1/2 green pepper
  • 2 branches of celery
  • 1 cup of packed spinach
  • 1 cup of packed torn kale
  • 1 can of diced chili tomatoes (you can use standard but add 1 tbsp of chili powder)
  • 1 envelope of taco mix
  • 1 tbsp of white sugar

Directions

  1. Brown ground beef.
  2. Remove ground beef from pan and set aside. Put in vegetables in fat from beef and cook the veggies until still a little crispy.
  3. Add tomatoes and taco mix and stir until well blended.
  4. Add back the meat. Simmer on low heat.
  5. In another pot, cook pasta as per instructions on the box.
  6. Drain pasta once cooked, put back in pot and add the beef and vegetable mixture. Stir to coat completely.

Nutrition Per Serving

  • Calories 338
  • Fat 7.2 g
  • Sugar 4.3 g
  • Carbohydrates 50.2 g
  • Protein 20 g
  • Fibre 3.5 g

This is a quick meal. It is colourful. Nutritious. And most of all fun. If there are other veggies you’d rather, put them in. You can add jalapeño if you want spicy. You can sprinkle cheese on it if you want more of the taco feel to it. Serve it with a salad and you have a complete meal for 8. Remember have fun and make it your own.

Cajun Shepard’s Pie

Cajun Shepard’s Pie

  • Servings: 4
  • Difficulty: Easy
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I don’t know about you but I have to change things up every now and then. Shepard’s pie is one of them. I’ve made it standard with mashed potatoes and cream corn, as was always done in my family. I was so bored of having it that way that I used to douse it with ketchup just to change the taste. Well now I’m older and wiser, ok at least older, so I decided to change things up a little. Here is my version of Cajun Shepard’s Pie.

Ingredients

  • 1 lbs lean ground beef
  • 1 large onion chopped
  • 2 large sweet potatoes peeled and cubed
  • 4 cups of spinach chopped
  • 1 tbsp of cajun spices
  • 1 tsp of flour
  • 1/4 cup of water
  • 2 tbsp of Cool Runnings Blackened cajun sauce
  • 1/2 cup of shredded cheddar cheese
  • 1 tsp of oil

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 350
  2. Heat oil over medium heat in a large pan and add chopped onion and cook until tender.
  3. Add ground beef and break up and cook through.
  4. Once cooked add your flour and water and Cajun Sauce and mix thoroughly. You should have a semi thick sauce, If not thick enough add a little flour at a time to consistency of thick gravy.
  5. At the same time cook your sweet potatoes through in boiling water
  6. Once your potatoes are cooked through, drain and mash without adding anything to the potatoes.
  7. Place meat in baking pan 8 x 8.
  8. Top meat with spinach.
  9. Top with mashed sweet potatoes.
  10. Sprinkle cajun spice over top and cover with cheese.
  11. Put in oven for 30 minutes or until cheese is melted.

Nutrition Per Serving

  • Calories 529
  • Sugar 5 g
  • Carbohydrates 19 g
  • Protein 22 g
  • Fibre 3.5 g
  • Fat 40 g

So many things can be done to personalize this. You can sub the veggie. A friend did his with Kale. I’ve done it with Edamame beans. I try to make sure that the veggie is high in fibre. There are different types of cajun spices so you make this spicier if you wish. You can add a little cayenne pepper to this. You can make this with any ground meat, chicken, pork, even go vegetarian and go with Beyond meat (which is just as good). Have fun everyone and make it your own.

Ginger Beef and Broccoli Stir-Fry

Ginger Beef and Broccoli Stir-Fry

  • Servings: 4
  • Difficulty: Easy
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This recipe is well balanced. You have your protein. You have your veggies. You get to decide how spicy you want it and you choose your starch.

IMG_1626

Ingredients

  • 1 lb inside round beef
  • 2 tbsp of cornstarch
  • 4 tbsp of soya sauce
  • 1 tsp of hot pepper sauce
  • 1 tsp of sesame oil
  • 2 tsp vegetable oil
  • 1 large onion sliced
  • 3 garlic cloves minced
  • 2 tbsp minced ginger root
  • 6 cups of broccoli pieces into bite size about 1 lb
  • 1 cup water

Directions

  1. In a bowl, mix 1 tbsp of cornstarch, 2 tbsp of soya sauce, hot pepper sauce and half the ginger. Stir in beef strips to coat and let stand for 10 minutes.
  2. Sauce: in a small bowl mix 1/2 cup of water, remaining cornstarch and soya sauce and set aside.
  3. In a wok, heat 1 tsp of oil over high heat and stir fry beef, in two batches until browned. Set aside.
  4. Reduce heat to medium-high. Add remaining oil, stir-fry onion, garlic, and remaining ginger for 1 minute. Stir in broccoli and water. Cover and steam for 3 minutes.
  5. Return beef to the pan. Stir in sauce, bring to boil, stirring to coat beef well.

Nutrition Per Serving

  • Calories 273
  • Sugar 3.2 g
  • Carbohydrates 12.7 g
  • Protein 12.3 g
  • Fiber 2.8 g
  • Fat 20.6 g

IMG_1625

This recipe is not overpowering in spice or very spicy. You can adjust as you need. This was the original recipe. I add about a teaspoon of crushed chilli peppers to step 1. Your starch is your choice. I served with 1/2 cup cooked rice but you could serve with a small tortilla or pasta or noodles. You can try it a different way every time. So have fun and make it your own.