Diana's Gift Shop

I do use some recipes, but most of my cooking is the way Grandma taught me - a handful of this and a pinch of that "...until it looks right..."

Even during the Winter here in Ohio, I can find some things in my organic garden to use for dinner.    I have thyme lining my walkway and I just made some Beef Stoganoff using it and some of my dried parsley, oregano, and some of my garlic too.     The beef we got from my inlaws who raise Angus cattle.

Diana's Beef Stroganoff:

I used a 3# chuck roast which I deboned and removed the paddywhack and other non-tender parts and cut up into about 2" pieces.

* The bones and other parts that I removed are browned and then boiled in water for 4-6 hours to get the beef broth for this recipe.   After straining off the broth, the scraps are saved and used as part of my dog and cat food so there is no waste.

Then I browned the beef on all sides a little at a time in a large skillet that had a Tablespoon or so of butter in it.     This took about 4 times of browning beef and removing it to brown all of the beef.    I had to add a little more butter after the second batch to finish.

I then used the same pan (now empty except for the remaining browned butter and browned 3 onions sliced finely.    Once they were good and brown, I added 1# of fresh mushrooms cleaned and cut in half (quartered if huge) and browned them.

I then returned the browned beef to the pan (with the onions and mushrooms) and added 1/4 cup of red wine that mmy neighbor made from his grapes (he is now deceased and I am on my last bottle of his wine) and 1 Tablespoon of balsamic vinegar, 1 Tablespoon fresh thyme (1 teaspoon if dried) 3 bay leaves (remove before serving), 1 teaspoon of fresh oregano (1/2 teaspoon dried), 1 teaspoon of fresh garlic chopped finely, 1/2 teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper, and 8 cups of my homemade beef broth/stock - whichever I have at the time.

Let simmer for about 1-2 hours until the onions "dissolve" and the beef is so tender that it is starting to fall apart.

When beef... is almost done, boil your egg noodles until almost done, but they still have a little body to them and drain.

In another pan, make a roux of 1/2 cup flour and 1/2 cup butter.     Make roux by melting the butter over low heat and stirring the flour into it until the mix is all melted and it just starts turning a tan color - DO NOT BURN.    Slowly add the roux to the pan with the beef... while slowly stirring it in.    It will get pretty thick in a few minutes.

Now add 1 cup of sour cream (you can just use fresh milk if you like or some of each) and a handful of chopped fresh parsley (about a Tablespoon dried) and stir.

Serve over the cooked noodles - OR - throw the noodles in the beef... pan and mix it all up.   It doesn't look as nice all mixed in, but it tastes the same.

Serves 4-8 people depending on how many side dishes you make and how big of eaters you are.

Enjoy.