Slow - Cooker Beef Stroganoff

I love a good Beef Stroganoff. It is a total comfort food for me and now that I have discovered my "little" loves it as much as my husband and I do I have to bring it back to my menu rotation.

I will warn you this recipe I made this week and stocked in my freezer is NOT lactose free friendly. It does contain dairy but if you are looking for some great dairy free recipes for stroganoff there are some great vegan ones I have posted that my family highly recommends!

Vegan Mushroom Stroganoff - includes 2 recipes, the second one is my favorite served with garlic mashed potatoes!

(photo credit) 

However, here is a "breaking the rules" dairy recipe...

Slow - Cooker Beef Stroganoff

Ingredients:
1 lb beef tips - cubed to bite size pieces
1 small onion - diced
1 can mushroom soup (can use cream of mushroom or make your own which IS dairy free: my Homemade recipe)
1 TBS Worcestershire Sauce
1/4 cup water
4 oz cream cheese (you can buy dairy free, Green Valley Brand makes a great one)

Directions:
* Combine all ingredients (minus cream cheese) in a slow cooker and cook on low for 8 hours or high for 5 hours. Add cream cheese and stir. Serve with noodles or mashed potatoes and a veggie of your choice.

Variations and Tips:
* Add mushrooms and or garlic!
* Sub the onion for Tastefully Simple's Onion Onion seasoning.
* If you are up for it and make a big batch of cream of mushroom soup it freezes really great. I freeze mine in 10.5 oz cups and then I am ready to go quicker than going to the store and buying a can of who knows whats in that.

Freezer Meal It!
* Place beef tips, onion, mushroom soup, worcestershire sauce in a freezer bag.
* Label and Seal Tight.
* When ready to cook dump bag in slow cooker - add water and cook.
* Add in cream cheese and serve with your noodles and veggie and or fruit sides.

What homemade noodles!!! YUM - find my recipe HERE! 

Mushroom Stroganoff (vegan)

If you like mushrooms this is an incredible recipe from one of my favorite cookbooks: The Hippy Gourmet's Quick and Simple Cookbook for Healthy Eating. We bought our mushrooms at the Boulder Farmer's Market today and served the stroganoff w/ garlic mashed potatoes. Enjoy!

Serves 8 (easily cut in half)

1 TBS extra-virgin olive oil

1 yellow onion, sliced thin

4 large portobello mushrooms, cut into chunks

5 cups shiitake mushrooms, cut into chunks

5 cups white button mushrooms, cut into chunks

1 teas paprika

1 cup vegetable stock

salt and pepper to taste

Heat pan w/ oil add onion and cook for 1-2 mins, add mushrooms and cook 1-2 mins. Sprinkle paprika and stir. Add vegetable stock. Cook until mushrooms are tender and the sauce become like gravy. Season w/ salt and pepper.

My Notes:

* We used a mix of mushrooms (just bought a "grab bag" at the market) you could use whatever you wanted.

* Mushrooms are expensive (6.00 per 1/2 lb at the market!!!) so I cut this recipe in half.

* I wasn't concerned w/ making this vegan so I used Chicken Stock instead of Veggie and added a little bit of sour cream. I also used a little cornstarch to thicken the sauce.

* You could serve over noodles but we like it over mashed potatoes:

peel and cut potatoes, add to crockpot w/ water and 2 whole garlic cloves - cook until potatoes are tender and then mash. Add butter and salt.

Beef and Veggie Stir Fry

I grew up on Stir Fry. It was a staple in our home. My parents both worked and were busy with the two of us girls. They did an incredible job raising us... I mean look at us now... well me at least - just kidding sister of mine! (hugs to you - wish you were closer)

Anyways - it was a great way to again use up those veggies that might go to compost or trash. I still love a good stir fry. At our home currently we are working on getting more protein in my daughters diet. She loves chicken, salmon, beans and nut butters but isn't so swell on red meat. Not really an issue for me personally and if she turns out to never care for it that is her choice to make. However I want to make sure I offer it to her in a variety of ways so that she can make that choice.

This past week when I was planning my freezer meals for the month I saw there was some great beef on sale. I stocked up with a family size package and decided to add beef stew, beef stroganoff and a beef stir fry to the menu. The stir fry is random with random veggies and that is just how a good stir fry should be!

Beef Stir Fry

Ingredients:
Cubed Beef - bite size pieces
Cubed Veggies - bite size pieces (i.e. - broc, carrots, onion, zucchini, squash, sweet potatoes, peppers, garlic, turnips, beets, parsnips, tomatoes - I could go on forever!)
Seasoning of your choice
EVOO

Directions:
* Cube all meat and veggies and place in a hot saute pan coated with EVOO. Season, Stir and Fry until meat is throughly cooked and veggies are tender. Serve with noodles, rice, baked potatoes, etc.

Kitchen Tips and Tricks: 
* Any veggies work and really fruit - pineapple would be a good add in and even mango
* Make these into Kabobs and broil them in oven or grill on your patio!
* Seasonings we love are Tastefully Simple's Garlic Pepper Seasoning - TS Garlic Garlic - TS Onion Onion - TS Season Salt - etc. For a full list of seasonings we currently carry go HERE

*** If you are just dying to know exactly what I did THIS time - beef cubes, diced onion, carrot, mix of yellow and green squash with TS Garlic Pepper seasoning with a little celtic sea salt. Serving with baked sweet potatoes topped with choice of brown sugar or butter garlic sauce - we love garlic :)

Freezer Meal It:
* Dice it all up and add seasoning and a little EVOO or water to help mix in seasoning. Place in freezer bag, label, seal. Done!

Vegan Mushroom Stroganoff

A friend found this on Pinterest and passed it along. It was one of the most fantastic vegan dishes I have ever made. I changed mine up a little bit so the original recipe can be found on a blog called From A to Vegan. Enjoy!

Ingredients

2 tbsp vegan butter (e.g. Earth Balance)
1 medium onion, minced
2 tsp garlic garlic (tastefully simple)
1 tbsp yellow mustard
3 tbsp soy sauce
½ cup water
1 1/2 lbs button mushrooms
1 cup almond milk
Pepper to taste

Directions

1. In a large sauce pan, saute onions and garlic in the vegan butter until they start to get translucent.

2. Add mushrooms, water, soy sauce, mustard and pepper. Let simmer on medium low heat until the mushrooms soften and the liquids dry.

3. Reduce heat and add almond milk. Cook until mixture is a creamy constancy.

4. Serve over rice, pasta or mashed potatoes