It’s fall and my Super Sister-in-Law Chef Sandy is back today with a hearty, beefy, autumny favorite that any beef lover will eat up. She always knows just the right thing to make to welcome the season. Enjoy!

I made a fabulous pot roast on Friday, because the weather was frightful and was just begging for it.  It was tender and flavorful and everything you could hope for from a pot roast.  And it was large enough for leftovers, because I always like to have enough for second helpings – we all know it is just as easy to cook a 4 pound piece of meat as a 2 pound one, it just takes a little longer.  But, the question is, do we really want to eat the same thing twice?  If you ask my daughter, the answer is an emphatic “No!”  So this is where I have to get a little creative.

In this economic time of doomsday forecasts on all of the news media, it just feels right to be a little frugal in the way I run my kitchen.  One of the best ways to do this is to do a great job managing our food budget by not being wasteful.  But I still want to make mealtime delicious and enjoyable for everyone.  So I use my leftovers, a little creativity and a little bribery to make everyone happy at the dinner table.  I still shop for the best quality meats and vegetables, and we always get great bread.

Tonight we are going to have Stone Soup and salad for dinner.  Did you ever read the Grimm Brothers fable Stone Soup to your kids?  It is one that was read to me when I was probably in first or second grade, and it is a story that has stuck with me all of these years.  The idea is simple – just a little bit of this and a little bit of that and you can have a nourishing meal.

The bribery comes in with the garlic bread to eat with it, and the cookies and milk for dessert.  The soup will be vegetable soup, made with pot roast and gravy leftovers, plus some other goodies from the pantry, refrigerator and freezer.

Stone Soup, AKA

Quick and Easy Vegetable-Beef Soup

2 cups assorted vegetables, either frozen or leftover or fresh chopped

(I used 1 chopped carrot, 1 cup frozen green beans and peas, ½ cup of garbanzo beans, 1 leftover roasted potato)

½ cup spaghetti sauce, Bloody Mary mix or tomato juice

3 cups stock or water

1 cup diced leftover roast beef, plus gravy

Sauté any fresh vegetables in olive oil until they are tender, seasoning as necessary.  Add frozen vegetables, stock/water, tomato product and gravy.  The meat may be added at the very last minute, or right away, depending on your preference.  Bring the mixture to a boil, lower to simmer and cook gently for about 5 minutes until all the vegetables are just tender.

Just before serving, check for seasoning, adding salt and pepper (maybe hot sauce) as desired.  Maybe a little parmesan cheese sprinkled over the top.

Great Garlic Bread

6 slices day-old Italian bread

1 clove fresh garlic, peeled and cut in half

2 TB butter

Salt (if desired)

Toast the bread until golden in the toaster.  When it comes out of the toaster, immediately rub it with the cut garlic clove.  The more you rub the clove, the stronger the flavor.  Then butter the toast and sprinkle with a little salt and pepper, which will bring out the garlic flavor.  Serve immediately.

For my chocolaty-chocolate chip cookies:

One recipe traditional chocolate chip cookies (from the back of any package of chocolate chips), with the following substitutions:

In place of 2 ¼ cups flour, just use 2 cups of flour, plus ¾ cup of best quality cocoa powder.

In place of 2 cups of semi sweet chocolate chips, use only 1 cup, plus one cup each white chocolate chips and bittersweet or milk chocolate chips.

When you have formed the teaspoonfuls of cookie dough, drop them into milk chocolate sprinkles and roll them around to coat.  Then place on a cookie sheet and bake 8-10 minutes, or until you just can slide a spatula under a done cookie.

When you remove the cookie sheet from the oven, quickly place an assortment of 5 or so of the various chips in the center of the cookie.  Allow them to melt slightly and then swirl the top of each if desired.

Or use a refrigerated roll of cookie dough, adding 1/3 to ½ cup of cocoa to the dough before shaping.  Proceed as directed above.

This. Looks. So. Tender.

I want to eat this right now. This sirloin steak is browned and then put in a roasting pan with other goodies, then placed in the oven for a couple of hours.

What a perfect winter pick-me-up! This one will make your whole house smell amazing for hours. To me, this says, “Welcome home!” Even if you’ve been there all day.

Stewed Steak

Serves 4-6

3 pounds of sirloin, cross-rib or round steak (or similar cut)

1 cup flour

2 tsp ground thyme

2 tsp fresh ground nutmeg.

Season the steaks with salt and pepper. Mix together the flour, thyme and nutmeg. Dredge the steaks in the flour mixture, then brown them on both sides in a little canola oil in a heavy skillet over medium high heat. No need to cook them fully, just brown the surfaces well. Drain the excess oil from the skillet and deglaze the pan with a little beef stock before adding it to the steak in the roasting pan.

Place the browned steaks in a covered roasting pan and add:

5-6 cups of good beef stock (low sodium stock if you are using sore bought)

NOTE: You can substitute 1 cup of broth with a cup of red wine for an even richer gravy.

3 cloves minced garlic

4 tbsp Worchestershire Sauce

1 tsp ground black pepper

Cover and slow cook the steaks in the oven at 300 degrees F for 2-3 hours or until the meat is very tender and begins to fall apart. The flour that was used to brown the steaks helps to thicken the gravy as it cooks. I like to skim any surface fat off the gravy before serving. Serve with roasted garlic mashed potatoes and steamed vegetables.

Recipe and photo courtesy of RockRecipes.Blogspot.com.

Mmmm. It’s getting a slight bit cooler outside and that makes me crave rich, red meat.

Come on, I know I’m not the only one.

This amazing recipe for Mustard Beef Tenderloin looks like just the ticket.  See what YOU think!

Mustard Beef Tenderloin

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes

Ingredients:

• 4 beef tenderloin filets
• 3 tablespoons Dijon mustard
• 3 tablespoons white vinegar
• 1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 tablespoon pineapple juice
• 1 tablespoon dried tarragon
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Preparation:

Mix together mustard, vinegar, olive oil, pineapple juice, tarragon and pepper. Simmer in a saucepan until evenly heated. Keep warm. Preheat grill. Lightly pound filets with kitchen mallet and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Place on grill and cook about 4 minutes on each side or until desired doneness. Remove from grill. Place about 2 tablespoons of mustard mixture on a plate and place filet onto the sauce.

Recipe courtesy of bbq.about.com.

Photo courtesy of KansasCitySteaks.com.