Stroganoni

As promised, here is a recipe using the FD Ground Beef that is on sale. I've been wanting to experiment with making Beef Stroganoff from THRIVE foods for some time now. I had an Open House at my home a few weeks back and did a cooking demo, and it was a complete experiment I whipped up on the spot. Thankfully, my husband and my guests agreed that it was good enough to put on the blog, so now you get the recipe!

It doesn't taste quite as stroganoff-y as I would like. A little more beef flavor, perhaps some Worcestershire sauce... I think those would enhance the flavor. But it was still pretty darn tasty, and oh so easy. I started cooking it when the guests came in, and when I handed them the bowl to sample, they couldn't believe it was already ready.

In a large pot, cook your choice of pasta. I used some THRIVE Macaroni, because it's what I had open. And because then I could call this recipe Stroganoni instead of just plain Stroganoff. But Thrive Egg Noodles would be great with this as well. How much to cook depends on your preference of sauce - noodles. I always cook extra because my hubby will eat plain noodles with butter and salt any day. I'm guessing you'll want appx 3 cups cooked noodles. 

While your noodles cook, in a separate saucepan, combine the following:

1/2 cup THRIVE FD Cooked Ground Beef

1/2 cup THRIVE FD Mushroom Pieces

2 Tbsp THRIVE FD Celery

2 1/2 cups water

Bring to a boil, cover and let boil for 5-10 minutes or until beef is tender. There should be about 1 cup of liquid remaining. 

In a separate bowl, combine:

1/2 cup magic mix (See the link for recipe)

3 Tbsp THRIVE Sour Cream Powder

2 tsp THRIVE Beef Bouillon

When Beef and veggies are done cooking, dump in your powdered ingredients all at once and stir. Reduce heat and stir for 1-2 minutes, or until sauce is fully thickened. You may want to add more water to thin sauce out if its too thick for your taste. 

It makes for a tasty meal, and the whole thing is done as soon as your noodles are. No thawing, no chopping, just measuring and dumping. What could be easier? So if it's 5:00 and you don't know what's for dinner, now you do. If you don't have a home store built up with these ingredients, talk to me and I will get you set up on a monthly budget so you can build up a home store of healthy meats, fruits, and vegetables that won't spoil in your fridge or take up space in your freezer, and that will help you be sitting around the dinner table as a family in 20 minutes or less. 

Creamy Beef sauce and our giveaway winner...

The winner of our giveaway who will be receiving a free pouch of THRIVE freeze-dried Strawberries is.... Gina B. of San Tan Valley. Congratulations!

But if you didn't win, (or didn't enter) the giveaway, you can still be a winner with this recipe for creamy beef sauce using the magic mix I blogged about last time.

Creamy Beef Sauce
1/4 cup magic mix
1/2 cup - 3/4 cup water
2 tsp Beef Bouillon (THRIVE sells a great one)
1/2 tsp dried Parsley

Whisk together the magic mix, seasonings, and water in a saucepan. I started with 1/2 cup water, and like I've mentioned before with the magic mix, it thickens beautifully while it cooks. However, the sauce was done before the Salisbury steaks were, so the sauce thickened even more as it cooled. It was a little too thick for what I wanted, so I just added an extra 1/4 cup water, turned the heat on again, and it worked great. Magic mix is very forgiving that way.  So adjust the water according to your preference.

For dinner, we made some Salisbury steaks, topped them with a blanket of caramelized onions, and then this creamy beef sauce. Way better than just a brown gravy. This sauce TOTALLY made the meal. Thanks again THRIVE for making this magic mix sauce possible!

Magic Mix and White Sauce 101

We are long overdue for a recipe post, and today we're getting one of my favorites. Before I jump right into it though, let me remind you that there's only 4 days left to enter the FREE giveaway, and so far only 2 people have entered. So give Stephanie and Jennie a run for their money (that's just an expression...it is really FREE to enter) by visiting the GIVEAWAY Post and getting yourself entered! Remember you must leave a separate comment for each entry.

And now for our recipe. I am a big fan of the basic white sauce (also known as a Roux sauce for the more culinary-inclined).  To make a basic white sauce:

1. Add equal parts melted fat (shortening, butter, oil, etc) and flour in a sauce pan. This will form a roux, essentially a ball of flour and fat.
2. Slowly add milk and the roux dissolves into your liquid, thickening the liquid. (Don't add the milk all at once or you're more likely to get lumps).
3. Continue adding milk (or other liquid) until the sauce is at your desired consistency.
4. Add other ingredients and seasonings to turn into whatever dish you're working on.

Simple enough, and oh so versatile. I use this in making all my cream soups (chicken corn chowder, cream of cauliflower/broccoli, etc), in making my pot pie gravy filling, my cheese sauce for mac and cheese, and I know you can make custards and other desserts with it as well. So this is one tool you definitely want in your cooking arsenal. And the best news is, you can do it COMPLETELY with food storage! THRIVE sells butter powder, powdered milk, and flour. Everything you need to make your basic white sauce. Just add water and away you go. Now, this isn't a Whitney Hemsath original idea... it's been around for quite a while under the name of "Magic Mix".  But thanks to THRIVE, you can make your own Magic Mix at home.

Here is the basic ratio for Magic Mix:

1 part THRIVE butter powder
1 part THRIVE flour
2 parts THRIVE powdered milk (Non-Instant)

Many people love to mix up the above ingredients into a big batch of Magic Mix, keep it in their pantry, and then use it as needed in their favorite recipes. If you do that, I suggest 1 cup butter powder, 1 cup flour, 2 cups powdered milk. You'll wind up with 4 cups of Magic mix to use in your favorite recipes.

If you've pre-made your magic mix, for a white sauce you'll simply need 1 part magic mix to 2 parts water. Whisk them together in a sauce pan, removing all lumps, and it will thicken as it cooks.

If you don't have magic mix in bulk and want just a single serving white sauce recipe, here you go:
1 Tbsp THRIVE butter powder
1 Tbsp THRIVE flour
2 Tbsp THRIVE powdered milk (Non-Instant)
1/2 cup water.

Mix the dry ingredients in a saucepan with a whisk. Whisk in water, and cook over medium heat. Sauce will thicken as it cooks, and this will yield about 1/2 cup of white sauce. I love this recipe for white sauce. I added my liquid all at once, it only took about 15 seconds of whisking to get rid of any lumps, and in 3-4 minutes it was thick and warm and wonderfully done. I made it today for lunch, and decided to add:

• 1 Tbsp light cream cheese
• 1 Tbsp Parmesan
• 1.5 Tbsp THRIVE FD Spinach
• Garlic Salt to taste

Cooked it in the pan till the cream cheese was melted and the spinach had reconstituted. Poured it on top of some leftover noodles, and here was my lunch. The sauce could probably have served two people, but I love me some alfredo, so I ate it all myself. I will probably add more Parmesan next time, because everything tastes better with more cheese. But it was yummy and very filling as is.

More "magic mix" recipes to come in the future, so order your Butter Powder and Powdered Milk now by visiting www.WhitneyHemsath.ShelfReliance.com or by contacting me directly for the lowest prices.