Fresh Tomato Goulash

My husband had a great little garden this year. He grew jalapenos, sweet corn, banana peppers, radishes, and of course tomatoes. He says there is nothing better than a garden fresh tomato. I don't particularly care for fresh tomatoes, but I love to prepare them in dishes, such as my fresh tomato goulash. This goulash has that great fresh tomato taste with a bit of garlic and pepper. Just the way we like it!

Fresh Tomato Goulash
garden tomatoes, about as many in the picture
fresh garlic, to taste (I used 2 cloves)
diced onion, to taste (I used about an inch thick slice from a medium onion)
ground beef, about a half to a full pound
salt, to taste
pepper, to taste
butter, about 2-3 tablespoons
elbow macaroni, about 1 1/2 - 2 cups dry

(Can you tell I don't measure much when it comes to certain dishes?)

In a large pot, boil some water. Dip your tomatoes in for about 30-45 seconds. Transfer immediately to cold water. This will make your tomatoes easy to peel.

Peel and crush your tomatoes. You can leave them chunky for the goulash or blend them to make them smooth, like I did.

Simmer your tomatoes with the butter, salt and pepper on medium low heat for about 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, brown your hamburger with the garlic and onion. I used 2 cloves of garlic and an inch thick slice of onion.

Cook your macaroni according to package directions.

Add your cooked hamburger and macaroni to the tomatoes.

Enjoy! This goulash is sure to please everyone.

Slow Cooker Roast Beef Sandwiches

In the summer we grill. A lot. Once in a while I like to use my slow cooker, especially on a rainy day when grilling can get wet and soggy. One of my favorite summer recipes for the slow cooker is roast beef sandwiches. I cook the beef in the slow cooker and then shred it at the end of the day for juicy sandwiches with tons of flavor. You just can't go wrong with these roast beef sandwiches!

Roast Beef Sandwiches
beef roast (your preference of cut and size)
1 packet onion gravy mix
1 packet au jus mix
pepper, to taste
1 cup water

Combine everything in a slow cooker and cook on low for 4-6 hours. I don't add any salt because I think that the gravy mixes give it enough.

After 4-6 hours, I let the meat sit in the slow cooker on the keep warm setting for several hours before I touch it. After the meat has set in the slow cooker, take it out and shred it. Then put it back in the slow cooker to soak in all the juices for about a half hour to an hour before serving. This step is very important!

Serve on buns with your favorite toppings. The meat will just melt in your mouth and the bun will soak up some of the juice. It's hard to eat just one sandwich!
You can also use the juice in the cooker as an au jus dip if you want to make french dip sandwiches. It has a ton of flavor from the gravy mixes and juices from the meat.

However you like to eat your sandwiches, this is a simple recipe that makes flavorful, juicy meat. Enjoy!

Linking up to Hunk of Meat Mondays!

Jalapeno Stuffed Burgers

We are about to fill our freezer with beef next week! Ooh, yummy! In order to get ready for this, we cook as much beef as we can to make room! I have been making a lot of beef dishes lately. Now, however, all I have left is ground beef. I don't really want to heat up the kitchen with outside temperatures so hot, so I have been enjoying being able to use my grill! Since we have been eating a lot of burgers, I have been thinking of how to make the mundane burger a little more interesting. So last night I added a jalapeno popper in the middle! A jalapeno stuffed burger with a side of homemade onion rings! Perfect for the hubby who loves jalapeno poppers! And perfect for me since I love onion rings!


I started out by cooking my jalapeno poppers. I cook them first so that they aren't undercooked when the burgers are done.

Then I got my burgers ready. I added some salt and pepper to the ground beef and mixed it all up with my hands.

Then I shaped the patties. Again, I just used my hands and I made the patties kind of thin since I would be doubling them up and adding a middle!

I put a popper on the two thin patties that I made.

Then I covered them with another thin patty and sealed the edges. 

I made two jalapeno popper stuffed patties, one regular, and one mini burger for Holly. 

Grill until they are done. I had them on for about 4-5 minutes on each side. I wanted to make sure that they were done and the cream cheese in the popper melted! Serve with topping of your choice! Hubby really likes cheese, lettuce, and tomato. He dipped the burgers in my homemade ranch dressing, too!

Now, for the onion rings. I really don't do anything special for this. But I will tell you that using vidalia onions is what we do since they are a sweeter onion. I also salt the onion rings as they come out of the fryer to bring out more flavor. They taste better this way!

Do you have any interesting burger recipes that I could try? I'd love more suggestions!


Linking up to Hunk Of Meat Monday with Beyer Beware!

Slow Cooker Beef Stroganoff

Aren't slow cookers super helpful? You put your food in and it cooks it for you. All day while you are at work. Or the pool. Or shopping. Or whatever else you might be doing. I love my slow cooker. Especially during the school year when I am not home to cook all day. I recently came across a recipe for slow cooker beef stroganoff. It was divine! The meat turned out super tender and the sauce was perfect. You can find the original recipe here at the Taste of Home website.

Here is how I made it. First, I cut up my beef into small slices and bits. I used a chuck steak that I think was roughly 2 pounds.

I cooked it over medium heat in some olive oil (about 3 tablespoons) until it was done. Then I added 1 cup of water and a packet of beef stroganoff seasoning that I bought at the grocery store.

Once that was mixed through, I put the meat and all the drippings into my slow cooker. Then, in the same pan I cooked the meat in, I melted 3 tablespoons of butter. I cooked the onions and the mushrooms in it until they were soft. I used about 1/3 of a large onion and an 8 ounce package of mushrooms.

Then I made a sauce with 1/4 cup beef broth, 2 teaspoons of ground mustard, 1 teaspoon sugar, and a splash of red wine vinegar. I added this to the mushroom and onion mix.

Then I added the onions and mushrooms to the slow cooker with the beef and stirred. Let it cook for around 6 hours on low.

Before serving, add about 1 1/2 cups our cream.

Serve over egg noodles cooked according to package directions. This was so good that we didn't have any leftovers! If you're looking for a new slow cooker recipe I'd definitely try this one out!

I'm linking up to Hunk of Meat Mondays with Beyer Beware!

Also linking up to Made From Scratch Tuesdays with From Mess Hall to Bistro!