Fast Philly Cheese Steaks

I was in the mood for some Philly Cheese steaks.  However, I am working on keeping a tight budget and wanted to use things I had around the house already.  After searching Pinterest, I found a recipe that suited my craving with most things I had on hand.  Just a few substitutes and here it is:

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 medium onion, thinly sliced
• 3 green bell peppers, cut into thin strips
• 1 1/2 cups sliced fresh mushrooms
• 3 thin chucks of steak, sliced thin
• few dashes of garlic powder
• 3 tablespoons Italian dressing
• Salt and black pepper to taste
• 4 (2.5-oz.) soft rolls, split (I used big hot dog buns because I had them on hand)
• 4 (1-oz.) provolone cheese slices (I used monetary jack because its what I had)

Directions

1. Melt butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat; add onion, bell peppers, and mushrooms, and sauté 13 minutes or until onions are golden brown. Add steak strips and garlic powder; sauté 3 until brown. Stir in dressing then season with salt and black pepper to taste.

2. Arrange steak mixture evenly on bottom roll halves; top with cheese and remaining roll halves. Arrange on a baking sheet.

3. Bake at 400° for 8 minutes or until toasted.

This really came out good, very flavorful and exactly what I'd wanted.  I paired the meal with Paula Dean's Potato Soup from last night and bam!  Dinner is done it took me maybe 20 minutes.

Enjoy!

Source: http://pinterest.com/pin/41376890298104610/

"Cream Of" Soup

It seems as though ever recipe I try, I find a line: "Cream Of" soup required.  Since I am very big on cooking whole foods that require little preservatives, this feels like a slap in the face to my attempts.  I have tried excluding it but lost a lot of the recipe in the process.  So I said enough.

Recently, I began searching Pinterest for more options to rid myself of the cream of chemical slop.  You'd be amazed on how many others agree on this, which meant a lot of options to make your own.  Now, I hate complicated recipes.  If I cannot do it in 30 minutes or less, I just move on to another option.  Most of the ones I found were extremely involved and I don't have time for tons of extra work.

Then I found the one.

Here's the recipe, which I tweeked a little:

• 2 ½ cups chicken broth (I used 1 can, it was decently close)
• 1½ cups milk
• ¾ cup flour
• 1 tablespoon seasoning mix
• I used: 1/2tsp onion powder, 1/2tsp garlic powder, 1/2tsp black pepper, 1/2tsp salt
• Want to add your own? Combine a mix of the following until you equal about 1tbs: ½ tsp. onion powder, ½ tsp. garlic powder, ½ tsp. black pepper, 1 tsp. salt, ½ tsp. parsley, etc/  Feel free to try whatever fancies your recipe.

Directions

1. Combine the chicken broth and ½ cup of the milk in a large saucepan. Bring to a low boil.
2. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, whisk the flour and seasonings into the remaining 1 cup milk until a smooth, thick mixture forms.
3. Pour the flour and milk mixture into the saucepan with the broth mixture over low heat and stir continuously, whisking as the mixture simmers. Continue to simmer and stir/whisk until the mixture is smooth and thick, 5 minutes. The mixture will thicken a bit as it cools.

 

This made me almost four full cups of soup.  It looked like the canned stuff but had that good old homemade feeling to it - smelled a lot better too.  The best part?

 

I noticed no loss of flavor and I felt SO MUCH BETTER about what I was feeding my family.

 

Enjoy!

 

Source PIN: http://pinterest.com/pin/176836722840236592/