Category: BEEF

The Original Country Bob’s All Purpose Sauce Product Review & Giveaway

Earlier this week I was contacted by a nice man from Country Bob’s All Purpose Sauce and asked if I would be interested in doing a product review. I said I’d love to. In just 2 days time a box was on my stoop with bottles of sauce and recipe brochures. I had this little niggling in my brain though. I could not figure out why the name of this sauce sounded so familiar. I tried to find the sauce locally and failed until I finally found it at a Walmart store 30 miles away. You have to remember I live rurally for the moment. That is when it occurred to me where I had heard the name before. I had won a cookbook awhile back over at Forgetfulone, but was never able to prepare any of the recipes because I couldn’t find the sauce.

As you can see from all the slips of paper sticking out of the top of the book I had marked a multitude of recipes to try and now I finally can. I found 2 meatloaf recipes, 1 from the brochure which is extremely similar to hubby’s favorite one that I have made for years and years and a sour cream recipe from the book that I decided to try. In the end the recipe I made was a combination of both recipes and hubby all but licked his plate. He kept telling me to find out where to get more of this sauce. He even put it on his mashed potatoes and thought that was just scrumptious. Normally he would use ketchup on his meatloaf, but tonight he used Country Bob’s All Purpose Sauce. He decided Country Bob’s All Purpose Sauce is our new ketchup.

I will be trying a few more recipes this week and will do a follow up for you. Head on over to tHe KrAzY KiTcHeN to enter the giveaway.


The true test came when I made dessert with the sauce. It was the most unusual group of ingredients I had ever mixed together. I have to admit I had my doubts that we were going to like this recipe, but I also thought it would be a good test of the versatility of an all purpose sauce.
All I can say is that I was sooooooooooooooooo pleasantly surprised by the flavor. Hubby can’t say anything, he’s too busy licking the bowl. You have to try Country Bob’s All Purpose Sauce and start with this fudge recipe.
Justify Full

One of the greatest things about this recipe besides the awesome flavor is the consistency. How many times have you made fudge and weren’t sure it would set up okay or it turned out dry? That will never happen with this recipe. This recipe is truly foolproof.

COUNTRY BOB’S INCREDIBLE FUDGE
12 ounces Velveeta cheese*
2 sticks butter
6 ounces unsweetened chocolate
2 tablespoons Country Bob’s All Purpose Sauce
2 pounds powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups chopped pecans (optional)**

  • In a microwave safe bowl combine the Velveeta, butter, Country Bob’s All Purpose Sauce and chocolate. Microwave on high 2-4 minutes, stirring every minute until mixture is smooth and well blended.
  • Pour the powdered sugar into a large mixing bowl. Add the chocolate mixture gradaully while beating with an electric mixture until well blended.
  • Beat in the vanilla.
  • Stir in the nuts.
  • Pour into a greased 9×13 pan.
  • Cover and chill until firm.
  • Store in the refrigerator.

*When I made a second batch of this recipe. it worked better cubed before microwaving
**I exchanged this for Heath Bar bits and loved it

COUNTRY BOB’S SOUR CREAM MEATLOAF ala TAMY
3 pounds ground beef
1 bunch green onions, sliced thin
1/2 cup + Country Bob’s All Purpose Sauce
1 sleeve crushed saltines
3/4 cup sour cream
1/4 cup milk
2 eggs, beaten
1 1/2 teaspoons sea salt
1 teaspoon white pepper

  • Mix all together.
  • Pour additional sauce over the top.
  • Bake 1 1/2 hours.
  • Pour off any excess moisture.
  • Let stand 5-10 minutes.
  • Serve.

Simple Supper Saturday

I always shoot for very simple suppers on week nights and had to make my menu plan super easy this week since I’ve been working ten hour days. On Sunday I made an large (bulk) eye round roast beef with a minced garlic and herb rub. I made all the yummy sides for Sunday – homemade country mashed potatoes, fresh green beans and dinner rolls. For the first leftover meal on Monday I sliced it very thin and served warm and piled high on “everything” bagels with chips and coleslaw. The second easy leftover night is the dinner I’m featuring here today …


This is a beef stew I made simply by cutting the rest of the leftover roast beef into bite sized chunks, plus 6 cubed potatoes, baby carrots, and a package of mushrooms cut into halves. I added the pan drippings from the roast (fat skimmed from the top), 4-5 cups of water, a packet of beef stew seasoning and thickened with a little cornstarch dissolved in cold water – simmered until the veggies were done (about 30-40 minutes) and then served in big shallow bowls over Pepperidge Farms puff pastry cups.

It was delicious, quick, easy, made a very pretty presentation, and it was a big hit with the whole family!

Easy Sliders – Simple Saturday

Press the ground beef flat onto a cookie sheet and season …

Bake at 350 for about 20 minutes. Get your other goodies together while they cook …

Cut into little squares with a pizza cutter and serve on dinner rolls with the toppings. 
Can’t get much easier than that and the kids love them!

ORTEGA CHILE BAKE

I thought I’d kick off the week and the meme with a family favorite which is also super simple time saver recipe, inexpensive, great ‘user upper’ of great food AND it was sooooooooooooo tasty I thought hubby was going to lick his plate. He settled for seconds though.

This recipe originally ran at 3 sides of Crazy 12-14-08. It was cold and snowy here that day. A day that just cried for a really hot lunch! So I took to the freezer and refrigerator to see what there was (we hadn’t planned on being here so nothing had been planned) and I found some leftover BBQ beef (which I drained of all sauce), 1/2 a package of shredded cheddar cheese, a can of cream of celery soup, some pasta shells and a can of diced green chiles. This is tlso the most perfect recipe for leftover Pot Roast or roast beef. We had 6 servings for $4.29 or $0.72 cents per serving.

ORTEGA CHILE BAKE
Left over shredded beef (technically 0.00 since it was already accounted for)
1 can cream of celery soup (.96)
3 cups AL DENTE pasta noodles (1.12)
1 can diced green chiles, drained (.89)
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese (1.12)

  • Drain chiles.
  • Stir soup and chiles together.
  • Stir in beef until well blended.
  • Add pasta and mix well.
  • Pour into a greased 9×9 baking dish and top with cheese.
  • Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

National Hamburger Month

“I’d gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today.” ~ Wimpy
I recently heard on a radio station that May 28th is National Hamburger day. I thought it would be a good time to share a recipe and make burgers. So, I started researching it and the ONLY consensus I can find is that May is National Hamburger MONTH. I found some sites listed National Hamburger day as May 28th, July 28th and even December 21st. I did find a site that seems to have a very comprehensive list of holidays and seems like a great reference. Another fun site is the History of the Hamburger~ anything you ever wanted to know about burgers, but were afraid to ask. All this aside, here is my recipe for our favorite burgers.

GARLIC & HERB BURGERS
1 pound ground round
1 JUMBO egg
1 stale & dried slice of San Francisco Sourdough Bread, crumbed
1 package Good Seasons Garlic and Herb dressing mix
  • Mix all the ingredients together with your hands until well blended.
  • Form patties.
  • Chill for 24 hours before preparing.
  • Grill.
  • Add sharp cheddar cheese, mayo, sweet and sweet red red onion relish, a tomato slice and red onion slice.
  • Enjoy.

SWEET RED, RED ONION HAMBURGER RELISH

1/2 cup light brown sugar
1 tablespoons kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
1 large red onions, chopped small
2 large sweet pickles, chopped small

  • Combine the sugar, salt, cloves and vinegar in a small saucepan and bring to a boil stirring constantly until sugar dissolves.
  • Add onion and pickles and blend well.
  • Reduce heat and and cook a few minutes more until onion is translucent and tender.
  • Remove from heat and cool.
  • Keep chilled in refrigerator for up to a week.

Joy of desserts hosts Vintage Recipe Thursday
Trista over at Southern Fried Mama hosts Tasty Thursday

final blog signature. ♥

Sweet & Sour Meatloaf ~ Simply Delicious Sunday

SWEET & SOUR MEATLOAF
MEATLOAF
1 pound ground pork
1 pound ground beef
1 small Vidalia onion, chopped fine*
1 teaspoon minced garlic, jar
1/2 cup grated carrots*
1/2 cup grated mushrooms*
5 ounce can evaporated milk
1 cup grated cheddar cheese
2 Jumbo eggs
3 slices sourdough bread, staled and broken into pieces
2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon white pepper
TOPPING
1/2 cup ketchup
1/3 cup packed brown sugar

  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  • Whisk eggs together with milk, salt and pepper in large mixing bowl.
  • Add bread and soak a few minutes.
  • Add onions, mushrooms, carrots, pork, beef and cheese mixing well with your hands so that it is all incorporated.
  • Mold into a loaf pan**.
  • Combine the ketchup and brown sugar until well mixed.
  • Spread topping over top of meat mixture.
  • Bake 1 hour.

*I run these through my Kitchen Aid shredder and it makes quick work of all the chopping and you get finer pieces to work into the meat.
**I usually make this 1 1/2 times and use a 9×9 stoneware cake pan so that it has lots of crispy edges and then we have leftovers for sandwiches. We LOVE meatloaf sandwiches!

I also watch for sales on chops and steaks so I can grind my own meat. Sooooooooo much better flavor and you know exactly what’s in it!

SWEET & SOUR TOMATOES
or SWEET & SOUR TOMATOES AND SNOW PEAS
3 Large tomatoes, washed and chopped
1/2 pound snow peas, washed and trimmed
3/4 cup rice wine vinegar
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons sugar

  • Chop tomatoes into a large bowl.
  • Whisk together the vinegar, oil and sugar until sugar is dissolved.
  • Toss tomatoes with vinegar mixture.
  • Chill 24 hours before serving.

final blog signature. ♥
If you like to play along, please add a link to this post on your post and sign Mr. Linky. Be sure to include your recipe in parenthesis following your name. Thanks and have fun.

Slow Cooking Thursday ~ Hungarian Goulash

Go see what’s cooking at Diary of a Stay at Home Mom where Slow Cooking Thursday is hosted by Sandra

HUNGARIAN GOULASH Serves 4-6
2 pounds chuck steak or roast, cut into bite size pieces*
1 small Vidalia onion, diced
2 teaspoons minced garlic, jar
1/2 teaspoon each sea salt and white pepper
1 heaping tablespoon sweet paprika
1/3 cup flour
1 can plain diced tomatoes, undrained
1 cup sour cream
2 cups dry egg noodles

  • Spray sides of 3 quart slow cooker with PURE.
  • Pour 1/2 of the tomatoes into the slow cooker.
  • Add the onions and garlic.
  • In a bag combine the flour, paprika, salt and pepper.
  • Coat beef pieces well, using all of the mixture by patting into the beef pieces.
  • Add to slow cooker.
  • Pour remaining tomatoes over top.
  • Cover and cook on low 8 hours until meat is tender.
  • Just before serving, add the sour cream and heat through.
  • Serve over prepared egg noodles.

*Don’t cut the fat off. It’s that fat that helps make the meat tender. And you do need a little in your diet.

Normally the meat, onion and garlic would have been sauteed in an oil or butter and you would have spent time at the stove doing that. Now we have eliminated the time and the fat. It is still just as tasty too! So, in our opinion the 1st rework recipe is a total success!

I also participate in the memes: Menu Plan Monday hosted by Laura at I’m an Organizing Junkie, Favorite Ingredient Friday hosted by Kathryn at Overwhelmed with Joy, Freezer Food Friday hosted by MJ at mjpuzzlemom, Scrumptious Sunday hosted by Meredith at Mercedes Rocks, Homemaker Mondays hosted by Robyn at 11th Heaven’s Homemaking Haven, Making a Happy Home Monday hosted by LL at As for me and my house…, Tempt My Tummy Tuesday hosted by Lisa at Blessed with Grace, Slow Cooking Thursday & Tips on Tuesday hosted by Sandra at Diary of a Stay at Home Mom, $5 Dinners is hosted by Erin at $5 DInners and Tempt my Tummy Tuesday hosted by Lisa at Blessed with Grace. Doing them all make great additions to help keeping me on track and finding so new recipes!

final blog signature. ♥

Red and green shredded beef burritos

These are the greatest burritos for leftover pot roast.

I take the leftover pot roast and shred it adding red enchilada sauce. Then I throw it in the freezer until we want enchiladas.

Then I spread some sour cream on the tortillas, plop some red meat inside and add a bit of cheese.


Roll them up, top them with green enchilada sauce and a bit more cheese. Bake at 325 degrees for 45 minutes and serve with homemade refried beans.

final blog signature. ♥

Ortega Chile Bake ~ $5 DLinner in this Case


$5 Dinners Tuesday is hosted by Erin at $5 Dinner Challenge

It’s cold and snowy here today. A day that just cries for a really hot lunch! SO I took to the freezer and refrigerator to see what there was (we hadn’t planned on being here today so nothing was planned) and I found some leftover BBQ beef (which I drained of all sauce), 1/2 a package of shredded cheddar cheese, a can of cream of celery soup, some pasta shells and a can of diced green chiles. This is the perfect recipe for leftover Pot Roast.

ORTEGA CHILE BAKE
Left over shredded beef (technically 0.00 since it was already accounted for)
1 can cream of celery soup (.96)
3 cups AL DENTE pasta noodles (1.12)
1 can diced green chiles, drained (.89)
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese (1.12)

  • Drain chiles.
  • Stir soup and chiles together.
  • Stir in beef until well blended.
  • Add pasta and mix well.
  • Pour into a greased 9×9 baking dish and top with cheese.
  • Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

final blog signature. ♥

Slow Cooking Thursday ~ Cran Beef Stew


Hosted by Sandra at the Diary of a Stay at Home Mom

This recipe is a great fall recipe with all the fruit aromas while it cooks and nice beefy rice gravy taste that warms your tummy! The meat melts in your mouth and the fruit flavors meld with the rice creating a thick gravy texture.
2-2 1/2 pound chuck roast*
kosher salt & white pepper
1 bag cranberries
1 lemon, juiced
1 apple, chopped
8 ounce can crushed pineapple
2 cups orange juice**
1 large onion, chopped
1 cup long grain rice
optional – 1 potato

  • Coat beef in kosher salt and white pepper.
  • Wash cranberries and place in bottom of slow cooker.
  • Pour pineapple and juice in on top of cranberries.
  • Chop onion and apple and add to slow cooker.
  • Chop the optional potato into small bite sized pieces and add to the slow cooker.
  • Chop the roast into bite sized pieces and add to slow cooker.
  • Pour lemon juice over top.
  • Cook on low 6-7 hours.
  • Add rice and eat an hour later. Be sure to check after 30 minutes. The rice will absorb most of the excess moisture.

*today I used a thick cut top sirloin I found on sale at a big savings (I miss shopping on base!!)
**I also used 2 cans of orange pineapple juice just because it’s what I had

final blog signature.

Scrumptious Sunday ~ Stew Edition ~ Beef Stew


Scrumptious Sunday hosted by Meredith at Mercedes Rocks
BEEF STEW

2 pounds stew meat*
flour
3 medium carrots, cut into coins or strips
3 medium Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled & cubed
1 large bunch green onions, sliced
handful of green beans, cut into bite size pieces
2 tablespoons minced garlic, jar
1/2 cup red wine
1 tablespoon better than bouillon beef base
2 1/2 cups V8
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons tapioca beads
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1 teaspoon celery seeds
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon thyme

  • Coat meat pieces lightly in flour.
  • In a large dutch oven mix together the wine and V8. Dissolve the bouillon into it.
  • Add the brown sugar, tapioca, garlic & seasonings.
  • Bring to a slow boil.
  • Add meat and cook 15 minutes.
  • Add vegetables.
  • Cover and bake at 275 degrees for 5 hours.

*I try to watch for sales on a higher grade meat and cut it into my own stew meat for a better flavor and texture.

An alternate recipe that worked reallllllllly well when I was out of a few ingredients was:
1 can carrot coins with juice (I was out fresh carrots)
1 can tomato sauce
1 can stewed tomatoes (no tomato juice)
1/2 bag frozen broccoli florets
no potatoes

Slow Cooking Thursday collides with Scrumptious Sunday this week with Beef Bourguignon

Scrumptious Sunday hosted by Meredith at Mercedes Rocks
Slow Cooking Thursday hosted by Diary of a Stay at Home Mom
BEEF BOURGUIGNON

1 1/2 pounds boneless beef chuck roast, cubed
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon minced garlic
4 slices bacon, cubed
2 carrots, sliced
1 onion, chopped
12 pearl onions, peeled
8 ounce package sliced mushrooms
flour
1 tablespoon Classico sun dried tomato pesto
1 bay leaf
1/2 teaspoon thyme
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon white pepper
2 cups red wine of your choice

  • Melt the butter and saute’ the beef chunks and garlic until browned. Remove to small crock pot.
  • Sprinkle flour over the browned beef chunks.
  • Add bacon and brown until crisp. Add to the slow cooker.
  • Sprinkle flour over the bacon.
  • Add the onions and carrots and saute’. Add to the slow cooker.
  • Whisk together the remaining ingredients and pour over the slow cooker contents, adding bay leaf last.
  • Set slow cooker to low and cook 2 hours undisturbed until meat is tender.
  • Add the pearl onions and mushrooms during the last 1/2 hour at least.
  • Check every 20 minutes after 2 hours until desired consistency is reached.
  • Good over mashed potatoes or buttered egg noodles.

I do the memes: Menu Plan Monday hosted by Laura at I’m an Organizing Junkie, Favorite Ingredient Friday hosted by Kathryn at Overwhelmed with Joy, Freezer Food Friday hosted by MJ at mjpuzzlemom, Scrumptious Sunday hosted by Meredith at Mercedes Rocks, Tasty Thursday hosted by Pumpkin Patch, Watchin’ What We Eat hosted by Lorie at Honey I Shrank Myself and Slow Cooking Thursday hosted by Sandra at Diary of a Stay at Home Mom. Doing them all make great additions to help keeping me on track and finding so new recipes!