We all know that the beef prices are way way up. I hesitated writing this post because of that fact. I was totally shocked when I purchased a pound and a half of beef stew meat. Stew meat was once the cheapest cut of beef you could buy. If you had a large family beef stew was a good hearty dinner with usually leftovers and the cost was minimal...not today. My small amount of beef stew meat was $10.88. YIKES!!! It was $8.99 per pound.
I decided I would leave it up to my readers to decide if they want to try this recipe. Actually, it is really, really good and easy to make too. It only calls for four ingredients and a cup of water. I call that a great recipe. I guess you could look at it this way my total cost for this dinner was around $15. There are only two of us at home now, and this recipe actually made four servings. So we had it yesterday and have enough leftover for another evening. So the cost per serving, including potatoes, broccoli and Italian bread was $3.75. Compared to eating out, I would say this was pretty reasonable.
My Mother-in-Law made a family favorite which our whole family still makes. She called it Hungarian Goulash. The beef tips recipe is very similar, only she used round steak. Round steak is also pretty expensive, but once again her recipe fed a family of six, five of them being boys...and we all know how much boys eat. I'll add her recipe at the end of this post.
Ingredients to Make "No Peek Beef Tips...
- 2 lbs. beef stew meat
- 1 can cream of mushroom soup (you can use any creamed soup to make this recipe)
- 1 packet brown gravy mix
- 1 packet French onion soup mix
- 1 can water
Like I said there are "4" ingredients needed to make this delicious dinner.
Let's Make No Peek Beef Tips...
Mix together the cream of mushroom soup, the brown gravy mix, French onion soup mix and 1 can of water. Place the beef stew meat in a casserole and pour the soup mixture over the top.
Cover the casserole tight with aluminum foil. Place in the oven and 3 hours later, you have beef tips and gravy. Make sure you don't peek!
When I purchased the beef stew meat, it was already cubed in very small pieces. Next time, I'm going to purchase larger cuts of beef stew meat. When this cut of meat is cooked slowly, it shrinks a lot. So keep that in mind when you purchase your stew meat.
A Great Idea for the Left Over Beef Tips...
I think the small cuts of beef stew meat would work great in making beef pot pies. I might try doing that with the left overs. Make a pie crust, cook a package of peas and carrots, add some diced canned potatoes and and the meat and gravy from this recipe and bake. Now I have an idea for a dinner for sometime this week.
Beef Tips Recipe...
Ingredients:
- 2 lbs. beef stew meat
- 1 can cream of mushroom soup (you can use any creamed soup to make this recipe)
- 1 packet brown gravy mix
- 1 packet French onion soup mix
- 1 can water
Directions:
- Mix the cream of mushroom soup, brown gravy mix, French onion soup mix and water
- Pour over beef stew meat in either a casserole or a 9X13" pan (depending on how much meat you have)
- Cover with tin foil tightly.
- Place in a 300℉ oven and cook for 3 hours. (Remember, don't peek)
Note: I think this recipe could also be cooked in a crockpot. Do exactly the same thing above, but place in crockpot and cook for 8 hours on low heat. The whole idea is to cook slowly to tenderize the meat.
Grandma Lorraine's Hungarian Goulash Recipe...
I mentioned my Mother-in-law's Hungarian Goulash in this post. This recipe also uses only four ingredients and is so delicious. Here is the recipe.
Ingredients:
- 2 lbs. round steak (cut into approximately 2"x2" pieces)
- 1 large yellow onion
- 2 cans tomato soup
- salt and pepper to taste
Directions:
- Cut round steak into approximately 2"x2" pieces and place into crockpot
- Dice the large yellow onion and add to the meat in the crockpot
- Add 2 cans of tomato soup
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Mix all ingredients, cover the crockpot, and cook for 8 hours on low.
- Serve over mashed potatoes
Mom's Carrot Casserole...
You can also add baby carrots to the crockpot. Last week I wrote a post on my Mom's carrot casserole. This recipe goes great with Grandma Lorraine's Hungarian Goulash. I placed a link below for the carrot casserole. It is also so delicious. A perfect compliment to this dinner.
Well, that's it for this week...No Peek Beef Tips, possibly Beef Pot Pies, Grandma Lorraine's Hungarian Goulash and Grandma Helen's (my Mom) Carrot Casserole. All of these recipes are comfort food at it's best. I do hope you try them. You won't be disappointed!
Always remember..."Life's short...eat dessert first!"...words to live by!
