Cooks 5 - Salisbury Steak

So I may be behind on blogging my cooking adventures but I am not behind on actually taking the adventure. I have been very proud of myself in my endeavors and not to mention, it is greatly improving my cooking. It is so much fun to try a new recipe and then have it critiqued by the ones you care for. I love putting delicious meals on the table for others to enjoy.

My latest is Salisbury Steak. I love the Banquet meals, but over the years the patties have gotten smaller and the meals more expensive. I knew there was a way to make this better, healthier, and more hearty, probably at a cheaper price also. Here is what I came up with.

Grab your slow cooker, because this is a super easy recipe that you will probably use over and over again. I'm going to give you the original recipe and then tell you the changes I made.

SLOW COOKER SALISBURY STEAK
*taken from Allrecipes.com
**Submitted by TESSLYNN

Prep time: 15 minutes   Cook time: 5 hours   Servings: 8

INGREDIENTS:
2 pounds lean ground beef
1 (1 oz) envelope dry onion soup mix
1/2 cup Italian seasoned bread crumbs
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 (10.75 oz) cans condensed cream of chicken soup
1 (1 oz) packet dry au jus mix
3/4 cup water

DIRECTIONS:
1. In a large bowl, mix together the ground beef, onion soup mix, bread crumbs, and milk using your hands. Shape into 8 patties.

2. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Dredge the patties in flour just to coat, and quickly brown on both sides in the hot skillet. Place browned patties into the slow cooker stacking alternately like a pyramid. IN a medium bowl, mix together the cream of chicken soup, au jus mix, and water. Pour over the meat. Cook on low setting for 4 or 5 hours, until ground beef is well done.

Changes and comments:

I substituted soup for brown gravy, and beef bullion instead of au jus mix. Next time I will probably use 1/2 the packet of dry onion soup mix because it was a little on the salty side. I also put a whole can of mushrooms in with gravy.

This meal turned out absolutely AMAZING! Not to mention the leftovers reheated were equally amazing! This is a hearty meal! I served it with mash red potatoes and corn. This will be going in the recipe books as one of the top meals to cook.

I look forward to hearing from you to find out, what think about this recipe! Happy cooking!

Books 5 - Garbage! Monsters! Burp!

Garbage! Monster! Burp! By: Tom Watson

This is a cute little story about a monster who devours garbage for a town. It is a nice book for young kids and has a nice rhyming humor to it. I enjoyed this quick little elementary read. I think it could be incorporated into a recycling project, or a problem solving activity.

It was just a very cute children's book. Elementary age definitely.