Thursday, February 11, 2010

Dinner Tonight: Beef and Noodles

This meal is based on something that hubby's mom used to make for him when he was a kid.  He remembers it very fondly but she passed away when he was a teenager and no one had ever learned her recipes.  When we got married, he asked me to try to re-create the dish.  Since I never had hers, I don't know exactly how it compares but I think mine ended up okay.  The first time I made it he actually stopped in the middle of dinner to call his sister and tell her what we were eating! 
Tonight's attempt turned out pretty well.  For some reason I ended up with a really good piece of sirloin that cut really well and tasted even better. 
The meat was really flavorful and tender.  I think this due to the fact that it was a good cut of meat but also because I seasoned more than usual and I didn't cook it quite as much so it wasn't as well done and chewy.
I decided to use only half a bag of noodles since we usually have way too many leftovers, but it turned out I didn't use enough and it was a little too meaty.  Since he wanted more noodles, hubby ended up eating more than he usually does and there wasn't enough for leftovers.  Hopefully next time I can find a happy medium.
I served with green beans and biscuits, as I thought those would be good accompaniments to a nice old-fashioned comfort meal.

Beef and Noodles

1 lb beef sirloin, cut into bite-size cubes
1 Tbsp flour
Garlic Powder, Seasoning Salt & Pepper to taste
2 tsp olive oil
1 package (12 oz) Reames frozen egg noodles
2-3 cups beef stock

Coat beef in flour and season with garlic powder, seasoning salt and pepper.  Add 1 tsp olive oil to 3-quart stock pot over high heat.  Sear half of meat mixture in pan until browned on all sides.  Remove meat from pan, add remaining 1 tsp olive oil, brown remaining meat and remove from pan.  Whisk 1 cup beef stock into pan and stir to incorporate the bits of flour and meat from the bottom of the pan.  Add noodles and enough beef stock to cover.  Simmer about 20 minutes, adding additional stock as necessary to keep noodles covered. Add meat back to pan and simmer an additional 5 minutes.

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Estimated cost of meal

Beef: $2.50
Seasoning: $.20
Noodles: $.25 (on sale for $1/bag, used $.50 coupon)
Beef stock: $.75
Green Beans: $.75
Biscuits: $1

Total: $5.45

Former life total: Dinner @ Waid's: $28

Leaner Life Savings: $22.55 or 81%!!!

1 comment:

Amy said...

That sounds good. I may have to try that next time beef is on sale! Thanks for the recipe!

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