Veronika's home cooking

Morning run with Sasha

2010-02-21T09:22:00.001-08:00

Getting up at 7:30 am for an hour jog with Sasha was very necessary after last night indulgement. But I could certainly feel the chocolate cake and all that saturated fat as I was trying to catch my breath up the hill. Phew! Mmm... My calfs are burning!

Total jog: 45 min.
Distance: 4 miles
Calories burned: 508
Happy dog: Priceless

The French Beef Burgundy Recipe

2010-02-20T22:47:00.001-08:00

1/4 cup floor
1/2 tbs. salt
2 lbs. boneless beef chuck, cut into 1-inch cubes
1/2 tsp. pepper
2 tbs. grape seed oil
1 onion, sliced
8 button mushrooms, sliced
1/2 cup fresh parsley, minced
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 bay leaves
1.5 cup burgundy wine
1/2 cup beef broth

Combine the flour, salt and black pepper (I added a 1/4 tbs. of poultry seasoning). Dredge the beef cubes in the flour mixture and brown in the grape seed oil in a medium skillet. Place the beef and remaining ingredients into the Crock-Pit Slow cooker and mix thoroughly to combine. Cover, cook on low for 6 hours, stir occasionally every hour.

Serving recommendations:

Garlic mash potatoes (make them with touch of butter and non-fat milk). Put some of the gravy from the beef with the cooked mushrooms and onions on top of the mash potatoes.

Steamed colorful veggies like purple, orange and green cauliflower, green Brussels sprouts, carrots

Put some Italian parsley leaves for garnish.

Serve with Cabernet.

Enjoy!

French Beef Burgundy

2010-02-20T21:42:00.000-08:00

Saturday morning. The sun is out and it is a beautiful day... what a better time than now to actually roll up those sleeves and get something tasty done. Hmm... what should we do?! Having the amazing crock pot, I’d say let's try something beefy!

Here I am at the grocery store frantically flipping through the pages of my crock cook book manual for ideas. I look around… I love the produce section. There are so many colors, so much freshness, so many ideas of deliciousness. So we got mushrooms, onions, parsley, fresh boneless beef, Burgundy wine... that simply calls for French Beef Burgundy slowly cooked for 6 hours.

Fast forward to my kitchen. I am sitting with all these great ingredients in front of me. There is a huge smile on my face. I love the challenge of making something new. Being out in the sun for the last hour filled my heart with so much light, positive energy and love. I am ready to put all of that into the pot and make the best dinner there is.

But wait, who am I cooking for? Picked up the phone... Marina and Ray, what is my favorite couple up to tonight? Perfect! Got the dinner planned for 7:30 pm. It is 1-ish now, perfect time to put it all together.

6:30 pm - The French Beef Burgundy has been sizzling for 5 hours now, so it is time to get the garnish. Rice or potatoes... Dilemmas? Verdict: Garlic mash potatoes, baby cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, carrots and cucumber/tomato salad. Oh yeah! Yum-a-licious!

7:28 pm - I am sprinkling the fresh dill over the salad and time! Done! The table is ready, the beef is as tender and juicy as can be, the mash potatoes are creamy, the steamed veggies steaming, the salad freshly cut... pop the wine baby! Time to eat!

Time to make the meal: 6:15 hrs.
Time to set the table: 2 min.
Having a friend who does not eat red meat indulge your beef: Priceless