I picked up a small package of stew beef at the grocery store the other day because I had in mind to make myself a pot of stew. We've had some really nasty weather recently and I was really craving comfort food.
There is nothing quite like a nice bowl of beef stew on a cold winter's day for bringing comfort into your life.
There no shortage of stew recipes here on the blog. It is a real family favorite. Stew with Dumplings is a real winner. This is a recipe sized for two.
This Oven Braised Stew is also really enjoyed from time to time. We are also no strangers to delicious Lamb Stew. Stew has been bringing comfort and sustenance to my home for many, many years.
Like I said, I had in mind to make a nice stew with the beef, but then I spied this recipe on TOH for Tender Beef and Noodles for Two. It looked really appealing.
I decided to go with it. I had everything in the house, including the egg noodles. I didn't want to dig out my slow cooker however, so I adapted the recipe to cook it in my cast iron Dutch oven on top of the stove. It was delicious!!
WHAT YOU NEED TO MAKE TENDER BEEF AND NOODLES FOR TWO
Very simple ingredients. I am sure you probably have everything in your home to make this delicious entrée today! It looks like a long list of ingredients, but trust me when I tell you they are very simple things, and not a lot is needed of any one thing.
- 1/2 pound (8 ounces) lean boneless stewing beef, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
- 1 medium onion, peeled and chopped
- 1 tsp canola oil
- salt and black pepper to taste
- 1 cup (240ml) water divided
- 1/3 cup (80g) tomato ketchup
- 1 TBS soft light brown sugar
- 1 TBS Worcestershire sauce
- 1/2 tsp sweet paprika
- 1/4 tsp dry mustard powder
- 1 cup (90g) uncooked egg noodles
- 1 1/2 TBS plain all purpose flour
Small amounts of a variety of ingredients combine deliciously to make a fabulously tasty gravy. It almost has a hint of BBQ, but at the same time is completely different than BBQ.
Its rich and sweet and tangy, all at the same time. Plus the dry mustard powder gives it a tiny bit of heat, which is most pleasant.
HOW TO MAKE TENDER BEEF AND NOODLES FOR TWO
Like I said, the original recipe was meant to be cooked in the slow cooker. That process would have taken five hours however, and I just didn't want to wait five hours!
And so I adapted the instructions, etc. in order to cook it in a pot on top of the stove. The main difference was the amount of liquid, and the flour used to thicken it at the end.
Cooking this in the slow cooker would produce much more liquid and so you would naturally need more flour at the end to thicken the gravy. I basically cut the amount of flour in half as I did not have as many juices and didn't need the same amount of flour to thicken what I have.
In fact, I thought the gravy was a bit too thick with what I used and so I thinned it out a bit with boiling water. Judge accordingly. You know how thick or thin you like your gravy.
Have ready a small flame proof Dutch oven. Prepare your meat and onions.
Heat the oil in the Dutch oven until hot. Add the beef and onions. Brown all over in the hot oil. Season lightly with salt and pepper.
Add half of the water, along with the ketchup, brown sugar, Worcestershire sauce, paprika and dry mustard. Give it a good stir, bring to the boil, then reduce to a slow simmer.
Cover and simmer over low heat for 1 1/2 to 2 hours until the meat is falling apart and very tender. Check periodically to make sure it is not boiling dry. You can add a bit more water if it seems low.
Whisk the flour together with the remaining water until smooth. Whisk into the meat, stirring constantly until the gravy thickens. Simmer over low heat while you cook the noodles.
Taste and adjust seasoning as required.
Cook the noodles according to the package directions. Drain well.
Serve the noodles, buttered if desired, with half of the meat mixture spooned over top and a vegetable or salad on the side.
This was really good. I happened to have egg noodles on hand, but I think it would be good served with any kind of pasta.
Bow ties, fusilli, fettuccini, corkscrew pasta, even macaroni would be nice with this.
Of course, if you are not a fan of pasta or noodles, you could also serve this tender meat in gravy with mounds of buttery fluffy mashed potatoes, or even rice.
At the end of the day its all about what brings you personal joy. I like pasta myself and I especially love noodles, but this would be delicious no matter what carb you choose to serve it with! You just want something which is going to cradle that delicious meat and sauce.
I had some brussels sprouts which needed using up and so that is the vegetable I chose to serve on the side, but in truth any vegetable would go well. Enjoy!!
Beef and Noodles for Two
Yield: 2
Prep time: 15 MinCook time: 2 HourTotal time: 2 H & 15 M
Tender pieces of beef in a delicious gravy spooned over egg noodles. This makes for a fabulously tasty supper for two with a vegetable or a salad on the side.
Ingredients
- 1/2 pound (8 ounces) lean boneless stewing beef, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
- 1 medium onion, peeled and chopped
- 1 tsp canola oil
- salt and black pepper to taste
- 1 cup (240ml) water divided
- 1/3 cup (80g) tomato ketchup
- 1 TBS soft light brown sugar
- 1 TBS Worcestershire sauce
- 1/2 tsp sweet paprika
- 1/4 tsp dry mustard powder
- 1 cup (90g) uncooked egg noodles
- 1 1/2 TBS plain all purpose flour
Instructions
- Have ready a small flame proof Dutch oven. Prepare your meat and onions.
- Heat the oil in the Dutch oven until hot. Add the beef and onions. Brown all over in the hot oil. Season lightly with salt and pepper.
- Add half of the water, along with the ketchup, brown sugar, Worcestershire sauce, paprika and dry mustard. Give it a good stir, bring to the boil, then reduce to a slow simmer.
- Cover and simmer over low heat for 1 1/2 to 2 hours until the meat is falling apart and very tender. Check periodically to make sure it is not boiling dry. You can add a bit more water if it seems low.
- Whisk the flour together with the remaining water until smooth. Whisk into the meat, stirring constantly until the gravy thickens. Simmer over low heat while you cook the noodles.
- Taste and adjust seasoning as required.
- Cook the noodles according to the package directions. Drain well.
- Serve the noodles, buttered if desired, with half of the meat mixture spooned over top and a vegetable or salad on the side.
Notes:
Optionally this can be cooked in the slow cooker. Brown the meat and onions as above, then put together with the remaining ingredients in the slow cooker. Cover and cook on low until the meat is tender, about 5 hours. Increase the flour to 3 TBS and whisk together with the water. Whisk into the meat mixture in the slow cooker. Cover and cook for a further 30 minutes until thickened. Taste and adjust seasoning as required.
Its not very often that you run across a cake that is truly a dessert cake. Sticky Toffee Pudding would be one, as would Pineapple Upside Down Cake. (I would also consider Boston Cream Pie to be a totally dessert cake, although it is not served warm.)
So what do I mean by a dessert cake? I mean a cake that is meant to be eaten as dessert, with or without ice cream, or cream, or custard. Sometimes served warm, rich and sticky and totally delicious.
This is in opposition to cakes that are totally meant to be served cold and sliced. Cakes like a Coffee and Walnut Cake or a Victoria Sponge cake.
Those are cakes that are meant to be enjoyed with a hot drink or as a celebration cake. You will often see them at tea parties or in tea rooms, especially in the UK.
This is a cake that I used to bake when I worked at the Manor. The Mr. was very fond of yellow layer cake with a chocolate frosting. In fact every year the Mrs. would bring back yellow cake mixes for me to use to make him the yellow cake for special occasions.
This is more of a familial cake, an every day cake. The kind of cake that the whole family will gather around at the weekend, perhaps serves after the Saturday night bake bean supper. Its a family style of cake, rather than a celebration cake.
It is meant to be served warm, cut into sweet chocolate glazed squares, with more chocolate sauce poured over top. Perhaps with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, or a dollop of whipped cream.
It was a recipe that I had posted over on my now defunct Oak Cottage blog. I can't really remember where it came from. I decided to update it and pop it on here because it certainly is deserving of being here in my English Kitchen.
I strongly suspect that it may have come from one of Mrs. B's many cookbooks, perhaps one of the Foster's Market ones, but I can't say for sure as I don't have any of those.
I only have the recipe printed out onto computer paper, and I have the memories of the Mr. enjoying it and I have to say we enjoyed it at home as well. Its a really great cake. Moist and delicious. (I know people often don't like that word. Who knows why. I have no aversion to it myself.)
One thing that sets this cake apart from other cakes is that it gives you total permission to enjoy it warm, almost right out of the oven.
Another thing which sets it apart is that you dimple the warm cake with a skewer or a fork and pour a delicious chocolate glaze over top, allowing it to soak in. It is then cut into squares and served with more of that chocolate glaze spooned over top.
Totally enjoyable.
WHAT YOU NEED TO MAKE SWEET YELLOW CAKE
Simple baking cupboard ingredients. Do use real butter. I don't think it really matters if it is salted or unsalted.
For the cake:
- 6 TBS (86g) butter, softened
- 1 cup (200g) sugar
- 2 large free range eggs
- 1 cup (140g) plain all purpose flour
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- pinch salt
- 1/2 cup (120ml) sour milk
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
For the chocolate glaze:
- 6 ounces (70g) good unsweetened chocolate, broken into pieces
- 1/4 cup (50g) white sugar
- 1/3 cup (80ml) whole milk
- 2 TBS butter
Because I use salted butter, I usually leave the salt out. It tastes pretty good to me this way. Also this time when I made it I didn't have any cooking chocolate and so I used semi sweet chocolate chips.
In this case I left out the sugar from the glaze because I felt that the chocolate chips would be plenty sweet enough. I was right. It was perfect.
HOW TO MAKE SWEET YELLOW CAKE
Nothing could be easier or quicker. The cake gets mixed in one bowl and while it is baking you make the chocolate glazed ready to be poured over top of the still warm skewer or fork dimpled cake
Pre-heat the oven to 180*C/350*F. Lightly grease a 9 inch square cake pan. Set aside. (I like to line it with a strip of paper so that I can lift it out easily afterwards.)
Cream the butter and sugar together in a bowl, until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, mixing well together. Place the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in another bowl and whisk well together. Stir the milk and vanilla together.
Add the flour mixture to the creamed mixture in thirds alternating with one third of the milk mixture, mixing until all the ingredients are combined and no flour is visible.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan and place in the oven to bake. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes until cake tests done and either a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean or the top springs back when lightly touched with a fingertip.
Make the glaze while the cake is baking.
Place the chocolate, milk and sugar into a small saucepan and cook over medium low heat, cooking and stirring until the chocolate has melted and the sauce thickens slightly.
Remove from the heat and stir in the butter. Stir until the butter has completely melted and amalgamated into the sauce. Keep warm until the cake comes out of the oven.
When the cake is done and out of the oven, poke holes all over the top with a skewer or the tines of a fork. While the cake is still hot and in the pan, pour 1/2 cup of the glaze over the top and let it soak into the cake for 5 to 10 minutes.
Cut the cake into squares and serve while still warm, with some more of the chocolate sauce spooned over top. Scrumdiddlyumptious!
Everything about this cake is delicious from the moist yellow cake to that rich chocolate glaze and sauce. It smells to good when it comes out of the oven that you cannot wait to dig right into it.
Normally that would be a problem because you'd have to wait for the cake to cool. Not with this one. You can dig in right away, or as soon as you glaze it anyways!
Quick and easy to make, and even easier to enjoy, this is one very delicious dessert cake!! Store any leftovers in an airtight container. Leftovers can be cut into squares and gently warmed individually in the microwave for a few seconds.
Sweet Yellow Cake
Yield: Makes one 9 inch cake
Prep time: 5 MinCook time: 30 MinTotal time: 35 Min
Five minutes in the bowl, 30 minutes in the oven and served warm. The warm chocolate glaze that you spoon over top of the cake as soon as you remove it from the oven is its crowning glory. This is one very delicious dessert cake!
Ingredients
For the cake:
- 6 TBS (86g) butter, softened
- 1 cup (200g) sugar
- 2 large free range eggs
- 1 cup (140g) plain all purpose flour
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- pinch salt
- 1/2 cup (120ml) sour milk
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
For the glaze:
- 6 ounces (70g) good unsweetened chocolate, broken into pieces
- 1/4 cup (50g) white sugar
- 1/3 cup (80ml) whole milk
- 2 TBS butter
Instructions
- Pre-heat the oven to 180*C/350*F. Lightly grease a 9 inch square cake pan. Set aside. (I like to line it with a strip of paper so that I can lift it out easily afterwards.)
- Cream the butter and sugar together in a bowl, until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, mixing well together. Place the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in another bowl and whisk well together. Stir the milk and vanilla together.
- Add the flour mixture to the creamed mixture in thirds alternating with one third of the milk mixture, mixing until all the ingredients are combined and no flour is visible.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan and place in the oven to bake. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes until cake tests done and either a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean or the top springs back when lightly touched with a fingertip.
- Make the glaze while the cake is baking. Place the chocolate, milk and sugar into a small saucepan and cook over medium low heat, cooking and stirring until the chocolate has melted and the sauce thickens slightly. Remove from the heat and stir in the butter. Stir until the butter has completely melted and amalgamated into the sauce. Keep warm until the cake comes out of the oven.
- When the cake is done and out of the oven, poke holes all over the top with a skewer or the tines of a fork. While the cake is still hot and in the pan, pour 1/2 cup of the glaze over the top and let it soak into the cake for 5 to 10 minutes.
- Cut the cake into squares and serve while still warm, with some more of the chocolate sauce spooned over top. Delicious!
Today I think we are having one of the most miserable days we have had all winter weather-wise. Yesterday was so mild that we were almost tempted to walk around in our shirt sleeves.
What a difference a day makes. It is sleeting and raining and snowing all together out there as I write this on Friday morning. There is nothing for it but to bake as it is a for sure that we will not be going out!
There is nothing like the smell of freshly baked cookies to chase away the Winter blues! And these cookies do just that perfectly.
Ranger Cookies are a cookie that I have been baking for my family for many, many years. I think I got the original recipe from a church recipe book here in Greenwood about 35 years ago.
I can remember making them once for my middle son's nursery school. Each parent had to take turns bringing in a snack. These were very popular.
And that is no small wonder as they are loaded with lots of delicious things. Coconut, crisp rice cereal, raisins, white chocolate chips.
Of course you could sub dried cranberries for the raisins and semi sweet or milk chocolate chips for the white chocolate chips.
You could also sub large flake oats for the coconut if you wanted to. I like these just as they are however.
The original recipe made a truck load of cookies. With there only being me in my household now and it still being a Pandemic, I small batched the recipe to make only 20 cookies rather than the original 84.
I just can't be dealing with 84 cookies, no matter how tasty they are!!
WHAT YOU NEED TO MAKE RANGER COOKIES
There is nothing out of the ordinary here. Just plain, simple, baking cupboard ingredients, as it should be.
- 1/4 cup (60g) butter, melted and cooled
- 1/4 cup (50g) granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup (50g) soft light brown sugar, packed
- 1 large free range egg yolk (freeze the white for another purpose)
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup (75g) raisins (or dried cranberries)
- 1/4 cup (20g) shredded coconut
- 1/2 cup (90g) white chocolate chips (can use a mix of milk and semi sweet if preferred)
- 1 cup (42g) crisp rice cereal
- 1/2 cup +2 TBS (85g) plain all purpose flour
- 1/4 tsp baking powder
- 1/8 tsp baking soda
- 1/8 tsp salt
I am sure you know the kind of crisp rice cereal I am talking about. You could also use corn flakes crushed a bit. You just want a crisp cereal not too large in size.
You can also sub butterscotch chips for the white, semi sweet, or milk chocolate chips. They go very well with raisins.
HOW TO MAKE RANGER COOKIES
These go together pretty much like any cookie does with the exception that you do have to chill the scooped out batter on the cookie sheet for an hour prior to baking. Don't skip this step. It really does make a difference!
Melt the butter and allow to cool to room temperature. Beat the butter and both sugars together. Beat in the egg yolk and vanilla.
Whisk together the flour, soda, baking powder and salt. Beat slowly into the butter mixture.
Stir in the coconut, chocolate chips raisins and cereal by hand until thoroughly combined.
Scoop into 1 1/2 inch balls (1 1/2 TBS each) and place 2 inches apart on a baking sheet lined with baking paper. Place in the refrigerator to chill for one hour.
Preheat the oven to 350*F/ 180*C/gas mark 4. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes or until crispy edged and golden brown on the bottoms. Delicious!
Store any leftovers in an airtight container.
When I was bringing up my five children I prided myself on making sure that there was a freshly baked snack waiting for them each day when they got home from school. I was very blessed to have had the luxury of being able to be home for them when my children were growing up.
I know not everyone had this luxury. So I was very lucky indeed. So were the kids! (At least I like to think that they were!)
These are the perfect cookie to enjoy with a cold glass of milk or a hot drink. They are even lovely served as a dessert with a bowl of vanilla ice cream!
In short, these are delicious. So delicious that I betcha can't eat just one!
Ranger Cookies (small batch)
Yield: Makes about 20
Prep time: 10 MinCook time: 12 MinInactive time: 1 HourTotal time: 1 H & 22 M
Crunchy, chewy, sweet moreish cookies. Betcha can't eat just one! Do plan ahead however as they need to chill for one hour prior to baking.
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup (60g) butter, melted and cooled
- 1/4 cup (50g) granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup (50g) soft light brown sugar, packed
- 1 large free range egg yolk (freeze the white for another purpose)
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup (75g) raisins (or dried cranberries)
- 1/4 cup (20g) shredded coconut
- 1/2 cup (90g) white chocolate chips (can use a mix of milk and semi sweet if preferred)
- 1 cup (42g) crisp rice cereal
- 1/2 cup +2 TBS (85g) plain all purpose flour
- 1/4 tsp baking powder
- 1/8 tsp baking soda
- 1/8 tsp salt
Instructions
- Melt the butter and allow to cool to room temperature. Beat the butter and both sugars together. Beat in the egg yolk and vanilla.
- Whisk together the flour, soda, baking powder and salt. Beat slowly into the butter mixture.
- Stir in the coconut, chocolate chips raisins and cereal by hand until thoroughly combined.
- Scoop into 1 1/2 inch balls (1 1/2 TBS each) and place 2 inches apart on a baking sheet lined with baking paper. Place in the refrigerator to chill for one hour.
- Preheat the oven to 350*F/ 180*C/gas mark 4.
- Bake for 12 to 15 minutes or until crispy edged and golden brown on the bottoms. Delicious!
- Store any leftovers in an airtight container.
Thanks for visiting!
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