Jeff LOVES this meal and says he could eat it every fast Sunday after 24 hours of eating nothing. Jeff’s family used to have hamburger gravy pretty often when they were growing up. And they usually used 1 lb. of beef for their 8+ member family. But we like it very beefy and Jeff loves the leftovers, so we usually do 2 lbs. of beef and use a 5 lb. bag of potatoes to make mashed potatoes. It’s also very easy if you have pot roast gravy in your freezer, which we usually do. I just microwave it for several minutes to thaw before adding it to the beef.
If you’re making it gluten free, just make sure that your gravy is gluten free. I usually make gravy from pot roast broth or beef broth and thicken it with cornstarch.
Easy and hearty–serve with mashed potatoes and corn.
Ingredients
2 lb. Ground Beef
Salt and Pepper to taste
1-2 jars Beef Gravy (like this) or 1 container thawed homemade pot roast gravy from freezer (size can vary based on how much liquid you want–we often freeze a Cool Whip container full)
(Serve with mashed potatoes and corn)
Directions
In a large deep skillet, brown the beef and add salt and pepper to taste. Add gravy and warm through. Serve with mashed potatoes and corn.
When the pandemic hit and people couldn’t go to Ikea for their Swedish meatball fix, Ikea generously posted their recipe for everyone. Granted, it’s not 100% the same, and the sauce is secret–so they posted a similar sauce. But it’s great. I generally ended up doubling the sauce and making a few other slight adjustments, so here’s the final recipe. Of course you should serve with lingonberries if you can find any (it’s hard unless you buy some at Ikea), but I have served it with cranberry sauce or I think even raspberry jam once.
Every time I make it, I forget the stipulation that you should refrigerate it for 2 hours. I usually just refrigerate it like 20 minutes to an hour. I don’t mind if my meatballs are a little flatter, because they hold together well enough. Last time I made it, I doubled the meatball recipe, which almost filled up a whole cookie sheet. And I made 1 1/2 times the sauce in the recipe below, and it was a good amount of sauce. If I’d doubled the sauce, it would’ve been tons. Also, I’m not sure it needs so much cream. I think next time I might use half cream, half milk. Haha, or just use all half and half. And frankly, one time I made it dairy free with coconut and almond milk, and Jeff didn’t notice.
If you’re making this gluten free, I did try it once using crushed tortilla chips instead of breadcrumbs. Haha, I’ll never do that again. It ended up tasting like oily chips. So you could use gluten free breadcrumbs or ground up Rice Chex, cornstarch instead of flour, and gluten free soy sauce, which is what I did last time (it’s the one in the picture)–and it was delicious.
In a large bowl, combine beef and pork, and break up any lumps with your hands. Add onion, garlic, breadcrumbs, and egg, then mix well. Add milk and season well with salt and pepper. Shape mixture into small balls, and place on a cookie sheet in the fridge for 2 hours (this will help them hold their shape while cooking). In a frying pan, heat oil on medium heat, then add meatballs and brown on all sides. When browned, add back to the cookie sheet. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.
For cream sauce: Melt butter and whisk in flour or cornstarch, stirring for 2 minutes. Add stock and continue to stir. Add remaining ingredients and bring to a simmer, allowing sauce to thicken. Add meatballs (not with the grease from the pan) and stir. Serve over mashed potatoes with lingonberry (or other berry) sauce.
Of course the real answer when cooking steaks is to cook them until their internal temperature reaches your target temperature (like 135 for medium rare because the temperature will raise another 5-10 degrees as it sits). We’ve tried marinating steaks, but really when you have good beef, you don’t want the amazing beef flavor being overwhelmed by marinade. Save the marinade for a cheap cut of beef, and just stick with Canadian steak seasoning.
Preheat the grill on medium high. For diamond pattern, grill 2 minutes, then turn 45 degrees. Then grill 2 more minutes and flip over. Do the same thing on the other side–grill 2 minutes, then turn 45 degrees and grill 2 more minutes. The target temperature for medium rare for beef is 135, and pork should reach 145. Let rest 5-10 minutes before serving.
For a Sunday dinner, nothing beats a simple roast beef with mashed potatoes. The house smells amazing, and everyone loves the meal. The bouillon cubes and water in the bottom of the pan are to make sure the drippings don’t burn for gravy. Also, the best way to cook the roast is to use a digital thermometer and cook until it reaches 145° for medium rare (time varies by weight).
If you’re making this one gluten free, the beef itself is of course gluten free. But if you’re making gravy, make sure to use Members Mark Beef Base or Better Than Bouillon instead of bouillon cubes (or use gluten free bouillon cubes if you can find them).
Roast with a digital thermometer stuck in the middle, until it reaches 145° for medium rare.
Ingredients
4-5 lb. Beef Roast
(Season with salt, pepper, onion powder, and/or garlic powder optional)
2 Beef Bouillon Cubes (or use 2 tsp. Members Mark Beef Base in gravy, not in roaster pan)
2 c. Water
Directions
Preheat oven to 325°. Place foil in bottom of broiler pan. In bottom, place bouillon cubes. On top pan (greased), place roast. Place pan in oven, then add water to bottom of pan. Cook for 2-3 hours at 325° or until internal temperature reaches 145°. Be sure to watch the temperature because sometimes it can get done faster than anticipated.
When I was in my 20s, our family starting making Prime Rib every Christmas Eve, served with baked potatoes and cheesy broccoli. And maybe razzleberry pie or frozen cheesecake bites for dessert. My brothers like having the savory horseradish cream instead of straight up horseradish also. It’s such a wonderful tradition, and the one time of year when you can justify spending so much on meat for a meal.
We’ve tried a few different methods of cooking prime rib. Originally we used a method of turning the oven off for two hours, but sometimes it was extremely rare in the middle. And we’ve tried roasting it just like a roast beef. Lately we’ve been using the reverse searing method, which works pretty well. They suggest letting it dry out in your fridge overnight beforehand for a nicer crust, but I never remember to do that and it’s still delicious.
And of course this one is naturally gluten free.
This method comes from sweetandsavorybyshinee.com. This chart is helpful, haha, even though I’m realizing it has a typo that says “eastimated.”
Perfect for Christmas Eve. Remember to let it sit about 2 hours on your counter before roasting.
Ingredients
Roast
6-8 lb. Boneless Beef Rib Roast
Generous salt and pepper
Onion Powder
Garlic Powder
Horseradish Cream
2 c. Whipping Cream, whipped
½ tsp. Salt
6 Tbsp. grated Horseradish, pressed dry (squeeze all liquid out)
Directions
For the roast, place the unwrapped roast on a cookie sheet and generously salt all over, then place in the fridge overnight to dry it and create a nice crust (it’s ok if you forget this step). Then 1-2 hours before roasting (depending on roast size), take the roast out of the fridge and bring it to room temperature. Then season all over with pepper, onion powder, and garlic powder. Push a thermometer in the middle of the roast, place the roast fat side up on a greased roasting pan (with foil in the bottom for easier cleaning), and cook at 200° for about 3.5 hours (or according to time on the chart) or until the internal temperature reaches 120°. *Note: If you use a convection oven, the cook time is a little less, so keep an eye on your thermometer. Remove from oven, then cover with foil and let it rest for about 30 minutes. Increase the oven temperature to 500° and roast for 6-10 minutes until crisp and brown on the outside. The internal temperature should be 135° for medium rare. For easier slicing, cut off the bone before slicing.
For hoseradish cream, whip cream and fold in other ingredients. Taste for flavor and add salt as needed.
Why do they call them porcupine meatballs? I think it’s because the rice makes it like little porcupine quills. In any case, on a fall evening, I love when the house is full of the warm smells of porcupine meatballs, hot blueberry muffins, and green beans. This is also a great pantry meal that you can make without needing any fresh or refrigerated ingredients. It’s not a hard recipe, but it does take time to make, with rolling the meatballs and then needing time to simmer. Also, FYI, you can include ground turkey or chicken for one pound of the meat, but don’t do the entire 2 lb. as poultry. I’ve tried that before, and the meatballs just fall apart. Maybe it needs the higher fat content to hold together better or something.
If you’re making this gluten free, you’ll need to make the replacement for the canned tomato soup (since most condensed soups have wheat in them).
Perfect for fall evenings, especially with blueberry muffins.
Ingredients
Sauce
2 small cans Tomato Soup
For gluten free, use:
16 oz. Tomato Sauce
1 Tbsp. Sugar
2 Tbsp. Cornstarch
1 tsp. Salt
2 cans Water (or about 22 oz. water)
2 Whole Cloves
¼ tsp. Chili Powder
1 Tbsp. Brown Sugar
¼ c. Minute Rice
Meatballs
2 lbs. Hamburger
1 c. Minute Rice
1 Egg
1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
1 Tbsp. Dried Minced Onion
1 1/8 tsp. Salt
Pepper to taste
Directions
In a heavy pan, mix the sauce ingredients. Then in a large bowl, mix all the meatball ingredients with your hands. Roll the mixture into 1″ balls and drop into the sauce. Simmer 45 minutes, stirring occasionally. Discard cloves before serving if you can find them.
Oh man, this is one amazing stew in the Dutch oven at camp. We’ve made it several times while camping, and it smells so amazing. Nowadays we mostly make it in the huge crock pot instead of a big Dutch oven, but it’s still very delicious. You can also just make it in a pot in the oven. We often will get up to 5 lbs. of beef. Just make sure you don’t cut the potatoes too small or they’ll get mushy. I’ve also used lamb instead of beef. At first it tastes a little gamey when you cook it, but the longer it cooks, the more the flavor tastes like beef. Just give the lamb several hours and it will taste totally beefy and normal.
If you’re making it gluten free, haha, it needs a lot of alterations because all the soups, even the onion soup mix, have wheat in them. Which is too bad. 😦 But I’ve made it gluten free! Just Leave out the cream of celery soup (you can add 2 ribs diced celery if you want, but it’s not necessary), replace the tomato soup, and replace the onion soup mix.
1 can Cream of Mushroom Soup (or gluten free mushroom soup from Campbell’s or Great Value)
1 can Cream of Celery Soup (or leave out – can optionally use 2 ribs diced celery)
1 can Tomato Soup (or replace with 16 oz. tomato sauce, 1 Tbsp. sugar, 2 Tbsp. corn starch, 1 tsp. salt)
1 can Water
Directions
Cut vegetables into big chunks. Brown beef cubes (optional). Layer beef and vegetables, twice. Sprinkle top with onion soup and bay leaves. Mix soups and water and pour over all. Bake in large roaster pan with lid 8-10 hours at 225-250° and 2-3 hours at 325°. If in crockpot, cook 5-6 hours on high. Check for drying. May add water. Remove bay leaves before serving or warn your guests to look for them while eating, haha.
Since pot roast and beef soup have basically the same ingredients, you can make a soup out of this if you just cut up the beef and vegetables beforehand. Also, for pot roast, I love to make gravy with the tons of leftover juice. It’s wonderful to freeze the gravy and use later for Hamburger Gravy, Beef Pot Pies, or Beef and Gravy served over noodles.
If you’re making it gluten free, make sure to use Members Mark Beef Base or Better Than Bouillon (or gluten free bouillon cubes if you can find any), and make the gravy with cornstarch.
Optional: Flour (or cornstarch) for gravy (such as 1 c. cornstarch, 1 c. water, depending on how much broth you have)
Directions
For pot roast, place beef in slow cooker and cover with water. Chop all the vegetables large so they don’t get mushy after the long cook time. Add the remaining ingredients except the flour. For the soup, you can use any of several kinds of beef, including rump roast or sirloin–it just needs to cook a long time to get tender. Cook for 4-5 hours on high or 8-10 hours on low until the meat is tender enough. If using a big pot rather than a slow cooker, cook soup for 1 hour (beef may be tougher with this method). Remove bay leaf before serving.
For pot roast gravy: Remove everything from the juice, then pour the juice through a strainer into a pot. Bring to a boil. In a bowl, whisk together flour or cornstarch and water until no lumps remain, then add to the juice, whisking constantly. If the gravy is too runny after it comes to a boil, add more whisked flour and water. Salt and pepper to taste.
Mitchell Meals 