Kitchen Stewardship

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“I don’t think I can use onion soup mix anymore,” I said, and his world came crashing down around him.  “You’re going to mess with Pepper Steak!?!?” he cried.

This is the recipe I emailed my mother-in-law for during our first months of marriage.  I definitely wooed my man through his stomach and loved every second of surprising him with his favorite meal in the world.  I had already hurt his feelings gustatorially by switching the white rice to brown a few years ago.  Now I was going to experiment with the recipe that worked so well. He was justifiably skeptical.

I nearly used the box, just to preserve the peace in the home.  Reading the ingredients, though, I just couldn’t:

onions, salt, cornstarch, sugar, caramel (color), corn syrup solids, yeast extract, natural flavor.

For two reasons, I decided to strike out on my own:  half the ingredients were not even close to real food, and the other half were so stinking simple I couldn’t believe that I couldn’t replicate it!

If you’ve read my story, you know part of the craziness that happened within my own head and in my home as I learned more and began to make changes in our diets.  Luckily, this one has a happy ending.

Successful Real Food Rendition of Mom Kimball’s Pepper Steak

My mother-in-law’s recipe is simple and anecdotal.  She made it up using a few different recipes:  cut round steak into strips, brown in pressure cooker, cover with water and cook 35 minutes.  Add dry onion soup mix , simmer, thicken with corn starch and cold water, then add strips of green pepper.  Serve over rice.

Here’s my reverse engineered version:

Ingredients:

1-2 lbs. round steak, grassfed is best
2-3 onions
1-2 Tbs molasses
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
2+ Tbs cornstarch or arrowroot starch
green pepper, cut into strips
optional:  tomato

Method:

Cut meat into strips and brown in a large pot with olive oil or butter.  Cut 2 onions into thin slices and add to meat, sauteeing until translucent.  Pour 1-2 Tbs molasses in and add salt and pepper.  Cover with water, bring to a boil and simmer 1.5-2 hours.  When the meat is practically falling apart, add strips of pepper, last onion cut into chunks, and optional tomato.  Bring to a low boil.  Mix cornstarch with cold water and add to hot liquid, stirring constantly until thick. Serve over cooked brown rice.

*Note:  Grassfed beef should be cooked over low heat when pan frying or grilling, but with this method, it doesn’t matter.  Anything will be tender!

Timesaver: I keep a glass jar just for mixing cornstarch and water.  I know it will close watertight, and I just rinse it out instead of washing it after use.

The Husband Review Board Says:

It’s a keeper.  (Phew!)  This remains a very simple meal, and using real onion increases the nutrition a whole bunch.  It’s a classic reverse engineering (see guide here).

Be sure to come back tomorrow to link up homemade salad dressing recipes!

Note: I added a “Print-Friendly” button to Kitchen Stewardship posts.  You’ll find it at the very bottom.  It will give you the option of isolating the text without all the sidebar mess if there’s a post or recipe you’d like to print!

Other husband-friendly recipes:

• Cheeseburger Helper
• Wanna-Be Lasagna Skillet Pasta
• Carnival of Easy Skillet Meals

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Kitchen Stewardship is dedicated to balancing God’s gifts of time, health, earth and money.  If you feel called to such a mission, read more at Mission, Method, and Mary and Martha Moments.

I’m participating in:

• $5 Dinners
• Tempt My Tummy Tuesday
• Works for Me Wednesday

Hungry for more? Related posts:

1. Recipe Connection: Grassfed Beef Burgundy
2. Favorite Summer Real Food Recipes
3. Monday Mission: Healthy Upgrades – Real Food Recipe Renditions
4. How to Reverse Engineer a Recipe for Real Food Quality
5. Recipe Connection: Hearty Lentil Stew