Holiday Season in Full Swing
The holiday season is in full swing, and I’m trying to keep up. Our house is filling up with the older kids coming home for extended stays, and I’m still trying to get the decorations done. However, one thing that helps me during this crazy time is having quality ingredients on hand to make quick and easy meals.
My pantry is always stocked with staples, and my freezer has lots of great beef products that make preparing a meal a breeze. This is especially helpful when I have more mouths to feed and less time to do it. I’m going to share with you a couple of quick and easy recipes that help us stay full & satisfied during the holidays. Beware that my instructions may seem vague, but I don’t usually measure ingredients as I cook. You can just use the instructions below as a general guide and make it your own 🙂
Go To Meals for a Hungry Bunch
- Instapot Roast
- Steak & Gravy
- Chili
- Vegetable Beef Soup
Instapot Roast
Cooking a roast can be an all day affair, but who has time for that? By accident, I learned that it is possible to put a frozen roast into the instapot and come out with a perfect dinner. It doesn’t really matter which type of roast you choose, they all work. I usually cook a chuck roast or rump roast or sirloin tip roast.
Sirloin Tip Roast- Frozen with vegetables and Beef Bone Broth inside instapot.
I basically put my roast (thawed or frozen) in the instapot, season it with Tony’s and add garlic paste, the onions, bellpepper, and celery blend, and cover with beef broth. I set the instapot to cook for 50 minutes on high pressure if the roast is thawed and 75 minutes if it is frozen.
Once it’s finished cooking, and the pressure is released, I remove the roast and transfer the broth to a stovetop pot where I thicken the gravy with a gravy thickener or flour/water mixture. I usually cut the roast and return to the pot on the stove to continue cooking in the gravy. Before we eat, I remove the roast and slice it and then return it to the gravy.
Steak & Gravy
At my house, we love round steak and gravy. This meal is always sure to satisfy especially with a side of rice and corn. The GRACE RANCH bone-in round steak provides extra nutrition from the marrow contained in the bone. For years, I cooked this meal on the stove by browning the meat with the Cajun trinity (onions, bell peppers and celery) and adding water and cooking down until tender. In more recent years, I have discovered the simplicity of using an instapot to cook while I tend to other tasks.
Now, I make steak and gravy by cutting the round steak in large portions and seasoning it on all sides very well. (I use Tony Cachere’s seasoning, but your favorite will work as well.) I put the meat in the instapot and then add in my frozen vegetable blend and beef broth. I set the instapot to 20 minutes high pressure cooking. When it’s done, the meat is cooked and very tender. I then remove the meat and put the broth into a pot which I cook on the stove. I thicken it by adding a gravy thickener or flour/water mixture. Once the gravy is thickened, I add the meat to the pot on the stove and continue cooking on low heat until we are ready to eat.
Chili
On a cold night, chili is always a crowd pleaser! Having ground beef on hand makes this meal very easy.
Once my ground beef is defrosted, I saute’ some onions and then add the ground beef to the pot and brown it. While it’s browning, I season the ground beef with Tony’s and chili powder.
I like to use red kidney beans in my chili, but my family doesn’t like the whole beans in there, so I use my food processor to puree a can of red kidney beans which I add to the ground beef mixture. This helps thicken the chili and add flavor and protein.
Once the beef/bean combination is mixed, I add a bottle of V-8 juice to the mixture and cook. I find that the V-8 juice tastes better than just plain tomato juice. I continue cooking that until the consistency and taste are right, adding seasoning as needed.
We top our chili bowls with grated cheese and serve this with corn chips or corn bread.
Vegetable Beef Soup
Sometimes a hearty vegetable and beef soup hits the spot. To make this dish, I use stew meat and frozen vegetables, rotel tomatoes, beef broth, and V-8 juice.
Once again, I turn to my instapot to help me make this dish in a short time. I basically just dump in the stew meat (frozen or thawed), season it, add the frozen vegetable blend (onions, bell peppers, celery), a can of rotel tomatoes, beef broth, and V-8 juice to the instapot. I set it to cook on pressure for about 20 minutes (maybe an extra 5 if the stew meat is frozen). Once it’s done cooking and the pressure releases, I transfer the contents to a stovetop pot and add a bag of frozen vegetables (carrots, peas, green beans, etc) and continue cooking. Before we are ready to eat, I will add pasta. Just be careful about the pasta as it will grow in the pot, so it is better to choose a small variety.
We love to eat this with a slice of sourdough bread.
We serve this with rice and a vegetable. A side of potatoes would also be delicious.
A Recipe for Happy Holidays
The best gift we can give ourselves during this busy season is the gift of time. Having ingredients on hand for a meal and not having to run to the store for meat each time you cook is a definite time saver. It is my hope that these quick recipes above will get you a jump start on meal time and more time to spend with those you love. After all, the best holiday recipe is family & food.
Sorry I don’t have pictures of all of these meals. I’ll try to update this post as I cook the items in the coming days. 🙂
Happy Holidays,
