Category Beef Creations

Pappardelle noodles are flat and wide noodles similar to fettuccine. I decided to use them for a Ricotta & Meat Sauce Lasagna dish. Please don’t get technical and start lecturing me on pasta shapes or whatever. I wanted to use the Pappardelle attachment for my pasta maker and figured they’re wide enough to pass along as lasagna.

On the many times I’ve made shepherd’s pie in my life, I’ve never thought of adding shredded cheese on top of the mashed potatoes until a couple of days ago. Just for a twist, I figured, why not? And it turned out really good. Then again, how can you mess up sprinkled cheese on any kind of casserole dish, right? Try this next time too.

When I’m finishing up the last groceries in the fridge I usually make tacos out of meat or leftover veggies. Like these Beef Green Pepper Corn & Eggs Tacos. I had 2 pieces of thin steaks, 1 green pepper, and a little bit of leftover corn from a side dish some other night. I didn’t have any shredded cheese left though so I figured I’d make scrambled eggs instead to serve as topping for the tacos.

When I decided to take pictures of the process of making Bistek, I thought I was just going to upgrade an old post here at Feistycook with much “better” pictures. Well, it turns out, I actually don’t have one in the archives. I do however have the catfish and pork variations. I could’ve sworn I’ve written about Bistek in the past though. It might have been in the previous foodblogs I’ve written for years ago and didn’t bother importing it here. In any case, here’s one now so I’m gonna stop babbling now and just get to it.

While meat shopping at Food Lion last Saturday we walked by the pasta aisle and saw these microwavable palm-sized bowl of meatballs. The picture of the meatballs with marinara sauce looked yummy. But I think everyone knows by now that in most grocery items, the real product is so much different than the pictured ad. Not to mention it’s $4 prize for a small package.

The meatballs swimming in yummy marinara sauce must have haunted my husband’s mind so once we got all the meat and other grocery items that we needed, we headed on to the frozen aisle to look for frozen cooked Italian meatballs, then went back to the pasta aisle to get a jar of marinara sauce because a regular spaghetti sauce that I already have in the pantry just wouldn’t do. Bertolli is delish, by the way. Then we went to the freshly baked bread section to get sub rolls.

As soon as we got home I dumped the entire bag of Farm Rich Italian style meatballs in a pot, then poured over the marinara sauce. I let that simmer while I put the groceries away.

We’ve been boiling up California Blend a lot as a side dish for our dinners. I prefer fresh veggies but I admit the frozen mixed veggies are very convenient since they’ve already been cut and steams really fast. Still though, I make sure we eat more fresh veggies than frozen ones so I buy ‘em fresh then cut what I need each time. The fresh vegetables are also much better in stir-fry dishes. Like this Beef & Cauliflower stir-fry with some carrots and napa cabbage too.

When I make spaghetti meat sauce for a spaghetti dinner I always end up with more sauce than the noodles. Throughout the years I’ve always been making too much spaghetti that gives us leftovers for 2-3 days worth of lunch. Fortunately, I have learned to save spaghetti sauce for other pasta dishes for future dinners. Sometimes I just ladle them into a jar then store that in the fridge to use a few days later. For longer storage, it’s best to store the extra sauce in a ziploc bag, then into the freezer.

So to use up a bag of frozen spaghetti meat sauce, I decided to use it with Corabella’s Mezzaluna 4-Cheese Ravioli. To make the dish more exciting and filling, I also added ricotta cheese and shredded cheese before baking in the oven. This Baked Ravioli With Meat Sauce & Ricotta Cheese is almost like the Baked Potato Gnocchi W/ Spinach & Ricotta Cheese without the spinach.

A chilly night deserves a warm and hearty stew, no? Beef Stew is just one of those comforting and delicious stews to enjoy during this Fall and possibly early winter season. The best thing about it is it’s not really that complicated to make. The simmering part is basically the hardest part coz you have to wait for all the flavors of beef, potatoes, carrots, and seasonings to marry each other to make a hearty stew. All the waiting time will be worth it though so have a little patience to have a bowl of beef stew.