First Food Post - Cheesy Potatoes, Pressure Cooked Round Steak and Brownies for Dessert!

I mentioned in my introduceyourself post that I had a sort of obsession with old cookbooks. Every now and then I will look through them and make a meal for my family. Back in the day, the wife would make an entire spread from start to finish for her husband when he got home. Some places still do that, but most of us in the United States don't have that kind of time anymore. I work full time so I mostly only do meals like this on the weekend.

These recipes are by no means healthy. Keep that in mind as I go through the steps and ingredients. Feel free to modify them to make them more healthy or to suit your dietary restrictions/needs. The inspiration for all of these recipes comes from Cooking for Two by Janet McKenzie Hill and revised by Sally Larkin. The price on the cover is a whopping 25 cents!

Enough gabbing...let's get on with it shall we?

I first made the brownies so they would have time to cool.

1/2 cup butter, melted
2 eggs
1 1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 Tbsp Milk
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup flour (I used self-rising but you can use all purpose)
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1/4 cup pecan chips

Mix together butter, eggs, sugar, vanilla and milk. Make sure your butter is cooled before adding the eggs, you don't want them to scramble! Mix well then add cocoa powder, salt and flour and mix. Add the chocolate chips and stir until blended. Pour into a greased 8x8 pan (I just use cooking spray). Sprinkle the pecans on top and bake in a 350 F oven for 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

These make a chocolatey, cakey brownie that is just delish!

Next I sliced up about five red potatoes using a mandolin slicer. BE CAREFUL! When I was younger I sliced almost the entire tip of my thumb off with one of those, you'd think I'd have learned my lesson and not use them...Anyway, slice the potatoes up after washing and soak them in cold water while you make the marinade for the meat. I just take a freezer bag and dump ingredients into it. To make my marinade, I used Worcestershire sauce, olive oil, salt, pepper, fresh basil and fresh time along with two heaping soonfuls of minced garlic. Toss the meat in the marinade and put it in the refrigerator while you make the white sauce for the potatoes. Let them marinade for at least 15 minutes, longer is better as you'll get more flavor.

White sauce is good for many things, it's basically just milk, butter and flour and is a base for many recipes.

White Sauce

4 Tbsp Butter
4 Tbsp Flour
1 tsp Salt (Can omit if using salted butter)
2 cups Milk

In a small saucepan on the stove melt the butter. Add flour and salt and cook for several minutes until the flour becomes fragrant. Add milk and continuously stir until sauce thickens. Remove from heat.

Potatoes Au Gratin - you will need:
Shredded cheese of your choice - I used both mozzarella and cheddar because I had just a little of both to use up
Bacon - I used the precooked kind because I just can't be bothered with cooking it. I think bacon is the thing I hate cooking most. About six slices.
1/2 Onion - Can be omitted if desired. I used the second half for the meat further down.
Parsley - Optional

Layer the potatoes on the bottom of a greased 8x8 pan, again I used cooking spray. Spread a layer of your white sauce, cheese, bacon, parsley and onion and continue to repeat until you reach the top of your pan.

Spread cheese on the top layer of potatoes and sprinkle with parsley. Cover with foil. Cook in a 400 F oven for 45 minutes to 1 hour or until potatoes are cooked through. I did take the foil off of the potatoes the last few minutes of cooking because I like the crispy bits on the sides.

Heat up your Instant Pot to saute. Get the meat back out of the fridge and pull it from the bag, I use the sides of the bag to rub some of the garlic and herbs off. I've found that when you saute sometimes those things burn because of the heat. Don't worry, we will season more as we go! Once your Instant Pot is hot, put the meat in the pan and saute for a few minutes on each side to get a nice brown color. Remove the meat and let it rest. Add half a chopped onion to the bottom of the pan and a small amount of beef stock to brush up the browned bits on the bottom of the pan. Once the onions are translucent, add the meat back into the pan on top of them. Add about a half cup more beef stock or water and set your pressure cooker to 25 minutes. Serve with a salad and voila, you have dinner! (Gotta have at least something healthy in there with all that butter and cheese right?)

I know this was a long post, but there were a lot of steps, I hope you enjoy the recipes and let me know if you try them!