Cooking Thursday - Pressure Cooker Beef Tips

I'm actually posting the Cooking Thursday tonight because I will probably end up forgetting tomorrow.

Ok, so this is how this meal came about.  When I meal plan I usually will write the page number of the cookbook I'm using, or make a note that it is on my blog or online elsewhere etc.

Tonight I was supposed to make Beef Tips and forgot to write any notes down.  I searched the cookbooks I'm using this week, I looked online, I looked at my blog and nothing.  I don't know where I got the idea from, but low and behold, it was there and I had already bought the meat so had to wing it.

Good thing about loving to cook and knowing how to cook, is that you pretty much know what flavors work well with others and you're not scared of trying new things.

Since getting my Pressure Cooker, I've been using it a lot and trying out different recipes.  I have yet to find one that didn't turn out well, so I figured this would be the perfect time to try cooking up some stewing beef which is one of those beef cuts that need to cook for a very long time to get it nice and tender.

I didn't have a long time, it was 4pm and I needed to get dinner on the table by 5pm.

I threw in a bit of this and a cup of that and 25 minutes later had the most delicious tender beef tips.  I'm so excited with the pressure cooker that I just have to come and share this recipe, well that and the fact that I've been so bad about sharing recipes lately and need to get butt in gear.

Now I'm sure you could certainly adapt this recipe to make it in a slow cooker for a couple of hours, or even on the stove top for two or so hours, at a low heat to get them nice and tender, but this recipe is for the digital pressure cookers.  By the way, mine is a 4 quart Gourmia Smart Pot Electric Pressure Cooker.

Pressure Cooker Beef Tips

2 pounds stewing beef
1 onion, diced
1 orange pepper, diced
2 tablespoons flour
salt, pepper and garlic powder to taste
olive oil
Half a bottle of Guinness Beer
1 envelope of Onion and Mushroom Soup
Worcestershire sauce
1 cup of water


In a ziploc bag, add the beef, flour, salt, pepper, garlic powder and onion and mushroom soup.  Shake well to cover the meat.

Set your pressure cooker to Saute, add a little bit of olive oil to the bowl, dump in the onion and pepper and saute for a few minutes until onion is transparent.  Add in the meat mixture and brown.

Once the meat is brown, pour in the Guinness Beer, a few dashes of Worcestershire Sauce and the water.  Stir well.

Place the lid on and lock it.  Make sure the pressure release is set to airtight.  Cook on high for 25 minutes.  I actually used the Soup preset button which is exactly 25 minutes.  Walk away and let it do it's thing.

When the time is up, either let it release pressure on it's own, or use the quick release.  

25 minutes was enough time to make the beef tender and to create a nice thick sauce.

I served mine with rice.

{ Tuesday and Wednesday }

I know, it's Wednesday but I didn't get a chance to pop in yesterday and put up my Tuesday post, so here it goes.

I'm getting into the routine of taking my camera with me and making a conscious choice to take photos and to try and keep track of my day so that I can post.

Truth be told, my days aren't that exciting, but even so I like having it all on here so that I can go back and read.  I think I do need to take some more pics of my kiddos though, they're growing up so fast.

Right let me show you how I spent my Tuesday and Wednesday.

Tuesday::::

I had a full day of homemaking, there was laundry to be washed, folded and ironed, cleaning and tidying and vacuuming and so on.

I also worked a little more on my new crochet blanket, two rows are done and I've already started on the third one.

Before I knew it, the day was gone and it was bedtime.  Our Bella woke us up at 1:30 am to go outside to potty but thankfully went right back to sleep and so did hubby and I, but when the alarm clock went off this morning we were both dragging ourselves around.  I'm so tired today.

Which brings me to.......

Wednesday::::

Such a beautiful sunrise.  I love watching it coming up over the fence and hearing the birds all happily chirping about.

My breakfast this morning was a cup of tea and a bavarian creme filled donut.  So bad but donuts are my downfall, really, I just can't help it.

I didn't get much done in the living room, all the painting I wanted to do?  Yeah that didn't happen, I was absolutely frozen today, it was so cold outside and in the house, so I decided that sitting on the couch and having a day off was actually more appealing.  The fact that I did all my housework yesterday, does help.

Yep, I sat under this warm blanket, messed around on my laptop and admired my beautiful crochet.  When you see it all together, you can't help but admire the different colors and stitches.  I'm so glad I taught myself to crochet all those years ago.

Dinner was made courtesy of my Pressure Cooker.  I am just in love with it and all the possibilities, I am so excited to keep trying new things out and share them with you.

I was thinking that since I want to bring back my Cooking Thursday, this would be the perfect time to try new things out, and speaking of which, the post below is my Cooking Thursday for tomorrow, just that it's gone up a little early so that I don't forget to do it in the morning.

If you're wondering what I made for dinner, you'll find the recipe below for Beef Tips.  Be sure to check it out.

By the way, I think I need to do a post on the newest period dramas out at the moment, there are some very good ones that I'm sure you will all enjoy.  I need to add them to my lists, and if you're new here to the blog, be sure to check out my sidebar for a ton of series/movies/documentaries you won't want to miss.

Right, I'm going to crank out one more crochet block for my blanket tonight and then it will be time for bed.

Have a restful, peaceful Wednesday night.

{ Painting Day and gifted yarn }

So I'm about to head to bed since it's already 9pm and tomorrow is back to work/school for everyone, but I wanted to come in a put up a post real quick, just to document my day.

First I'm going to show you what my husband's aunt brought me this weekend.  A bag full of yarn, I mean, the woman knows me well.

Some may be happy and excited with diamonds, I get super giddy with yarn.

I don't know what I'm going to do with it, it's not yarn that I usually use and the brand is not even ones I'm familiar with, so I'll have to research a bit online and see what I come up with.  Meantime, if either of you have used it before or have any ideas what to make with them, leave it down in the comments.  Please, and thank you :)

Super soft and these colors are gorgeous.

I saw someone make dishcloth with the yarn above, the Bellezza Collection Smania yarn, so I may do that with that specific skein.

I just absolutely love the colors, they are beyond beautiful, I'm just completely stumped as to what to use them for.

And these, which I know are usually used for scarves, so I may do that, not entirely sure.  Even if I don't do anything, they are so pretty that I won't mind having them on my yarn shelf just to pretty things up.

And since we're speaking of yarn, I made a few more blocks for my blanket.  I've now got 2 rows done and have started joining them using the Flat Braid method which I think is so pretty.  I'll take pictures tomorrow to show you all.

Ok now let me show you what I worked on today.  The green living room is finally coming along, it's nowhere near done, there are quite a few projects I still need to finish, but it's getting there.

Just in case you're wondering, this is the paint I'm using, it's the Chalk paint in Plaster color by Waverly Inspirations.  I love it because it goes on so well and I don't need to sand or strip anything before applying it.

I watched some youtube vlogs while painting one of my DVD shelves.  It didn't take very long at all and since I want it old and distressed looking, I only did one coat and then went in and sanded the edges and a few areas here and there.

There it is finished.  Some may not like this look, but I love it, I love anything that looks old and beat up and like the paint is coming off.

This week I have to do the other shelf on the other side of the window.

Do you remember a couple of years ago, back in Arizona actually, I asked my husband to build me a shelf unit with wheels that would slide in next to my refrigerator because we didn't have a pantry in base housing???

Well since then we've had pantries and I could never figure out what to do with it, at one house it sat in my garage and then when we moved here, same thing.  I decided to bring it in this weekend, removed the wheels and the black and white paper that I had used for the back of the shelves and painted it green to match the walls. 

I am now using it in one corner of the living room to display some of my crochet blankets.

I feel like now it has a purpose and it's not just gathering dust in the garage, besides, I have more crochet goodies to add on to it, and I can even switch out quilts for the crochet as well.

Also began pulling down the different wooden shelves in that room and am painting them to distress them.  The picture frame was gold, I threw on a coat of green and will take some sandpaper to it and see how it looks, if it's not what I want, then I'll put on a coat of white and then sand it.

The shelves got a coat of green first and then one of white chalk paint.  Tomorrow I will distress them before hanging them back up.

All that is left in there is wall shelf and the DVD shelf to finish and then I want to strip and repaint and stain the dining table in there too.

So, yeah, plenty of projects to keep me busy, I'll be moving from room to room doing what is needed until I have the house finally as I want it.

Alright, it's almost 10pm and I have got to get some sleep.  I hope you've all had a wonderful long weekend and wish you a blessed week ahead.

Happy Homemaker Monday - 01/18/2016

Good morning everyone, Happy Monday!!!

It was one of those weekends that just flew right by, I thought it was still Friday and here we are again, thankfully though, it's a holiday for us here in the States and so there's no school or work.  I get an extra day to relax and get some painting done.

Let's see what we have planned for the week ahead.

The Weather:::
Beautiful morning, clear blue skies and the sun is shining brightly.  We had snow on Saturday morning but the rest of this week it is supposed to be sunny and clear. 

Right now I am:
In the green living room, sitting at the dining table and typing up this post.  Still in my pj's though because we got to sleep in today.  I do have my coffee next to me too.  

Thinking:
About what I want to get done today, which is painting.  I really want to get everything in the living room painted, all the DVD shelves and wall shelves etc.            

On my reading pile:::
The two library books I picked up and the Old West Women, which I started yesterday and am already really enjoying, it's just my kind of book.   

On my tv:::

Still haven't watched the movie I recorded from Lifetime, oh well.
Have a new show that started on PBS last night, also a period drama called Mercy Street, it is a Civil War piece and I am really looking forward to watching it here shortly.

Things that make me happy:::
The old days, simplicity, homesteading, self sufficiency.

On the menu for this week:::

Monday - Chicken Gloria with Mashed Potatoes
Tuesday - Beef Tips with Spaghetti noodles
Wednesday - Slow Cooked Sloppy Joes, Homemade fries
Thursday -  Broccoli Cheese Soup in Homemade Bread Bowls
Friday - Meatloaf with Mashed Potatoes and Green Beans
Saturday -  Homemade Pizza
Sunday -  Southwest Ground Beef Casserole


On my to do list:::
Laundry
Painting 


What I am sewing, crocheting, knitting or creating:::
Distressing furniture
Working on the mood blanket


Looking around the house:::
Needs some serious tidying, as it always does when there's a weekend involved.  Seems that everyone is so relaxed about everything and things just get left anywhere, counters are full, tables have random objects that don't belong and the 12 year old boy leaves his shoes and hoodies all over.


From the camera:::
Was looking back through some blog posts and came across this photo, I love it, and I miss my clothes line back in Arizona.





On my prayer list:::
Friends and family

Bible verse, devotional, favorite quote:::
Isaiah 26:3
3 You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you.

{ Friday and Saturday }

Hello friends, I was going to blog yesterday but didn't get a chance, had a busy day.

Our family arrived around 4:30pm and shortly after we went out to dinner.  We have a Mexican restaurant just up the road and hadn't tried it yet, and Mexican is my absolute favorite food to eat, well, aside from Portuguese of course.

Had a wonderful dinner, delicious food and it wasn't very expensive either.  We came back to our house and played a few card games before calling it a night.

Woke up this morning to a winter wonderland.  If I tell you they were some of the biggest flakes I have ever seen in my life, would you believe me?

My goodness, they were huge.

It came down pretty hard for about 3 hours.

But after a few hours, it all stopped, the skies opened up and everything melted away.  I kinda wish it had stuck around because I do love snow, but oh well, maybe next time.

Spent the rest of the day distressing some furniture and stripping down and re-staining our new dining table.

If you're wanting to remove paint or varnish to refinish something, this stuff works wonders, really. 

We have a pretty big table so it did take a while to get it done, and we did it two times to make sure that we got everything out.

It wasn't a quick process with all the applying of the stuff, letting it sit for an hour and then stripping and re-applying, waiting again and doing the same.  But we did manage to get it all stripped and re-stained.  All that is left is for hubby and I to put on the polyurethane and it will be done.  That is coming tomorrow!!!

In the meantime we painted the side tables in my green living room, and then used sand paper to distress the edges and corners.
 
The table above, we added a layer of antiquing paint which gave it a different finish.  After putting it in the living room, we decided that it didn't look quite right, so we kept them just as the one below and put the table above in my daughter's room.  It looks much better in there.

In the coming weeks, I will be painting my big DVD shelves in white and then distressing them as well, my plan is to have all the wood furniture in that room looking the same.  Can't wait to see it done, and I'll be sure to share the process with you all.

I did inhale quite a few painting fumes and it's produced the biggest headache ever, so I've taken some motrin and am calling it an early night since the family has already left to return home.

It was a nice day, lots of laughs, lots of work but overall productive.

Tomorrow, I have housework to tackle and the usual cooking, and speaking of cooking I have some recipes I need to upload here to the blog, so I'll try to get to those tomorrow.

Hope you've all had a wonderful Saturday.  I'm signing off for the night and hopefully getting a good night's rest very shortly. :)

The grocery haul that didn't happen!

Oh my word what a busy day I had.  I am simply exhausted and counting down the minutes until I can get to bed.

Our Bella got us up at 3am, her tummy was rumbling and she was crying to go outside, so hubby got up and let her out.  She then wanted to walk around the house and then out again and back and forth, she just would not settle down.  By the time hubby got back in bed and we were able to get back asleep, it was close to 4am, which means no sooner had we closed our eyes, than the alarm was going off at 5:30.

We both mumbled and grumbled and complained about having to get up, but we did and I got our coffees and saw him off to work.

I did my usual morning routine and then got up, cleaned the house and finished the menu plan and the grocery list.

Usually if I need the car, I will take him to work in the morning and then pick him back up, but being that I was so tired, I told him to just go ahead and take the car in.  He was coming home for lunch anyway, so I decided to go back with him and get all my errands run then.

Now I need to back track a little here, and this is probably more information than you need to know, but I've always been extremely open on my blog and have no problem discussing certain things.

If you've read my blog for a while, you will remember that I was having some issues with my birth control, the pills were making me really sick and the IUD worked until I had it removed and then almost passed out when they tried to get another one in, so I gave up on that.

When I moved to Idaho, two years ago, I asked to try the Patch and have loved it ever since.  Haven't really had many issues with it, aside from if I didn't use it properly I had some periods that were off, or spotting etc.

At the end of December I had my usual cycle and I needed to get my refill prescription because I was supposed to put on my new patch  that Sunday, the 3rd of January.  With the holidays and the New Years etc, the hospital on base was closed down and I wasn't able to get the prescription until the Monday after, the 4th.

So when I put on the patch, I was a day and a half late.  That was all it took to throw my body out of whack.

Woke up this morning and am having some spotting going on, literally feel like I'm about to start my period again.  I know, I know, TMI, but we're all women here and we all understand right???

By the time hubby picked me up at lunch time, I was already not feeling too well.  Nevertheless he took me to lunch at Burger King on base because he didn't have much time before needing to be back at work.

On the way back to his Hangar though, he took me by the base's thrift store, which I had never been to.  I picked up this book which of course caught my eye.  It was 50c and I couldn't leave it behind, you'll see why when I show you some pages.

It's a book about the Old West, more specifically, the Women.  Oh goodness, the cover it self was so pretty that I had to have it, but when I flipped through the pages inside I grew even more excited.

I am starting on it tomorrow, I have to, I just have to see what it's all about.

I dropped him off and then had 3 hours to kill before picking him back up.  Feeling the way I was, I really debated just getting my groceries, coming home and going back at 4pm to get him, but decided against it and I'm glad I did because time flew by.

One of the first stops I made was at the base library.  I hadn't been there since we first arrived here in Texas, and had forgotten just how big it really is.  I could have stayed in there for a really long time but my lower back hurt, my head hurt and so I looked around a bit and quickly settled on two books.

The Last Wife of Henry VIII by Carolly Erickson
The King's Curse by Philippa Gregory

I then stopped in at the Base Exchange to pick up some allergy meds for myself and some mascara for Jasmine.  By the time I looked at the clock, it was 2:45 and so I made my way to the commissary for my grocery shopping.

I thought I would do it pretty quickly and be out of there in time to go by the food court to get some Charley's subs for the kids.  They had been asking for Charley's for weeks and since I was right next door I figured I would get it as a very late lunch/early dinner.

I walked around the commissary, not really feeling very well, seemed the more I walked, the more my lower back hurt and the more my sciatica kicked in.  I honestly got to the point where I just wanted out of there as soon as I could.

I glanced at the time and it was 3:35.  By the time I checked out and got the groceries loaded, it was 10 minutes to 4pm and I knew I wouldn't have time to pick up the food before grabbing hubby, so went to get him first and then the food next.

Came home and really couldn't muster up the energy to film or even snap pictures for the blog.  I'm sorry folks, but it just was not going to happen today.

I will tell you that I stayed well under budget, coming in just over $200.

By the time I finished getting everything put away, the sun was setting.  I had just enough time to grab my camera and snap this shot.  Such a beautiful end to the day.

Tomorrow it's back to a normal homemaking day.  Later in the afternoon though, we have Curt's cousin and aunt coming in, they are spending the night and leaving Saturday late afternoon.

They are actually coming to bring us the rest of the chairs for the dining table they surprised us with, and also helping us stain everything, and paint the furniture in the living room, white.  His cousin is also going to give it a rustic antique kind of look, I'm so excited.

So yeah, I'll be getting ready for their arrival, doing my usual homemaking chores and hopefully getting some reading of my new books in.

Hope you've all had a wonderful Thursday, wishing you a restful and peaceful night.

See you all in the morning :)

Joyful Homemaking

If I could just bottle up how I am feeling right now towards my house, my role as a homemaker, and being back on my blog full time, I believe I could sell it for millions of dollars.

The feeling is indescribable, it's what I was yearning for, what I was thinking of and what I wanted to return to for the past year.

Today was a truly wonderful homemaking day, a day of puttering around, a day of taking care of the home and family, a day that reminded me once again why I am incredibly blessed to be able to do this every single day of my life.

OH what a happy day.

My morning started early with the usual 5:30am wake up, making coffee for hubby and I and then after he leaves for work, I settle back into bed with my laptop and slowly wake up to the day.

While I watched some vlogs and my Portuguese soaps, I worked on a few more crochet squares for the mood blanket.  Oh and Rhonda wanted to know what the pattern was, it's called Starburst and it's so easy.  Let me know how you get on with it Rhonda :)

My morning went pretty quick, filled with cleaning, laundry and some menu planning.

Tomorrow I have to get our usual 2 week grocery shopping done, I'll try to record it again for you all.  One thing I always do when meal planning, is to try and get ideas from my cookbooks and I have so many sitting around that's it not hard to find one to browse through.

Ended up jotting quite a few from the Amish cookbooks above.  I love these, they have good home cooked food and not using any ingredients that I can't easily find in my pantry.

I still need to finish up my grocery list tonight, but the menu is all done.

Haven't been reading anything lately and while organizing my side table the other day, I found this book.  I've read it many years ago and if I remember correctly, I think I even did a giveaway a couple of years ago.

It's such a good book to read, helped me immensely and I feel led to read it again, so I'm going with my gut feeling.

While I worked on the menu, I had my washer running a cycle with hot water and bleach.  I like giving it a good clean every few weeks.

The time I spend in my kitchen is such a blessing to me.  It is the one room in the house, aside from my bedroom, where I feel the most comfortable.  I could easily spend the whole day puttering around in there.

I got a chicken roasting early in the afternoon for our dinner.  I love roast chicken but if I always find that if I don't roast it for quite a long time, then it's just not as flavorful, and you also run the chance of it not being cooked all the way through.

While the chicken cooked, I took the neck and other innards and got a pot of chicken stock going.  Yes I could buy, but homemade is so much tastier and healthier.

It's all a matter of taking the extra step to make something.  I will be honest, the past year I haven't really indulged in any of these things, if I made chicken I would just chuck out all the bones etc because I had no time or inclination to go much further than that.

Just by taking a few extra minutes, I was able to ensure that not only I had a delicious dinner roasting in the oven, but while that cooked, I had a tasty broth simmering on the stove.

Look at that beautiful thing.  Oh my friends, it brings me so much joy to see something like that and know that it's just a part of my role as a homemaker and that I'm doing these things for my family.

I tossed laundry from the washer to the dryer, and then while I waited for that to be done, I made myself a nice cup of tea and enjoyed a little sliver of my Bolo de Mel.   My brother brought it over for me when he visited at Thanksgiving.

It is a traditional Portuguese cake from the Island of Madeira, and it's translated into Honey Cake.  It's spicy and dense, and filled with flavor and different nuts.  Truly divine.

I sat at my dining table and worked on the menu planning a little more, answered some emails and edited some photos.

Set the table, finished up dinner and then we sat down to enjoy a delicious meal.  I hadn't made roast chicken in a while and it was pure heaven, I don't think there's anything quite like a good homemade roast is there?

Just look at that. 

I'm so full but could easily go back and chow some more Hahah

Everything from the beginning of the day, to the end, ran smoothly, felt right, and made me fall back in love with homemaking.

I wish I could put into words how happy it makes me to feel this way again, but I guess the best I can do is just try and show you through my posts.  Maybe it will convey through the computer screen, or my words, who knows, just hope that it helps one of you out there who maybe feeling the exact same way about your role as a homemaker.

Embrace it my friends!!!