Easy Ground Beef #3 – Hamburger Stroganoff

You can do so much with ground beef. My mind is just full of all the possibilities! This original recipe called for strips of beef, but I decided to change it up a bit and use ground beef instead. The result was amazing. Even Annie liked it! She isn’t much for ground beef, so that made it especially exciting to me. Isn’t it funny how your life changes when you have a child? When your kids eat, you feel like you need to dance the polka in the kitchen. This recipe is so easy and it tastes divine. Let’s dance the polka, shall we?

Obviously we need hamburger meat. We also need flour, black pepper, dried minced garlic (or garlic powder), cooking spray, onion, canned mushrooms, beef bouillon, sour cream, salt, and egg noodles. Pretty basic stuff here. I’ve been known to say that you can substitute plain yogurt for sour cream……please don’t do that this time. It just wouldn’t be as tasty. Oh, and just so you know – Barry’s aunt said that vanilla yogurt on your baked potato is NOT a substitute for sour cream. You’re welcome.

You need to brown the meat in a non-stick skillet with your chopped onion and minced garlic (garlic powder). See my ugly, stained white spoon? I love it. I’m not sure why, but I do. It’s got places up and down the handle from where it melted because I left it in the pot. It turns colors depending on what I’m cooking. It’s currently staying red because I cooked something tomato based. I had another spoon like it, but I accidently left it in the pot too long and it melted the handle into a funny unholdable shape. Oops. I make about 239,482,349,284 mistakes per day. Anyway, when your meat is done you should drain it unless you want greasy stroganoff. Eww. Return the meat to the pan.

Now, you need to add your beef bouillon and stir it up to melt the stuff. You could also use powdered bouillon, but I like this paste stuff better. Now, you could also just as easily use canned beef broth, but I was out. I’ve depleted my stock over the winter and I’m waiting for the next sale opportunity so I can stockpile it again. Always keep beef and chicken bouillon on hand.  That is not optional. Yes, I am bossy.

Oh, I forgot to mention that while all this is going on you should be cooking your noodles. I used No Yolks noodles, but you could use whatever you have on hand. I’ve always loved noodles. When I was growing up, sometimes mom would just make a pot of noodles as a side dish. My sister and I still love them to this day. When my noodles were done, I was popping them like candy……but I had made some extra for just such an occasion, so it was no big deal.

Now, in a small container you need to mix your flour, water, and pepper. I always start out with a very small amount of water added to my flour. It allows me to get the flour mixed up and clump free before I add the rest of the water. You can use a fork or a nice little mini whisk like this one. I LOVE my mini whisk. Hello baby! My one baby that will never grow up. *Sniff, sniff!*

Now, pour this mixture into your ground beef in the skillet. Bring the mixture to a boil. You’ll need to cook and stir until it’s thickened.

See! It didn’t take long at all, maybe 3 minutes. I love how flour works it’s magic. Cornstarch is awesome too. I’m always amazed at food. Aren’t you? Yippeeeeee!!

It’s time to add the salt, sour cream, and mushrooms. Sorry about the blurry state of this photo. I think the noodle photo is also blurry. It’s hard to get a good focus on the camera when there’s a baby on your hip. She’s very interested when I’m cooking. Actually, I think at this point it’s more of a “What’s Mommy doing that’s causing her not to play with ME?” Stir up your mixture and get the sour cream all mixed in.

You’ll want to heat it on low heat, just until it’s warmed up. Do not boil the sour cream! It could make it do weird things, like curdle. Curdle. What a weird word. It sounds super funny.

Drain your noodles and put them on a nice pretty plate. Spoon the stroganoff mixture on top and you’re done! My noodles kept trying to get away. When I’d spoon the sauce on top, they’d fall over the side of the plate. They’re slippery little boogers. It’s SO good……I think your kids will love it! If they don’t like noodles like my little weirdo baby, then you could also serve this mixture on rice. It would probably also taste quite nice on top of some toast.  Enjoy!

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