Beef Stroganoff

As promised!  I invented this recipe several years back as well, in response to my craving for the Hamburger Helper version.  I've learned this fact about cooking from scratch: with a little effort, one can usually recreate just about anything made by machine.  It may not taste precisely the same (they use commercial ingredients I'll never get my hands on), but the good news is that with rare exceptions they always taste much BETTER.  This recipe was one of my first copycats, and it spurred me on to copying many other common storebought foods.  I'll be sharing them here as time goes by.

I used to eat this over homemade noodles, but since pasta is no longer on my menu I often just eat a big bowl of the sauce.  Why not?  It's the best part of the meal anyway!  If that doesn't sound satisfying to you, you can prepare some chopped cauliflower as in the mock-aroni recipe, or you could combine it with spelt pasta.  While not really "low carb," it is much higher in fiber than regular pasta, resulting in far fewer net carbs; is wonderfully filling; and I believe is gluten free as well.



Beef Stroganoff

1 to 2 lbs beef tips (I like mine meaty!)
1 1/2 cups sour cream
4 oz cream cheese
2 beef bullion cubes
2 tbsp butter or ghee
1 tsp oregano
2 tsp italian seasonings
1 tsp garlic
1/2 tsp onion powder
salt and pepper to taste

In a large saucepan, brown the beef tips in ghee or butter over medium heat.  When the beef is mostly cooked, stir in the sour cream and cream cheese; reduce heat to low and warm until the cream cheese is melted smoothly into the sour cream.  Add remaining seasonings and gently simmer a few minutes to let the flavors combine.  You may need to crush up the boullion cubes to get them to dissolve completely.




That's it!  It's a quick and hearty dinner, and kind on the carb budget.  Hope you enjoy!