Not soup, Not vegetarian!

This morning Kate and I were joined by our neighbor Leslie (hi Leslie!) on our morning run! It was fun to add another person to the mix. In the summertime I see my neighbors every single day. We go outside and play for hours on end - I mean the kids play for hours on end ;) Then in the winter we go into hibernation mode and we don't see each other from about late November until April. Basically, I told my neighbors I was pregnant in the fall and they probably won't see me again until I've delivered. So I love that Leslie runs because its the best way to catch up, especially during hibernation time.

On our run she mentioned she's not a soup person (I know, shocking) and I realized how many soups I've been posting and how many vegetarian ones at that! So I thought I'd switch gears. Very fast and easy and not too much chopping required (for you, Angela!)

Also... be warned that my camera officially died this weekend. I'm pulling from old recipes for a while and then either we pull the plug and buy a newer nicer camera or I'm a pictureless food blog... that would be so sad.

from this month's Cooking Light (with some adjustments):

Steak Tips with Peppered Mushroom Gravy

2 cups uncooked egg noodles
1 pound top sirloin steak, cut into 3/4 inch strips
1 tablespoon butter
2 tablespoons finely chopped shallot (I just used half a yellow onion)
1 8 oz package presliced baby bella mushrooms
3 cloves minced garlic or 2 cubes Dorot garlic
2 tbl soy sauce (recipe calls for 1, I call for 2)
3 tbl flour
1 1/4 cups beef broth
1/4 cup red wine
1 tbl Worcestershire
1 tablespoon dried thyme
S&P



While cooking your noodles, heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a saute pan. Add steak tips, toss to coat in oil, add salt and pepper and let brown on all sides. Don't worry about cooking all the way through because it goes back in the sauce later. Remove from pan and cover.



Now melt the 1 tbl of butter in the same pan and add mushrooms, garlic and onion (or shallot). Saute for about 4 or 5 minutes then stir in the soy sauce and Worcestershire (not in the original recipe but it was needed).


The recipe says to sprinkle flour on top but I hate the potential for clumps so instead whisk the flour in with the beef broth, and then add that to the pan. I also added 1/4 cup of red wine because a lot of Cooking Light's recipes are fairly bland. The red wine helped - or maybe I'm just pregnant and take alcohol where I can get it :)

Stir constantly while sauce thickens and then add the thyme leaves (fresh thyme leaves would be prettier but I didn't have any and didn't feel like spending $3 on some), salt and a generous amount of pepper. Bring to a boil, return beef to pan, cook two minutes until thickened and then reduce heat and cook another minute or two before serving.



There are egg noodles hiding under all that steak. Kevin was so happy to not be eating shrimp and tofu again. :)