Cheesesteak soup

Today, I will make the transition from chicken soup to beef soup.

I prepared a pound of chip steak in the Le Creuset skillet with extra virgin cold-pressed olive oil, garlic powder, oregano and a few tablespoons of Pacific Foods Organic Creamy tomato soup.

In the crockpot I mixed:
- a cheap can of condensed vegetable beef soup, with 1.5 cans water
- about 10 (?) ounces creamy tomato soup
- 32 ounces wegmans culinary beef stock
- 3/4 of the meat, with cooking juices, chopped ridiculously tiny
- 2 cups shredded mozzarella
- more than 1 cup shredded extra sharp cheddar

I did it!!! It tastes like a cheesesteak!

Gravy

From all recipes.com:

BEEF GRAVY
Ingredients

* 1 1/2 cups water
* 3 teaspoons beef bouillon
* 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
* 1 onion, chopped
* 1/4 cup butter

Directions

1. Combine water, bouillon, flour, onion and butter in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat and cook until thickened.

I used chives instead of onion and instead of beef bouillon/water I used a can of beef broth.

This was my first gravy and it had no lumps and wash a great consistency.

Soup and Matzo

My husband came home the other day with a box of Matzo. Today for lunch, I took a can of cheapo vegetable soup and dressed it up. Added a cup or so of soup vegetables, about 1/2 cup peas, 1 cup french cut green beans. Diluted with the requisite can of water AND added about a cup of beef vegetable stock from the roast last week. Yes, I freeze everything.

The original soup came from Aldi.

Egg noodles with pork and black beans with ceasar salad

Sorry for the lack of posting, but I threw my back out sneezing. We went out to dinner Friday before this event, at one of our favorite Mom-and-Pop restaurants (Little Italy Food Center in Pohatcong).

Saturday my mom invited us for dinner after my injury and stocked us with leftovers that we've been eating. The price "recipe" seems to be a pork with black beans and egg noodle concoction she made. She made it with beef broth and pre-seasoned pork, but I'd season my own pork (or omit it entirely and replace with broccoli) and use vegetable broth instead of beef.

Tonight we had this for dinner with a side of store-bought prepackaged Ceasar Salad.