Guest Post {Rants From My Crazy Kitchen}

Hi! I'm Bernadette from

Rants From My Crazy Kitchen

or

My Crazy Kitchen on Facebook

I'm so happy that Audra invited me to do my first ever guest post while she is away! She's an awesome lady, and from looking through her recipes I can see we have somewhat similar cooking styles ( I haven't figured out what to call it, family style cooking, maybe?)

So let me tell you a little bit about me and then we'll get into the recipes. I'm a 37-year-old stay at home mom to an almost 3-year-old daughter. I have no professional culinary training but learned to cook many things through improvision when I was a live in nanny to two girl with phenylketonuria, a metabolic disorder that inhibits their ability to digest a component of protein. If you would like to know more, this is my post on it here.

Then when I moved out on my own, I realized I really loved cooking and have been doing it ever since! My blog is new, I just started it in late April, so I don't have tons of recipes on there yet, but one step at a time, right?

Ok, now on to the Salisbury Steak, Cheesy Garlic Mashed Potatoes and gravy. I'll start with:

Salisbury Steak
just under 2 pounds ground round
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 1/4 tablespoons finely chopped onion
1/3 cup Italian breadcrumbs
1 egg salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste

Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl. You are going to have to use your (clean!) hands for this, there's just no way around it. Form into 6 patties about an inch thick. In a large pan over medium heat brown patties, turning until both sides are browned but not cooked through. Pour the gravy ( recipe below) over the top, reduce heat and simmer, turning occasionally until desired doneness.

My remake of Cheesy Garlic and Herb Mashed Potatoes
from Once A Mom Always A Cook ( original recipe here )
6 small to medium russet potatoes, peeled and sliced about 1/2 inch thick
3 cloves garlic
1 cup shredded mild cheddar
2/3 cup light cream
3 tablespoons softened butter
1 tablespoon chopped chives
2 tablespoons chopped parsley
salt, to taste

( I used it in the boiling water) Add sliced potatoes to a pot of cold water as your slicing them to prevent browning, add whole garlic cloves to the water ( don't worry they will mash right in with the potatoes!). Bring to a boil over high heat, reduce heat and simmer until potatoes are tender ( about 15-20 minutes) Drain in a colander, then add softened butter, light cream, cheddar cheese, chives and parsley. Mash well with a potato masher, using a spoon to scrape up any large pieces of potatoes stuck on the bottom of the pan. Let sit for a minute or two to absorb cream.

Beef Gravy
( Or how the whole thing was almost ruined!)

Yep, almost messed this up entirely! If your making Salisbury steak of course your going to need gravy, and I just never though about it while I was grocery shopping last week. I had 2 cups of beef broth in my refrigerator, and thought I had more in my cabinet, but I didn't. I did have a can of gravy, though it wouldn't be enough either. So I had to improvise!

Beef Mushroom Gravy
2 cups beef broth ( I used Swanson's)
1- 10 and 1/4 ounce can Campbells beef gravy
1/3 cup chopped onion
1 cup chopped baby bella mushrooms
1/2 tablespoon cornstarch

Combine all except the cornstarch in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer until mushrooms and onions are soft. Mix cornstarch with a small amount of gravy in a small cup and pour into saucepan. Bring back to a boil and stir constantly for one minute. And here it is!



The gravy came out pretty good, just a bit salty from the canned gravy. I'd call it a good save! Well, that's all I have. Thanks again to Audra for having me and thank you to all her followers that are reading this! Feel welcome to visit my FB page or blog anytime!