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We should have a recipe exchange group. Or is there one and I am just unaware of it?

I noticed recipes in off topics.

Fall's coming and I'm looking to use up some egg noodles from COVID in our pantry . Talk about food for the nuclear apocalypse. Thing is, my kids/H HATE casseroles. I'm looking at doing some chicken with gravy dishes over the noodles. Any good recommendations on a sauce?

Also... pot roast... so looking forward to pot roast next week.

Tuscan Creamy chicken pasta by Simply Home Cooked site. You can use egg noodles instead of the penne. It's a go to recipe for us.

This may get to be one of those "sticky" posts!

How does one do a great beef pot pie, like using Guiness to infuse the ordinary cuts of beef in a slow cooker, and then doing the pie for freezing?

My Mexican amigas use Coca Cola in a crock pot and swear that it adds a lot to tenderize and cook the Carne. So does beer accomplish anything if you add it at the beginning? Or is it just a flavoring for the last part of the cooking down? I'm not much of a crockpot meat talent...

does one do a great beef pot pie, like using Guiness to infuse the ordinary cuts of beef in a slow cooker, and then doing the pie for freezing?

No I don't, but I do use the meatloaf recipe from Granite City Brewery that calls for Guiness and bacon, it's pretty awesome.

I was getting the Christmas card exchange stuff ready to go and "Recipes" caught my eye.

I made this last month and it was the best pot roast I've ever had. I don't recall where I got the original recipe, probably allrecipes.com.

Pot Roast

Ingredients

• 3‐5 pound beef chuck roast


• 1 tablespoon oil


• 1 teaspoon salt


• 1 teaspoon onion powder


• 1 teaspoon garlic powder


• ½ teaspoon black pepper


• ½ teaspoon smoked paprika


• 1 pound baby red potatoes


• 4 large carrots ‐ chopped into large chunks


• 1 large yellow onion ‐ chopped


• 4 cups beef broth


• 2 tablespoons worcestershire sauce


• ¼ cup water


• 2 tablespoons corn starch

Instructions

1. Turn on your Instant Pot and set it to "saute". In a small bowl stir together salt, pepper,
   garlic powder, onion powder, and smoked paprika. Rub mixture all over the roast to
   coat all sides.


2. Drizzle oil in instant pot, wait about 30 seconds, then use tongs to place roast in the pot.
   Do not move it for 3‐4 minutes until well‐seared and browned. Use tongs to turn the
   roast onto another side for 3‐4 minutes, repeating until all sides are browned.


3. Switch instant pot to "pressure cook" on high and set to 60‐80 minutes (60 for a 3
   pound roast, 80 for a 5 pound roast. see notes if using baby carrots). Add potatoes,

onions, and carrots to pot (just arrange them around the roast) and pour beef broth and
worcestershire sauce over everything. Place lid on the pot and turn to locked position.
Make sure the vent is set to the sealed position.

4. When the cooking time is up, do a natural release for 10 minutes (don’t touch anything
   on the pot, just let it de‐pressurize on it’s own for 10 minutes). After 10 minutes, turn
   vent to the venting release position and allow all of the steam to vent and the float
   valve to drop down before removing the lid.


5. Transfer the roast, potatoes, onions, and carrots to a platter and shred the roast with 2
   forks into chunks. Use a handheld strainer to scoop out bits from the broth in the pot.
   Set instant pot to "soup" setting. Whisk together the water and corn starch. Once broth
   is boiling, stir in corn starch mixture until the gravy thickens. Add salt, pepper, and garlic
   powder to taste. NOTE: This was not enough to thicken the gravy. I would count on
   doing this 3 times.


6. Serve gravy poured over roast and veggies and garnish with fresh thyme or parsley if
   desired.

I forgot an important step! Brining really helped I think. I let mine soak overnight.

Beef Brine

INGREDIENTS

•4 cups hot water
•1/2 cup sugar
•1 cup kosher salt
•2 cups cider vinegar
•2 tbsp garlic ; granulated
•3 tbsp onion flakes ; (or 2 tbsp onion powder)
•3 bay leaves
•2 tbsp Italian seasoning
•1 tbsp Tabasco sauce

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Combine hot water, sugar and salt in a gallon bag or large container. Mix until dissolved.
2. Add remaining ingredients and mix again.
3. Add roast to bag, close tightly.
4. Place in refrigerator overnight, or at least twelve hours.
5. Remove roast from brining solution and pat dry.
6. Cook as desired.

Now I’m hungry

This all sounds so good! I'll have to try the Tuscan Chicken, thanks!

The cola and beer does add extra tenderizer. I think it has something to do with the extra acid from the carbonation?

I love doing a carnitas with beer (Coors or Corona, doesn't matter) and then shredding and adding in all the spices and lime and cilantro from there. One of those things I've made so much of in the past that I forgot the exact measurements for.

The beef brining sounds really good- I'll have to give that a shot!

How does one do a great beef pot pie, like using Guiness to infuse the ordinary cuts of beef in a slow cooker, and then doing the pie for freezing?

This, or Guinness stew, is on my list for this weekend. Doubt I'll use a slow cooker as getting the remnants of the searing the meat and vegetables bacj into the mix is part of the recipe. At that point might as well just simmer it on the stovetop.

It must be a beef stew mood...we just attempted to follow an Irish recipe I found online that uses Guiness and mushrooms, mostly.

We chopped up 3 lbs of loin tip left in the freezer from last year's beef steer, dredged the pieces in flour with garlic and onion powder, salt and pepper. Then browned them in batches outside on the grill in olive oil, after which we browned 1 onion and half a dozen small garlic cloves chopped fine. Next step was dumping 2 bottles of Guinness into the frying pan with the oil and beef residue to loosen it up, then added back into the meat/onion/garlic pan, brought inside and added chopped celery, 1 chopped carrot (I's NOT a carrot fan) and some dried and soaked forest mushrooms.

My spices are what may have resulted in a bit less than their expected taste addition, as I used (old) powdered bay, powdered rosemary, powdered mustard and dried thyme instead of the called-for "bouquet garni." Another bottle of Guiness opened and corn starch got mixed into a tiny pan, to make a "roux" along with some powdered beef soup base, and this got dumped into the same baking pan, stirred, covered and baked at least an hour at 350 (Recipe said 2 plus hours but we were HONGRY by then!) I added a cup of frozen peas at the last minute, stirred and served in mini casserole dishes. Smelled wonderful cooking, and we ate the equivalent of one large pot pie each.

I will freeze the rest of the baking pan leftovers into small aluminum foil pans, as a note said it keeps 3 months in the freezer but only 1 month if made into pot pies!

My objective was to make some quick, tasty homemade beef & veggie meals that can go into the freezer. Seems like a truism that "energy used up front saves energy later," but to be honest,? It took 2 of us an hour to prep, and while it was a good meal, I hope it tastes even better later! (We found out that 3 lbs. of beef yields roughly 1 baking pan 13 by 9 inches half full, after adding all the veggies and broth.

Tasty. Maybe mine isn't restaurant-quality food...someday I'll figure it out....thanks all!

It took 2 of us an hour to prep, and while it was a good meal, I hope it tastes even better later!

Did you use any brown sugar? Some of the recipes use it to counter the bitterness that Guinness can bring.

No sugar, but I did see some recipe authors mention adding sugar, especially one cook who tried it using Guinness Extra Stout. I'd read that review before I went to buy the beer, so I bought the creamy ale Guinness and we didn't think it was bitter, just not the explosion of beefy goodness I was imagining, like at an English pub.

But this morning, the kitchen still smells wonderful, from the herbs and beer aromas with the onions...I put 3 loaf tins into the freezer, and later, we might decide to top with some potatoes for a shepherd's pie!

If I got really creative, maybe I could make a big pie crust and roll the frozen brick of stew into it, and bake it sorta like an English meat pie....

The herbs really are a key, I think?

Defrosted one of the tinfoil pans of the Guinness beef stew, and topped it with sliced, sauteed potatoes in butter, then reheated the tin pan to 375 F and served it like a Shepherd's pie. We noticed all the Guinness aroma was gone. 🙁 In fact, most of the rich herb flavors had vanished, as well. A very ordinary beef stew it was.

So apparently that kind of recipe doesn't freeze well, folks...at least not for me. (I did see the recipes mentioned "serve immediately," which must mean "best if eaten fresh.")

[This message edited by Superesse at 2:37 AM, Friday, October 14th]

For egg noodles, check into some Chinese noodle dishes. I think they'd be compatible with some North China variations. Sorry, I can't think of any dishes by name right now.

My W loves pot roast, so I'll send her here for your recipe, MH.

Learned a neat little trick for those who want to make spaghetti sauce from their home-canned tomato juice (or fresh rendered tomato juice). Put a quart of tomato juice in a large baking dish, chop up some garlic cloves, sprinkle some oregano over it and a pinch of thyme. Cover the dish with foil, make several slits for venting, and heat at around 200 degrees F (I tried 170, then 190, then finally 325 when it wasn't thickening fast enough). Made my kitchen smell like a pizza parlor, Mmmm!

Too bad my (volunteer, wild grown) spaghetti squash must have been a bit immature when we harvested the vines; it was roasted to death at 400 F, but didn't shred up well like it is supposed to. It just came out of the rind in chunks, but tasted the same (always seems like something disappoints, with me cooking, ARGH!)

I sauteed a pound of ground beef, then added it with salt and onion powder to the baking dish of tomato sauce and rendered it all down in the oven, yielding an almost a perfect spaghetti sauce!