Elegant Cubed Steaks

Desperation is the mother of many recipes!  I figured this one out trying to keep good, quick, inexpensive meals on the table…and feeding an ever-hungry son and daughter after swim practices, and a husband who worked long, hard hours. I normally don't use processed foods nowadays...too much salt, sugar and not enough nutrients. But this recipe tastes good, cooks up quickly and the leftovers taste even better (if there are any). The soup I use is the healthier variety from Campbell's so some of the salt and fat is reduced.

This doesn't cost a lot to make, especially if the meat can be purchased on sale at the store. I usually serve this over brown rice (even easier when I put the rice and water in my rice cooker), but noodles or mashed potatoes would be equally delicious. Add a really good tossed salad of mixed greens, tomatoes, carrots and cucumber with a light dressing and you've got a wonderful, easy and quick meal!

Elegant Cubed Steaks

1-1½lbs beef cubed steaks  Pinch of garlic powder  

2 tablespoons oil                 Pinch of salt to taste    

¼ cup flour                        1 can Healthy Choice Golden Mushr'm Soup

¼ teaspoon pepper             1 4-oz. can of mushrooms, drained

¼ teaspoon paprika            ½ (or more) soup can of red wine

                                      

Directions:  Mix flour, pepper and paprika in a a dish or plate. Heat oil in a large skillet. Cut steaks into serving size pieces. Dredge steaks to coat in the flour mixture

and put into the skillet; brown on both sides, cooking for about 10 minutes, flipping the meat half way through.  

Mix the soup, garlic powder, mushrooms, and wine in a small bowl. 

Pour the soup mixture over the meat, turning the meat over in the pan and scraping the bottom of the pan to bring up the good, little bits into the gravy. 

Cover, and cook on low heat for approximately 30 minutes more. Serves four.

As you can see I use an 11¼ inch Griswold cast iron frying pan to prepare this. It's a pan that my husband's grandmother made her fried chicken in...and it was GOOD fried chicken!
The cast iron imparts a really good flavor to the gravy in this recipe. Talk about comfort food on a cold night...this is it!