Stroganoff

Tonight I made dinner for the family just my husband and the kids. I wanted to call my dad up and have him come to eat but I know that I was getting off to a late start with cooking. He lives 30 minutes from us now. Not just across the field, like he used to when my husband was in Iraq. He used to come over almost every night for dinner and to snuggle with the kids in the evenings. My parents divorced when I was young (7) and I was always a “daddy’s girl”. I took on the role of caretaker for my dad, not because I had to but because I wanted to. So quite often, I will call him and he will come up for dinner, I think it is his excuse to come see his grandbabies.

I made a homemade stroganoff and candied carrots for dinner. I am not sure I would exactly call it stroganoff but I am not sure what it would be otherwise. To make this I use stew meat, a medium onion, 8 ounces of sliced mushrooms, a few different seasonings, egg noodles, carrots, brown sugar, flour, milk, and smart balance butter. I take the stew meat, ¼ c water ¼ of the onion sliced and the seasonings and cook with cover on low heat for about 30 minutes. I then put in the rest of the sliced onions and mushrooms and cook until almost all of the liquid is gone. I mix flour and milk together to use as the gravy (1 ½ cups milk to 3 tbsp. flour). I turn up the heat just a little and stir constantly until it reaches the consistency I desire. I boil the egg noodles to al dente and put tbsp. butter on them to keep them from sticking together. I quarter about a half a pound of carrots and steam them for about 15-20 minutes (just enough water to cover ½ the carrots). The water will dissipate and I add 1tbsp butter and 2 tbsp. of brown sugar, they are heated until the carrots are glazed. I keep the noodles and meat separated, as my children are fussy eaters. I am able to put things on each of their plates per their liking. I find they eat much better this way.