The Frugal Kitchen: Super Easy Beef and Noodles

This recipe is so easy it's embarrassing.  It serves four to six people and can be done in the crockpot.

INGREDIENTS

1 lb. of beef stew meat
1 Tbsp. oil
1 can beef consommé
1 can French onion soup
1/2 small package of baby carrots
salt and pepper to taste
1 heaping Tbsp. cornstarch
1 Tbsp. water
1 package egg noodles.

In a heavy pot add your oil and meat; brown meat slightly.  Add consommé, French onion soup and pepper.  Bring to a boil, then cover and turn down to a simmer.  Cook this for at least two hours.  Mix cornstarch and water, then add to broth and throw in the carrots.  Taste for salt.  Cook on simmer for 1/2 hour.  Prepare egg noodles according to directions.  Serve beef mixture over noodles.

Enjoy!

God bless,
Pam

Good Reads: Double Strike

Double Strike by Gretchen Archer
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Double Strike is the third book in the Davis Way series. It is a very well written and professionally edited mystery/crime/humor/romance novel. It can be read as a standalone, but it will be easier to understand the plot nuances if you read the series in order.

Davis is still working undercover security at a casino and occasionally acting as the casino manager's wife's double. The security team finds themselves suspicious of a new casino employee that may be laundering money for drug dealers. Davis finds her marriage delayed by work and the small fact that she is still married to her ex ex husband. This plot was fast paced, fun and filled with social media. #NeverADullMoment

I highly recommend Double Strike and I look forward to reading more books in this series ( I would love to see Bianca get treated the way she deserves).

ARC provided by Henery Press via Netgalley.

The Frugal Kitchen - Moroccan Chicken

At least once a week I try to expand my horizons and cook an ethnic dish.  You can't really understand a country until you understand it's food.  Last week I made a trip back to my youth by making a Moroccan chicken dish.  I lived in Morocco for a year when I was very young and I don't remember much about it, except the stories my mom told about when we were there.

INGREDIENTS

2 lemons, one cut into 8 wedges and one squeezed to produce 2 Tbsp. juice
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1 onion, halved and sliced thin
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 Tbsp. paprika
2 tsp. cumin, ground
1 tsp. cinnamon, ground
1 tsp. dried ground ginger or 1 Tbsp. minced fresh ginger
2 cups chicken stock
chicken thighs and legs, enough to feed your family, skinless
1/2 cup green olives, pitted
salt and pepper to taste


INSTRUCTIONS

Heat oil in skillet over medium high heat.  Add onion, sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Cook until lightly browned; add garlic and spices.  Stir quickly, then add stock.  When it begins to boil add lightly salted and peppered chicken to skillet.  Add lemon wedges, cover and simmer for 30 minutes, turn the chicken once or twice during cooking time.

Add olives and lemon juice, then cook uncovered on high heat until sauce thickens (you may need to add 1 Tbsp. cornstarch mixed with 1 Tbsp. cold water).  Taste and adjust salt and pepper.  Serve over rice or starch of your choice.

This dish can be cooked in the crockpot after browning the onions.  It is an easy, flavorful dish.  I think of it as Moroccan comfort food.

God bless,
Pam

Good Reads: Finding Sky

Finding Sky by Susan O'Brien
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Finding Sky is the first book in the Nicki Valentine Mystery series. It is a decently written and professionally edited novel.

Nicki is a widow, stay at home mother of two young children, has a degree in forensic psychology and is attending school to become a private investigator. Her dearest friend has been chosen to adopt a child by the unborn child's birth mother, but the teenaged pregnant girl has disappeared. Nicki agrees to find the girl, which puts her in the sights of a violent gang. While this plot definitely needs the reader to suspend their disbelief; it is original and fast paced.

Unfortunately, I found it difficult to connect with Nicki. Her thoughts seemed to bounce from subject to subject as though they were on speed. It was confusing and irritating. Top it off with her food snobbery and her obsession with sunscreen, which she shared with the reader repeatedly, and I was tired of her. I would have enjoyed reading more about her past and more thorough character development to help me identify with her.

I think that Finding Sky is a fast, easy and light read that most readers would enjoy. There is a small amount of romance entertained with the mystery. It ends with a satisfying HFN.

ARC provided by the publisher via Netgalley.