Beef Tips & Gravy

First of all, let me just say that I’m a popsicle this morning.  It’s a wonder that my poor little fingers can even type in this evil, wicked, mean and nasty cold!  It’s a whopping 6 whole degrees in my neck of the woods this morning!  6!  DEGREES!  That’s just insane!  This ain’t Minnesota!   OK, enough whining!  Let’s cook cuz we need to do that just to warm up the house, huh?

So I mentioned a couple weeks ago that I’d recently had a craving for Beef Tips but I ended up making something else entirely.  I invented something else entirely actually.  So I never got my Beef Tips that I was craving.  So what some of you skinny people out there who simply eat to live instead of living to eat may not know is this…….once a fat woman gets a craving, it’s ON!  She ain’t gonna be happy until that craving has been satisfied.  So I HAD to make Beef Tips! 

And I thought today would be a good day to share these with you since it’s so wicked cold here.  This is a bone-warming meal.  And today is a mighty fine day for that!  So let’s cook, shall we?

Here’s most of what you’ll need:  Beef (sirloin steak or beef tips, but we’ll talk about that in a minute) Beef Gravy, Flour, Worcestershire Sauce, Lipton Beefy Onion Soup Mix, Jane’s Krazy Mixed Up Pepper Blend, and Garlic.  You’ll also need a really large bell pepper and a really large or two small-t0-medium onions.  Now let me just say that you’re welcome to cut up your own beef.  And I recommend doing that if you can find good sirloin because that’s truly what works best for this recipe due to sirloin being so tender.   But you see, I am lazy!  And I just flat out didn’t want to cut up all that meat.  So I bought “stew beef” and called it a day.  Worked like a charm!

Next, slice up those peppers and onions that I forgot to take a picture of when they were still whole.  But I’m fairly sure y’all have seen a whole onion and a whole bell pepper before so you know what they look like.  So I think we’re safe! 

Open the package(s) of meat into a mixing bowl.  Add flour and seasonings to the meat.  For this, I chose Jane’s Krazy Mixed Up Pepper blend.  But it’s not rocket science.  If you have a favorite spice blend, by all means, use that instead!  And share with ME what you did because I always like new ideas for new flavors!

Next you’ll want to heat some oil in a Dutch oven.  Use whatever oil you like:  canola, vegetable, olive, whatever.  Get it screaming hot and then add the floured meat to the pot.  Continue stirring it around until it’s browned completely.

Once the meat is browned, add Worcestershire sauce to the meat.  I have a sick, twisted love affair with Worcestershire sauce!  I LOVE the stuff!  So naturally, I was pretty heavy-handed with it!

Now add the garlic and those peppers and onions.  I can’t even begin to tell you how much I adore smelling peppers and onions cooking.  Smells like LOVE, man!  YUM!!!!!

Now sprinkle in the packet of Beefy Onion Soup Mix.

Then pour the gravy over it all. 

Stir it all up.  Let it simmer.  While it’s simmering, make your favorite rice blend.  Personally, I really like a long-grain and wild rice blend to go with this.  But white rice, brown rice, basmati rice or whatever you like would be fine.  It would also be good served over mashed potatoes or a big pile of egg noodles.

I also failed to include fresh parsley in the “what you need” photo at the beginning.  But right before you plan to serve it, add a healthy handful of chopped fresh parsley.  I can’t tell you how much bright flavor fresh parsley adds to a dish!  You’ve got to try it for yourself!

Please excuse the lack of flash in this photo.  Not sure what happened, but I didn’t load the pictures on the computer until after this meal was LONG gone, so I couldn’t go back and take another picture to better capture how delicious this really looked.  SORRY! 

As you can see, I served it with some broccoli and cheese because Ankle Biter #2 could eat broccoli and cheese EVERY single meal of his life.  And I also served some roasted carrots, which is one of my all-time EVER favorite side dishes.  But this would be good with so many things!  Mashed Potatoes and English Peas.  Green Beans with Corn-on-the-Cob.  A Mixed Vegetable Casserole and a big salad………the possibilities are endless!!!! 

Beef Tips & Gravy

*  2 pounds stew beef or sirloin steak (cut into bite-sized pieces)

*  1 cup flour

*  1 Tbsp. Jane’s Krazy Mixed Up Pepper

*  1 large onion, sliced

*  1 large bell pepper, sliced

*  2 cans beef gravy

*  3 Tsbp. Worcestershire sauce

*  3 cloves fresh garlic, minced or 1 Tbsp.  minced garlic

*  1 packet Lipton Beefy Onion Soup Mix

*  fresh parsley

Slice pepper and onion into small slivers.  If using sirloin steak, cut into bite-sized pieces.  Once meat is in bite-sized pieces, place in a mixing bowl and add flour and Jane’s Krazy Mixed Up Pepper.  Make sure all pieces of meat are well-coated with flour.  Heat oil in a Dutch oven or deep skillet.  Saute meat in oil until browned on all sides.  Add Worcestershire sauce, garlic, peppers and onions, and packet of soup mix.  Stir into meat.  Add gravy and simmer on low 1 hour.  Immediately before serving, add fresh parsley.  Serve over rice of choice.

And if that doesn’t warm your bones, they can’t be warmed!  A perfect meal for a cold winter day when you need something warm and comforting!  Enjoy!