Lazy Pepper Steak

 

When I was growing up, my mom would make what she called “pepper steak”. Instead of using sliced beef, she used ground beef. (I may have the original recipe on here.) I made it the same way for years, but now with some health issues it’s hard for me to stand so this is a super easy recipe that the family still loves!

Lazy Pepper Steak

Ingredients:

1# cooked ground beef

2 bags frozen 3 pepper and onions

4 brown gravy packets 

Italian seasoning

Salt and pepper

Prepared white rice (about 6 cups or so)

Directions:

1. Add your hamburger to the crockpot.

2. Add both bags of veggies to the crock pot.

3. In a 4 cup measuring cup, add 3 cups of water and the 4 packets of gravy. Mix well.

4. Pour the gravy mixture over the veggies in the crockpot. Sprinkle the top with a good amount of Italian seasoning, salt, and pepper.

5. Cook on low for 1.5-2 hours. Stir the mixture and taste if it needs more seasoning.

6. Serve over the steamed white rice. Enjoy!

Notes: 

*I cook 5# of hamburger in the crockpot and then put in quart sized zip baggies equaling about 1 pound each and save them in the freezer and pull one out as I need it. So for this recipe I put the frozen hamburger in the crockpot frozen.

*You could also use ground chicken or turkey as well.

*If the meat mixture is too thick, add some water to thin it out or you could use two more gravy packets to make it more gravy-ish. 

*You can also serve over brown rice or any other rice you prefer.

Crockpot Zuppa Toscana

This came up in my Facebook memories from five years ago. Just recently, somebody said they were gonna make Zuppa Toscana and I told her I had a really good recipe, but when I went to look for it, I couldn’t find it. So here it is! Enjoy!

Crockpot Zuppa Toscana

Prep 20 minutes

Cook 4 hours

Total Time 4 hours 20 minutes

Ingredients

1 lb ground hot or mild Italian sausage

1 tbsp garlic minced

1 yellow onion chopped

4 russet potato diced

1 pinch salt to taste

1 pinch black pepper to taste

4 cup chicken broth (32 oz)

water see recipe instructions

1 bunch kale stems removed and torn into bite-sized pieces

3/4 cup heavy whipping cream

1/4 cup shredded parmesan cheese (for topping)

Instructions

In a large skillet over medium-high heat, brown and crumble hot Italian sausage, about 5-8 minutes. Add onion and garlic and cook for an additional 2-3 minutes or until some of the onion begins to turn translucent (no need to cook onion completely at this point). Drain grease from skillet.

In a 6 quart crock pot (or bigger), add cooked sausage & veggies plus the diced potato. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Pour chicken broth on top. There should be enough broth to cover the tops of the potatoes; if there isn't, add up to 2 cups water so potatoes are covered.

Gently stir ingredients, cover crock pot, and cook on LOW for 5-6 hours or on HIGH for 3-4 hours.

Remove lid from crock pot and add kale and heavy whipping cream, then stir to combine.

Cover crock pot and cook on HIGH for another 30 minutes.

Serve zuppa toscana immediately with shredded parmesan cheese as garnish.

NOTE: I don’t really measure potatoes, kale or broth exactly and it still tastes great.