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Easy Salisbury Steak with Ground Beef

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Salisbury Steaks with Mashed Potatoes and Gravy

Salisbury Steak with Gravy and Mashed Potatoes

While the recipe, here, is gluten-free, making it traditionally (with all the gluten your heart desires.) is as simple as using regular bread crumbs and non gluten-free gravy.

A few quick tips:

  • Salisbury Steak with Gravy should be illegal to make without mashed potatoes, so whatever you do, serve it with mashed potatoes. I personally also like green beans as a side.
  • See the delicious little (crispier on the bottom) bits around the edges in the photo above? Making your patties a little thin at the edges allows this yumminess to happen.
  • If you don’t have any Montreal Steak Seasoning (Amazon link) on hand… why would you NOT??!!…  simply use a combination of onion powder and garlic powder. I’ve done this before and it’s fantastic.

The BEST Gluten-Free Gravy Mixes

Pioneer Brand Gluten-Free Brown Gravy Mix is one of the things I NEVER allow myself to run out of. It is quick and easy to make and tastes fantastic. I also keep Pioneer Brand Country Gravy Mix on hand at all times. You wouldn’t believe how great it is on mashed potatoes, hashbrowns, or bread. Sometimes I add crumbled sausage and it’s the best sausage gravy imaginable. The two links go to Amazon where they’re available but they’re also pretty easy to find in stores. I’ve found them at Kroger, Wal-Mart, and Meijer.

Pioneer Brand also makes amazing… and I mean amazing… gravy mixes that aren’t gluten-free. They’re simply an extraordinary brand and you can’t go wrong ordering anything they have. Just be sure (if you have to eat gluten-free) to only buy their gluten-free products.

Salisbury Steaks with Gravy

Salisbury Steak with Gravy


Outside-In Bacon Cheeseburgers with Green Onion Mayo

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Rachael Ray Guy Food Cookbook I have quite a few Rachael Ray Cookbooks in my cookbook collection. Okay, let’s be honest and have full disclosure here…. I have every single one except for the newest one, and that’s just a matter of time. She’s a favorite TV Personality and cookbook author, so if her name’s on it, I’m not just “in,” I’m “all in.”

The cookbook pictured here is just one of my favorites.

Guy Food: Rachael Ray’s Top 30 30-Minute Meals is filled with recipes you’ll use again and again – the Outside-In Bacon Cheeseburgers (with HEAVENLY Green Onion Mayo) is a classic example of why you need this cookbook.

Outside-In Bacon Cheeseburgers with Green Onion Mayo – by Rachael Ray

5 slices bacon, chopped
4 scallions, cleaned and trimmed
Extra-virgin olive oil, for drizzling
1 1/3 pounds ground beef sirloin
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce, eyeball it
1 tablespoon steak seasoning blend or coarse salt and black pepper
1/2 pound extra sharp white cheddar cheese, crumbled
1 cup mayonnaise or reduced fat mayonnaise
1 teaspoon ground cumin
Salt and pepper
4 crusty Kaiser rolls, split (or wrap in the romaine if you have to eat gluten-free like me)
4 leaves crisp romaine lettuce

Preheat grill pan over high heat.

In a medium pan brown bacon over medium high heat and drain on paper towel lined plate.

Brush scallions with a little oil and grill on hot grill pan 2 or 3 minutes on each side. Remove from heat to cool.

Combine ground beef with Worcestershire and steak seasoning or salt and pepper. Divide meat into 4 equal parts. Combine cheese crumbles and cooked bacon. Take 1/4 of the meat in your hand and make a well in the center of it. Pile in cheese and bacon, then carefully form the burger around the cheese and bacon filling. Make sure the fillings are completely covered with meat. When all 4 patties are formed, drizzle burgers with oil and place on hot grill pan. Cook 2 minutes on each side over high heat, reduce heat to medium low and cook burgers 7 or 8 minutes longer, turning occasionally. Do not press down on burgers as they cook. Transfer burgers to a plate and let them rest 5 minutes before serving.

Green Onion Mayo: Chop cooled, grilled scallions and add to a food processor. Add mayonnaise and cumin to the food processor and pulse the onions and mayonnaise. Season with salt and pepper, to your taste.

Pile burgers on crusty buns and top with crisp lettuce leaves and a slather of green onion mayonnaise. As you bite into the burgers, you will find a smoky, cheesy surprise at the center.

Below are just a few of the other recipes in this great little cookbook:

  • There’s a very manly chili recipe with some surprising ingredients that will be tried in this very kitchen this week!
  • Blackened Chicken Pizza
  • A recipe for Mahi-Mahi Fillets, grilled
  • Tenderloin Steaks with Gorgonzola and Roasted Potatoes with Rosemary
  • If you or your guy (or kids! – they always love them) have a thing for chicken tenders, there’s a recipe for pecan-crusted chicken tenders you’ll flip for
  • Cheddar and Chive Bread
  • Corn on the Cob with Chili and Lime
  • Grilled Halibut Tacos with Guacamole Sauce
  • A lot more!

If you love great food, and especially if you have a guy you love to cook for, you’ll want to grab a copy of Guy Food: Rachael Ray’s Top 30 30-Minute Meals right away. It’s just a little over $10 and these are recipes you’ll use all year long…. year after year.

Gluten-Free Meatloaf with BBQ Sauce and Dried Breadcrumbs

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Gluten Free Meatloaf with BBQ Sauce
Gluten-Free Meatloaf with BBQ Sauce

When I had to start eating completely gluten-free (Celiac), it was hard enough, as an “eater.” Many favorites had to be cast aside, along with favorite restaurants like Fazoli’s, Authentic Asian restaurants, KFC, and (this one especially stung) Taco John’s. I hated the change it created in my life as well as in the lives of my loved ones. However, far worse was the chaos it created in my life as an avid cook, cookbook/recipe collector, and food blogger. ESPECIALLY given the fact that many of my favorite things to bake were homemade bread,  buttermilk biscuits, pies, cakes, pastries…. you get the idea.

It left me feeling like I’d been hit by a train and left on the tracks… craving buttermilk biscuits, at that.

It affected my food blog, cooking, dining out…. everything except my cats, it seems. I actually went for a period of time on the food blog where I simply didn’t post recipes. I found myself eating the same things again and again – things I knew were safe. I found myself in a place where I had allowed this health issue to win – it knocked me down and I was too dazed to get back up.

Over the years, I’ve had my ups and downs with it – you simply cannot have a major upheaval in your life and not, at times, ride the proverbial roller-coaster. However, I ultimately decided that this wasn’t going to get the best of me anymore. I began branching out and developing  new recipes which just so happened to be gluten-free.

You want to know a little secret? It has made me a better cook! When I jumped off the roller-coaster, I didn’t just rediscover my love of recipes, cooking, and being creative in the kitchen, I found that the love for each had actually somehow grown. What’s more, I find that I’m even more creative now than I was then. There’s something to be said for a hard-headed determination not to remain on the short end of the stick.

One of the things I had more trouble perfecting than I’d have ever imagined is meatloaf. I’d always used Saltine crackers before and made, if I say so myself, the best darn meatloaf you ever tasted. On the other side of my body deciding gluten was poison, I struggled to find the perfect balance of dried gluten-free breadcrumbs, vegetables, and wet ingredients. I expected the struggle to be real with breads, pastries, pasta, and baked goods, but meatloaf??

I finally found the perfect combination and have had a delicious time trying different sauces (tomato, BBQ…) and even vegetables. Like a lot of you, I am obsessed with the idea of using as many vegetables in cooking as possible. When you chop them up, the possibilities are endless – you can sneak them into so many places. Meatloaves are ideal for this veggie sneakery.

One of my favorite gluten-free meatloaf recipes I’ve come up with is below.  This particular meatloaf is far less dense than a lot of meatloaves, which is one of the reasons I love it so much. Feel free to add whatever combination of vegetables you prefer – just try to keep the amount similar. I love the way the vegetables look as much as I love the extra nutrition but there’s another benefit to them. They seem to provide even more moisture, keeping the meatloaf nice and moist. Love that.

I often give the brands I use, on the food blog, not as advertisement but simply to give you all the information you can possibly use. Feel free, of course, to use your favorite brands – or whatever ones you have on hand. With this particular recipe, I cannot say how it will turn out with different brands than I’ve listed simply because I use the same each time.

I might just be the most brand loyal cook ever born!

Best Cheeseburgers You Can Make At Home

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Best Cheeseburgers You Can Make at Home
I don’t throw the words best or ever around freely – especially not in the same sentence. So you can rest assured that since I’m calling these the best cheeseburgers (or hamburgers, if you leave off the cheese.. but why would you do that???) you can make at home, they truly are in a league of their own.

The wonderful combination of….

  • an iron skillet
  • butter
  • quality cheese (Sargento is my cheese of choice)
  • ground chuck
  • sauteed onions

…. make these cheeseburgers so delicious it’ll feel like you’re eating cheeseburgers for the first time in your life.

First off, you have to have an iron skillet for these particular burgers. At least for these particular burgers to be the “best ever.”  Can you use a regular skillet or griddle? Of course. BUT the results will not be as good as they are with an iron skillet – this I promise you.

Secondly, butter. Butter, butter, butter. No substitutions. I don’t know why this matters as much as it does, but it matters almost as much as the iron skillet.

{Recipe Continued beneath the iron skillet….}

Best Cheeseburgers

Let’s build those cheeseburgers!

First of all, melt 1 tablespoon of butter in an iron skillet over medium heat. While the butter melts, chop one sweet onion. Ti doesn’t “have” to be sweet – see, I can be flexible on some things.

You’ll want to saute the onion in the melted butter for a good 15 minutes.  While they’re sauteing, season them with freshly cracked black pepper – and don’t be stingy. You’re not just making great tasting sauteed onions, you’re laying the foundation for the flavor you’ll be giving your cheeseburgers. Black pepper is a very, very, very good thing when red meat is involved.

After 15 minutes, transfer the onions to a plate and cover with foil to keep them nice and warm.

Add another tablespoon of butter to the iron skillet.

Generously season 1 lb of ground chuck with salt and pepper. I plop my ground beef onto a piece of wax paper and season the whole shebang. This ensures that “all” of the meat is seasoned as opposed to just the outside.

Now you’ll want to divide the seasoned chuck into four balls of equal size. Place the balls into the skillet and smush each one down with the back of your spatula. To those outside of Kentucky, smush is the same thing as smash, just with more of an attitude.

Don’t worry about pressing too hard – you want them to all but stick to the skillet. This is what’ll give them that delectable crust we’re all looking for.  Cook over medium-high heat for about two minutes, then flip.

Place one or two slices of cheese on each burger, then add a dollop of sauteed onions on top of each cheeseburger.

While they finish up (it’ll just take a few minutes – by the time the cheese has melted, they’re ready), toast your buns in a separate skillet. Simply butter the inside of the buns and lightly toast in the skillet.  Again, this may seem like a small detail – but it’s essential. I normally buy buns that are seeded, just because back in the day (before my body decided that wheat and gluten were evil), I preferred them. Don’t know if it was because they tasted better or because they’re just so darn cute. Maybe a little of both.

If you have to eat gluten free, needless to say… skip the seeded buns! Toast gluten free bread or simply serve your burgers in leaf lettuce. I’ve done both and they both are delicious options.

As for toppings or sauces for your cheeseburgers, I’ll let you be the judge. Mayonnaise with lettuce, tomatoes, and pickles is fantastic. On the other hand, so is mustard with the same toppings.

{Continued beneath the yum….}

Best Cheeseburgers and Crinkle Fries 2
However… here is my favorite presentation – and it may seem odd, but you’ll  have to trust me: Slather a layer of Thousand Island Dressing on the inside of one of your toasted buns and call it a day. Seriously, these cheeseburgers are so incredible, on their own, they don’t need anything except a little Thousand Island.

Serve with crinkle cut fries, tater tots, or whatever floats your boat.

Best Cheeseburgers and Crinkle Fries

Random thought…. is there anything in the world that photographs more beautifully than crinkle cut fries? Okay, aside from Jennifer Lopez…

Bunless Burgers are the Best Burgers

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Cheese Stuffed Burger

Ironically, before I even had to stop eating gluten, I’d voluntarily cut back on bread. I figured that bread, buns, bagels, biscuits, and their kind were basically extra calories I didn’t need. I began experimenting with ways to enjoy hamburgers and cheeseburgers without the traditional bun and soon discovered that I’d been going about this whole burger thing wrong for years.

Burgers in no way need bread. In fact, they just might be better without it.

Over the many months since I began a whole new relationship with burgers, I’ve developed a few favorite ways to fix and serve them. Below are some of my favorites. Whether you have to eat gluten free for health reasons or choose to eat gluten free for health reasons, I know you’ll love bunless burgers as much as I do.

  • Cut grilled or fried hamburgers into eighths and serve on top of tossed salad.  Replacing a bun with vegetables is a nutritious and delicious swap. Any kind of dressing is delicious with a salad topped with “burger bites” but a mixture of Honey Mustard and Ranch is thisclose to Heaven.
  • Next time you fry hamburgers, don’t stop at salt and pepper – add garlic powder… you’ll never make burgers without it again.
  • Fry a couple of white or yellow corn tortillas and use them for “buns.” This approach is specially good if you use sliced avocado, red onion, salsa, and cilantro as toppings.
  • Wrap burgers in leaf lettuce. Lettuce makes a great vehicle for carrying the burger from plate to mouth – while bringing very few unwelcome calories along with it.
  • This one’s pretty obvious, but too good not to include. Season burgers with Montreal Steak seasoning and grill or fry to perfection – then top with a slice of your favorite cheese and sautéed onions and mushrooms.  Add a little steak sauce (make sure it’s gluten free if you need it to be) and you’re set.
  • This is one of those suggestions people either love or hate – top your burger with a fried egg.  As long as Kosher salt and fresh black pepper are involved, I’m on board.
  • Experiment with condiments and condiment combinations. You know as well as I do that mustard and ketchup are a beautiful combo, but you might not realize that a special kind of tasty magic happens when you combine ketchup and mayo.  It’s outrageously good.
  • There’s a familiar cast of characters that show up to a party when it’s time to top a burger – pickles, onions, lettuce, tomatoes… they’re all fantastic – just be sure to broaden your horizons every now and then and consider avocado, jalapenos, “hot pickles,” olives, and just about any “pickled” delicacy you can find in the condiment aisle. We’ve recently become obsessed with Spicy Bread and Butter Pickles. Find them and you’ll soon be as obsessed as we are.
  • Before you form your burger patties, stir in chopped onion and chopped pickles into the meat, then fry as usual. These are extra delicious when you use the spicy bread and butter pickles, but you couldn’t go wrong with ANY pickles. Sometimes I incorporate the pickles, onions, and (every now and then) garlic into the meat. Other times, I fry my burgers, then briefly sauté the toppings in the skillet, piling them onto the burger at the last minute.
  • The picture below is one of my favorite ways to make burgers: Cheese-Stuffed Burgers. In this picture,  I used Sharp Cheddar Cheese, but Swiss, Asiago, White Cheddar, and Mozzarella are all just as delicious. Simply fill the middle section of your burger with cheese and be sure it’s surrounded on all sides by meat.  I usually simply take one or two slices of a favorite cheese (often deli-sliced), fold them into fourths and use that.  When your fork cuts into the burger, cheese comes melting out, and… trust me… it’s a moment to live for.

Thanks for reading! ~ Joi (“Joy”)

Cheese Stuffed Burger

Saucy Swiss Steak in a Slow Cooker

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The 150 Best Slow Cooker Recipes Cookbook

Talk about a cookbook living up to its name. The 150 Best Slow Cooker Recipes is as appropriately named as the Big Dipper.

Make no mistake about it, whether you call them crock pots or slow cookers, I know my way around them. I love food that has cooked for hours. For one thing, the flavors all blend in a magical sort of way, each bringing out the best in all the rest. For another thing, I work from home and kind of get off on the aroma that fills the house. When they asked me if I’d like a copy of this cookbook to review for the food blog, it was all I could do not to reply in ALL CAPS… YESSS!!! I tried to keep it classy.

So I pitched a tent next to my mailbox and awaited its arrival. I said “classy,” but I never promised to be patient.

The first recipe I tried was the Saucy Swiss Steak. Amazing, amazing, amazing. Most of the time, aromas from the kitchen make it into the dining room, the living room, the den, and (if they’re really on their game) down the front hall and into the two front bedrooms. However, as the Saucy Swiss Steak cooked for 8 glorious hours, the aroma filled not only the front of the house, it made it’s Heavenly way back to the back of the house – into the master bed room and even into our walk in closet! The recipe could have cooked on high for 4 but I don’t like to rush great things. I prefer to… draw… them…. out…)

From the back cover of The 150 Best Slow Cooker Recipes: Enjoy old standards and new classics in this completely revised and updated edition. While 100 of the original and your favorite recipes remain, many have been refreshed to emphasize healthy eating, and 75 new recipes (including 25 bonus recipes!) have been substituted to reflect today’s contemporary tastes. Consequently, the number of fish, seafood and vegetarian/vegan recipes has been expanded and there is more emphasis on whole-grain options. It’s all here: from great family food to more sophisticated recipes for entertaining, not to mention luscious desserts.

The author of The 150 Best Slow Cooker Recipes is Judith Finlayson, a food writer, journalist, and bestselling author. Her slow cooker books have sold over 750,000 copies!

Saucy Swiss Steak

2 TBSP oil, divided
2 lbs round steak or “simmering steak”
2 medium onions, finely chopped
1 small carrot, thinly sliced, about 1/4 cup
1 small stalk celery, thinly sliced, about 1/4 cup
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cracked black peppercorns
1 bay leaf
2 TBSP all purpose flour
1 can (28 oz) diced tomatoes, drained and 1/2 cup juice preserved
1 TBSP Worcestershire Sauce

  1. In a skillet, heat 1 TBSP of the oil over medium-high heat.  Add steak, in pieces, if necessary, and brown on both sides.  Transfer to slow cooker stoneware.
  2. Reduce heat to medium and add remaining TBSP of oil to pan.  Add onions, carrot, and celery to pan and cook, stirring, until softened, about 5 minutes.  Stir in salt, peppercorns, and bay leaf.  Sprinkle flour over vegetables and cook, stirring for 1 minute. Add tomatoes and reserved juice.  Bring to a boil, stirring, until slightly thickened.
  3. Pour tomato mixture over steak and cook on Low for 8 hours or on High 4 hours, until meat is tender. Stir in Worcestershire sauce.  Discard bay leaf and serve.

Bay Leaves
If you’re unable to find fresh Bay Leaf in the produce section of your store, look in the spice aisle.  Bay leaves are a bit of an obsession – the add so much flavor to soups, stews, and countless other dishes. Just remember to always discard the leaf after it has fulfilled its duties.

For year round delicious slow cooker recipes (and aromas you’ll become addicted to!), order your copy of The 150 Best Slow Cooker Recipes today. I can’t say enough good things about this wonderful cookbook.