Crockpot Swiss Steak

 Today’s recipe is a trip down memory lane for me. We used to have Swiss steak a lot growing up. I have been searching for a recipe that was similar to what I remembered. None looked right, until I saw this one in an email last week. Now growing up we didn’t have crockpots, I know the dark ages, so it was usually made in an electric skillet. But you can’t beat a crockpot for cooking dinner.

The potatoes and carrots were not included in the original recipe, but when I talked to my mother about the recipe she reminded me she handed them to the pot.

Get your ingredients together.

The most important step is the crockpot liner. This is one of the greatest kitchen inventions. It makes cleanup a breeze and keeps your crockpot looking good.

Put the cubed steak in the bottom of the pot. You can used round steak if you prefer it. No need to brown or dust in flour.

Slice an onion and add to the top.

If you like bell peppers and I do, add sliced bell pepper to the top.

In a bowl add a can of diced or crushed or whole tomatoes and a can of tomato sauce.

Add 2 teaspoons of oregano

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon pepper

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

The recipe calls for a teaspoon of paprika. It can be regular or smoked. I had both so I added 1/2 tablespoon smoked paprika and….

1/2 tablespoon regular paprika

Mix that together well.

Pour on top of the meat.

I put this together the night before, so at this point I covered it and out it in the fridge ready to go the next morning.

After it has been cooking for a couple of hours I put some tiny potatoes and carrots in the pot.

I pushed them into the sauce to cover them. I like using these little potatoes you just wash and dump.

It’s ready after a day of cooking.

Everything is so tender.

We always had Swiss steak with green beans. Some things just don’t change.

Crockpot Swiss Steak Recipe

1-2 lbs cubed steak- can use round steak

14-16 oz canned tomatoes

14-16 oz tomato sauce

1 onion sliced

1 bell pepper sliced

2 teaspoon oregano

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon pepper

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon paprika- smoked or regular or both

Cook on low for 7-9 hours.

Pumpkin Spice Dump Cake Recipe

 Yes it is pumpkin spice season around here even if I have a few Christmas trees up. This is not your traditional dump cake where you dump fruit in the bottom of the pan then sprinkle cake mix on top and them pour butter on top. This one takes a little more time, a few more ingredients, and several more dishes. Don’t let that discourage you from trying this cake.

Doesn’t that look good. 

So let’s get started. Get your ingredients together. Make sure you have your eggs rebook temp. Normally you would have to soften the butter too but this time we are melting it.

Start with 30oz of pumpkin purée. So that’s basically 2-15 oz cans. I don’t usually keep the larger cans because most recipes call for 15.

Add 3/4 cup brown sugar to the pumpkin.

1/2 cup white sugar.

2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice.

Mix that together really well. I discovered a whisk works really well.

Now add the three eggs. Mix well.

Then slowly pour 12 oz can of evaporated milk into the mixture while still stirring. You know how hard it is to pour, stir and try and take a picture. I’m surprised I don’t have a pumpkin phone.

It’s all mixed well. It is a little soupy like the pumpkin pie filling. In fact you could probably put this in a pie crust and bake it.

Spray a 9x13 pan and pour into the pan and smooth it out level.

Now melt two sticks of butter.

While the butter melts, dump a spice cake mix into a bowl.

My cup of butter is melted. You are to pour 3/4 cup into the cake mix. This measuring cup didn’t have 1/4 on it .

So I poured it into the small cup. It probably would have been alright to eye ball it, but when making a new recipe you like to follow the recipe.

Mix that together.

Drop it by chunks on top of the pumpkin mixture. You want it pretty even across the top.

I sprinkled some pecans on top. You don’t have to add them if you don’t want to.

Now pour that 1/4 cup of butter around on top. I tried to make sure I hit the pecans with it to give them a nice butter pecan flavor.

It is now ready to go into a preheated 350 oven for 50-60 minutes.

Let cool at least an hour before serving. You can eat it plain, add some ice cream while warm, or a dollop of whipped cream like pumpkin pie.

Pumpkin Spice Dump Cake Recipe.

30 oz canned pumpkin purée, 

3/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup sugar

2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice

3 eggs

12 oz evaporated milk

1 cup melted butter

1 box spice cake mix

3/4 cup chopped pecans

Preheat oven 350. Bake 50-60 minutes.

Pumpkin Spice Oatmeal Cookies Recipe

 It’s fall y’all! Now I don’t get all crazy about pumpkin spice but I do like a little of the flavors of fall. I must admit to y’all that my husband wrinkled up his nose when I told him they were pumpkin spice cookies. It didn’t take him long to tell me how much he really liked them. They have a very subtle pumpkin spice flavor. I hope you enjoy them as much as we did.

You start with two sticks softened butter and 1 1/2 cups brown sugar. Pack that sugar in.

Whip the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. My sugar was probably too soft when I mind these. Also I had some lumps in my brown sugar. I tried to break them up before I put it in the bowl. You want to mix for about 2 minutes. It’s a balancing act to mix enough but not too much that the cookies turn out tough.

Add two eggs. Break in a bowl so if some shell gets in it is easier to see and remove. These are locally farm fresh eggs.

Add 1 teaspoon vanilla. I usually add a little bit more.

I like using this vanilla. It is a thicker flavoring. You can see the vanilla bean bits in it. You can find this in Walmart or Hobby Lobby in the cake decorating section. There is also a flavoring called Princess that is nice for buttercream icing.

Now add 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1 teaspoon baking soda.  Mix well after adding.

Add 1 1/2 cups plain flour. Mix well.

Add 3 1/4 cups quick cooking oats. Mix well. Scrap down the sides.

Like I said my butter was very soft, so I put the dough in the fridge to chill for a little bit to firm up before scooping it up.

Perfectly firm now to bake. I am going to bake these tonight. Preheat oven to 350. Bake for 10-12 minutes. Cool on baking sheet for about 10 minutes.

These are going in the freezer to flash freeze. Tomorrow I will put them in a labeled zip lock bag so I can have fresh cookies whenever I would like some.

Pumpkin spice oatmeal cookies recipe

2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 1/2 cups plain flour

1 cup softened butter

1 1/2 cups brown sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

3 1/4 cups quick cooking oats.

Preheat oven to 350. Bake for 10-12 minutes.

If you do not have pumpkin pie spice you can make your own 1 Tablespoon cinnamon, 1 teaspoon nutmeg, 1 teaspoon ginger, 1/2 teaspoon cloves.

If you do not have quick cook oats you can make those as well. Take the measured old fashioned oats and put them in a blender or food processor and pulse a couple of times.

You can add 1 1/2 cups chopped nuts, white chocolate chips or chocolate chips or any combination of the three.