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The Easiest Way to Make Steak Gravy

August 1, 2021 by Laura Leave a Comment

This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but will share some commission.

Have some leftover steak? Here’s the easiest way to make steak gravy!

Did you see my recent post about making biscuits with one hand? It’s by far the easiest way to make biscuits! Very little mess!

That day, while I was only interested in the biscuits so that I could slather on the butter, I knew that Matt and our big boys would be looking around for some gravy to put on them. (Seems that I should write a book called “If You Give a Boy a Biscuit”…)

I remembered that I had some leftover grilled steak that we needed to use up. And so, I used it to make Steak Gravy.

No one complained. No, not one.

The Easiest Way to Make Steak GravyYum

The Easiest Way to Make Steak Gravy
 
Save Print
Author: Laura
Serves: 2-3 servings
Ingredients
  • 2 leftover cooked steaks
  • ¼ cup butter
  • 3-4 Tablespoons cornstarch or flour
  • 2 cups of milk (more if your gravy seems too thick)
Instructions
  1. Cut leftover steak into small bites. (I use kitchen shears to make this easier!)
  2. Put the bites into a skillet.
  3. Add butter.
  4. Melt the butter while heating the steak.
  5. Sprinkle in cornstarch or flour to make a paste.
  6. Add milk.
  7. Cook and stir over medium to high heat until mixture is thick and bubbly.
  8. Salt and pepper per your preference.
  9. Serve over biscuits
3.5.3251

 

 

If your gravy fails to thicken, mix a “paste” of 2 Tablespoons flour with 3 Tablespoons of water. Stir the mixture into your gravy, little bits at a time until the gravy thickens to desired consistency. Do NOT sprinkle flour directly into the gravy. That’s how lumpy gravy is made. :)

Prefer to make sausage gravy? Here’s our easy and delicious Sausage Gravy Recipe.

Steak Gravy over Mashed Potatoes

Yes, please.

What an amazing meal this will be! Here are our easiest methods for making mashed potatoes:

  1. How to make mashed potatoes in the Crock Pot
  2. How to make mashed potatoes in the Instant Pot

Making mashed potatoes with either of these methods creates so little mess to clean up!

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!

How to Make Mashed Potatoes in the Instant Pot

June 5, 2018 by Laura 4 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but will share some commission.

If you have an Instant Pot and you have ten minutes, you can make mashed potatoes. I suppose it is also important that you have some potatoes available to work with. Butter is a must. Sea salt is a game changer. Wait until you see how simple it is to make these mashed potatoes!

Remember a few months ago when I figured out how to make Mashed Potatoes in my crock pot? That amazing trick took my family from the depths of mashed potato despair into the peak of mashed potato heaven. As it was, I had stopped making mashed potatoes altogether. After all, who had time for the effort? Who could afford the energy? Why must mashed potatoes make such a mess of pots and beaters and countertops and walls? (Confession: I am a messy cook. Mashed potatoes were the worst for me.)

So I stopped. We never ate mashed potatoes. There simply was no time.

Then I learned to make them in the most simple way possible, which meant that not only could we make mashed potatoes again, we could make them every week without trouble. And then, just when I thought I’d discovered the easiest way to make mashed potatoes…

I learned to make them in my Instant Pot (my affiliate link). In ten minutes.

You know how people always say, “Oh, life was so much better back in the pioneer days. Certainly life was much simpler then.” I agree to a certain extent but alas, the pioneers did not have Instant Pots. So let’s here it for the 21st century and its wonderful technology!

So would you believe you can wash potatoes, throw them into your Instant Pot with some water, let them cook for 10 minutes, then mash them and serve them and make everyone very happy? You, of course, will be the happiest of all because you didn’t have to slave over your potatoes. And if your children happen to be of age, you can ask them to scrub your potatoes, making your work load is even lighter!

How to Make Mashed Potatoes in the Instant Pot

How to Make Mashed Potatoes in the Instant Pot
 
Save Print
Author: Laura
Serves: 6-8
Ingredients
  • 5 pounds gold or red potatoes
  • 1 cup water
  • 1 cup whole milk, half-and-half, or cream
  • 2 cups sour cream
  • ¼-1/2 cup butter
  • sea salt to taste
Instructions
  1. Scrub, but don't peel the potatoes.
  2. Put them (whole) into an Instant Pot on the metal trivet, along with 1 cup of water.
  3. Seal and cook at hi pressure, manual setting, for 10 minutes.
  4. Release the pressure and open the Instant pot.
  5. Mash soft potatoes directly in the crock with a potato masher.
  6. While mashing, dump in the milk, sour cream, butter, and salt.
  7. Continue mashing until potatoes have reached desired consistency.
3.5.3229

Truly these are the most delicious!

Can you use russet potatoes to make these mashed potatoes? I don’t recommend it. They take a longer cooking time, they aren’t as nourishing, and they don’t taste as good. Gold or red potatoes are much preferred!

I like to also add shredded cheese to our potatoes to make them tastier and more substantial.

Want Simple Meal ideas to serve with your Simple Instant Pot Potatoes?

  • imple Baked Salmon and Asparagus
  • Simple Crock Pot Chicken Soup with a Kick
  • Simple Skillet Taco Pasta
  • Last-Minute Lentil Chili
  • Simple Sweet and Sour Baked Chicken Legs
  • 20-Minute Taco Soup
  • Simple Cheesy Baked Chicken
  • Simple Creamy Chicken Stew in the Crock Pot
  • Simple Italian Beef and Broccoli Skillet
  • Simple Bacon Ranch Chicken
  • Simple Hawaiian Crock Pot Chicken
  • Simple Taco Rice Dinner
  • Simple Last Minute Nacho Plate
  • Simple Chicken Cheeseballs with a Kick
  • Simple Beanie Weanies
  • Simple Crock Pot BBQ Spareribs
  • Simple Pizza Chicken Bake
  • Simple Italian Chicken and Green Bean Bake
  • Last Minute Creamy Bacon Spaghetti
  • Simple Hamburger Soup
  • Simple Parmesan Broiled Fish
  • Simple Overnight Saucy Crock Pot Chicken
  • Simple 15-Minute Meal
  • Simple Overnight Melt-in-Your-Mouth Beef Roast
  • Simple 3-Cheese Crock Pot Pasta
  • Simple Oven Fried Chicken
  • Simple Honey Mustard Chicken Legs
  • The Easiest Mashed Potatoes in the World
  • Simple Garlic Butter Shrimp
  • Simple Crunchy Ranch Chicken Strips
  • Simple Crock Pot Shredded Ranch Chicken (for salad or tacos)
  • Simple Crock Pot Pizza Casserole
  • Simple Barbecue Beef Roast
  • Simple Spanish Rice Bowls
  • Simple Roasted Rotiserie Chicken
  • Simple Green Chile Chicken
  • Simple Tex-Mex Creamy Chicken
  • Simple Waffle Omelets
  • Simple Crock Pot Taco Pasta
  • Simple Grilled Chicken
  • Simple Hawaiian Beef Roast
  • Simple Crock Pot Creamy Stew Meat
  • Simple Cheese Stuffed Burgers
  • Simple Hashbrown Casserole (For Instant Pot, Crock Pot or Oven!)
  • Simple Lasagna Casserole (For Instant Pot or Crock Pot)
  • Simple Chili Mac
  • Simple Bacon Cheeseburger Casserole
  • From Burrito Bar to Casserole (a 5-Minute Meal!)
  • Simple Bacon Cheeseburger Roll
  • Simple Garlic Parmesan Chicken Legs
  • Super Simple Lasagna
  • The Simplest White Chicken Chili
  • Simple Lentil Nachos
  • Simple Tuna Patties
  • Simple Banana Pancakes
  • Simple Crock Pot Applesauce BBQ Chicken
  • Simple Hashbrown and Egg Nests
  • Simple Cornbread Waffles with Chili
  • Simple Veggie Fritters
  • Simple Lemon Garlic Chicken Legs
  • Simple Noodle Soup
  • Simple Three Cheese Spaghetti
  • Simple Crock Pot Salsa Shredded Beef
  • Simple Cheeseburger Hashbrown Casserole

Join Simple Meals. You’ll love it!

 

Enjoy all these recipes without effort when you become a Simple Meals member! Every week we’ll send you a great menu plan full of Simple Recipes like this one. We’ll equip you with a grocery list. We’ll break everything down so that your meal prep is as simple as possible. We’ll give you bonus tips and recipes and freebies. And this is all for just $1 each week. You’ll love it!

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Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!

The Easiest Mashed Potatoes in the World! (How the crock pot can make mashed potatoes great again)

March 12, 2017 by Laura 22 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but will share some commission.

Because I work from home and we school at home, my daily commute and our trek to school are as far as walking downstairs to the kitchen from our bedrooms (uphill both ways, mind you). This also means that my work attire is typically quite casual and sometimes involves pajama pants.

It all makes sense, then, that I would run out the door to a meeting a few evenings ago where I would join many professionals who had just left their offices. They were so dressed up and looked so nice! I took a seat, looked down, and that’s when I noticed that I was still wearing my slippers.

Nailed it. But at least I had on actual pants.

I’ve gotten to the point of laughing (most of the time) about the craziness of my days – mostly because I truly do love my life – even if it is sometimes questionably insane. The “day of the slippers” I had gone from one kid to the next to the next as we tried to crank out papers and assignments for school, along with a video that was due for a church event the minute we got back from a three day out-of-state basketball tournament. Try as I might, never once was I able to sit down to even answer a work email.

The day after that was no different (except that I was still wearing those same slippers). So I’m not sure what came over me when I decided that morning to try the Crock Pot Mashed Potatoes so many of you told me about after I’d lamented that my mashed tater making days had come to an end.

They take too much time, said I. They make too much of a mess. I’ve got to keep my meals simple!!

All of this is true. After all, I don’t even have time to remember to wear shoes when I go out in public. Therefore no one should expect me to make mashed potatoes for dinner.

But since the crock pot version seemed just as simple as making baked potatoes in the crock pot – and I’ve been doing that for years – I decided to give mashed potatoes one last chance.

The easiest mashed potatoes in the world!

You guys. My children are so happy that you are in my life. They had long since forgotten that mashed potatoes were an actual thing. Imagine their faces (and their full plates) when I presented them with a crock full of beautiful, fluffy, delicious mashed potatoes THAT HAD TAKEN ALL OF 2 MINUTES TO MAKE.

The crock pot has made mashed potatoes great again.

What’s the difference in the amount of work/time/dirty dishes compared to making mashed potatoes on the stove-top? The difference for me is enormous!

When I made potatoes on the stove-top, I’d dirty a pot, and I’d almost always allow the potato water to spill over and dirty the stove-top. Then I’d transfer the cooked potatoes to a bowl and use my beaters to mash them. This means I’d dirty my counter-tops because I’m a messy cook and potatoes would fling precariously from the beaters.

I can’t even handle the memory of making mashed potatoes this way. I just had to walk away.

But here’s how to make Simple Mashed Potatoes in the Crock Pot. I do warn you ahead of time and apologize because I no longer know how to cook in small quantity. If you aren’t feeding an army of teenage boys, feel free to cut this recipe in half.

The Easiest Mashed Potatoes in the World

5.0 from 1 reviews
Simple Mashed Potatoes (How the crock pot can make mashed potatoes great again)
 
Save Print
Author: Laura
Serves: 6-8
Ingredients
  • 5 pounds potatoes (I prefer yukon gold)
  • 1 cup whole milk, half-and-half, or cream
  • 2 cups sour cream
  • ¼-1/2 cup butter
  • sea salt to taste
Instructions
  1. Scrub, but don't peel the potatoes
  2. Cook them in a crock pot on low for 8-10 hours or on high for 5 hours.
  3. Mash soft potatoes directly in the crock with a potato masher.
  4. While mashing, dump in the milk, sour cream, butter, and salt.
  5. Continue mashing until potatoes have reached desired consistency.
3.4.3177

How to make the easiest mashed potatoes in the worldA few extra tips: 

  • If you don’t like potato skins, peel them before baking them. Of course, this requires an extra step, takes away some nourishment, and I just can’t handle it. (The skin on yukon gold or red potatoes is much thinner and easier to eat, so I recommend sticking with those potatoes in this recipe!)
  • You don’t have to add sour cream and butter to these, but if you don’t, what even is the point of eating them??
  • These will cook faster if you cut the potatoes into chunks, but again, then we’ve added an extra step to the process which changes the name of these potatoes to “Almost the easiest mashed potatoes in the world.”

Much to my family’s delight, I have made mashed potatoes two weeks in a row after a very long mashed potato hiatus. A huge thank you to all who suggested this method!

Tell me if you’ve tried mashed potatoes this way? If you haven’t, promise me you’ll join this mashed potato party!

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!

The Time I Got Attacked About Mashed Potatoes

February 19, 2017 by Laura 28 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but will share some commission.

It’s funny what people will say on social media. I find it especially humorous when I say a brief statement, link to a post, then people react to my words without clicking over to actually read the post.

Here’s what I shared on Facebook a few weeks ago:

facebook-mashed-potatoes

My intent with this Facebook post was to share some ways to cut back on our time in the kitchen. To share some easy recipes to make kitchen life easier for busy families. Everyone wants to hear about this, right?

But before I knew it, people were commenting, “What’s so hard about making mashed potatoes?!” and “Sounds like someone is too lazy to do their dishes!”

Lazy. Yes, that’s definitely it.

For the record, I didn’t actually feel attacked about my mashed potatoes. The comments were barely negative and most people shared nice comments. People like to share their opinions, and sure, sometimes their words can seem to come out a little harshly. I’ve grown a thicker skin through the years. Sticks and stones may break my bones, but mashed potatoes? Naw.

One thing I learned is this: Some people truly don’t find it difficult to make mashed potatoes regularly. I think this is fantastic. Bring on the gravy.

As for me? The thought of making mashed potatoes often, during this season in my life, truly does cause me stress.

Through the years, I’ve pared back and pared back and pared back on my kitchen duties. My family eats more food than ever, and at the same time, I have less time than ever to devote to cooking and cleaning.

Making mashed potatoes truly is easy – I get that. But for me, right now, they are hard. They create more dirty dishes than I’m willing to add to my already overflowing sink. They make extra steps in putting together a meal – and seeing as we are stepping all over ourselves trying to keep up with life – they are steps I’m not able to take right now. I guess we could say that with everything else I’m juggling right now, I’m not able to also juggle a pot full of potatoes. (Go ahead though. Try and picture it.)

I can do a simple main dish along with salad and steamed veggies. That’s it, and I love it. This is easy, doable, and nourishing and doesn’t require the boiling and the mashing nor any effort on my part to keep the mixer from spraying potatoes all over my cabinets and floor. (Clean cooking is not my gift.)

Someday maybe I’ll get back on the mashed potato train. Or not. I kind of like this new “keep the meals simple and good” lifestyle. This is what Simple Meals is made of. This is why so many of us love it. (Here’s a shameless plug to say, “You should totally join Simple Meals if you haven’t already. Do that here. I’ll give you $10 off.)

I’ll save the mashed potatoes for Thanksgiving. I’ll stick with baking potatoes because they are easier and less messy and more versatile.

7 Ways to Use Baked Potatoes

 

How about you? Have you given up on mashed potatoes like I have, or are you a mashed potato champion?

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!

High Five Recipes: Chicken Fried Steak Strips

February 9, 2010 by Laura 79 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but will share some commission.

You can easily make Chicken Fried Steak into yummy strips which are easy to eat! Now a little tip…

High Five Recipes 2

I do almost all of the cooking around here…not because Matt can’t or won’t cook. I just really, really love to cook and have more time to be in our kitchen.

However, ever since Matt started working at a restaurant, he’s been quite a bit more interested in learning about food preparation – and guess what? My husband has a really great cooking tip for you today.

chickenfriedsteakstrips2sm

Yes indeed, this nugget of Chicken Fried Steak Strip wisdom is brought to you by the Heavenly Homemaker’s Husband! (Maybe you knew this tip already, but I didn’t.)

Here’s what he shared with me the last time I made these Chicken Fried Steak Strips:

If you keep dipping the meat in the flour and then in the milk and then back in the flour and then back in the milk and then back in the flour and then back in the…

It will make an extra yummy, extra crispy coating on the outside of the strip.

My strips were good, but I had just been single dipping. Following Matt’s advice, I am now double and even triple dipping. Now, they are Oh My Goodness Amazing. All thanks to my husband. I love that man. You will too after you try his double/triple dipping advice. But you can’t have him. He’s mine.

Chicken Fried Steak StripsYum

High Five Recipes: Chicken Fried Steak Strips
 
Save Print
Author: Laura
Ingredients
  • 1 pound beef cube steak
  • 1¼ cups whole wheat flour
  • ½ t. garlic powder
  • ¾ cup milk
  • oil for frying (I usually use Palm Shortening)
Instructions
  1. Cut cube steak into 1 inch strips.
  2. In a bowl, stir together flour and garlic powder.
  3. Pour milk into a separate bowl.
  4. Heat oil in a skillet (350° for electric skillet or medium heat on the stove top).
  5. Dip beef strip in milk, then in flour mixture.
  6. Dip, repeat. Dip, repeat. Dip, repeat. (More or less is fine.)
  7. Place strip in oil.
  8. Cook for about 7 minutes on each side. (Salt to taste.)
3.4.3177

Chicken Fried Steak StripsSo let’s review: The more you dip, the better the strip. You’ve gotta try it!

Read a great tip about Preparing Ahead and Flash Freezing your Chicken Fried Steak Strips here!

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!

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