Special Request Beef Stroganoff

This is based on a Cooking Light recipe; I made a few changes based on convenience and pure absentmindedness.

As you may notice, I tend not to measure many ingredients when I cook. I prefer eyeballing over cleaning multiple measuring cups and spoons. Now, that may have contributed to my mistake, but I also think that a sleepy head may have been partially accountable as well.

Let's see. I began this recipe by gathering my ingredients (rather, my lovely bearded assistant helped me with this task while I prepped the beef). On a crowded counter, my parsley and dill sat, ready and waiting. Now let me say, they are in similar sized containers, and to a busy cook, they look rather alike. I hastily grabbed one bottle, eyeballed about 2 tablespoons of what I thought was parsely, grabbed the second bottle, looked at the label, and realized that was parsley. I had just poured more than 3 times the recipe-directed dill amount. The horror! The original recipe called for a measly 1/2 teaspoon of this herb, significantly less than the approximated 2 tablespoons I had just added.

Of course I had already placed my onion, beef, and mustard into my crock pot, so there was almost no way I could dump it out and start from scratch. I tried to pull out as much as I could, shrugged my sholders and moved on to "measuring" the parsely. I estimate that about 1 tablespoon or more of dill was left in the pot, and I do have to say, my mistake undoubtedly contributed to the making of one tasty meal. Seriously.

Jay had been begging me for months to cook beef stroganoff. For some reason I had never jumped on this request like I have (almost) all others. Ribs? Sure. Meatloaf (again)? Fine. But for me, beef stroganoff has never been one of those dishes I dreamily salivate over. This week, Jay asked me (yet again) if I would make it, and upon looking up a recipe and realizing how effortless stroganoff is to make (I mean, seriously... you throw some stuff in the crock pot and waam-oh, you have yourself a meal), I decided that I could suck it up and try my hand at the dish. I mean, maybe I would like it more than I remember, right?

And did I. Jay took pictures of me liking the spatula. I kid you not. This is one flavorful dish that I will dream about... I just hope I don't drool too much on the pillow.

Yield: 4 servings (serving size: about 1 cup stroganoff and 1/2 cup noodles)

The Stuff:

• sharp knife for trimming your steak
  
• crock pot

The Edibles:

• about 1 pound top round steak, 1/2 to 1 inch thick, trimmed of fat etc.
  
• 1 c. chopped onion
  
• 2 T. dried parsley (fresh works too, obviously)
  
• 2 T. Dijon mustard
  
• 3/4 tsp. salt
  
• 1 T. dried dill
  
• 1/2 tsp. black pepper
  
• about 2 c. sliced mushrooms (I used baby potabellas)
  
• 3 garlic cloves, minced (or the equivalent in jarred or powdered)
  
• 1/3 c. all-purpose flour
  
• 1 c. reduced sodium beef broth
  
• 1 8 oz. container low-fat sour cream
  
• 2 c. hot cooked medium egg noodles

The Making:

1. Cut steak diagonally across grain into 1/4-inch-thick slices. Place steak and next 8 ingredients (though garlic) in slow cooker; stir well.
   
2. Lightly spoon flour into a dry measuring cup; level with a knife. Place flour in a small bowl; gradually add broth, stirring with a whisk until blended. Add broth mixture to slow cooker, and stir well. Cover with lid, and cook on low for 7-8 hours.
   
3. Remove the lid and let the stroganoff stand for 10 minutes to allow it to cool down a bit. Stir in the sour cream. Serve your creamy, mushroomy beef over the noodles and savor each bite!

Estimated Nutritional Information (per serving):
Calories: 400
Fat: 10g
Protein: 36g
Carbohydrate: 43g
Fiber: 3g
Cholesterol: 110mg
Iron: 5.5mg
Sodium: 946mg
Calcium: 123mg