Beef Tips In Gravy With Mashed Potatoes

My grocery store has a small section where they mark down various meats on clearance, and that is usually when I purchase beef.  These steaks were marked down to a decent price,  and I decided to stretch them further by making them into beef tips in gravy and also make mashed potatoes for it to go on.  Other than the steaks, the rest of the ingredients are just pantry staples.

BEEF TIPS IN GRAVY OVER MASHED POTATOES
(Printable recipe)

Mashed Potatoes:
8 potatoes (2 per person)
2/3 cup butter
1/2 milk
Seasoned salt and pepper to taste

Wash and peel potatoes, cut potatoes in small chunks, cover with salted water, and boil just until tender (about 20 minutes or so). Drain well (important). Once drained, put the uncovered pan of potatoes on the burner over medium heat for just a couple of minutes; this will steam off any additional water so your potatoes will be fluffier – be careful not to scorch them.

Once all water has evaporated, remove from the heat and immediately add the butter and milk. Mash with a food masher, using an up and down motion, just enough to remove the lumps – do not stir them, as your potatoes will end up like glue.  Seasoned salt and pepper to taste, and add more pats of butter on to the top.

Beef Tips In Gravy:

1 pound of beef steak, diced into small pieces
1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup butter
2 cans beef broth (not pictured above)
Seasoned salt and pepper

Place the flour into a large zip top bag and add the beef.  Shake to make sure all the beef tips are coated with the flour.  Melt the butter in a pan and once melted, add the beef tips and cook until browned.  At this time add the rest of the flour that might have been left in the bag and stir it to cook the flour, for about a minute.  Add the beef broth a little at a time stirring constantly to make the gravy.  Let it cook until it is the desired consistency.  A good way to test it is to see if the gravy will coat the back of a spoon, and remember that gravy will thicken as it cools so it should be a little thinner than you desire for the final product.  Add seasoned salt and pepper to taste and stir in.

Place about a cup of mashed potatoes onto the plate and ladle about a quarter cup of beef tips in gravy over the top and enjoy.

This is comfort food at it's finest.  Enjoy!

The Great Potato Experiment

We were late in getting our garden in this year but things are still growing pretty well.  I'm hoping for a nice fall as that will let me harvest later than typical. 

My husband helped me rig up a contraption in what I hope will help them produce more.  I'd seen potato towers on Pinterest and other sites and decided to make a frugal version.

I have five potato plants that came up, which surprised me as it seemed to take so long I'd given up on them.  I kept mounding the soil up on the plants but they were starting to get pretty big and the soil kept rolling off the mound.  I stopped at my local dollar store and purchased five laundry baskets for $1 each.  I also purchased 14 qts. of potting soil.

My husband used a shop knife to cut the bottom out of each basket.  I put the basket over an individual plant, maneuvering them so that each plant was able to get a basket.

Since laundry baskets have holes along the sides, I layered hay up against the sides on the inside to hold the soil in.

Then I layered the baskets with the potting soil and garden soil. I also had my husband zip-tie them all together as the first two were leaning a bit so I could get all the baskets in there and I was afraid the addition of the heavy soil would wind up toppling them.  I watered them well and the hay also helped to hold in the water.

Here's hoping my experiment works!