Ingredients

• 1 & 1/2 cups medium pearled barley
• 4 cups beef broth
• 4 ounces Gorgonzola cheese crumbles
• 12 ounces thinly sliced cooked beef*
• 1/2 cup onion-chopped
• 1/2 cup red bell pepper-chopped
• 1 & 1/2 tsp minced garlic
• 1 tsp cilantro
• 2 tsp parsley
• 1/2 tsp dry mustard powder
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 2 tbsp red wine vinegar
• 2 tbsp balsamic vinaigrette dressing**
  

Directions

1. Bring beef broth to boil, add barley, reduce to a simmer, cook 35 minutes
2. Pour barley into a bowl (its okay if it still has a little bit of liquid on it)

3. Add onion, pepper, garlic, cilantro, parsley, mustard, salt & pepper

4. Stir in cheese

5. Stir in beef strips
6. Make dressing by mixing the red wine vinegar with the balsamic vinaigrette.

7. Pour the dressing on and stir to combine
8. Refrigerate overnight if you can then reheat when ready to serve otherwise, serve promptly

*I like to use John Soules Angus Beef Fajita Strips, they are precooked and come in a bag.  I usually get them at Wal-Mart

**My favorite brand is Maple Groves Farms Fat Free Balsamic Vinaigrette, it works great on salads, as a marinade and in all kinds of sauces

A co-worker and I had been talking about Swedish meatballs but I didn’t have all of the ingredients for that, so I made this instead.

Meatballs in Mushroom Gravy

Ingredients

1. 1lb ground beef (lean)
2. 1/2 medium onion chopped
3. 1/4 cup egg substitute
4. 1/4 cup bread crumbs
5. 1 tsp salt
6. 1/2 tsp black pepper
7. 1 tsp paprika
8. 1 tsp garlic powder
9. 1/2 tsp ground cumin
10. 1 can cream of mushroom soup
11. 1 cup chicken stock

Directions

Mix the first 9  ingredients together in a bowl

Tip: you can use whatever spices you want, I used what came handy that night.

Then either using a tablespoon or a small disher, make them into meatballs and put them in a pan sprayed with non-stick spray

Cook until they are browned all over (turning once or twice during the process to get a good crust all the way around), should take about 15 minutes.

Mix the mushroom soup and chicken broth together and pour over the meatballs

Simmer for about 10 minutes while you boil some egg noodles

Serve over egg noodles.

Pork Cube Steak

Ingredients

• 1/2 to 3/4 pound pork cube steak
• 2/3 cup milk or butter milk
• 1/3 cup flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp paprika

Directions

Marinate the pork in the milk or buttermilk overnight (I am not counting this time in the 30 minutes obviously)

Mix the flour and seasonings together on a plate

Dredge the cube steaks in the flour mixture and put them in a HOT pan

Turn once at about 7 or 8 minutes

Serve with mashed potatoes and some canned low fat pork gravy (I like the Heinz brand)