Marcaritaville's Blog

A few months back I got sucked into the world of Pinterest. Has this happened to you? Well, I have now pinned a few hundred items. So many things I love! So many ideas! But I have never done any of them. I have decided that I am going to take one pin from my boards each week and either make or do them (or, if they are bigger projects, get it started).

For my first project I chose to make one of the billion pins I have pinned to my Recipes Board.

This beauty is called The No Peek Beef Tips, and it comes from Tina over at Mommy’s Kitchen. And it fits in nicely with my No-Cash Challenge for February. I had all of my ingredients in either my pantry or my freezer, so I didn’t have to buy anything from the store.  As you can see in the picture below, I had almost 5 pounds of beef chunks that I thawed out. I guess we will be having more beef this week at some point, or maybe I will make something up and toss it in the freezer for a quick heat meal later on when I am in a pinch for time. I’ll let you know what it becomes.

Here’s my Starting Line Up:

Starting Line Up

• 2 pounds of Stew Beef
• 1 package Lipton Onion Soup Mix
• 1 package Brown Gravy Mix
• 1 can Cream of Mushroom Soup
• 1 cup of water

*Here’s a tip – when you buy those pre-cut packages of stew beef, resist the urge to just pop ‘am all in just as they are from the package. I usually cut most of the pieces into fourths, some just have to be cut in half. The more uniformly you cut your beef chunks, the better they will all cook. By making them smaller, it stretches them further.*

OK – now that you have cut everything up into uniformly sized chunks and placed in a single layer in an 9×13 baking dish, sprinkle the onion soup mix package over the top evenly. In a bowl, mix together the brown gravy mix, the cream of mushroom soup and the water. I had a hard time making everything combine into a smooth blend, so I switched to a whisk – perfection. Once everything is blended together, pour over the top of the stew chunks. It will look a little something like this:

All Set for the Oven

At this point, you want to cover it with foil, and place in a 300 degree oven for 3 hours. And remember, it is called “No Peek” for a reason. Just leave it be for the 3 hours. DON’T PEEK!

*** OK, we are 2 hours and 30 minutes in, and I have GOT to tell you, my house smells in-cred-i-ble! I am off to make my mashed potatoes to serve this over. Potatoes were one of the items I bought when I went grocery shopping earlier. ***

After 3 hours (I left mine for close to 4 because my husband got hung-up at work a little late), you take it out of the oven, do a drumroll, and unveil the beauty (be careful of the STEAM!)…

Steaming out of the Oven

As my husband was pulling into the driveway, I scooped out some homemade mashed potatoes (which I make with butter, cream cheese and half and half – NOT for the faint of heart), and topped it with the No Peek Beef Tips.

Ready to Dig In

Kev walked in and said “I don’t know what that smell is, but… YUM!”.  After we devoured our plates, Kev went back for seconds. I call that a keeper!

From start to finish, the meal took roughly 4 hours. From start time to meat in the oven took 10 minutes, and that included me snapping pictures.

I definitely call this one a Pinterest WIN!

See y’all tomorrow