Dougherty Homemade Beef Stroganoff

This is one of my all time favorite meals that David cooks. It's one of those meals that you can make quick and easy for week-night enjoyment, or you can make it a little more fancy for a nice dinner. It just depends on your mood and what kind of beef you have on hand. Another great thing about this dinner is it can be done in 1 pan (well, 2 if you include the pot to cook the pasta).

Ingredients:

1 lb ground beef 
16 oz sliced mushrooms 
10.5 oz cream of mushroom soup (we really like Campbell's Cream of Cremini & Shiitake)
16 oz sour cream (you are only going to use about 3/4 of the container)
Butter (for the mushrooms-trust me)
Salt
Pepper
Egg Noodles

Directions:

First you want to cook up your mushrooms. When I get them I'll get the little boxes from Safeway that are 8 oz each and I will cook each container separately. It takes a little time, but it is worth it because we love mushrooms and it makes them so good. You want to cook them in on a med heat in a sauté pan (the same one you will do your beef in and eventually mix everything together in). I put 2-3 tablespoons of unsalted butter in the hot pan and then add the mushrooms. Gently mix it all up a bit to cover the mushrooms and melt the butter. If the pan seems dry, you can add more butter. Mushrooms and butter are a good thing. When the mushrooms as as tender and browned as you like, I will add a tiny bit of salt before dumping them into a bowl while I get the second container browned. Repeat with the second container (if you did two).

Next you will want to brown your hamburger. Just put it in the same pan you just did the mushrooms in. After you have put your beef in and broken it up a bit you should start your water for your egg noodles. You are going to brown the hamburger, and drain off any excess fat/grease. Leave the meat in the pan.

If your water is boiling, cook those noodles!

You can turn the heat down a bit now. Add the can of cream of mushroom soup to the hamburger and stir that up a bit. Next you are going to add the sour cream. I'd start with about half the container and taste it to see if you want to add more (then answer should be yes) and then add enough to make it more saucy and taste how you like. Then add in the mushrooms. The soup we use is salty and peppery enough that I don't add more, but if you feel like it needs either of those now is the time to add and stir it in.

If you aren't already cooking your noodles now is the time to do so. You can just turn the stroganoff to a low setting and stir it once in awhile to keep it all mixed. You should also keep tasting it to make sure it still tastes good.

Drain your noodles. Put some noodles in a bowl/on a plate and then scoop some stroganoff on top and enjoy!

Variations:

• You can cook an onion or shallot with the meat
• You can use different cuts of meat, great way to use some holiday prime rib
• Different cream of mushroom soup
• Try different pasta
• You could use Greek yogurt in place of the sour cream