Hey, y'all! Sooooo - a few Saturdays ago - I was preparing to be on the road for two weeks for the mattress gig. Generally, I don't buy groceries before I am going to be traveling. My Love doesn't do a lot of cooking just for himself. I was surveying what I had on hand... a bell pepper, some onions, a loaf of French bread and 1 little pound of ground chuck and, of course, a bag of cheddar that I had shredded a few days ago. The wheels went to turning and I gathered it all on the counter. My Love came through and said "Oh - are you making another cheater meal?" I gave him the "What?" look. He reminded me of my Cheater Lasagna and he pointed out that the ingredients looked like a "cheater" Philly Cheesesteak. And that's how this loaf of yummy-liciousness was born.
So, here's what you are gonna need - pretty standard pantry items:
1 loaf French bread
1 pound ground beef or ground chuck
1 medium sweet onion, diced
1 medium bell pepper, diced
½ teaspoon garlic powder (more to your taste, If desired)
1 can (10.5 ounces) cream of mushroom soup
3 Tablespoons milk
1 Tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 heaping Tablespoon Montreal Steak Seasoning
Additional salt and pepper, if desired, to taste
8 oz. block sharp cheddar cheese, grated (approximately 2 cups) - or the cheese of your choice. This is what I had on hand.
OK - here we go. First - start chopping your veggies.
Preheat a skillet and add a little oil, add your ground chuck or beef and the chopped veggies. While this is cooking, slice your loaf of bread in half, lengthwise. Gently, start to hollow out the halves leaving plenty of room to pile the yumminess in later. PLEASE, don't throw that bread away! That's going in our filling. Contrary to the CARB POLICE - some days, you simply cannot have too much bread. That's my story and I am sticking to it.
Don't forget to check on your ground beef and veggie mixture. Now would be a great time to preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking sheet and place your two bread vessels on there and set aside.
When your meat/veggie mixture is finished cooking, drain it well and return that superb mixture to the skillet and place it on the stove over low heat. Now - the magic is gonna start to happen....(go ahead, wave your little imaginary magic wand - I do it all the time).
In a medium mixing bowl, mix together the mushroom soup, the milk, the garlic powder, Worcestershire sauce and the Montreal Steak seasoning.
Stir until well combined and then add it to the meat/veggie mixture. Stir all this yumminess together and cook over slow heat until heated through and all combined. Around 5 minutes or so.
Now, take that warm beef mixture and add it to the torn up bread pieces in a large mixing bowl. Stir it all together gently to combine.
Scoop out some of this yumminess into one half of the French bread and spread it out evenly down the length of the bread vessel.
Repeat until all the meat mixture is arranged on that one half of the bread. Then, top it with the CHEESE!!! OH, MY!!!! Just look at that!!!
Now, top that mound of yummy with the other half of the loaf of bread - a bread hat, if you will.
Pop that baby in the oven for 10-15 minutes until the cheese is all gooey, melty, yummy and it is warmed all the way through.
Now, fight the urge to dive right in and start slicing. Let it rest for a few minutes. Then slice into easy to handle slices of cheesy, beefy Heaven on earth. Check this out, y'all! Let me just tell you, I served this with some wavy tater chips and some onion dip and some pepperoncini's on the side. Oh my! It was amazing. And led to a little bit of a "food coma" (a.k.a nap).
This recipe is super easy and not too hard on the pocketbook. It would be great for a football party (or some other kind of sporting event party - since we can't have college football all year long...) or any simple Saturday, or Wednesday evening. Y'all - it's GOOD ANY TIME. Try it!
Here are a few notes that I wanted to share with you:
* If you have a favorite kind of cheese or just have another type of cheese on hand - use it. I am gonna try it with a mozzarella and pepper jack blend. Experiment - I share these recipes with you so that you can take that ball and run with it. Score your own touchdown and then come back here and share the win with us! We want to hear from you.
* Add some mushrooms, jalapenos, banana peppers, whatever you love and have on hand. You can't go wrong with that. Just drain your peppers if you are using jarred, pickled peppers where you don't have too much liquid.
* Add a dash of your favorite hot sauce or more salt and pepper - whatever your heart desires. Of course, we added some of the Hotter Texas Pete to ours - I try to keep the recipes here on the milder side, if possible, so that everyone can make it their own.
Please tag me or mention me on social media - @adashofsoutherngrit #adashofsoutherngrit when you make this or share this with your family and friends. Comment below and let me know where you are reading from and what you are up to today.
Thanks so much for stopping by and checking out The Dash. Please look around and don't forget to SUBSCRIBE so you don't ever miss a new post. Have a great day! Take care!
Till we Dash again,
xoxo - Jeanie
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350° F. Line a large cookie sheet with parchment paper for easy clean up. Slice the French bread in half, lengthwise, so you have two equal pieces. Using the best kitchen tool ever – your hands - scoop out the bread in the center of each piece. Tear that bread into small pieces and place in a large mixing bowl. Put the two halves of French bread onto the baking sheet and set aside.
Brown the ground beef, bell pepper and onion in a large skillet, over medium-high heat. Drain any grease. Return beef mixture to skillet over low heat. In a medium bowl mix soup, milk, garlic powder, Worcestershire sauce and Montreal Steak seasoning. Stir and cook mixture until heated; another 5 minutes or so.
Add the beef mixture to the bread in the large bowl and stir gently to combine. Scoop the mixture into the center of one half of the French bread. Spread out evenly. Top the mixture with the shredded cheese. Top with the other half of bread.
Bake for 10 to 15 minutes, or until cheese is melted. Remove from oven and let stand for a few minutes before slicing . Add a splash of your favorite hot sauce or a little additional salt and pepper if desired.
Comments