Easy Ground Beef Gravy

Ingredients:

1/2 lb. of ground beef
1 medium onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp seasoned salt
1/4-1/2 tsp black pepper
1-2 cans of cream of mushroom soup
milk
1 tbsp dried parsley

Brown meat in a large skillet with the onions, garlic and salt/pepper over medium heat. Drain off excess fat. Mix in 1-2 cans of cream of mushroom soup, as well as approximately 1/3 of the used can filled with milk for every can of soup. Stir well as mixture is being heated in order to get a smooth consistency. Add parsley and simmer for approximately 5 minutes.

Serve over potatoes, cooked any style, as well as rice or biscuits.

**If you prefer to make the gravy from scratch, you can brown chopped mushrooms, onions and garlic with the meat and then add 1/4 cup of  all purpose flour to the fat in the pan after browning and removing the large chunks of meat. Stir together until it is thick. If there was not enough fat, then add more butter a tbsp at a time until the mixture is thick. Stir it over the heat for about 1-2 minutes. Then gradually add 2 cups of milk (the higher the milkfat, the richer the gravy) followed by the parsley to the mixture as you continue stirring over medium heat. It will begin to thicken as it simmers. Continue to stir until it reaches its desired consistency.

Cauliflower and Egg Scramble

For a quick and easy meal, my Iraqi friend will cook cauliflower and egg and serve with some flatbread.


Ingredients:

1 small cauliflower head or 1/2 large head
1 small-medium onion, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
4 eggs
2 tbsp milk
1/2 tsp seasoned salt, or to taste
1/4 tsp black pepper

Cut cauliflower florets into small pieces and boil until somewhat soft but not mushy, approximately 5-7 minutes. Meanwhile, in a medium skillet,  fry onion & garlic in 1 tbsp of oil or butter until onion is translucent. Add the cooked and drained cauliflower. Scramble the eggs with milk and seasonings and add to the mixture. Cook on low-medium heat, stirring until egg has almost completely set.

Serve with warm pita bread.

Optional- if desired, you may put grated cheese on top at the end of cooking, or you may add some grated dry cheese, such as parmesan/reggiano, to the egg mixture before scrambling it.

Iraqi Chai

Boil water and black tea with cardamom seeds for approximately 3 minutes. You may use 1 teabag and 1 cardamom seed for every 2 cups of water. If you are using loose tea leaves, you may use 1 tbsp of tea per 3-4 cups of water.  You may want to adjust the amount of tea and spice to the amount of water depending on how strong you like the tea.

After the tea and spice have set for about  5 minutes off the heat, pour into cups and serve with sugar and cream to taste, if desired.