One of my family's favorite meals, and by far one of the easiest to make, is swiss steak. I don't know what "real" swiss steak is, but this is my tweek on one my mother use to make!

First, any cut of meat cut like a steak....chuck steaks, round steaks, tenderized steaks...whatever. You are going to cook it to death, so it will be tasty and tender no matter what cut it is!

Put enough oil in a frying pan to cover the bottom. Throw in some chopped gloves and onion and brown for a second.

(TIP...I cook with TONS of garlic and have found that the chopped garlic in the jars is just as tasty as whole garlic...and much easier. As far as onion is concerned, we aren't big onion eaters, but I like a bit of the flavor. So I will chop an entire onion, use the tad I need for whatever I am cooking and put the rest in a ziploc bag in the freezer...then I can just "break off" a frozen chunk and use it as I need it!)

In a bowl mix some flour (maybe a cup or two), seasoning, salt, pepper, garlic powder (whatever, to your taste). Coat the steaks with the flour mixture and brown them in the oil, garlic and onion. Just a quick brown on both sides. Then transfer the meat to a dutch oven, casserole dish or crock pot.

My rule of thumb is 1 large can of tomatoes per 2 steaks. So add your whole or chopped stewed tomatoes (plain or one of the new fancy flavors...whatever trips your taste buds) to the pan drippings and just heat and stir it for 2-3 minutes to get all the "flavoring" off the pan. Add some more salt/pepper/garlic powder/seasoning...to your taste! Kind of "chop" up the tomatoes as you stir. Pour that over the steaks....put a little water in the pan and swirl it and then dump that on the steaks.

Cover and bake on 325 for about 3-4 hours. Or stick in the crock pot and cook it all day while you are at work....either way is good! Keep the lid tight and only check it once to make sure it has enough "juice." If it seems to be getting dry, add a little water and stir.

Serve with rice, noodles of mashed potatoes (or favorite!), a veggie, maybe a salad and some garlic bread.....soooo easy and delicious!

And here's a little tip....if you just don't have time to brown the meat in the pan before throwing it all together, that's okay....just put the meat and some garlic and onion in the casserole dish or crock pot, dump some stewed tomatoes and your seasonings on top, and cook the same. In my opinion, it's not QUITE as tasty but an easy and good meal!

Yum......

Beckwith's Treasures