Hey guys. This is my first post here. I’m a college student and I’m trying to cook for myself more, but I’m still really inexperienced in the kitchen. My grocery store had some thin sliced eye of round on sale, so I picked it up. Now I don’t want to do with it. I’ve got a crockpot… but I don’t know how I should cook them.
Any ideas? 
Try this using your eye of the round.
Chicken-Fried Steak Ingredients:
1 1/2 pounds of top-round steak
2 cups of flour
3 eggs
1/2 cup of milk or buttermilk
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon of cracked black pepper (can also add cayenne to add more heat).
Lard or vegetable oil
Method:
Cut your top-round steak into four pieces.
Pound beef with a meat tenderizer until flattened and almost doubled in size.
Place flour in a large bowl and season with salt and pepper to taste.
Mix eggs in another large bowl with milk.
Take piece of tenderized beef and coat in flour. Dip coated beef into egg mixture and then dip and pat in Panko crumbs.
Heat on medium enough oil or lard to fill halfway up the sides of a cast-iron skillet. When a drop of water makes the oil sizzle, it’s ready for frying.
Take the coated beef and place it in the skillet. When the blood (red-meat juice) starts bubbling out of the top of the steak (about three to four minutes) gently turn it over with a long fork (using a spatula can cause the oil to splash out of the skillet). Cook another five minutes and then take the chicken-fried steak out of the pan and drain on a paper-towel-lined plate.
Repeat process for remaining cutlets. And while you’re frying the others, you can keep the cooked steaks warm in the oven.
Makes four chicken-fried steaks. Serve with cream gravy made from the pan drippings. You can plate it with any vegetables you like, but mashed potatoes are the traditional side of choice. For salad serve it a wedge of iceberg lettuce filled with blue-cheese dressing.
Try these, they are easy and good. My grandmother used to make these “food stretchers” back in the depression days. They still work today.
Steak & Weenies
1-round steak-cut in bite sized pieces
1-bottle Heinz catsup 20 oz or larger-anykind will do, but Heinz has the best flavor
2-large onions-sliced
4 to 6 hot dogs-sliced
2 TBS oil
Brown steak on both sides in heated oil. Add sliced onions & simmer another 10 mins. Add ketchup-rinse bottle with a small amount of water-about 1/4 cup, and add that too and stir. Cover & simmer on low till steak is tender-about 1 to 1-1/2 hrs. Add sliced hot dogs & cook an additional 10 mins till they plump.
Stir a few times during cooking.
NOTE: If steak is thick, beat it with a tenderizer mallet. Add more ketchup if not tasty enough for you, but don’t add any more water. The condensation from the lid will produce enough.
Goes good over plain boiled potatoes. I always serve it with green beans and a red leaf lettuce & dark red kidney bean salad with vinegar & oil, and Vienna bread & butter.
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Here’s another stretcher.
Steak Stew
1-round steak cut in bite sized pieces
1-large onion sliced
1-large green onion - chopped
1-can diced tomatoes
Dredge steak in a little flour with salt & pepper added to it. Heat up enough oil to cover the bottom of your fry pan (large pay) & when hot-not burning add the steak pieces to slightly brown 'em. Some will stick, but that’s ok 'cause cooking will get up all the stuck flour. Add the onions, green pepper, and tomatoes. Stir it up cover & simmer 1 to 1-1/2hrs. The steak gets pretty tender this way.
Try using some of the newer canned tomatoes that are flavored…like onion & garlic and green pepper etc.
Love this over mashed potatoes. Serve corn or green beans, or any veggie you like, a good salad and of course Vienna bread & butter.
Hope you try these. Don’t be put off by the ketchup recipe if you don’t like ketchup. It cooks down and is very flavorful. If you do try them, I’d like your feedback.
Thanks for both of your replies!
I try to shy away from fried foods, but the few ingredients involved for the chicken-fried steak recipe is intriguing. I may have to sin a little and try it.
Also, I love the idea of “food stretchers” especially on my college budget. The steak and weenies reminds of a dish my dad used to make with ground beef, bacon, and baked beans. Have you ever tried adding a can of baked beans to the recipe? I’ll probably try it sometime in the next week, when I do I’ll let you know how it turns out.
That steak stew recipe sounds real yummy. I will be trying that out real soon. That is to say as soon as I finish up all the leftovers that I concoct into new dishes and make room for more. Cooking for one is not easy for me. I was born into the restaurant busness, when I got married and had a housefull of kids & friends over…Now that I am alone I still cook for an “Army”!! Thanks for sharing. <3
Thanks for the reply. I enjoy when someone tries my concoctions! I have another inexpensive & filling recipe for you to try. Its another of my grannys depression day food. Now dont say ewwwwwwwwwww!
Its macaroni, or noodles with melted butter
cottage cheese and ketchup
cook the noodles of your choice, and drain them. Mix in some melted butter, couple spoons or more of cottage cheese, and top off with ketchup. Its like a generic lasagne. Its really very tasty. Low budget and filling. Also good for those meatless fridays!
Let me know how you like it. I know im going to try beans in my steak & weenies dish.
Brings back that warm fuzzy feeling doesn’t it?