For several days my mouth has been watering just thinking about that Steak Paprika recipe so tonight I decided to give it a try. I followed the recipe as closely as possible and right off realized that 2 flank steaks is a LOT of meat.

Nearly 2.5 pounds of meat, too much!

After first slicing it into strips and then cutting them into thirds, I went on to the veggies. Since the recipe didn’t exactly specify what color bell peppers, I decided to use red, orange and yellow. Not only for color, but because I do not care for green. (On a side note, Melody both asked for and enjoyed a strip of orange bell pepper! Brave for a 4 year old.) I also chopped up a large onion and set that aside.

Pretty bowl of color

Next, I browned the meat, but used olive oil rather than butter. I set the meat aside as directed and put in the onions, then the peppers. For wine, I used cabernet sauvignon. After each addition, I let everything simmer for a couple minutes. Finally came the cream, then I added back in the meat so that everything was coated with the sauce.

The noodles were Pennsylvania Dutch brand egg noodles, and I also added a tablespoon of parsley in addition to the caraway seed.

Tossed with butter, caraway and parsley

Finally all was ready for the big taste test!

Steak Paprika

I found the meat to be a little bland, honestly. I was gentle with the paprika but still used at least 2 teaspoons. Also, maybe it is just me, but I felt like this could have used some garlic. Finally, the sauce was pretty thin. I think if I make this again I will let the sauce reduce for a bit before serving so it will be more thick. We had enough for at least two full dinners, so either make this for a large family or cut the meat in half. Secondly, the noodles were almost overpowered by the caraway seed. I think I’d reduce that to 1/2 tablespoon. It was eaten by every family member (and my husband had seconds) so it wasn’t a complete dud. My recommendation is to spice it up a little an let the sauce thicken.

After dinner, I wanted to make the Upside Down Pudding recipe of my Gram’s, so we set to work on that. Melody was a great help stirring everything up. I had pecans instead of walnuts, no biggie.When it came time to put the first mixture into the pan, I wasn’t sure if I should spread it out, leave it in a lump or what, since the recipe didn’t specify. I decided to spread it out. This mixture is very thick. I used a silicone spatula to spread it because it was sticking to my metal spoon. We then mixed up the second mixture and dumped it on top. Of course, I had to neatly spread it around because I’m a perfectionist that way.

Almost ready to go into the oven

Finally, we added the 2 cups boiling water, making sure to saturate everything, and put it into the oven to bake. 40 minutes later it smelled heavenly!

I forgot to turn it upside down

In my eagerness to dish this up for my family I forgot to turn it out upside down! But, it didn’t really matter. This dessert was like molten lava cake. It was warm, melty, chocolaty goodness. Wow. All in all, I’d say this was an unqualified success!

Warm, melty, chocolaty goodness