beef stroganoff

Since I haven't had time to write my race recap, and I don't want to fall of the face of blogland, I figured I'd share this post I wrote a while ago about beef stroganoff.  Enjoy!

Over the past few months. I have been trying to perfect my beef stroganoff recipe, so I figured I would share some of my attempts with you.  When I'm low on time, I have a pretty quick and easy substitute - frozen meatballs, a packet of gravy (jar would work fine too), and egg noodles.  The last time I made it this way I used mushroom gravy, and Scott did not appreciate the bits of mushroom - which was surprising, since he doesn't mind cream of mushroom soup.

So, this is fine in a pinch, but I wanted to be able to make it from scratch.  For my first attempt, here's what I did:
-Sprinkle salt, pepper, and garlic powder on chopped up beef tips
-Heat butter in a pain, added beef tips to brown them

-Add 1 cup of beef broth or water with beef boullion cubes
-Add Worcestershire sauce, lemon juice, and white wine vinegar

-Add half cup of water to about 3 TBSP o f bisquick, stir into pan with beef and broth

-Add green onions

-Boil for about 1-2 min, then bring down to a simmer
-Add about 1/2 cup of mayo

-Meanwhile, cook and drain egg noodles, then stir into pan.

Pictured sanz noodles.  Okay, so, it doesn't look great, but it was pretty good!  The pros of this recipe was that it had a lot of great flavor.  The drawback was that I overcooked the beef.  I think browning the beef, then removing it from the pan while you make the gravy, then adding it back in at the end would be better.

Do you have any favorite beef stroganoff recipes?  What are your tips and tricks?