Swiss Steak (Or What Do I Do With Another Roundsteak, part 1)

I'm sure I've said it before, but we live on a farm. Mostly my husband and I raise horses, but every couple of years we raise a calf and a couple of pigs. Raising our own beef is great, for the most part. They are grain-fed, no hormone, no antibiotic cattle that we raise. So while we get the best, tender premium cuts of beef, we also usually end up with about 30 full rounds of steak. That's a lot of round steak. Swiss Steak is a quick and easy way to get round steak edible. This is an old recipe that my mom always used to make - she is the one who added the carrots to it. It is very flexible in the simmer time, calls for pre-browning but you can skip that if you have to, and could be done in the crockpot if you wanted. 

Swiss Steak. 

1 1/2 to 2 lbs round steak, cut into serving sized pieces 

1/4 cup flour 

1 tsp salt pepper, to taste 

Oil, about 2 tsp., for browning the steak 

1 28 oz can of diced tomatoes 

2 medium sized carrots, sliced 

1/2 green pepper, cut into chunks 

1 medium onion, chopped 

1 tsp. italian herb blend 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 

On the stovetop, heat a skillet to medium high heat. Add the oil. Put the flour, salt and pepper into a medium sized plastic bag, or into a shallow dish. Coat the steak pieces with the flour, and brown on all sides in hot oil. Remove from the skillet and put into an oven safe casserole dish. Pour the rest of the ingredients over the round steak. Bake, uncovered, for about 1 to 1 1/2 hours, until the beef is tender and the vegetables are done. Serve over hot buttered egg noodles.