Skillet Beef Stew

I found this recipe in the January 2008 issue of Better Homes and Gardens. It turned out pretty well. I think I prefer beef stew that's been simmering all day in a slow cooker, when the flavors have all melded together all day and the beef gets really tender, but this is a good recipe if you want some for dinner and you don't happen to think of it until 4:30 or 5:00, which is what happened to me.

Skillet Beef Stew
(photo and recipe courtesy of bhg.com)

Ingredients
2 Tbsp. cooking oil
2 lb. cubed beef stew meat
2 tsp. dried thyme or oregano, crushed
6 medium carrots, peeled and quartered
4 stalks celery, cut in 2-inch lengths
2 medium onions, cut in 1/2-inch slices
6 cups lower-sodium beef broth
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
Mashed Potatoes

Directions
In 12-inch skillet, brown beef in hot oil over medium-high heat with thyme and 1.4 teaspoon each salt and pepper. Remove, set aside. Add carrots, celery, and onions to skillet, cook and stir 5 minutes. Return beef to skillet. In bowl whisk together broth and flour; add to skillet. Bring to boiling; reduce heat. Simmer, covered, 45 minutes. Uncover; simmer 10 minutes or until meat is tender. Serve with potatoes. Makes 8 servings.

My Notes: I used about a tablespoon of fresh thyme instead of dried. I'm not sure if it made any difference. Also, I only had 4 cups of beef broth, so I just added about 1 1/2 cups of water and a little less flour. The recipe says "12-inch skillet" and they mean it - my 12-inch skillet was almost full and was short 1/2 cup of broth. If you don't have a skillet this big, you could just brown your meat and veggies in the bottom of a Dutch oven and make the stew in it as well. (It would just take the meaning out of the title of the recipe)

All in all, it turned out pretty well. I would say it tastes more like pot roast and vegetables with a ton of gravy than beef stew, but it's still very good, especially when poured over a heaping mound of hot mashed potatoes. Great comfort food!

Really good and CHEAP

Tonight I tried a baked chicken...the whole bird. I was able to find a small 3 lb. one at Target that already had the innards taken out. It is darn tasty

1 3lb. chicken
1 lemon, halved
1 onion, halved
rosemary, to your taste
thyme, to your taste
minced garlic, to your taste
1 cup chicken broth
2 tablespoons lemon juice

preheat oven to 400. place halved lemon and onion into the chicken. salt and pepper the outside of the bird. sprinkle rosemary and thyme on the outside to your taste. shove a spoonful of minced garlic inside the bird. bake 400 for 30 minutes. turn oven to 350. pour lemon juice and chicken broth over the top. bake an additional hour until thermometer reads 180 degrees.

DELICIOUS

A Success and a Green Failure...

because all my recipes come with a story...







I was busy tonight...in the kitchen that is. So in November I went on this dance retreat and one of the guys cooked this amazing delicious incredible, i had 2 servings and licked the bowl" garlic soup. Oh was it divine. So today, I was determined to make it. Only, upon telling my mom about the recipe I had, she claimed she had a similiar one. So I decided to make hers tonight and the other guy's next time. Her's is out of the New Basic's Cookbook. I'm not posting it. Because I killed it. I made it green. I failed. When I tasted it, the garlic was more subtle than I remember it being, so I minced some more..okay a lot more garlic into it and the flavor was ..well..biting, stinging..too darn strong. I tried to counter it by adding fresh lemon juice nad letting it all cook for a while longer. Cooking makes the flavor of the garlic lessen, and I used the lemon because when I was on the retreat we had lemon slices we squeezed into the soup. However, after about 20 minutes of this, the soup began to turn green. How sad. By the time I dumped it in the toilet because NO ONE in myhouse would eat it, it was definitely very neon green....

Not to be outdone by my own stupidity, I searched the New Basics cookbook for something else to make for dinner. I found this and made it and it is AMAZING.
And economical. You use less beef, so it's cheaper on the budget..Or you could make it with lamb or chicken too if you wanted to..

The burgers...kind of fell apart, but they're still delicious. And that picture that's kind of blown out is the chick peas being mashed with a potato masher.




Meadow Burgers
8 ounces lean ground beef
1 cup fiinely chopped fresh spinach
1/2 cup finely grated carrots
1/2 cup cooked chickpeas, smashed
1/4 cup chopped onion
1 tsp grated lemon zest
1 tsp salt
fresh ground pepper, to taste

Preheat the broiler.

Combine all ingredients in a bowl, mix well till blended. Shape into four 4-inch patties.

Broil the patties close to the heat source for 3 minutes per side for rare, or longer to taste.

Teriyaki Marinade

I found this marinade recipe in my Weight Watchers cookbook. It is delicious. I put it on the pork chops I made tonight. I'm sure it would be good with chicken too.

Teriyaki Marinade

1/4 cup reduced sodium soy sauce
1 tablespoon honey
3 tablespoons orange juice
1 tablespoon packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 garlic clove, minced
1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger (i used dry)

It is per serving size of 2 tablespoons 38 calories, 1 gram of fat and 7 grams of carbs.

It is delicious

Testing, Testing

1. 2. 3.

On Eating (salsa in particular)

This diet has been good for a number of reasons, much as I like to complain about it (although I don't think it has helped Charles much at all). One of those reasons was the introduction of salsa to my life. I thought I didn't like it before. I was wrong. It is a beautifully colorful food that tastes delicious paired with chips.

I wonder how many other delicious foods I am missing out on because I thought that I didn't like them?

Other benefits of this diet include: weight loss and finally getting this family to begin eating a bit healthier.

Feeding Charles his first meal the other day made me realize how very much I want to keep this family eating healthy. And now as homemaking becomes my full-time job (thank You God) I'll have the time to devote to it. I want Charles to enjoy food but I want him to enjoy real food not different varities of boxed food. So while I'm sure boxed food might have some level of involvement in our lives, I hope it does not take the spotlight.

One other little homemaking/cooking thing I've been wanting to do since we got married is designate Sunday as dessert day and make a homemade dessert each Sunday to go with dinner. Peter and I will take turns picking dessert until Charles is old enough to participate! We'll also celebrate patron saints' feast days and other special days with dessert, but other than that we'll try to stay away from dessert on a daily basis - unless you want to count fruit as a dessert.

Just one of the little ways I get to help make our house a home. Can you tell that I'm eager to get started?!

Yum-EE!!!

Dinner was absolutely fabulous and easy too! Thanks Barbara.

Some minor changes:

• canned beans (white, not red - it's what was on hand)
• green peppers instead of celery
• simmered all ingredients (minus rice) on the stove top over low for about 2 hours
• and I sorta halved the recipe - except I used all of the garlic
• came out soupier than expected so we used a slotted spoon to serve

I took some gambles and it turned out great! I can't wait to make it again.

Oh and Laura was over for dinner; and she liked it, too. We decided smoked sausage is some of our very favorite meat!

Popeye!

Peter loves spinach. Just plain old cooked spinach. I do not. I do enjoy spinach in other dishes or when it's doctored up. So here's a lovely quick way to make spinach taste good, coming from my very own mother in law. She sometimes substitutes kale for the spinach in the recipe - also good and good for you!

Panned Spinach
1 lb spinach-wash and remove coarse stems, shake off as much water as possible
In a large, heavy skillet heat the following:
1 T butter
2 T olive oil
Add 1 clove minced garlic
Add spinach. Cover at once and cook over high heat until steam appears. Reduce heat and simmer until tender, 5-6 minutes in all.
To make this Sicilian spinach: add 2 or more chopped anchovies

Gingerbread Cookies!!!

i LOVE making gingerbread cookies, or maybe I just love gingerbread anything. Here is a recipe that I remember my mom using since I was ..well..young enough to remember. It's from the 1974 edition of Betty Crocker cookbook.

Gingerbread Cookies (actually labeled "gingerbread people")

1.5 cups dark molasses
1 cup packed brown sugar
2/3 cup cold water
1/3 cup butter (that's 3 tbsp, as labeled on the butter package)
7 cups flower
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cinnamon

Mix molasses, brown sugar, water and butter. Mix in remaining ingredients. Cover and refrigerate at least 2 hrs.

Heat oven to 350. Roll dough 1/4 inch thick on floured board. Cut with floured gingerbread cookie cutters. Place 2 inches apart on lightly greased cookie sheet. Bake until no indentation occurs. About 10-12 mins Decorate as desired.

Makes about 2.5 dozen cookies

SOME NOTES:
-My mom taught me this trick: pour a little bit of olive oil/or any oil..into the cup for the molasses and use your finger to coat the cup. The molasses will come right out.

-I didn't grease the cookie sheet, instead we used wax paper. Less mess. Works just as well.

-I forgot about carry over heat, so I kept baking my cookies util they were practically hard, and they kept baking after I took them out, so some of mine were overdone. I was cooking them for about 18 minutes!! tooooolongggg...but bear in mind that every oven is different.

-To frost them, you can do whatever your like, but I just mixed 2 tbsp water with 2 tbsp powdered sugar/food coloring, and it MAKES A MESS!! So I decreased the amount of water. The recipe suggests Decorator's frosting, but I liked this better..I like mine smothered in frosting as you can see in the picture.

French Toast Souffle

Souffle makes it sound so official and fancy, doesn't it? Really it is just a casserole that I like to make thru the holidays. We are having friends over for brunch tomorrow and I was making this. It prompted me to post the recipe in case anyone else wants it in time for Christmas.

French Toast Souffle

16 slices of cinnamon bread, cut into cubes
8 oz. low fat cream cheese
8 eggs
1 1/2 cups milk
2/3 cups half and half
1/2 cup maple syrup
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 TBS powdered sugar

Place cubed bread in bottom of 9x13 dish. Beat cream cheese until smooth. Add eggs one at a time. Mix well after each addition. Add milk, half and half, maple syrup and vanilla. Pour mixture over the bread. Chill, covered for 8-12 hours. Remove from fridge 30 minutes before baking. Bake 375 for 50 minutes uncovered. Sprinkle powdered sugar over the top and serve.

It is so delicious. Hope you all enjoy!