Beef Stew

I have decided I'm going to post a new recipe every week (or try to), and this week I'm posting about my hubby's favorite beef stew.  I did a lot of looking online and in my many cookbooks to find a beef stew recipe that Hubby would like.  I never found one.  SO, I combined things out of several different recipes and came up with the following:

In a CrockPot combine
- 1 1/2 lbs of stew meat (our grocery store sells meat already cubed)
- half bag of each of the following vegetables: corn, green beans, onions
- 1 small bunch of celery (heart? or bunch?) cut into bite size pieces
- half bag of baby peeled carrots cut length wise
- 4 potatoes (I use red skinned because that's what hubby likes) cut into bite size pieces
- 1 can of dices tomatoes (do not drain)
- 2 beers (favorite flavor, but beers with more bold flavors taste better)
- Season salt, garlic powder, italian seasonings (use to taste... I sprinkle a liberal dusting of each seasoning on the top of all the ingredients)

- Cornstarch

Cook on low for 8 hours or high for 6 hours.

before you serve it, if you like a thicker stew, remove a bowl of the broth, and whisk in about 4 tbl of cornstarch and then add it back to the pot and stir.  This makes it thicker.  Serve!

I don't really know if this constitutes as a stew without the cornstarch, or if that is really the correct way to thicken something like a stew, but that's how I make gravy, so I figured it would work for my stew.  Most of the time, I don't really know what I am doing, I just wing it.  :)

I hope you enjoy this as much as we do, it really took some time to figure out what hubby liked and didn't like, he's kind of picky, but this is now what he asks for regularly!

Thanks for stopping by!






p.s. I'm linking up to these parties:





 

 

Chicken (or Turkey) Tortilla Soup

Okay, so I've really been a bad blogger.  BUT, in my defense I have finished school (for now) and am waiting to take my boards (NCLEX) so I can be a "real" nurse.  Right now, I'm just a pseudo-nurse.  Haha.  Well, I've been SUPER busy this last few weeks, but here's a couple pictures from my pinning ceremony:

This is my husband putting my nursing pin on me.

This is one of my best friends from nursing school, without her, I think I would have pulled out all of my hair.

My sweet husband, and myself after the pinning.  Can you see the relief on his face??

So, since I have finished school, and am now free on Monday nights (until I start working), I have had ample free time.  I roasted a 15 lb turkey last week...it was in my freezer and needed to be eaten.  Actually it was on the back deck and then needed to defrost in my fridge and then be roasted, but thats neither here nor there.  I have 15 lbs of turkey (well, I guess its really like 8 or so pounds).  One of my other friends from school called me and wanted to hang out tonight.  She suggested I make chicken tortilla soup, and gave me the recipe.  I made some alterations to the plan, so this is what I made:

2 cans of chicken broth

1 can green enchilada sauce

1 can red enchilada sauce

1 can rotel

1 can fiesta corn

1 small can green chilies

2 blocks cream cheese

shredded cheddar (about 1.5 cups for each can of broth)

Chicken (either two cans of white breast meat in water...or TURKEY!)

That's right, I used turkey, because while I had canned chicken...the chicken is in a can, and isn't going to go bad.  I chopped up quite a bit of white meat turkey and added it to the soup. 

Basically, pour all the cans into the crockpot (I drained the corn, rotel, green chilies though), add cream cheese (in small cubes to promote meltage), and shredded cheese (I had pre-shredded on hand).  Then, I let it sit on "High" for about 2-3 hours, or until it is hot and bubbly good.  I guess you could cook it on low all day, and if you like more spice, add more spice-by all means.  This was plenty spicy for me though. 

That was dinner, and it was good.  I followed it up with some gooey butter cookies.

Now, for something else exciting-my niece is due in about 6-8 weeks (I think it will be 6 weeks, but the official due date is 8 weeks)...I have a HUGE surprise I get to blog about, and I'm so excited I can hardly stand it!!!

Thanks for stopping by! 

P.S. I'm linking up to:

 

Easter

First off, Happy Easter to everyone.  I have been so inspired by everyone's posts this week-how easy it is for us to get caught up in the chocolate bunnies and easter eggs and forget the REAL reason we celebrate this holiday.

I won't be around much this weekend, Easter on Saturday with my family, and Easter on Sunday with Hubby's family-and I'm not sure who's bright idea it was to schedule a nursing test the Monday after Easter, but I have to fit study time in there somewhere.  Oh well.

One thing that I have started to make the last few years for Easter dinner is this wonderful "Angel Lush" cake from Kraft Foods.

(Kraft Foods)

 

This is the easiest and most yummy cake I've ever made.  Here is my version:

• 1 Can Crushed Pineapple in Juice (lite) OR if I'm ambitious I use a whole cored pineapple and simply put it in the food processor. 
• 1 box vanilla instant pudding (3.4oz box) I always use sugar free
• 1 cup thawed whipped topping--again, I use the fat free or lite- This is not an instance when you want to make your own whipped cream and use that-it doesn't hold up as well.  
• 1 Angel Food cake-you can make your own, or buy one.  I always just buy one. Cut it into three layers. 
• Berries-strawberries, raspberries, blueberries...they are all good 

Once you have your layers of cake, mix pineapple and pudding.   Gently mix in whip.  Spoon 1/3 of mixture on bottom layer-alternate mixture and cake ending with whippy yummy-ness on the top.  I ALWAYS refrigerate it for at least an hour, trust me, this makes all the difference in the world.  Then add berries of your choice and serve.  Its delicious, light, and doesn't make you feel so weighed down after all the other food we've consumed for Easter dinner... :)

(Kraft Foods)

This year-I did notice they have changed the recipe up to make it into cupcakes.  The only problem with these is they require me to MAKE the angel food instead of buy it.  *sigh* I guess I'll have to suck it up so I can try the cupcake version--I always like cupcakes better than real cake. :)

So-Have a great weekend, make sure to spend it with friends and family, and please don't forget the real reason we are celebrating.

MiMi

So I promised earlier this week I would write a blog about my grandmother.   There are so many places I could begin and some many wonderful things I would love to share about this woman.  I guess I should start with a little history.  :)

MiMi is my father's mother.  She stayed at home, on the farm.  She and my grandfather were tobacco farmers.  Well, he was more of the farmer, and she took care of the house and family.  MiMi had three children, my Aunt Helen and Aunt Connie, and my dad.  Dad was a lot younger than his sisters (22 & 16 years), so he was kind of an only child.  At some point, and I'm not really clear on when this was-MiMi and PawPaw started a restaurant in town.  MiMi would get up and get daddy off to school etc, and then go make pies and cakes and other yummies at the restaurant.  Then she would come home and cook lunch for all the men who were working on the farm-she use to tell me it could be up to 25 men!  After that, she'd go back to the restaurant and work there.  Go home, make dinner and do it all the next day.  MiMi and PawPaw were also members of the local Methodist church.  She played piano and organ there for 42 years.  I'm almost 100% sure she didn't miss a Sunday for at least half of those.  When she did miss it was for something like-giving birth...you know, minor things. :)

When daddy went to college, PawPaw had gotten ill-they weren't living on the farm anymore they had moved "in town."  PawPaw died from colon cancer shortly after becoming ill.  Daddy finished college, and met mommy.  They were married and MiMi moved in with them!  My mommy is a saint by the way.  While I LOVE my Mother In Law, I would not want her living with us.  MiMi lived with us almost my entire life.  She even moved with us to Missouri for our brief stint there. 

Growing up, both my parents worked, so MiMi was the one to pick me up at the bus stop, watch me after school, and take me to my friend's houses.  When I would get home from school, she always had a treat for me, most of the time it was no-bake cookies.  I LOVE no-bake cookies.  When I was younger she would make dinner for our family every day!  Fried chicken was her specialty...and my favorite. Along with lemon pound cake, chocolate pound cake, fried apple pies, and really any pie or sweet you could imagine.  MiMi made the best desserts...ever.  You name it and she made it.  And it was always perfect.  When it was warm, I would play outside with my friends.  The front door would always be open and MiMi would sit and play piano for hours.  Always church hymns.  Always perfect-never missing a note.  You could hear her playing from down the street. 

As I got older, MiMi's health began to fail.  Where she use to pick me up and watch me after school, instead I would relieve the sitter and watch her.  When she was hospitalized I'd stay the night in a chair next to her bed so she wouldn't be alone.  My loving MiMi had Alzheimer's disease.  Finally, we had to move her to a nursing home because we could no longer care for her.  While it was a relief to not have her in the home and always worrying about if she would fall or wander off, it was hard because she had always been in our home. 

Fortunately, after some waiting, we were able to move MiMi into a nursing home where they specialized in care of Alzheimer's patients.  It had been the same home PaPa (PawPaw's father) had been in (PaPa was 103 when he died in 1993/4).  As hard as it was when MiMi died, I knew she was in a better place-she probably plays the piano everyday and makes everyone fried chicken and no-bake cookies. 

I want to share one of my MiMi's recipes with you.  Its for her no-bake cookies. 

MiMi's No-Bake Cookies

2 cups sugar
1/2 cup cocoa
1/2 cup milk (DO NOT USE SKIM-must be at LEAST 2%)
1 stick butter

Mix the above ingredients in a saucepan, bring to a low boil.
Once ingredients are at a boil, add:
1/2 cup peanut butter
2 1/2-3 cups quick oats (must be quick oats!)

Drop on wax paper and let cool completely.

I am sure that this is the same way everyone makes them, but there was something special about the way MiMi made them.  They were made with love, and so they were always just better than any other ones.

-Jess