Thursday, March 10, 2011

Good Food, Good Meat, Good Lord Let's Eat

The title of this post was my daddy's trademark "blessing" before family meals when he was asked to pray. Short and sweet!
Since I've had this month and basically last month off I've had a good amount of time to cook. I sort of found, sort of created a crockpot stew recipe that I've already made twice since February and I can happily report that it tasted just as good the 2nd time around. Don't tell my mother-in-law but my husband said it was just as good as hers. That means a lot coming from him. Without further ado, here 'tis:

BEST STEW EVER

1 small package stew meat
1/3 cup flour
1 small can V8
1 can English peas
1 can corn
2 potatoes
1 small onion
Tony's, salt, pepper

Put crock pot on low. Grab a pan and put it over med-high heat on the stove. Dump a little flour, salt and pepper in a bowl and toss the stew meat in it to coat. Melt a little butter or fat of your choice in the pan. My mother would say to use Smart Balance or whatever because it's GOOD for you. Not good within reason for a fat, but actually the butter is GOOD for you. I prefer Brummel & Brown's butter-like product but that's because it says it has yogurt in it and yogurt is GOOD for you. Anyway, then saute your meat until it's all brown and mostly done, or all the way done, whichever you prefer. While the meat is browning chop your onions. I chop them real big because Kris doesn't like them and that way I can easily fish them out of his bowl. Throw them on the bottom of the crockpot. Then chop your potatoes and throw them on top. Now dump the corn and English peas on top, juice and all. Sprinkle all those veggies with a little bit of Tony's. Then throw the cooked meat on top, then the V8 on top of that. Leave it on low for 6 hours. It's so, so good. If you don't keep V8 in stock pretty sure you could use a can of tomato sauce and a little water. It's not an exact science.

This makes a dense, hearty stew. If you like yours more soup-y I suggest you put some broth or something in it but I can't guarantee it'll taste as good.

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Just a Few Things

1. I had a very scary dream last night. It was Match Day. I was somehow in my old college dorm, but it was in Pennsylvania. I saw several members of my class walking around in the snow saying how relieved they were that they had matched in Pennsylvania where they wanted to. Cue some confusion since I didn't even interview there and a mad search for where they keep the envelopes containing where we did match. I found my envelope, ripped it open, and it said.... The absolute last place that I ranked on my list. Oh dear...

2. Serena Williams had a pulmonary embolism. This does not make much sense to me medically. That's all.

3. Goals for today include recycling some super old electronics I cleaned out from my Mom's house, wrapping wedding presents for a dear friend of mine, cleaning out my car, and mounds of laundry. It's nice to be a stay-at-home-mom with no kids sometimes :)