Beef Stew

Ok, I borrowed this recipe from Jamie that I work with. I tweaked it a little, but for the most part, I used this method.

• 5 to 7 lb chuck roast, I used about 3 lbs of stew meat that I purchased
• 6 to 8 oz of corn, I used a frozen bag
• 6 to 8 oz of peas, I used a frozen bag
• 12 to 16 oz of carrots, baby carrots work, but I like to cut mine up, it's good for the soul to chop
• 6 to 8 oz of fresh cut green beans, drained
• 1 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes with basil, oregano and garlic flavor. (My family doesn't really eat tomatoes, so I omitted these and just added the spices to the stew.)
• 1 large onion chopped
• 4-6 potatoes, peeled and cut into bite size pieces
• 1 beef stew seasoning packet, I took Jamie's advice and used McCormick's brand seasoning.
• 2 to 3 beef bullion cubes
• Garlic Salt to taste
• Pepper to taste
• 4-6 cups of water

I did this the easy way, I put the meat, the water, the bullion cubes, basil, oregano and garlic powder, carrots, onion and corn in the crock pot and set it to low for about 6 hours. I'm kind of picky about the consistency of my potatoes, so I boiled the potatoes for about 7 minutes and added them about 2 hours before dinner with the peas and beans. That way when it was ready, the potatoes were perfect and not over cooked. I also added one cup of cold water mixed with some flour when I added the potatoes to thicken up the soup. Thanks to my mom for that idea. (This required that I remove about a cup of soup from the crock pot.)

It was excellent stew for a cold day and it made a ton, so there will be lots of leftovers. You will need a large crock-pot to fit everything in, or you will need to reduce the water and meat portions. You can never have too many veggies!

Easy Minestrone

I made this for a work lunch we had...it's tasty!

1 pound Sausage
1 pint green beans
1 can kidney beans ( I double these because I omit the garbanzo beans)
1 can garbanzo beans (I omit these because I don't care for them)
carrots, celery and onion, diced as many as you feel necessary, I add lots.
1 tablespoon parsley
1 can tomato paste
1 quart tomatoes
1 quart water
1 can beef consume
2-3 cups noodles (I used th garden colored rotoni)
1/2 teaspon basil
1 clove garlic


Brown meant, saute' vegetables. Add water, spices and beans. Simmer.
Add tomatoes and consume.

Boil noodles seperate and add about 5-10 minutes before serving.

Chocolate Mint Brownies

I got this recipe from my friend Ashley's mom when we were in high school. It's super tasty!

Brownie:

(I cheated, I used a brownie mix and made it to a cake like consistency)
2 cups Vegetable Oil

4 cups White Sugar
1 1/3 cups Coco

2 cups Chopped Walnuts (I always omit these because I don't like them.)

8 Eggs

2 teaspoons Salt

4 teaspoons Vanilla Extract

3 cups Flour

Mix together and bake at 350 degrees for about 40 minutes.

Mint Frosting:

6 cups (or less) Powdered/Confectioners Sugar

6 Tablespoons of butter or margarine

6 Tablespoons condensed milk (I use sweetened condensed milk)

2 teaspoons Peppermint Extract

Green Food Coloring to liking

Combine butter and milk until smooth, add powder sugar until you have a smooth frosting like consistency. Mix in peppermint extract and food coloring until it is a nice mint green color. Spread over slightly cooled brownies.

Let this sit until frosting is hard to the touch. You can even pop it in the freezer for about an hour.

Chocolate Topping:

10 Tablespoons Butter

12 oz Semi Sweet Chocolate Chips

(I cheated again and used a can of chocolate frosting that I whipped and stuck in the microwave for a few seconds.)

Melt butter and chocolate chips together and stir until smooth. Spread over mint layer while still warm.

Let brownies sit over night or freeze for another day.

Brownie without Chocolate topping:

Brownie with Chocolate Topping:

Easy Breadsticks

By request, here is the recipe for Quick Bread Sticks. They are yummy!

1 Cube Butter
1 TBS Yeast
1 1/2 cups Warm Water
2 TBS Sugar
3+ Cups Flour
3/4 tsp Salt

Melt butter on cookie sheet in a warm oven, once melted, set aside. In a mixing bowl, combine yeast, warm water, and sugar. Stir in salt and flour until the mixture looks like sticky bread dough. Once you have a ball of bread dough, place on the cookie sheet with melted butter. Smooth out dough to corners of pan and cover evenly with butter. (Your hands should be covered in the butter by the end!) Once you have spread the dough, cut into strips with a pizza cutter. Top with a mixture of parmesan cheese, garlic based season all salt and parsley flakes. Let rise on warm oven for 30 minutes to an hour. Bake at 350 degrees for about 18 minutes or until golden brown on the edges and top.

I promise to post pictures of these the next time I make them!

Yummy Rolls

I borrowed this recipe from my mom, who got it from somebody else, who apparently also got it from somebody else. So I'm not sure where exactly it orginated. But here you go, they are pretty yummy rolls.

2 Yeast Cakes or 4 Teaspoons Yeast
2 Cups Luke Warm Water
1 Cup Butter or Margarine
1 Cup Sugar
6 Beaten Eggs
1 1/2 Teaspoon Salt
8 Cups Flour

Mix yeast with 2 tablespoons of sugar and 2 cups of luke warm water. Add melted butter, remaining sugar and beaten eggs. Mix well. Sift in flour and salt. Mix well. let rise at least 2 hours. Stir down and put in fridge overnight.

Separate dough into 4 equal parts. Roll each ball of dough into a large circle. Brush with butter and cut like a pie into 16 pieces. Roll up starting with wide end. Place on buttered cookie sheet, making sure the tail end is next to the pan. let rise 4-5 hours and bake at 400 degrees for 10 minutes.

Here is what mine looked like on the pans. I did rolls because of what we were using them for.





This is what they looked like after I baked them all.






I ran out of pans because I didn't think I was going to need all the dough and then we did. Enjoy. They are pretty tasty!

Frozen Potatoes

I don't have any pictures, but I've been experimenting with an idea for awhile. I absolutely DETEST throwing potatoes away because I am always using them and I always seem to be throwing them away just to need them the next day. I also hate, almost as badly, paying $1.99 for a 5 lb bag of potatoes when the 10 lb bags are on sale for $1.99. So, I decided that I could peel, dice, and freeze potatoes to be used later. My first experiment turned out okay, but the potatoes started browning before they completely froze and tasted a little funny. The shredded potatoes were nearly a disaster because they had all browned before the freezer got to them. I googled for a solution, and came up with this. I peeled them, diced them or put them through the Salad Shooter, then dunked them in a bowl of cool water mixed with a spoonful of cream of tarter. It worked like a charm! The potatoes are not brown at all, and taste like I just diced them. The shredded ones look pretty too, but we haven't eaten any of those yet. So now I buy the biggest bag of potatoes that are on sale, quart sized bags from Costco, then spend an hour or so freezing potatoes and don't have to worry about it for a few weeks. We have a lot of roasts, so I left some of the potatoes in bigger chunks and just drop a frozen bag in with a frozen roast and dinner is done by the time I get home. Ta-da!

Breakfast on the Run Idea

Libbi has decided that breakfast at school is not what she wants. Usually she compromises for cereal. Occasionally she can talk her dad into breakfast at McDonalds. Well, since it's becoming more frequent, as well as expensive, I decided it couldn't be that hard to make. So yesterday we went on an adventure to make our own fruit and yogurt parfaits.

This is what we came home with:



All Natural Vanilla yogurt, fresh strawberries, oat and honey granola cereal, frozen raspberries, frozen blackberries and disposable cups with lids. I also got some snack size plastic baggies for granola and berries. This morning we took the lids off of our yogurt cups and the frozen berries had defrosted and we had runny pink yogurt juice. So tonight when we put our yogurt in our cups, we put a small amount of berries in another baggie that we can add in the morning. The thing I liked about this is that Libbi doesn't usually eat all of her yogurt, so this way I can give her exactly what she's going to eat without wasting a whole cup of yogurt. Try it...maybe it will work for you.