Easy-Peasy Semi-Homemade Beef Stew Recipe

We have been getting snowstorm after snowstorm here in New England over the past few weeks and my poor hubby has had more than his fill of snow - even for a New Englander.  Getting chilled right through to his bones has him craving hot, hearty dishes like beef stew. Unfortunately, 4 feet plus of snow has made getting to the grocery store nearly impossible. Especially as we live on a steep hill that hasn't been plowed very well - yet (she added hopefully).

So, I went through my freezer and pantry to see if I could find a way to make beef stew for him, and I could!  Luckily, I had a few packages of stew beef in the freezer.  I had some baby carrots in the fridge, some canned sliced potatoes (I always try and keep canned sliced, diced and whole potatoes in my pantry. They come in very handy!) and a few jars of savory beef gravy (purchased the last time my local market had a big sale).  Now, I know how to make stew without jarred gravy. Indeed, I know how to make gravy from scratch very well. But, there are sometimes when the jar comes in handy, like with meatloaf or chicken fried steak (sorry, can't stand that white, cream, pepper stuff some people call gravy. To me gravy should taste like meat, not flour. yuck!). But I wanted a quick and easy way to make some stew and this fit the bill.

All done in the crockpot - prepped in less than 5 minutes!

Anyway - I took out the meat the night before and let it thaw. (I had about 3 pounds of meat).Then I put everything in my trusty crockpot.  First, I cut any large pieces of meat in half. Then I tossed them in the pot with a little salt and pepper.  Then I added a couple of handfuls of carrots (just what looked like enough for the 4 of us). Then I added 3 cans of sliced potatoes and 4 jars of gravy.  I added 1/4 tsp of ground rosemary, gave it all a stir and set it on high for 4 hours.  During the last 20 minutes I threw in a little frozen corn.

That was it. Could it be any easier? Prep time was less than 5 minutes!  You could make this before work and leave it on low all day and have a nice, hot meal when you come home.

Now, I know - where are the green veggies? Well, my fussy family doesn't all like the same veggies, so we usually heat them up separately in the microwave and everybody adds what they want to their stew individually. Naturally, you can add whatever you want to this. Green beans, peas, pearl onions, mushrooms - whatever your family likes.

We had the stew with hot, buttery crescent rolls - something else I always try to keep on hand :) It was SO good. Even my super picky daughter ate a whole bowl and she usually hates beef and any kind of gravy. My husband went back for seconds - no shock there.

Have leftovers that don't quite make enough to fill everybody up? Get a ready made pie crust and turn the leftovers into a pot pie! Add some more veggies, potatoes - even some egg noodles. Serve with a side salad and you have another hearty, satisfying meal.

Enjoy!

Beef Barley Soup Recipe

We had a prime rib roast the other night for dinner. As most of you know, there's no way to really reheat prime rib, or most roast beef really, satisfactorily. So, I used the leftovers to make beef barley soup.

Just a side note. I absolutely hate when you go to a restaurant and they have beef barley soup on the menu and you order it and get vegetable barley soup. If there is tomato in the broth - it's vegetable barley soup! Beef barley soup has a purely beef broth. No tomato. Put tomato in it and it's vegetable barley soup. And since I can't stand tomato soup or vegetable soup, I won't eat it and end up disappointed and annoyed. Ok, rant over.

Anyway... barley is really good for you an it's tasty. It also makes a nice hearty soup and you don't need a lot of ingredients or a lot of fuss.  It's also a good recipe for canning and freezing.

If you don't have leftover roast or steak, you can certainly use stew meat to make the soup.  Just brown it up before hand.


Ingredients:
2 containers beef broth/stock (32 oz ea)
1 can Campbell's Beef Consume (plus 2 can fulls of water)
leftover beef
roast bones (optional)
3/4 cups barley
1/2 cup shredded carrot chopped fine

Directions:
Place bones in large crockpot (or stew pot) and cover with 1 container of broth. Cook on high for 2 hours (or simmer on stove top for 2 hours).  If you don't have bones, skip this step.

Remove bones (if used).  Add barley and carrots to hot broth.  Add beef consume and 2 cans of water plus remaining container of broth and cook on high for 4 hours. (or simmer on stovetop for 4 hours)

Dice up leftover beef and add to soup.

Taste and add any seasoning or flavoring as needed*.  Heat until meat is hot and barley is tender, but still has a little bite.

*I did not add any seasonings to my soup. No salt or pepper. However, I did add a spoon of beef base.  I bought it at BJs. You could use bouillon cubes or crystals, soup mix, Bovril (for those in the UK or access to well stocked International sections at their markets), or any kind of beef flavoring to make the broth richer.  We are happy with just the rich beef flavor, but certainly you could add herbs to it if you preferred.

New England Clam Chowder

My husband loves seafood! And especially loves clam chowder. Unfortunately, he is married to someone who's affection for seafood doesn't extend beyond canned tuna and frozen fish sticks. However, he is very lucky that his wife is happy to cook things he likes, even if she doesn't.  Which brings us to today's recipe - clam chowder.

This is the New England variety, the creamy kind. Not the Manhattan version with a tomato/vegetable broth.  And no, despite being from the Boston area, I do not say "chowdah".
(sore spot with me).

Now, you might be thinking it's just easier to open up a can of it, or get it only when you go out to eat. But really, it's not so hard at all. Trust me! I use canned diced potatoes to make it even easier. Yup, you can substitute fresh potatoes, but really, they taste the same and it saves a lot of time and effort.

Ingredients:

4 slices of thick slab bacon, cut into small pieces
1 medium onion, chopped (I prefer shallots, but it's a matter of taste)
2 stalks celery, chopped
One tub of choped clams from the fish counter (they only come in 1 size at my supermarket)
OR - 2 (5 ounce) cans baby clams, with juice reserved
2 cans diced potatoes, drained
1 can cream of celery soup
1 can cream of potato soup
1 cup heavy cream
1 cup milk
1 tablespoon butter
2 bay leaves
Clam juice as needed (I used one 8 oz bottle)
Salt and pepper to taste


Directions:

 1 Add bacon to sauce pan and cook on medium low heat until crispy.
 2 Add onion and celery and cook until onion is translucent. (I added a pinch of salt)
 3 Add clam juice from container/both cans. (added bottle of clam juice)
 4 Add potatoes.
 5 Cook and cover until potatoes are fork tender, about 15-20 minutes.
 6 Stir occasionally so potatoes won't stick.
 7 Add soup, cream, milk and bay leaves.
 8 Stir together.
 9 Add butter and let melt into the chowder.
 10 Cook for about 30-45 minutes or until thickened.
 11 Stir occasionally.
 12 Add clams. Stir occasionally until clams are heated.
 13 Add salt and pepper to taste

That's all there is to it. My hubby couldn't eat enough of it!

Enjoy :)