Beef Stew

Well it's back to work after the holidays. Personally, I'm feeling a little bummed...I took all of my Christmas decorations down yesterday (sad) and I have no scheduled time off of work until Memorial Day (unless I take vacation...and I just might, hehe). Oh and it was 11 degrees this morning on my way to work (yuck!).

BUT, one of my Christmas presents helped to cheer me up yesterday. I've never owned a crock pot until now (thanks mom and dad!). I feel super old getting as excited as I did about a crock pot, but oh well, I'm excited. So of course I tried my awesome Christmas present out yesterday. I figured, what better recipe to try out and help me warm up from the cold than this beef stew recipe. It was my mom's originally, but I've modified it a little to fit my tastes. Enjoy!

 Ingredients
1 pound beef cubes/stew meat
1/2 cup flour (split into 2 1/4 cups)
1 cup diced carrots
1 cup diced celery
1/2 cup frozen corn
1 can diced tomatoes
2 medium potatoes cubed with skin
1 can low sodium beef broth
1/2 cup milk
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions
1. Place meat, 1/4 cup of flour, and a couple dashes of pepper and salt in a ziploc bag. Seal the bag and shake it to cover the meat in the flour mixture. Set bag aside.

2. Cut up all veggies and place in crock pot.

3. Place meat on top of veggies.

4. Pour beef broth over all ingredients.
5. Cook on low in crock pot for 8 to 10 hours. If you're home you can stir the mixture periodically. If you leave it, that's ok.
6. About 30 minutes before you're ready to serve the stew, mix 1/4 cup of flour with 1/2 cup milk and pour into stew. Stir and let cook for remaining 30 minutes.

Serve with corn bread and enjoy.

Quick and Easy Dinner #3: Beef and Vegetable Stir Fry

My third recipe in my quick and easy dinner series is beef and vegetable stir fry. If you're a vegetarian, have no fear, just cut out the beef. No fresh veggies? You can use frozen veggies. 

Ingredients

1 lb stir fry beef (or any steak cut into strips)

2-3 cups Fresh vegetables, chopped

    Green and red bell peppers

    Broccoli

    Cauliflower

    Carrots

1/4 cup soy sauce

1 Tbsp corn starch

1 Tbsp cold water 
Cooked rice

Note: You might also consider adding some canned water chestnuts and/or baby corn to the vegetable mixture. Feel free to experiment with what you like.

Directions

1. In 1 skillet, start cooking the beef over medium heat. No need to season it, you'll do that with the soy sauce later. 

2. In another skillet, put a little olive oil in the pan and then add the vegetables. Cook these over medium heat, flipping them over regularly. 

3. As you're doing this, start cooking the rice. Personally I prefer brown rice because it's a little healthier, but you can use white as well. 

4. Once the meat has browned on the outside, drain any grease from the pan and move the meat to the edges. Add the vegetables and continue to cook them if needed. (If you use frozen vegetables instead, add a lid to the pan once you add the vegetables to steam them). 

Vegetables after adding to the meat. They still need some cooking time.

5. As the meat and vegetables cook, mix together the soy sauce, corn starch, and cold water in a small bowl. (If you don't have corn starch, the recipe will be fine without it. The corn starch only helps to thicken the sauce). Once the meat and veggies are done, move both to the outer perimeter of the pan. Next pour the soy sauce mixture into the center of the pan. Once it starts to bubble and thicken, mix it with the meat and veggies. 

Once the rice is cooked, spoon the stir fry mixture onto the rice like below and enjoy your quick and easy dinner!

Thanks to my mom for teaching me how to make this easy dinner.