Old fashioned Beef Stew - Crock-Pot Version

What's for dinner tonight!

Beef Stew - Crock-pot version

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1 medium onion, thinly sliced

2-3 cups carrots, peeled and large chopped

2-3 stalk celery, large chop, with tops

1 can plain diced tomatoes with juice

4-5 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped

1 Tablespoon real bacon bits or equivalent

1 Tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

a 6-inch stalk fresh rosemary

2 bay leaves

1 - 1 1/2 pounds beef cut into 2-inch cubes*

about 1/2 cup all purpose flour

Salt and Pepper

1 can beef broth plus 1/2 cup water

4-5 medium potatoes, peeled and cubed

3/4 cup frozen peas

1. Combine the first 9 ingredients in the Crockpot. Turn pot to high and continue.
2. Heat a sauté pan with some coconut oil in it. Drudge beef in flour seasoned with salt and pepper and sear meat in hot pan until brown. Remove beef, add to Crockpot.
3. Deglaze pan with the beef broth and add the liquids to Crockpot. The liquids should come up to within 1 inch of the solids. If too low add a little chicken broth or water.
4. Cover pot and cook for 4-5 hours on HIGH. About 3 hours before dinner, peel and cube potatoes. Add these to Crockpot with peas. Cover and cook an additional 3 hours or until all is tender.
5. Remove bay leaves and rosemary. If a thicker gravy is desired, sprinkle top with 1-2 packages brown gravy mix. Stir into liquid, and return to simmer to thicken. Check seasoning after gravy mix as some can be salty. Alternately, if you don't want to use a mix, turn Crockpot to low, drain liquids from pot with a ladle or turkey baster. Make gravy as usual using these liquids, then return to Crockpot.

* can use any cut of beef, venison, etc. Steak tips work great too.

Recipe Remake - Chicken Gnocchi Soup

Chicken Gnocchi Soup

Olive Garden-ish

This is an amazingly creamy soup. We loved it and had to find a way to copy it. In an attempt to google it we were displeased with the results. Below is our version of it. We love it, hope you'll try it!

2 Chicken breasts, cooked and diced, cut into 1 inch pieces

1 celery stalk, small dice

1 large clove garlic, small chop

1/2 carrot, shredded

1/2 onion, small dice

1 Tbsp. olive oil

2 cans chicken broth plus 1 can water

1 tsp. dried thyme

1 package potato gnocchi

2 Tbsp. cornstarch

1 cup heavy cream

1/2 package frozen chopped spinach, cooked, wrung out, and rechopped

1. Prepare chicken, this can also be made with perdue done it chicken if you're in a hurry

2. In a dutch oven or stock pot saute the onion, garlic, carrot, and celery in the olive oil until they are soft. Add broth and water and bring to a boil.

3. Meanwhile, prepare gnocchi as directed. Cook until they raise to the surface of the water. Strain off and add to soup. Cook uncovered for 2-4 minutes until tender. Add thyme and chicken and reduce heat to simmer.

4. Make a slurry by combining 2 Tbsp. cornstarch with enough cold water to make it thin add this to the pot and stir to incorporate. Soup will not fully thicken until it comes to a boil. Bring to slight boil then turn down until it stops.

5. Slowly stir in heavy cream. Do not boil after this point as it will curdle the cream and become separated. Bring to temp and add chopped spinach. Stirring to dispurse.

Makes about 4 good-sized servings.

What's for Dinner? - Pot Roast!

Crock Pot Pot Roast

1. Sear a 3-4 pound pot or oven roast using a hot pan with salt and pepper and no added fat.
2. Trim large fat and cut into 4 pieces.. Sear well don't move too much, sear all sides and ends
3. In crock pot slice onions, celery, carrots, S&P, 1 T . Worcestershire, 1 Tbsp. bacon is good too.
4. Lay seared beef on top of these.
5. Add: a can of beef stock or broth, it should reach 1/2 way up sides of meat.
6. Add some rosemary springs, oregano, no need to mix.
7. Cook on HIGH 5 hours or so.
8. Move meat to platter, strain out veg and pour liquid into de-fatting cup. Let sit at least 20 minutes.
9. Make roux with Pot Roast in crock pot oil & flour. Add broth all at once whisk and all 1 cheat gravy package and a little cream for color and texture.

Serve with mashed potatoes and carrots.

Hope you enjoy this recipe. It is an original so if you choose to link or copy please give me a follow up link. Thanks and have a blessed day!

Pumpkin Munchkins

These were a wonderful hit with my daycare and my family. Give them a try for a seasonal treat - so much better than the drive-thru!
This is an original recipe, please be kind and link back to me if you share it - thanks:)

Pumpkin Munchkins

Yield: 50-60 munchkins, can be cut in half

Wet ingredients:

2/3 cup oil

1 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

1 Tbsp. pure vanilla extract

1 can pumpkin (1 ½ - 1 ¾ cup can, NOT pie filling)

1 cup milk

Dry ingredients:

3 ½ cups flour

1 Tbsp. baking powder

1 tsp. salt

1 Tbsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. nutmeg

Coating:

¾ cup butter, melted

¾ cup sugar

1-2 Tbsp. cinnamon

1/8 tsp. salt

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray-coat 2 or 3 (24-cup) mini muffin pans.
2. In large bowl or bowl of electric stand mixer  fit with paddle attachment combine wet ingredients. Beat on medium until smooth. Add dry ingredients and mix until combined but not over beaten.

3. Using a medium cookie scoop, fill each cup about ¾-full of dough. Bake for about 14-15 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes in pan then cool on wire rack.
   
4. While munchkins are cooling melt butter in a medium dish and combine sugar, cinnamon, and salt in a second dish. While munchkins are warm but not hot dip each one in butter and then roll in cinnamon-sugar mixture. Set on plate and serve while still warm or cover and store for 5 days.

  I hope you enjoy these healthy munchkins. Have a blessed day:)

Bone broth

this is so practical you'll wish you tried it years ago!

Homemade Jam

Today was a day to make more homemade jam. We ran out early this year and boy is it good!

Homemade Jam

Yield: 8 jars

Assorted berries (1 ½ quarts strawberries, mashed up, 1 bag frozen raspberries,

 and 1 bag frozen Wyman’s blueberries) which will equal 5-6 cups when mashed

1 box Sure-gel

½ tsp butter

7 cups sugar, measured and ready

1. Mash fresh berries to 5-6 cups; do not mash frozen berries. Put these in a stockpot; mix in the box of Sure-gel, and butter. Heat on high to a rolling boil (this means you stir it and it keeps boiling). Be sure to stir it as the frozen fruit melts so it won’t burn. When it reaches a rolling boil, add the sugar all at once and stir to mix thoroughly. Keep mixing and bring up to a rolling boil again. Cook at a rolling boil for 2 minutes (1 minute if all the berries are fresh). Remove from heat.
2. In the meantime, bring a small pan of water to a boil. Turn off burner and add your lids. Be sure to separate each lid in the water; don’t leave them in a stack. Let these sit while you’re making the jam.
3. Also, wash glass jars and metal rings. Put in a very clean sink submerged in the hottest water you can get.
4. When the jam is done use a glass measuring cup to scoop out the jam. Be careful this is VERY hot! Pour jam into HOT glass jar to within ½ inch of edge, wipe clean the edges, place a hot, dry lid on top with a magnet rod, and then screw on metal ring. Place upside down on towel. After about 5 minutes turn jar right side up you should hear the jars popping (sealing) within a few minutes to an hour.
5. Let the jars rest for 24 hours before storing. Tighten lid more, if necessary and store in a cool, dry place.

Upside-down-cake day

Did you ever wake up and your day starts out like an upside down cake?? I found this great recipe and immediately I said, "Hey, that's me today.!" Unfortunately, I didn't have time to actually make this yummy confection on my upside down day, but I plan to as soon as I can get right-side up. The only thing is I'm not sure I'll be in the mood for it then.... On these days my paths are not straight, the light is not on my path, kids are unorganized, school starts late, laundry is stacked and babies need feeding - can they eat upside down cake?

After wallowing in self-pity for a while, I decided to make the most of my upside-down day. Just because you're standing in sticky syrup doesn't mean you have to stay there. There are these great bananas to stand on...Cool:) You might still be in the sticky stuff, but you've got semi-stable foundation to coast on until you can pull yourself out. That's when I got to the spongy cake. Wow, maybe this wasn't so bad after all. Spongy cake was good. It was supportive, tasted good with the rest of the cake and made me feel like I had accomplished some stability in my less-than-stable day. I had tried all on my own to make this upside-down cake day into a beautiful 3-tier-whipped-white-frosting-with-tiny-crystallized-violets-cake (Oh, but that sounded so much better!)

I resigned myself to the fact that this day was not going to change and God would give me a brand new 24 hours tomorrow. When it hit me - sometimes you have to ask for the help. God's answer was simple, get over yourself...stop complaining and stop trying to turn your cake over. I later found that he made that day upside-down for a reason. I wasn't supposed to make it different, I was supposed to make the best use of what I was given.

As Christians, we spend a lot of time trying to turn our cakes. What we need to do is live the best we can through it so we can be a good testament to others-- believers or unbelievers. We need to keep walking and even though you might end up with sticky feet, they will be washed by the hands of God in the end.

We are so blessed that our Savior allows us to have our cake and eat it to:)

I hope you found this message encouraging. Meanwhile this cake really exists and is the fabulous creation of Closet cooking

Hugs and blessings-