How To Jazz Up Canned Beef Stew

Sometimes you can't, or just don't want to, make comfort food from scratch.  You need and want a stick to your ribs meal that is quick and convenient, but still looks pretty on your plate.

This is eat-from-the-pantry-because-we-are-not-going-to-the-store week and our menu plan had "beef stew" on it for today's lunch.  I popped open the can and you can see what it looked like, above.  Not very inspiring, huh?  It tastes good when it's all warmed through and definitely sticks to the ribs, but it's just not all that pretty.  No worries because I jazz up my pantry items.

Dice up 2 small carrots and sauté them for a few minutes.  Rinse some frozen peas in a strainer, then add them to the carrots with 1/4 cup of water.  Cover and boil for 2-3 minutes.  Now add in your canned beef stew, stir and heat through.

The result is not only pleasing to the eye, but the carrots and peas also add another layer of texture.  Perfect for a quick, fall meal when you're busy or have unexpected guests drop by.  Enjoy!

Leftover Wednesday - Salad!

The hubs was really in the mood for a salad and I caught the fever.  Except for a BBQ, what says "Summer" more than a fresh salad?!  So, I pulled all of these ingredients out of the fridge and off the window sill to make dinner tonight:

• Cilantro
• Tomato
• Red onion
• Swiss cheese
• Iceberg Lettuce (still in the wrapper because we had such good intentions to eat salad daily when we bought it!)
• Carrots
• Celery
• Turkey lunch meat that was on day seven - use or lose
• A Ree Drummond Ranch Chicken Sandwich breast leftover from our water park picnic dinner, Monday night
• Bacon

I threw all seen above, including some shredded cheddar not pictured, into the fabulous, wooden salad bowl my MIL gave me for Christmas several years ago.  It was so delicious! Unfortunately, the avocados I wanted to include expired yesterday and did not make it in the salad.  :o(  There were leftovers for the hubs to take to work with him tomorrow for lunch, as well as for me to eat for lunch.  :oD

The Pioneer Woman's Perfect Pot Roast

I like this picture best, with the sunlight on the plate, but the hubs feels the
meat is not "present", hidden within the shadows.

The hubs likes this one better - no sunlight, but flash on the camera.

I love Ree Drummond, The Pioneer Woman.  All 3 of us do, actually.  We all watch her show, I've read her book, own her cookbooks and enjoy her recipes.  One of my favorites is her Perfect Pot Roast.    When I tried this recipe earlier this year, I had not made pot roast in 10 years.  I'd given up!  Whether I did it on the stove or in the slow cooker, it turned out blah, tough and dry.  I decided to give it another try with Ree's recipe.  The 1st time I made it, I liked it.  It was flavorful, it fell apart nicely, but it was a little dry.  The 2nd time I made it was at my mom's.  I cooked it a little longer, but she did not have an oven proof pan with a lid and all she had on hand was top round, not chuck roast.  It was a little dry, too.  But everyone loved the flavor.  My mom had not made a pot roast in several years, either, and said she would definitely start making pot roast again with this recipe.

Tonight I made it for the 3rd time.  I used a chuck roast from Wegmans and cooked it for 4 hours, even though it was less than 2.5 pounds.  It came out perfectly!  Using the right meat and cooking it longer was the key.  I hope you try her recipe.  It really is pretty simple and you will be a hero to those to whom you serve it.

I served it with mashed potatoes and made some gravy from the pan juices and some masa.  I usually make terrible mashed potatoes so that is the hubs' job now.  But tonight, I decided to try them and they turned out beautifully - so fluffy, smooth and flavorful.  I made a perfect dinner tonight!  I'm sure that means the next 4 months of dinners will probably turn out crappy, but it will be worth it!  ;o)

Leftover Wednesday - Steak Soup

Once again, I found myself with leftover steak this week.  I also had leftover baked potatoes, but they got eaten by someone around here.  I didn't even get to make any breakfast hash with the leftovers.  So, I made Steak Soup for dinner.  Soups are a great way to use up leftovers; I'm a big fan.  I use Simple Comfort Food's Steak and Potato Soup recipe as my base but, as usual, I make modifications.  That's the beauty of cooking - it's an art - and art is subjective.  So we can change anything to our tastes, dietary needs and what's on hand.

SCF's recipe calls for adding the onion and garlic to a hot pan at the same time.  I rarely add garlic to a pan first.  It burns quickly; the smell is unpleasant and the taste will negatively effect your dish.  I'm allergic to olive oil, so I heated half butter, half Wegmans Basting Oil over medium heat and sautéd a whole Walla Walla Sweet onion, diced.  (So excited that the shipment of Walla Wallas arrived from my aunt in Washington!)

While my onions softened in the pan, I scrubbed and chopped the last of the carrots in the house (they were on their last legs so I was glad to use them up).  Because we buy organic carrots, I don't peel them.  A good scrubbing is all they need and you get more good-for-you parts in your food.

While the carrots and onions were enjoying themselves in the pan, I peeled and chopped 3 good-sized white potatoes ($1.99/5# bag, that's why I had white potatoes on hand).  I usually don't peel potatoes, but decided to do it tonight because B does not like the peels and I did not feel like hearing about it.  I threw the potatoes in the pot and put the garlic on top of them.  There is now plenty of cushion between the garlic and the bottom of the pan to save it from burning.

The hubs' tummy is sensitive to cooked tomato products so I don't add the 1/2 cup tomato sauce called for in the original recipe.  Below, you'll see my squirt of tomato paste.  I stirred that in and let it caramelize for a minute to add depth and flava!

Below, I've already stirred in salt, pepper and worcestershire sauce.  The author of the original recipe is so right about the worcestershire - it is key to the flavor.

Added in my diced up leftover steak and stirred...

...then added beef stock and brought it to a boil.  I did not add in the full 4 cups of stock, probably 3 or slightly more than 3, just enough to cover everything in the pot.  Since it cooks for a while with the lid on, more liquid will be created.

Yummy Steak Soup served up with fresh, homemade bread; it doesn't get any better than that!

Oh, yes, it does - I had enough for a freezer bag full of leftovers.  :oD