Mmmm Beer Gravy....

Okay, so it's been over a week since I've wanted to share this recipe.  I have about five reasons as to why I'm just getting to it now, two of which are pretty good ones but I'll spare you the details.  A few weeks back I was chatting with a friend at a soccer game about food and dinners (shocker) and the topic of the o'll Crock Pot came up.  The slow cooker is just so fantastic in theory but I feel like I rarely find a recipe that excites me.  I do have a few posted on this blog but they tend to be a variety of Asian pork or the all time fave of the whole chicken which I re posted from 100 Days of Real Food. This recipe, Slow-Cooker Stout & Chicken Stew from Eating Well does involve a little bit of prep but not too much.  They do give tips at the end of the recipe to do some of the prep ahead to save time in the morning.  There are two things I love about this, there is no canned soup involved and there is canned beer involved.  Who doesn't love an excuse to have an extra Guinness on hand?  OK, maybe a few but just work with me here.  You can click the link above for the recipe and I will include it again at the end.

One of my least favorite things to do is browning meat for a recipe.  I will say however, it is must less annoying to brown a few chicken thighs than to brown some big hunk of pork or beef.  You get some flour for dredging and a little salt and pepper.

Lightly coat your boneless, skinless chicken thighs, shaking off the excess.

Next, of course, comes the browning.  Just heat a little bit of oil in the pan and get to work.

When they're brown, you place them in the bottom of the slow-cooker in as close to a single layer as you can.

Next up, bacon.  Mmmmm.  Bacon.  This is just three slices.  I find it so much easier to cut raw bacon with some kitchen scissors rather than trying to chop it with a knife.  Raw bacon sticks to the knife.  This is quicker and easier if you have them.

Now cook the bacon for a couple of minutes until it starts to crisp up a tad.

Add flour to the bacon and cook a couple of minutes more.

Now you add that can of stout.  Mmmmm.  Stout.  Did you know that Guinness only has 125 calories per serving?  It's really not horrible as far as beer goes.  And this is spread around an entire recipe that makes 8 servings so better yet.

Once you add the stout, stir it up and scrape all the yummy bits off the bottom of the pan.

Then pour it over the chicken in the slow-cooker.

Add garlic and thyme....

carrots (these colorful lovelies are from our garden)....

mushrooms (which I don't particularly like, but I do like the flavor they add to the ensemble)....

(get them all in there on top of that chicken)

And top with chicken stock or broth.  I've been talking a lot lately about reading labels and this is a big one.  You will notice that some brands of stock report "lower sodium" all over the front of the can or carton.  Read the numbers.  Turns out it's just lower than their regular one.  This brand is lower than all of them (in our store anyway).

So that's it.  Put the lid on and let it cook all day.  You can go 4 hours on high or 8 on low which is usually the more convenient option. 

About 10 minutes before serving, add a cup of peas.  Another thing I'm not crazy about but I was a big girl and ate my peas AND mushrooms (thank you very much).

And there it is all finished.  My kids loved this, especially the boy.  The boy who's favorite meal to request is chicken pot pie.  Chicken pot pie takes about three days to make (in my experience...).  I hate making chicken pot pie but luckily this satisfied his craving!  I think next time I'll make some biscuits and that should really do the trick.

We had it over rice with a nice side salad.  So if this looks good click the Eating Well link and get cookin.

There's A Storm A Brewin'

There's a big o'll snow storm brewing on the east coast and I for one am so ready for one!  I'd like to get snowed in for a couple of days (with my family, electricity and plenty of food of course).  Chances are we'll get less than predicted snow and there will be no such snowing in here but for those of you closer to the coast...look out.  When you head to the store for milk and bread, throw some ginger, stew beef and some Ro-Tel in your cart, you can let this cozy crock-pot meal cook away while you play Monopoly and watch movies.  Slow-Cooker Caribbean Beef Stew from Food Network Magazine is a new twist on your usual beef stew.  I typically make mine with stout beer or red wine but this one has ginger in it (that's new to me anyway).

There are not a ton of ingredients here.  The usual carrots, potatoes and beef along with fresh ginger, thyme, white pepper, allspice and Ro-Tel.

First you'll mix together some flour, chopped thyme leaves, allspice, salt and white pepper.

The recipe calls for 2 lbs of stew meat.  You can buy it chopped up but you can save a few bucks by cutting it up yourself if you've got an extra 2 minutes.

Add the beef to the bowl of flour and spices.

Toss the beef to fully coat in flour.

Next you chop up some carrots (I always go heavy on the carrots) and potatoes, ginger and garlic and toss it in the crock-pot with a couple of sprigs of thyme.

Next you put the meat right on top of the veggies.

Then you whisk a 1/2 cup of water and some Worcestershire sauce into the flour left in the bowl from coating the beef. Add it to the crock-pot

and open up a can of Ro-Tel (I really like this stuff).  This is the original flavor which is the tiniest bit spicy (my kids had plenty to say about that!) but it also comes in mild.

Plop it right on top and you are done for the next several hours.

Just like that, check dinner off the to do list.  Just walk away and let my retro-cooker do all the work.  Such a lovely concept, I do need to find more really good slow cooker recipes.

There you have it.  We had ours with a little rice and a nice hit of Siracha for good measure.  So if you're looking for something easy to warm your bones over the next couple of days, click the link for the full recipe and enjoy!
Caribbean Beef Stew

Que Bueno!

I think it's time for another quick, easy, weeknight dinner.  Well, it's pretty much always time for one of those!  I made this last night for the second time and everyone loved it just as much as the first time.  Spanish Turkey Meatball Stew can be a one pot meal, or if you're like us and have an abundance of produce in your fridge at all times, a nice leafy green makes a lovely side dish.  We had steamed chard with ours last night. So let's get to it~

If you're someone that is just starting to cook or doesn't do it often, I can't stress to you enough the advantage of reading the recipe all the way through before you get started.  I sometimes forget my own advice on this and it really makes cooking WAY more stressful than it needs to be.  I also recommend doing most of your prep (especially for a quick meal like this) before you start to cook to move things along smoothly.  So, get your garlic and your onions out.

Chop your onions and mince your garlic.  Then get some olive oil into a warm pan. 

Then you toss your onions and garlic and a pinch of salt in the pan and cook until they have softened.

While those are cooking (about 6 min) you can slice up some carrots....

and chop up some fresh parsley.

Once the onions are soft, you will remove half of them to a large bowl.  The other half stay in the pan and you will add the carrots, paprika and some salt and cook for 1 min while mixing it together. 

Next you add a can of chick peas (always drain and rinse, there's alot of sodium added to canned beans!), a can of low-sodium chicken broth and two cans of diced fire roasted (the flavor of these is fantastic) tomatoes.

 Bring this to a rapid simmer and cook for about 6 min or sauce until thickened slightly.

While the sauce is simmering, add the ground turkey, parsley and a tsp of salt to the onion mixture that you put in the bowl.  Mix well.

Roll the meat into 20 meatballs.  I'll confess, I only had 19 because one of them was a little on the large side.

Plop those meatballs right in the sauce and continue to simmer for about 7 min, turning them over about half way through.

The meatballs will cook, sauce will thicken some and your house will smell fantastic.

And there you have it.  A yummy, satisfying meal in 35 min.  Not bad my friends, not bad.

Spanish Turkey Meatball Stew (Food Network Magazine)

2 TBS olive oil
1 lg onion, chopped
5 cloves garlic, minced
Kosher salt
1 tsp paprika
1 cup sliced small carrots
2 14oz cans low-sodium fire roasted diced tomatoes
2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
1 15oz can chick peas, drained and rinsed
1 1/4lb ground turkey
3/4 cup loose packed fresh parsley, chopped
fresh ground pepper

Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.  Add the onion, garlic and a pinch of salt and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft, about 5 min.  Transfer half of the mixture to a large bowl.

Add the paprika and carrots to the remaining onion mixture in the skillet and cook 1 min.  Add the tomatoes, chick peas and chicken broth; bring to a rapid simmer and cook, stirring occasionally, until the sauce thickens slightly, about 6 min.

Meanwhile, add the turkey, parsley, 1 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp pepper to the bowl with reserved onion mixture and mix with your hands.  Form meat mixture into 20 meatballs.  Place meatballs in the skillet with the sauce and simmer, turning once, until cooked through, about 7 min.  Serve with more pepper and fresh parsley.

Enjoy!

Something to Stew Over

I'm not sure that it qualified as snow, but I did get caught in some hail this afternoon in the grocery store parking lot.  I wasn't super excited about it since it's the second week of October and I feel the twinges of a cold coming on.  Seems like the perfect time to share with you my favorite Beef Stew recipe.  Many people don't use a recipe for beef stew, I never did either but since I found this one in the Jamie Oliver Food Revolution cookbook, I know it will come out great every time and I love that you don't have to brown the meat first.  I hate browning the meat first.

So here's how it goes.  Get yourself some carrots (in various colors like our crazy garden variety, or your standard orange), onion and celery.  (The photos I took were of a double batch, we like leftovers.)

Generally I don't use celery in my stew but the recipe calls for it and I like the flavor it adds.  Sometimes I go lighter on the actual stalks but chop up the leaves and throw them in.  They are great in all kinds of soups (especially chowders) so don't toss them when you're cooking!

Roughly chop all the veggies and grab a couple of bay leaves while you heat a little olive oil in a pot over medium heat.

Toss it all in the pot and cook, stirring for about 10 minutes.

Next your going to add some flour and stew beef to the pot and mix it up good.

Next you'll add some dark beer.  This was good but a stout (Guinness) or porter will give it a little heartier flavor. 

Pour in the beer along with some canned diced tomatoes.

After bringing to a boil, cover and simmer on the stove or in a 350 oven for 3 hrs.  I add peeled diced potatoes in for the last 1/2 hour of cooking. 

And there you have it.  A nice hearty bowl of beef stew to warm your bones on a chilly October weekend. 

Basic Beef Stew (Jamie Oliver)

2 stalks celery
2 medium onions
2 carrots (I always go heavy on the carrots, usually twice as many)
olive oil
1 heaped TBS all-purpose flour
1 14oz can diced tomatoes
salt and pepper
3 bay leaves
1 lb stew beef diced
2 cups brown ale, Guinness or stout

If using the oven, pre-heat to 350.  Trim and roughly chop the onion, carrots and celery.  Heat a dutch oven over medium heat and add 2 Tbs olive oil and the veggies.  Cook for 10 min stirring occasionally.  Add meat and flour and stir.  Pour in beer and canned tomatoes.  Give it a stir and season with salt and pepper.  Bring to a boil, cover and simmer on stove top or in the oven for 3 hours.  Remove the lid for the last half hour of cooking.  If adding potatoes, peel and dice 2 large or a few medium potatoes.  Throw them in the pot for the last 30-40 min.  Remove bay leaves and add salt and pepper as needed before serving.  (Serves 4-6)