Last nights dinner: Oven Beef Stew

Ok so this is my absolute favorite food of all time! I have never had anyone make this for me, but that is ok, I would be kinda scared that they might screw it up! Not to mention there is nothing better then tasting the fruit of you labors, or should I say stew of your labors! haha
Anyway, I found this recipe in an old cookbook from the 50's. My friend and I made it for home ec in high school and it has been my favorite ever since! This does take 2-3 hours to make but it is well worth it!

OVEN BEEF STEW



2 lbs boned chuck or bottom round in 2" cubes
1/4 c flour
3 tbsp salad oil
2 1/2 c tomato juice or water
12 small white onions
12 pared small carrots, quartered lengthwise
1 10oz package frozen whole kernal corn thawed just enough to separate
1 tsp monosodium glumate (MSG)I will talk about this later)
1 tsp salt
3 tbsp prepared mustard

Start heating oven to 350. Sprinkle meat with flour. Reserve leftover flor. In hot oil, in skillet, brown meat well on all sides - 15-20 min. Remove meat to 3 qt casserole dish.

Into oil, stir MSG, salt, mustard, and any remaining flour. Slowly add tomato juice (or water), stirring constantly making sure to keep it smooth, then pour over meat. Bake, covered, for 1 hour.

Add onions and carrots and bake, covered, for 45 minutes.

Add corn and bake, covered for 15 minutes or until vegetables are tender. Before serving, stir stew with a fork to bring meat chunks to the top.

Makes 6 servings.

TO VARY: Add 12 pared small potatoes with carrots, substitute peas for corn.

NOTES:
While MSG is still sold in stores, it is not recommended to use it! It can cause very dangerous side effects to some people. Please read up on it before useing it. If you don't use it you can easily substitute an extra tsp of salt, that's what I do.

I usually just buy the stew meat they sell at the store, it is cut smaller so it cooks quicker and is easier to eat in the stew.

I use extra virgin olive oil for the salad oil because I'm not sure what they mean.

I also have no idea what prepared mustard is. I've made this with ground mustard, yellow mustard, I have mixed ground mustard with water to "prepare" it, and I have even combined yellow mustard with ground mustard. They all turn out good, there isn't much of difference, unless you have a VERY trained tongue! My favorite thing to to is add 2 tbsp of ground mustard and 1 tbsp of yellow mustard.

If you don't have enough tomato juice, just add water to it until you have enough!

As far as cutting goes, I usually roughly chop the carrots and just use a large yellow or white onion, which ever I have, and cut it in half then quarter it. It's all good!

MY RATING: 5 Stew chuncks out of 5!!! YUMMY!!!

Last night's dinner: Black Bean Soup

So I got this recipe from hillbillyhousewife.com (http://www.hillbillyhousewife.com/blackbeansoup2.htm). I've been trying alot of things from there lately. It's a great site with all kinds of tips and recipes, I love it!
Anyway once again I was out of carrots and celery so I altered it a bit. My altercations will be listed at the bottom of the recipe. Maybe tonight I will run to the grocery store!

BLACK BEAN SOUP FROM DRIED BEANS

1 pound dry black beans
3 tablespoons oil
1 large onion, chopped
4 to 6 carrots, sliced
4 stalks celery, chopped
1 teaspoon garlic powder
6 chicken bouillon cubes
1/2 teaspoon black pepper

This recipe is not hard, but it does take a little bit of time for the beans to cook. In a large pot, soak the beans in 2 quarts of cold water overnight, or in 2 quarts of boiling water for an hour or two. After soaking, or the next day, drain the beans and cover them with fresh water. Bring the beans to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce the heat. You want the beans to simmer gently for most of the cooking process. Cover the pot and simmer the beans for an hour. Add more water if needed, to keep the beans covered.

Taste the beans after an hour and see if they are tender. If they are, then you can add the vegetables now; if not, then let them cook another 30 minutes and try again. When the beans are perfectly tender add the vegetable oil, chopped vegetables and seasonings. Taste and add salt if you think it needs it. Put the lid back on the pot and simmer the soup for another 30 minutes, or until the carrots are tender. The soup will be rich and dark with vibrant colors from the vegetables peaking through. When everything is tender, it's ready to serve.

Some people mash the beans a little bit to thicken the soup. You may do this or not as you like. I like it with dollops of yogurt on top, but it is also good with a few boiled egg slices decorating the top. Makes 8 to 10 servings

NOTES:
I left out the carrots and celery and replaced them with a can of corn. We usually don't do canned stuff unless I know who canned it but that is all we had. I also replaced the vegetable oil for extra virgin olive oil and put somewhere between 1 tsp to 1 tbsp of dried parsley flakes in it. I didn't try it with the yougart or the eggs and I didn't smash it up either, but it turned out great anyway! Unfortuately I didn't get a pic of it, but it did make for some great lunch the next day!

MY RATING: 5 black beans out of 5 black beans!

Last nights dinner: Cream of Potato Soup

We are in dire need of a trip to the grocery store so our options for dinner are very limited. I wasn't feeling well yesterday and was busy chasing around a naked toddler (yay potty training/learning!). This caused me to forget to soak some beans for dinner. So I decided to make some pototo soup. Unfortunately I didn't have all the ingredients for my mother-in-law's recipe, so I made my own with what I had. Here is the recipe, other notes will follow.

CREAM OF POTATO SOUP



6 medium red potatoes
6 chicken buillon cubes
5-6 cups hot water
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup whole wheat flour
2 cups milk
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon sugar

Rinse and chop potatoes into 1/2 - 1/4 inch cubes and place in hot water with the buillon cubes. Bring to a boil over med. high to high heat. While the potatoes are cooking melt butter in a sauce pan. Using a fork or a whisk to stir in flour, gradually. Make sure this stays smooth. Slowly add milk to the butter and flour mixture, making sure it does not become lumpy. If you are using a whisk you should be able to go a little bit faster. When all the milk is in and the mixture is smooth stir in salt, pepper, and sugar. Bring this to a boil and stir constantly. Allow this mixture to boil for a full minute. Now remove this sauce from heat. I like to allow this to sit for just a minute.
Check to see that the potatoes are tender. If they are, add the cream sauce to the potatoes. Bring to a boil and serve warm! This serves about 4-6 people.

OPTIONAL:
To make soup a bit thicker, stir in shedded cheese just before serving or plain yougart for a tangy twist. You can also throw in some chopped carrots and celery for added vitamins and minerals, I didn't only because I didn't have any.

NOTES:
I like to use one of those vidalia onion chopper things to chop up the potatoes. This makes them a great size for kids/toddlers and they cook quicker when they are smaller!

The cream sauce part comes from the Creamed tuna and peas recipe on hillbillyhousewife.com (http://www.hillbillyhousewife.com/creamedtunapeas.htm)

I'm not really positive about the serving, but my husband had 2 bowls, I had 4 (2 at dinner and 2 after the girls went to bed, man that makes me sound like a pig!), my daughter had 1 and my toddler had a very small bowl, plus there is one bowl left over for my lunch today! It just depends on how big your bowl is!

THE REPLACEMENTS:
Chicken stock/broth for the bouillon cubes and water
Margerine/oleo/whatever for the butter
Almost any type of potato will work, whatever you have on hand
All-purpose flour for the whole wheat flour

Seeing as how I had no milk or sugar, I made some milk from some non-fat dry milk I had in the cabinet. This is a great thing to keep around for when you do run out of milk! And instead of 1 tsp of sugar I used 1/2 tsp fructose that I had in the cabinet.

If you eat no processed foods then you can make your own broth/stock or even your own bouillon cubes, but that is another blog for another time!

MY RATING: 5 out of 5 potatoes!