Beef Stew

This past weekend we made some really tasty dishes, so I will be posting them for you. And I finally remembered to take pictures too!

First off is Beef Stew. This stew is thick and hearty. It is what a fall stew should be. And I don't trim the fat from the meat, because I like those fatty pieces that you get, it makes the stew so much better.

And if you have extra rye bread sitting around, butter it up and eat it with this stew, because it is delicious.

Adapted from Brown Eyed Baker

Hearty Beef Stew

Serves to 6 to 8

Ingredients:
1 lbs. bison ribeye steak, cut into 1 1/2 in. cubes
Salt and ground pepper
2 tablespoons grapeseed oil, divided
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 medium onions, chopped (about 2 cups)
5 medium garlic cloves, minced
3 tablespoons unbleached all-purpose flour
1 cup dry red wine
4 cups homemade chicken broth, divided
2 bay leaves
1 teaspoon dried sage
1 teaspoon dried rosemary
3 medium red potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-in. cubes
4 large carrots (about 1 lb.), peeled and sliced 1/4 in. thick
1/4 cup pearled barley
1 cup rye bread crumbs
1 c. frozen peas

Directions:
1) Dry beef throughly and season generously with salt and pepper.

2) Heat 1 tablespoon oil in heavy-bottomed pot over medium high heat. Add meat so that pieces are not touching and cook not moving until brown (about 2-3 min). Use tongs and rotate pieces until all sides are browned (about 5 additional min.). Transfer beef to medium bowl.

3) Reduce heat to medium and add remaining 1 tablespoon oil to now empty pan and swirl to coat bottom. Add onions and 1/4 tsp salt and cook, scraping bottom of pan for brown bits until softened (about 5 mins). Add garlic and continue to cook for 30 sec. Stir in the flour and cook until lightly colored (1-2 min.). Add wine, scraping the bottom and stiring until thick and flour is dissolved.

4) Gradually add 2 cups of broth, stirring constantly, scraping up the remaining browned bits on bottom of pan. Add bay leaves and thyme and return to simmer. Add beef, return to simmer, reduce heat to low, and cover. Simmer for 1 hour.

5) Add potatoes, carrots and barley and additional 2 cups of broth, leave uncovered, increase heat to medium and cook for additional hour. (After adding the carrots and potatoes is when I added in the bread crumbs whether or not to add this would be based on personal preference and how thick or thin you like your stew sauce!)

6) Add the peas, reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for 5 min.

7) Discard bay leaves, adjust seasoning and serve immediately.

Turkey Chili

So this is really late.  I am been kind of lazy with posts lately, especially in the food department.  Partially because I feel like I haven't made anything worth while.  But this was delicious.  We had a lot of left over turkey from Thanksgiving because the people we did Thanksgiving with didn't like dark meat.  I really don't understand that, so we got all the left over dark meat and made turkey chili with it.  I also need to post a recipe to some amazing pumpkin bread I made over the weekend. 

And I don't have a picture because I don't feel like connecting the camera to the computer.  

Ingredients:

2 Tbsp. olive oil

1.5 punds of breast or leg meat

1 yellow onion, diced

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 rib celery, diced

1 carrot, diced

1 green pepper, diced

1 red pepper, diced

2 tsp. ground cumin

2 Tbsp. chili powder

salt and pepper to taste

4 cups cooked white beans

3 cups chicken stock

sour cream  and cheddar cheese for topping

1. Heat cast iron dish over medium heat.  Add oil and onion, garlic, celery, and carrot to pan and cook for 5-6 minutes.  Add in peppers, cumin and chili powder.  Season with salt and pepper, and continue to cook for 10 minutes until veggies are soft.

2. Add turkey to the pan and add the white beans.  Pour in the chicken stock and stir to mix well.  Simmer over low heat for 30 minutes. 

3. Serve with sour cream and cheese.

Serves 6-8

Baked Potato Soup

So first off, this soup is probably the best soup I have ever made.  It is so delicious.  I think a lot of it has to do with replacing two cups of milk with homemade turkey broth.  We also made some Irish Soda Bread and broccoli along with the soup.  But you should definitely try the recipe sometime.  It takes a little time but it is not too hard. 

serves 8
Ingredients:
4 baking potatoes (2 1/2 pounds)
2 Tbs butter
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
6 4 cups 2% reduced-fat milk whole milk
2 cups turkey broth
4 ounces shredded cheddar cheese, plus extra for garnish
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon paprika
1 cup reduced-fat sour cream
3/4 cup chopped green onions, divided( we just added all into the soup)
10 slices center cut bacon, cooked and crumbled ( we just added this into the soup and not on top)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400°.
Pierce potatoes with a fork; bake at 400° for 1 hour or until tender. Cool. Peel potatoes; coarsely mash. Discard skins.
Lightly spoon flour into a dry measuring cup; level with a knife. Melt butter in a large dutch oven. Add flour, whisking to combine with the butter. Gradually add milk and broth, stirring with a whisk until blended. Cook over medium heat until thick and bubbly (about 8 minutes). Add mashed potatoes, cheese, salt, pepper, and paprika, stirring until cheese melts. Remove from heat.
Stir in sour cream and 1/2 cup onions. Cook over low heat 10 minutes or until thoroughly heated (do not boil). Add additional salt and pepper if desired. Sprinkle each serving with cheese, onions, and bacon.

Miso Soup

Miso soup is a super easy soup to make and is so good for you.  Last night Jeff made some here and it was delicious.  I think it really came down to the miso we used, which was Taki Ginger Miso.

It claimed to be spicy but it really wasn't, promise.

We used this recipe taken from 101 Cookbooks.  We also ended up doubling it.  

Miso Soup Recipe

Miso Choice: This time around I used an organic white miso, but I'd encourage you to experiment with a range of misos.

3 ounces dried soba noodles
2 - 4 tablespoons miso paste (to taste)
2 - 3 ounces firm tofu (2 handfuls), chopped into 1/3-inch cubes
a handful of watercress or spinach, well washed and stems trimmed sugar snap peas
2 green onions, tops removed thinly sliced
a small handful of cilantro
a pinch of red pepper flakes

Cook the soba noodles in salted water, drain, run cold water over the noodles to stop them from cooking, shake off any excess water and set aside.
In a medium sauce pan bring 4 cups of water to a boil. Reduce the heat to a gentle simmer and remove from heat. Pour a bit of the hot water into a small bowl and whisk in the miso paste - so it thins out a bit (this step is to avoid clumping). Stir this back into the pot. Taste, and then add more (the same way) a bit at a time until it is to your liking. Also, some miso pastes are less-salty than others, so you may need to add a bit of salt here. Add the tofu, remove from the heat, and let it sit for just a minute or so.
Split the noodles between two (or three) bowls, and pour the miso broth and tofu over them. Add some watercress, green onions, cilantro, and red pepper flakes to each bowl and enjoy.
Serves 2 - 3.


Enjoy.

Lentil Soup and Grilled Cheese

This is one of those comfort food meals.  Not that I needed the comfort but it is just so good and you know I love soup.  This time the crock pot was used, an appliance that is not used very much in our household.  That is mainly because of time, anything requiring a crock pot takes all day and it is not that often that I plan that far in advanced in order for it to be done by dinner.

The recipe it self it pretty simple for the soup...
2 medium onions -- chopped
2 stalks celery -- chopped
4 whole carrots -- chopped
2 whole parsnips -- peel and chop
2 cloves garlic -- minced
1 1/2 cups lentils -- rinsed and drained
1 teaspoon dried thyme
8 teaspoons vegetable bouillon cube
8 cups water

Combine all ingredients in the insert of the slow cooker. Cover, and cook on high until the lentils are soft and the vegetables are tender, about 5 hours. Add salt and pepper to taste, if desired. Add additional heated vegetable broth if the soup is too thick.
(taken from justslowcooking.com)

And if I do say so it was pretty tasty.  I also added in some barley just because barley and lentils go together so well I figured why not.

Then add it with these awesome grilled cheeses that I made, it was quite a meal.

 

Lately I have been wanted grilled onions, so I made some for these grilled cheese and they are amazing.  Onions and melted cheese just go together so well.  I also love tomatoes on my grilled cheese whether they are fresh tomatoes, salsa or stewed (as shown above), they just add something so great to grilled cheese.  It is like dipping a grilled cheese in tomato soup.  

So anyway, I recommend this meal, it's easy and tasty and budget friendly.