I've been yelled at!!!

OK folks, Pop officially yelled at me today because I haven't posted since August.  Well, I've been making what I call standard stuff all this time, nothing really new, so I haven't posted.  Since my ex brother-in-law, Kevin, wants to learn how to make beef stew and we had it for dinner today, I figured I'd put my recipe on here.

For thanksgiving, I found a new trick to keep the turkey nice and moist....... when you clean and prepare the turkey the day before, after a good cleaning, salt the outside, put it in it's pan in the refrigerator WITHOUT any covering.  The air sort of dries out the skin and helps the salt to absorb into the meat.  The skin comes out really crispy and the meat is moist and not salty at all.  Oh my, it's so good!!!  I'll do this every year!  On a side note, I made apple and pecan pies from scratch.  Except, my hubby tells me, "it's half scratch because you didn't make the crust!"  Now, tell me, if Pillsbury makes such wonderful pie crusts, why do I have to make them from scratch???   So, now the new term is "half-scratch".

As far as everything else goes, my new job is going well, I really love working there.  We've done some things to update the house, usual stuff, new door knobs, painting the trim, new refrigerator, those kinds of things.  I can't believe the year is almost over!  Where does time go these days???  It's really true what "they" say, as you get older time goes faster!  Well, it was just yesterday I was in my thirties, where did the time go???

Anyway, enough food for thought (pardon the pun), here's the recipe.  I hope you enjoy!


Beef Stew


1 lb beef cubes
1/2 cup flour
1/4 olive oil
salt, pepper to taste
2 carrots diced
2 celery stalks diced
4 bay leaves
4 red potatoes, cubed
2 medium onions, diced
32 oz beef stock
water


In a 6 quart pot, add the olive oil and heat on medium until hot.  Put the beef cubes into a baggie add the salt, pepper, flour and shake well coating all of the meat.  Empty the contents into the pot of hot oil and brown the meat.  Stir it to make sure the meat and flour do not burn.  Once browned, add in 1/2 of the diced celery, carrots and onions, bay leaves and beef stock.  Cook on medium, stirring about every 10 minutes (so it doesn't burn or stick to the pot).  After about an hour, check the liquid, it should be getting thick.  If it's too thick, add water for the desired consistency, start with a little and go from there.  Then, add the rest of the celery, carrots and onions.  Cook for an additional 30 mins, stirring as above, then add the cubed potatoes.  Cook, stirring (as above) until the meat is super tender.  Remember, beef cubes are the toughest of cuts and take a good two hours to "stew".  If the consistency is too thin, sprinkle some flour and work it in the mix or add about 2 ounces of water to a tablespoon of four, stir well, then add the mixture to the stew.  After adding water, you may need to add some additional salt to bring up the flavor.


This is a really easy recipe to prepare and cook, you just have to keep an eye on it so it doesn't burn!  I serve it with biscuits - Pillsbury will do.  I haven't mastered the task of making my own, one day......


Kev - try this out, I think you'll enjoy it!!!


One more thing............we have our house almost decorated.  The tree is up, the lights are up in the living room and kitchen.  We need more lights in the dining room, that will happen soon.  We have 2 more trees to put up in the windows, then we'll be done!  Since we live in a condo community, we can't put outside lights up, so the next best thing is a tree in the window!   Take care everyone, enjoy your holidays - especially with family and friends.