Wow, I have been slacking - Stew today!

It has been a while.  I haven't stopped cooking, but my blogging has suffered recently too much Facebook/Zynga games.  Cooking is such a wonderful thing.  You get to enjoy creating something new and then you get to enjoy the fruits of your labors by eating what you cooked.  Today we are having beef stew, a really great comfort food.  There are so many different recipes out there for stew everything from Chili Verde (a Mexican pork stew) to the typical meat and potatoes based stews.  Last night David (my husband) heard we were having stew today and asked if we could make a thicker stew, apparently my last stew was more of a soup to him so I am giving it a try, we will see how it turns out.

Well, the stew was a hit with David.  It was thick and delicious.  I wouldn't change a thing...I think I finally have my stew down to a science!

Cathy's Crockpot Beef Stew

INGREDIENTS:

2 - 2 1/2 pounds beef stew meat                  1 large onion, chopped

1/2 Cup flour (to dredge meat in)                2-3 tbsp olive oil

1-2 cloves of garlic, minced                        5 large carrots, chopped

2 Tbsp tapioca (for thickening)                   1/2 cup Quinoa (optional)

1/2 cup lentils (optional - didn't use)          1/2 cup barley (optional - didn't use)

32 ounce bottle of V-8 or Tomato Juice      1/2 cup red wine

2 potatoes, cubed                                         2 cups frozen corn

1 cup peas                                                                                

DIRECTIONS:

Add garlic and olive oil to large skillet, dredge meat in flour and then quickly brown on all sides remove to crockpot you may have to do this in batches.  Once all meat is in the crockpot pour wine into skillet and loosen all little bits left behind, pour into crockpot.   Pour V-8 over the top and cook for 1 hour. Add all ingredients except potatoes, corn and peas.  Cook on low for 3-4 hours.  Add potatoes and corn.  Cook an additional 2 hours.  In last 10 minutes before serving add peas.  Serve with homemade corn bread.  Enjoy!

Today I am serving my Stew with a  Corn Bread recipe that I found on Taste of Homes website.  This recipe looked delicious.  Here it is:

Buttery Corn Bread Recipe

Ingredients:

• 2/3 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1-2/3 cups 2% milk
• 2-1/3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup cornmeal
• 4-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt

Directions:

• In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Combine the eggs and milk. Combine the flour, cornmeal, baking powder and salt; add to creamed mixture alternately with egg mixture.
• Pour into a greased 13-in. x 9-in. baking pan. Bake at 400° for 22-27 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cut into squares; serve warm. Yield: 12-15 servings.

This cornbread is perfect, it is moist and sweet almost cake-like.  I have always used honey butter when eating cornbread, but with this recipe I just ate it straight.  It is delicious, a compliment to any meal!