Simple and Delicious Beef Stew in a Crock Pot / Slow Cooker

I just found the easiest, most delicious beef stew recipe for the slow cooker/crock pot. Best part is it made two different meals! I’m not much of a meat eater, actually, but there’s something about slow-cooked beef and pork that makes me absolutely LOVE it. This recipe was so good, so easy, and low cost that it’s going to become an official recipe in the rotation. Which, is like, the highest form of flattery for a recipe.

Ingredients

1 package Stew Meat

2-3 potatoes, chopped

1-2 cups chopped carrots

2 packages French onion soup mix

1 tablespoon beef bouillon

2 tablespoons oil

Directions

Heat oil in a skillet and brown stew meat. Add chopped potatoes and carrots to the crock pot. Top with browned meat. Add soup mix and beef bouillon and as much water as you want. I made mine really brothy because I wasn’t sure how much water I’d need. I added about 6 cups of water. Which paid off for the second recipe (see below). Cook for 8 hours. Serve with crusty bread, or cheesy bread.

 

Night Two Ingredients

Leftover Stew

3 tablespoons butter

3 tablespoons flour

1 cup rice

Night Two Directions

Heat leftover stew and cook up some white or brown rice. When rice is done and stew is hot, melt the butter in a saucepan on medium heat and add flour. Stir together and heat up to make a roux. Slowly add about a cup at a time of stew broth until sauce is thick and creamy. Serve rice on bottom and use a slotted spoon to gather stew pieces and put on top of rice. Generously smother with your homemade gravy.

Making the roux

 

 

Ladel-ing some broth to add to the roux. Yes, I totally made up that word.

 

 

Home made gravy!

 

 

I thought the first night was good. This was even better. YUM!

And, since it’s Halloween, one of my favorite times of the year, here’s a picture of my fun crazy boys:

 

{Guest Post} Chicken Tortilla Soup

My friend Heather lives in beautiful Montana. I love stalking her on Instagram because she posts amazing photos of the land she lives on; her cute, fluffy doggie; knitted caps and sweaters she just seems to whip up; her adorable baby boy, and lately she's been tempting me with food. Gurrrl, I need to live next door to you! Of course she also has a cool blog with a cool name, Cooking All The Thyme, where you can enjoy more of her recipes and beautiful creations (seriously, you're gonna die over the knitted baby stuff). Basically, she is awesome, even more so that she agreed to guest post her Chicken Tortilla Soup after I drooled over her photo and asked her to do so. Thank you Instagram and thank you Heather!

Heather writes: 

During the fall and winter months you can often find me cooking up big pots of soup or stew.  I think it’s one of the best ways to enjoy, or sometimes just help tolerate, the cold, rain, and snow.  I always like to make a big pot and have dinner made for a few nights, and maybe freeze some for later too.  My hubby and I recently made my Chicken Tortilla Soup, and it was so good that right after it was gone we cooked up another pot of it.  Missy spotted my food pics of it on Instagram and let me know it was soup and stew month and invited me to guest post.  I’m delighted!

This Chicken Tortilla Soup is one of my top favorites.  But then I think I say that about every soup or stew, there are way too many favorites!  I made this a couple years ago, after just writing a list of ingredients that I knew I wanted to use and decided on the order of how I wanted to layer in the flavors.  It turned out awesome so I put it on my (much neglected since having a baby) blog, Cooking all the Thyme.

This time I made it the same as it’s written on there except with a little more southwestern style, adding red bell pepper, black beans, and corn.  I love that you can get creative with different vegetables and things you want to add in.  Give it a little kick with some jalapeno  or leave it out and have it mild.  I also love that there’s not a lot of prepping since most of what you need is canned or frozen, so it is quick and easy to put together.  Always nice when you don’t have to be a human food processor for an hour before cooking!

Garnish it with the tortilla chips, cheddar, and scallions if so desired, and you feel like you’re having a big Mexican night kind of dinner but on the lighter side.  It’s flavorful and heartwarming, and like all soups I think, even better on the second or third day after all the flavors marry.  Enjoy!

Chicken Tortilla Soup

1/2-1 yellow onion, chopped
4-5 garlic cloves, minced
1-2 jalapeno or serrano peppers, finely chopped (for more heat, use the seeds)
2-3 celery stalks, chopped
1 red bell pepper, diced
1 lb cooked chicken, cubed or shredded
2 t. chili powder
1-2 t. cumin
pinch of s+p
1/4 c. AP flour
1 (28 oz) can diced tomatoes with the juice
1/4 c. enchilada sauce, medium or hot (optional)
3-4 quarts chicken stock and/or vegetable broth (I like a combination)
2 (14.5 oz) cans black beans, drained
1 (14.5 oz) can pinto beans, drained
1 (4 oz) can diced green chilies, drained
1 1/2 c. frozen corn
handful fresh cilantro and/or parsley, chopped

Garnish:
tortilla chips (a must!)
cheddar cheese, grated
green onions, sliced

If chicken is not cooked yet, cut about 1 lb chicken breasts into bite size pieces, heat olive oil in large soup pot and sauté chicken just until cooked.  Set aside in a bowl and return empty pot to stove.]  Cover the bottom of the large soup pot with olive oil and heat over med.-high.  Sauté onion until translucent but not brown, add in garlic and jalapeño and cook for a couple minutes, then add celery and red pepper to sauté another 4-5 minutes.  Stir in cooked chicken, cumin, chili powder, pinch of kosher salt and pepper, and dried parsley if you don’t have fresh, stir it all up.  Sprinkle the flour onto the mixture, stir and cook for 3-5 minutes to cook out the raw flour taste.  Pour in diced tomatoes, enchilada sauce, and 3-4 qts. chicken/vegetable stock, stir and let it heat up to a simmer.  Stir in the beans (drained and rinsed), diced green chilies, and frozen corn.  If using fresh herbs, add them in and salt and pepper to taste.  Let simmer (not boil!) for about a half an hour, if you can wait that long.  Dish up into bowls and sprinkle with crushed tortilla chips, cheese, and scallions.  Enjoy!

Thai Carrot Soup Party

One thing I love about soup month is that you really can’t screw up the ingredient measurements since it all gets blended together. Plus I got a book over the holidays with quick bread recipes that have become super easy, and a perfect addition to our soup nights. More on that later...

We went to a soup party over the holidays which was a brilliant idea! They had four different soups with toppings specific to each soup. (We love taco night for the same reason because you can customize your meal to your taste preference.) The big winner of the soup party was a Thai Carrot Soup, which both adults and children loved.

Inspired by the winner, I picked two recipes on the internet and put together my own version of it. I would love to try it again with coconut milk but I thought I’d go with this one to begin with.

Thai Carrot Soup

3 cloves of garlic
1 small onion
1 inch of ginger
4 cups of vegetable broth (or chicken)
cumin
Lemongrass
7-10 carrots
Fresh Cilantro

(Adult version: red pepper flakes or the Thai garlic red pepper sauce, fish sauce, soy sauce, lime juice, and cilantro blended in)

In a large stir-fry pot add garlic, onion, ginger, and lemon grass. Add the carrots and stir-fry for a couple of minutes then add half of the veggie broth. Simmer for 15-20 minutes until the carrots are soft. (Add spices at this point if you don’t have picky children.)

Now transfer everything to the blender or food processor. Add the rest of the veggie broth if you can or stir it in when you transfer it back to the pot.

Easy, right? Then I had some fun purple Thai rice, little pieces of cooked chicken, cilantro, grilled mushrooms, red pepper flakes out on the table so you could customize it to your tastes. Plus I threw some dough into the oven and you have a dinner party even when your husband is out of town on a boys' weekend.

Cream of Potato Broccoli Cheese Soup

Ok, here’s the thing: I LOVE any kind of soup that has the word ‘creamed’ in it. But I feel like that word kinda gets a bad rap. I mean, just because it says ‘creamed’ doesn’t necessarily mean there’s actual cream in it, right? In my definition, a creamed soup simply speaks to the texture. It means it’s like, creamy, in like the sense that it’s all soft and the ingredients are like, creamed together. Are you following me? What I’m basically trying to tell you is that there is no cream in this creamed soup. It is semi-good for you. Sorry. But I swear you won’t miss the cream in it. I swear. Try it. Ok?

This is one of my very favorite recipes that I made up all by myself, so I’m particularly proud of it. It is so simple, has really great and healthy ingredients and also allows you to play with some yummy (and possibly unhealthy) toppings. And you can put it in a bread bowl too. I mean, really.

Cream of Potato Broccoli Cheese Soup

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon butter
1 leek, chopped
4 potatoes, peeled and cut coarsely
1 head (or bag) of fresh broccoli cut coarsely
1 head of cauliflower cut coarsely
6 cups of vegetable broth
2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese (reserve for the end)
Salt and Pepper to taste

Directions
In a large pot, melt butter and throw in chopped leeks. 

Add a healthy pinch of sea salt and pepper. Cook leeks in butter for a few minutes (the smell will intoxicate you; it is sweeter and more subtle than an onion) .... 

...and then add potatoes, broccoli, cauliflower and vegetable broth.

Bring to a boil, then cover and simmer for an hour.

After soup has simmered, cream it, baby.  I’ve been making creamed soup ever since I got this little beauty for my wedding seven years ago. It's like a hand-held blender. Just stick it into the pot turn it on. Magic. Creamed soup in a jiffy. Or creamed mashed potatoes. Or, whatever. If you don’t have one of these, though, it’s ok. A hand-held mixer would do. You could even mash it all up by hand with a potato masher if you were either desperate or happen to be a college student.

 After soup is creamed, add cheddar cheese a little at a time and melt.

I like this soup in a bread bowl. To do it like I do, buy mini sourdough bowls from the store, cut the top at a diagonal all the way around, and then push in the sides with your fingers. Bake at 350 degrees for 7-10 minutes just until warm.

Serve soup topped with your favorite garnishes – I love bacon and green onions. I also think Kale Chips would be good on top, for those of you who are vegetarian, in which case shield your eyes from the bacon-food-porn below.

We had our friends Kiersten and Michael over for dinner and they made a super yummy salad to go along with it. It had tomatoes, edamame, feta and corn. Yum.

I will be mad at you if you don't try this because I just won't understand why you wouldn't eat something so delicious that also happens to not have cream in it.

- Amber

Amber's Award Worthy Chili

It is seriously stormy outside. Like stormy, stormy. The kind that turns an umbrella inside out, the kind that makes the middle of the day look like midnight, the kind that makes you want to say, "Ef off, work" so you can go home and cuddle by the fire, watch a movie, and drink a hard cider while a steaming pot of chili cooks on the stove… Do you see where I’m going here?

When Emily posted this month’s ingredient “Cocoa” I was a bit uninspired. I know, call me a crazy person. Can I even call myself a woman? But I just love love love savory food and dessert is usually a thing I do only because everyone else is doing it. But then I ran into Andrew Robinson, a fellow parent at the daycare where I take my kids, who also loves to cook who also happens to be a BATF follower, and we had an inspiring conversation, whilst peeling off children’s coats and hanging out by the sign in sheet. “Chili,” he said. And I was sold.

Turns out, like, all of the famous and award winning chili recipes have cocoa in them. That’s what all the people on Google tell me--it's like the secret ingredient to chili success. So I found a few ‘award-winning’ recipes and made up my own. Some had all beans and some had all meat and I thought to satisfy the carnivore in my husband and the herbivore in me, I’d do a little bit of both. And to satisfy the beer lover in both of us, I chose to add a bit of that too. It was super delicious. My 5 year old ate his entire bowl (mixed with a lot of sour cream to minimize the spice) and my 2 ½ year old only had one bite. So, there’s a 50/50 chance your kids will like it. And if you don't have small children, I recommend you add a lot more spice to this recipe! Some hot sauce, chili peppers, and anything else you can find.

My verdict on the cocoa: Though it wasn't noticeable at all, I have chosen to believe my chili wouldn't have been as good without it. Now, can I call my recipe "award-winning" too? Next up, a chili cook-off so I can officially add that to the title.

Amber’s Award-Winning Chili

Ingredients

1.5 lb. lean chuck, ground

1 lb. lean pork, ground

4 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1 finely chopped onion

8 oz. hunts tomato sauce

1 can diced tomatoes

1 can pinto beans

1 can kidney beans

1 cup water

1 can beer

3 Tablespoons chili powder

2 tablespoons instant beef bouillon (6 cubes)

2 Tablespoons ground cumin

2 teaspoons paprika

2 teaspoons oregano leaves

2 teaspoons sugar

½ teaspoon ground coriander

1 teaspoon unsweetened cocoa

1 teaspoon cornmeal

1 teaspoon flour

1 Tablespoon warm water

Directions:

1)      In a large saucepan, brown meat. Drain the fat.

2)      Add onion and garlic and soften

3)      Add the tomato sauce, tomatoes and beans and mix well

4)      Add water, beer, chili powder, bouillon, cumin, paprika, oregano, sugar, coriander and cocoa

5)      Bring to a boil and then reduce heat and simmer for at least 2 hours.

6)      In a small bowl, mix cornmeal and flour, then add warm water and mix well.

7)      Stir into chili and cook, covered for an additional 20 minutes

Garnishes

I chose to add all of the below garnishes, just to add a bit more fun and flavor.

1)      Sour cream

2)      Shredded cheddar cheese

3)      Chives and/or green onions

4)      Heavy dash of hot sauce

Yow! Lookin' hot.

Sides

Tortilla chips or sourdough bread! This would have been excellent in a bread bowl.

Fall Recipies and Cocktails

Is it bad that all we want to do at BATF is curl up with a mug of hot cider and watch a movie while a big pot of soup cooks in the kitchen? Here in the Northwest we should be happy that the forecast is still sunny for as far as the eye can see, but I was just a little bit thrilled this morning when I woke up and it felt like crisp fall in the air.

In celebration of Oktoberfest, Pumpkins, spiced lattes and Stews we thought we’d post some of the favored autumn recipes from past posts.

Bring on those brooding storms! We’re ready for them!

Our favorite fall foods:



     1)      Oktoberfest Beer Roasted Chicken

     2)      Cranberry Chicken

     3)      Zuppa Toscana

     4)      Penne with Butternut Squash & Goat Cheese

     5)      Dahlia Lounge French Toast

     6)      Ricotta Dounuts

The warmest of beverages:

1)      Mulled Cider

2)      Spanish Coffee

3)      Hot Ginger Toddy

Lamb Cassoulet

I’m taking our lamb recipes from Greece, northwest to the country of France.

And I will admit as much as I loved this dish, I’ve had a ridiculous craving for Greek food ever since I read Amber and Missy’s posts. I’m going to have to satisfy that craving sometime very soon! But I chose some serious comfort food which was fitting since it’s currently snowing in my part of the world. I love all cuts of lamb, but it’s hard to beat shanks: tender pieces of meat falling off a big bone and drenched in a fabulous sauce.

Cassoulet is a rich, slow-cooked casserole originating in the south of France, containing meat, pork skin (not mine) and white beans (thank you, Wikipedia). And I believe it traditionally has bread crumbs over the top. 

I found this shortcut version and kind of took the crock pot approach (in a Dutch-oven) and just started throwing in whatever sounded good, so sorry for my lack of measurements. The few “real” cassoulet recipes I looked at use dried beans (hence the extra long, slow cooking) but I just used two cans of white beans. I think my broth would have been much thicker had I gone the traditional route, but this was super easy and delicious!

I served the juicy lamb over mascarpone cheese polenta and we had a kale and spinach salad on the side. And of course we had some good red wine to wash it down.

The cassoulet smelled amazing as it was cooking! I started to get really hungry while waiting the 3 hours for it to cook. As we were checking the shanks to see if they were falling off the bone, Curtis suggested using the leftover veggies, beans, lentils and broth to make minestrone soup. So on night #2, we had a completely different meal – it was brilliant!

We also really love rack of lamb (I’ll try to get around to making our favorite recipe and posting about it as well) but my other go-to lamb dish is buying lamb shanks from Costco, pre-marinated and pre-cooked. When we have company over, I throw them in my Dutch-oven on low on the stove top add in some fresh herbs and then act like I made them from scratch. Works like a charm every time!

My dirty little secret. Thank you, Costco.

Here is a picture of my raw lamb shanks just to prove I really did make this recipe from scratch (this time)!

PCC lamb shanks, $7.99 / lb.

(Short Cut Version of) Lamb Cassoulet over Mascarpone Cheese Polenta

1. Preheat the oven to 300
2. Heat ghee or high heat oil in a Dutch oven or oven-safe dish and sear the shanks on each side, about two minutes per side. I only made 2 lamb shanks, but you could probably fit up to 6 in a pan. Set the shanks aside.
3. Turn off the heat and add to the pan (this is where you can use whatever mix of veggies, herbs and liquid that sound good to you) :

-          1 can tomato paste

-          Carrots, chopped

-          Celery, chopped

-     Lamb shanks

-          Lentils (I used pre-cooked from Trader Joe's - they’re a super food!)

-          2 cans white beans
-          Fresh rosemary and thyme

-          1 box beef broth

-          Red wine (just because we had some on tap, shhh! Don’t tell Curtis)

-          Garlic (lots)

-          Parmigiano-Reggiano rind (I always save my rinds to flavor soups and dishes like this)

-          Salt and Pepper, to taste

-     And I meant to throw in a chopped onion as well, but forgot. 

      Put the lid on the pot (or cover with foil) and bake in the oven at 300 degrees for approximately 2 1/2 hours or until lamb is tender. Remove the lid and cook for an additional 30 minutes or until sauce has reduced slightly. Sever over mascarpone cheese polenta.

Mascarpone Cheese Polenta

Recipe courtesy of Emeril Lagasse

I cut this recipe in half since there were just two of us.

4 cups milk

¼ cup olive oil

1 cup polenta (coarsely ground yellow cornmeal)

½ teaspoon salt

1 cup Mascarpone cheese

Parmigiano-Reggiano for grating on top

Bring the milk to a boil. Add olive oil, salt, and pepper. Very gradually, add the polenta in a steady stream, whisking constantly. Add the salt and whisk to combine. Reduce the heat to low and cook, stirring frequently with a heavy wooden until thick and creamy, 20 to 30 minutes. Add the mascarpone to the polenta and adjust the seasoning to taste. Top with freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese. This polenta recipe rocks, it is so creamy and delicious!

Night #2

Lamb Broth Minestrone Soup

Bring lamb broth with veggies, beans and lentils to a boil and then turn down the heat so the soup is simmering (it may need to be thinned with some water).  Add tortellini, kale and chicken sausage to the broth.

Cook until the pasta is done. Serve with some good crusty bread for dipping!

Olive Garden's Zuppa Toscana

February Ingredient: Kale

In case you haven’t gotten the memo, it’s KALE MONTH at Beauties and the Feast. I hadn’t discovered Kale until last summer when I joined my very first CSA (Acme Farms and Kitchen) and we got Kale almost every week. I can’t believe how lovely this little green plant is. It’s good in just about anything and is one of the best things you can put in your body. I spent at least a couple of hours researching Kale recipes. Then I finally decided on a copycat recipe for Zuppa Toscana, which is one of the yummy soups made by the Olive Garden. Yes, my friends, you can even find Kale at the Olive Garden.

It's a simple soup to make, it turns out! Didn't take me very long and I loved how few ingredients I actually needed to buy. Kale seems to be good in just about anything!

Ingredients

· 2 bunches Kale, torn Into Bite Sized Pieces

· 12 whole Red Potatoes, Sliced Thin

· 1 whole Onion, Chopped

· 1-1/2 pound Italian Sausage

· 1/2 teaspoon Red Pepper Flakes (more To Taste)

· 2 cups Low Sodium Chicken Broth

· 2 cups Whole Milk

· 4 cups Half-and-half

· Splash Of Heavy Cream

· Fresh Or Dried Oregano

· Salt and Pepper To Taste

Directions

Boil the potatoes until tender, drain. Brown sausage with chopped onion in a large pot and drain as much grease as you can. Add Red Pepper Flakes, Dried Oregano and Salt and Pepper to the cooked Sausage. Add Chicken Broth, Whole Milk and Half and Half and bring to a simmer. Simmer for 15 minutes. Add potatoes and Kale. Cover and simmer for 10 more minutes. Add a splash of heavy cream at the end for richness. Taste! Add seasoning if you need it.

This is what the potatoes should look like when you cut them

I chose the mild sausage JUST IN CASE my kids would eat it. Should have bought the spicy.

Hello, Kale. I love you.

Mmmmm... Sausage

Kid's portion. Don't worry: we eat way more than this.

I served this soup with a side of mini bagel sandwiches since I knew the kids would eat those and it was a very yummy combination. (Wished I’d had some of those buttery salty Olive Garden bread sticks though!).

Overall, I’d give this soup 3 out of 4 stars—only because I’m not a big sausage fan, but I knew one way I could get my husband to eat Kale Soup would be to call it “Sausage Soup with Kale” and he would have given it 4 stars for sure.
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For a lower fat soup, I’d recommend using ground turkey and using all chicken broth instead of cream. Still sounds yummy, doesn’t it?

Special thanks to

Marathon Sweetheart for the bad-ass Kale cartoon