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Tes Makes Beef Stew with Apples
Tes' Beef Stew photo by Tes at Home
I was pleased to pop over to Tes at Home and find Tes created a wonderful recipe that would be perfect for a tonight’s slow cooker recipe exchange It sounds like she peeked into her kitchen and found a variety of ingredients and decided they would make a good stew. I believe she’s right. Click link below or either picture for the recipe.
Tes’ Beef Stew with Marjoram and Apples
Can't wait to try this. Photo by Tes at Home
Mmm…Roast Chicken
Slathered the bird with a butter/EVOO garlic herb sauce, under the skin and on it. Roasted the bird on a bed of dressing. I thought it a fair idea but the chicken grease (and all that butter and oil) turned it into a greasy slop. I put the dressing under the broiler for a while to try to crisp the top some and that helped a little. I managed to eat a spoonful without gagging. The chicken was great!
Roasted some cauliflower while the chicken rested and made a lemony butter sauce (beurre blanc) that worked very well on the veggies and on the chicken.
Enjoy!
How About Now?
About being tired of turkey yet, I mean. This soup worked about as expected, the only thing I wish I had done different was adding the broccoli as early as I did. Should have waited but ran ran into the “simmer the soup for a long time” mindset. You know what I’m talking about-start it at a simmer and wander by now and again to stir it around a bit. Some veggies just can’t stand long simmers, and broccoli is right there at the top of that list. Bean, carrots, onions, potatoes? Sure you can overcook a carrot but an overdone carrot still looks pretty good. Overcooked broccoli? It’s just sad looking.
Used a couple of those parsnips I bought, never put any of those in a soup before. They held up fine but the very nature of the dish means that their particular flavor was lost-melded with the flavors of every other veggie in there: Carrots, potatoes, onions, Brussels sprouts, and cauliflower. I spooned some parsnip chunks out individually just to see what I could tell, texture little different from the potatoes, I could tell it wasn’t a carrot by taste but that was about all.
I made the usual loaf of bread to go with the soup. Used the machine with the basic recipe for white bread but I added lard rather than the butter the recipe called for. I’m not going to make a judgement on the basis of a single loaf but I can say that this loaf turned out just fantastic. I wish I could say that every loaf I’ve made in this unit turned out just the same but that would not be true. There have been few outright failures and different loaves have risen differently. Not sure I can attribute any particular change to a certain thing like bad yeast, or too much flour, or some other technical item-when a loaf fails I generally shrug and make the best of what comes out. I will be making the next loaf with lard again.
Soup’s on!
Lamb and Sprouts
Mrs J was rummaging through the big freezer, looking for something for dinner tonight. She found a corned beef brisket but set it back. Then she found a bag of lamb chunks that I had put back for more gyros and had forgotten all about. Lamb sounded good so we thawed it. Wasn’t sure what to do with it but it never hurts to marinade it so I mixed up a marinade and poured it over the chunks in a plastic bag and refrigerated it while I surfed some recipes. This one looked pretty good. It was for lamb shanks but it seemed easily adapted for the meat I had. Do I have pictures? You betcha!
Chunky Vegetable Soup
The rain continues, so soup sounds good for the weekend. I’m also going to make a batch of skillet biscuits to go with this. I think the weekend will consist of rain, old movies, a good book and a very warm comforter. The bedding plants will have to wait.
Chunky Vegetable Soup
- 6 mushrooms, washed & sliced
- 1 onion, peeled & sliced
- 2 red potatoes, cubed (peeling opt)
- 8 oz baby carrots
- 1 turnip, peeled & cubed
- 15 oz can white beans
- 14 oz can diced tomatoes
- 1 tsp crushed garlic
- 1 tsp basil, crushed
- ¼ tsp pepper
- ½ to 1 tsp salt
- ½ tsp marjoram
- 32 oz chicken broth
- 4 cups water
- 6 oz Ruote (wheel shaped pasta)
- 4 oz shredded mozzarella
Saucepan or Slow-Cooker
In saucepan, sauté mushrooms and onions in 1 tbsp of butter. Add all ingredients, except cheese, bring to a low boil, reduce heat, cover and let simmer on medium to medium-low for 20-30 minutes. Serve with shredded cheese.
If you are using a Slow-Cooker, add all ingredients, except pasta & cheese, to Slow-Cooker and cook on low for 8-10 hours (check manufacturer’s directions). Add pasta 20 minutes before serving, turn up to high and let boil, uncovered. Once pasta is tender, serve with shredded cheese.
