pantry

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Homemade Beef Stew

IMG_2024I love beef stew and have been making it in my Crock Pot for many years because it was so easy to throw everything together in the morning and let it do it’s thing all day. But, I recently made it in my Lodge Dutch Oven and all I can say is, “Why haven’t I been doing this all along?!”  It was so much better!  It has a nice, thick gravy, and the flavors really do meld better.  I’m pretty sure that I will be making it this way from now on.  In fact, I made it again and decided to share my recipe with you. Unfortunately, I didn’t think to take pictures throughout the process.  But, beef stew is super easy and can be ready in about an hour for dinner.  Especially, if  you keep all the ingredients on hand in your pantry.

Beef Stew (made in a cast iron dutch oven)

1 lb stew beef

4 medium-sized Russet potatoes, peeled & cubed (can also use red or gold potatoes – leave peel on, if you do)

2-3 medium-sized carrots, washed & sliced (I do not peel my carrots since most of the nutrients lie just beneath the surface of the carrot.)

1/2 cup each of dehydrated peas & corn (I have used frozen, too)

1 medium onion, chopped

1 Tbs.garlic – minced, optional

approx. 1 cup flour

salt & pepper to taste

1 tsp. garlic powder, optional

1 Tbs. smoked paprika, optional

Place flour, salt, pepper, garlic powder, & smoked paprika in a bowl – mix well.

Next, I cut my stew beef into smaller pieces (mostly just cut the pieces in half).  This lets the meat distribute better in the stew, and it makes it feel like you have more meat. Place meat into the flour mixture and coat meat thoroughly.

Add enough oil to cover the bottom of the dutch oven.  I used lard, but you can use a combination of olive oil and butter, too.  Once hot, add meat and brown.

Once your meat has browned, add onion and cook until translucent, about 5 minutes.  Add enough hot water to fill dutch oven about half way. Add remaining ingredients, including a bit more salt and pepper.  Finish filling dutch oven with water.  Bring everything to a boil, then reduce heat to medium-low.  Cover and continue cooking until potatoes are fork tender.  Serve with fresh, hot, homemade biscuits & enjoy!

This post has been linked to:

Heritage Homesteaders

Chicken Chick Blog Hop

Homestead Blog Hop

April’s Homemaking Meal Planning Link Up

You’re Gonna Love it Tuesday

Oak Hill Homestead

Down Home Blog Hop

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Long Term Onion Storage

My local Aldis had onions on sale this week – 3 pounds for $0.79!!  Great stock up price!  So, I bought 18 bags = 54 pounds of onions!  So, now what?  How in the world do you store that many onions until you can use them up without going bad?  Well, it’s simply really.  Old panty hose!  You take a pair of old panty hose, drop in an onion, tie a knot close to the top, repeat process until the legs are full, tying a knot above the last onion.  To store, simply hang in a cool, dry, dark place.  When you need an onion, simply cut below the last knot and you have your onion!  Simple.  Easy. Frugal. 
Here’s what 54 lbs of onions (minus 4 onions) looks like once they are in the panty hose. 
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They will hang in my pantry to await use.  I may eventually dehydrate some but, for now, they will simply hang in my pantry.  Stored like this, they will keep for up to 6 months!  Another great reason to take advantage of a great sale!
This post is linked to:

Laura Williams' Musings

The Morris Tribe Blog Carnival

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Menu Plan: 04/30–05/06

menubutton

I confess, I’ve been very bad about menu planning the last few months.  When life became chaotic & I never knew when we would get home, I let my menu planning fall to the wayside.  (SIGH)  I know better. When I do this, my grocery budget suffers.  Badly.  As well as our eating out (read: swinging through the drive-thru) goes up.  Thankfully, things are settling down and I am finding more time to fix good homemade meals again.  And we’re all very thankful since we’d rather eat at home than eat out any day. 

 

AND, now that it’s summer-like weather here in good ol’ East Tennessee, it’s time for me to start switching over to my summer cooking routine.  This will be a bit hard through the month of May since we still have Awana and our homeschool co-op classes, but I’m going to do my best to stick to my plan and keep our eating out down to the very bare minimum (hopefully none).  My plan this week will include some of the chicken that I cooked Saturday night in the Crock Pot ™.  I put 5 pounds of chicken breasts into the Crock Pot ™ on Saturday.  I used 4 of them to make homemade chicken salad yesterday morning, which turned out delicious!!  (I’ll try to share the recipe with you later on this week.)  So, my menu plan this week will be using some of that chicken in another meal.  The rest will be divide  & frozen for future quick meals.  I’m also using ingredients that I already have on hand. 

 

Breakfast:

  • Amish Baked Oatmeal with fresh/dried fruit added (made a double batch, which should last us most of the week)
  • Fruit/Yogurt
  • Oatmeal Pancakes
  • Egg Cups (Bacon & eggs baked in the oven in muffin tins)

 

Lunch:

  • Sandwiches on homemade whole wheat bread
  • Leftovers

 

Dinner:

  • Roasted chicken with veggies
  • Homemade Pizza (might do
  • Chicken Alfredo
  • Crock Pot ™ Beef Stew with homemade rolls
  • Chicken Enchiladas with homemade whole wheat tortillas & homemade enchilada sauce
  • Hoagie Sandwiches on homemade whole wheat bread- choice of Ham, Turkey, or homemade chicken salad
  • Spaghetti with sauce & homemade garlic bread

See, I’m keeping things pretty simple around here, but they will be good, home cooked, filling meals that will keep us from eating out!  So, what’s on your menu for the week? Not sure what to fix?  Head on over to Organizing Junkie for more great menu planning ideas!