Someone came into work last week with a bowl of beef stew for lunch. Now, I'm not normally a beef soup kind of person. But it smelled delicious!! So, knowing that Mike loves any kind of beef stew I set out to look at a few recipes.
My mom's birthday was last Monday so we had her over for dinner on Wednesday along with my sister and the kids. I had suggested that we make the stew then, but Mike had another dish in mind. Plus, he said he only gets beef stew every once in a while so he wants leftovers. lol. Needless to say, we never made it, but it's been on my mind.
This weekend, Mike's friend Ryan had his bachelor party. Instead of the typical club/bar scene with half naked ladies, Ryan kept it classy. The boys went to WISP for the weekend and had a blast skiing. This was perfect because Mike has been begging me to ski for the past 5 years. You see, I AM NOT a skier. I've been a few times but hurt myself pretty badly the last time and I have been scarred ever since. I've tried explaining that I'm perfectly fine sitting in our cabin with a bottle (or two) of wine and making at hot dinner for everyone when they're done, but that's not good enough. At least with this boys weekend Mike got to ski a little and get his fix.
Thinking about Mike being out in this cold all weekend reminded me of this beef stew. Fortunately for me, I didn't have too much of a boring weekend. My friend Taylor and I went to sushi on Friday and mom and Lynn and I went on a shopping spree all day yesterday. So today was my only down day and I figured what better way to keep me busy than some beef stew!!
P.S. These ingredients look like a lot, but it's all stuff you would have on hand.
P.P.S. You'll also notice that I used this Pinterest idea to make my carrots into hearts in honor of Valentine's Day this Thursday!! Hence the name "Heart-y"
Heart-y Beef Stew
INGREDIENTS:
1-2 pounds cubed beef for stew
1 tablespoon oil
3 or so cups beef broth
2 cups water
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp garlic, minced
2 bay leaves
1 medium onion, chopped or sliced
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp pepper
dash garlic powder
few dashes of celery seed (I don't like actual celery in my soups so this was my alternative.)
3 large carrots, sliced
3 large red potatoes, quartered
1 cup frozen whole kernel corn
1 can green beans, drained
DIRECTIONS:
Brown beef in hot oil. Add water, Worcestershire, garlic, bay leaves, onion, salt, sugar, paprika, pepper, garlic powder, and celery seed. Cover and simmer 1- 1/2 hours. Add carrots, potatoes, corn, and green beans. Simmer another 30-40 minutes. DONE!!
If you want to thicken the broth about 1/4 cup of the broth and 1/4 cup of milk with flour until it makes a pancake consistency. That's why my broth looks a little greenish. :)
