Beef Stew

When my husband and I were first married I was on a quest to find a great recipe for Beef Stew.  After trying several recipes, I finally came up with one on my own that we still love!

Ingredients

1 lb stew meat

Pan searing flour

5 cups water

1 packet McCormick Beef Stew seasoning

1-2 beef bouillon cubes

1 cup sliced carrots

1 cup frozen peas

3-4 medium potatoes, peeled and cubed

Directions:

Trim fat from stew meat and coat with pan searing flour.  Brown meat in a frying pan with about 1 tbsp oil.  In a large pot, combine the water, beef stew mix and bouillon cubes. Bring water and seasonings to a boil, then add meat.  Cover and simmer.  While the meat simmers, prepare vegetables, then add to the pot.  Simmer until vegetables are tender, about 15-20 minutes.  Enjoy!

*You can also make this in the crockpot.  I put everything in around lunchtime and it's perfect by the time my husband gets home from work.  I've also used leftover roast rather then stew meat, and both are equally tender.  

Mom's Pork Chops

I'm going to apologize upfront for the quality of this photo. I dropped my camera and it is now in the capable hands of the Geek Squad (thank goodness for the Accidental Protection Plan). So for now, I'm using my cell phone to take pictures. :)

My mom has made this since I was a kid and I've always loved it. Looking at some of my previous recipes, I've realized that I must really love gravy - it seems to be in a lot of my recipes! But, the gravy is my favorite part of this recipe. It tastes so good over white rice. Mmmm....

Ingredients

1 cup flour
1-2 tsp dry mustard
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp garlic powder
6 boneless pork chops
2 cans cream of mushroom soup or 1 can cream of mushroom and 1 can cream of chicken
milk


Directions

In a medium Ziploc bag, combine all dry ingredients and shake. Adding one pork chop at a time, shake again until coated. Place in preheated pan with about 1 Tbsp canola or olive oil. Brown pork chop on both sides, then remove and place in crock pot.

Pour both cans of cream of mushroom soup into a large, glass measuring cup (or small bowl) and add small amounts of milk. Stir with a whisk and keep adding milk until desired consistency is reached. I don't think I use more than 1/4 cup of milk. I like the gravy to be a little more thick. If you want it really thick, skip the milk all together.

Cook in crock pot for 4-6 hours on low heat.

Veggie Meatball Soup

My 5 year old loves meatballs, so I definitely had to try this recipe. We weren't disappointed - it's excellent and surprisingly low in fat!

Ingredients:

3 cups reduced-sodium beef broth
2 cups frozen mixed vegetables
2 cans Italian diced tomatoes
18 frozen meatballs {give or take a few :D }
2-3 bay leaves
1/4 tsp pepper
1 cup uncooked spiral pasta

Directions:

In a slow cooker, combine the first 6 ingredients. Cover and cook on low for 4-5 hours or until heated through. Stir in pasta; cover and cook 20-30 minutes longer or until pasta is tender. Discard bay leaves before serving.


*The original recipe called for stewed tomatoes, but I used the Italian diced tomatoes to give it more flavor.


Nutrition Facts: 1 serving (1 cup) equals 125 calories, 1 g fat (1 g saturated fat), 2 mg cholesterol, 574 mg sodium, 24 g carbohydrate, 4 g fiber, 5 g protein.


Weight Watchers points: 2

Slow Cooked Pork Tacos

We tried this recipe tonight and I thought it was great! It was really easy to throw it all in the Crockpot and even easier to serve once it was finished. I found it in an issue of Taste of Home. Ok, I know - most of the recipes on here have come from TOH, but it's pretty much the only recipe magazine that I read. My mother-in-law gave me a gift subscription when I first got married and I've been hooked ever since. :) For the life of me, I could never find a pork sirloin roast, so I used a pork tenderloin. However, if I'm really being honest, I have to admit that I don't know much about cuts of meat, so maybe I really did find one and didn't realize it. I bought the meat without paying attention to how much I actually needed, so I had a 4 lb tenderloin - but I think it was perfect. Any less and there wouldn't have been any leftovers!!

Ingredients

1 boneless pork sirloin roast (2 lbs), cut into 1 inch-pieces

1 1/2 cups salsa verde (I used a whole 16 oz bottle)

1 medium sweet red pepper, chopped

1 medium onion, chopped

1/4 cup chopped dried apricots

2 Tbsp lime juice

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 tsp ground cumin

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp white pepper

Dash hot pepper sauce

10 flour tortillas (8 inches), warmed

Sour cream, sliced green onions, cubed avocado, shredded cheddar cheese, shredded lettuce and chopped tomato, optional.

Directions

In a 3-qt. slow cooker, combine the first 11 ingredients. Cover and cook on high for 4-5 hours or until meat is very tender.

Shred pork with two forks. Place about 1/2 cup mixture down the center of each tortilla. Serve with toppings if desired.

Yield: 10 tacos

Slow Cooked Sirloin

1 boneless beef sirloin steak (about 1 1/2 lbs)

1 medium onion, cut into chunks
1 medium green pepper cut into chunks

1 can beef broth

1/4 c. Worcestershire sauce
1/4 tsp dill weed
1/4 tsp dried thyme
1/4 tsp black pepper
dash of crushed red pepper flakes
2 Tbsp cornstarch
2 Tbsp water

In a large nonstick skillet, brown beef on both sides. Place onion and green pepper in slow cooker; top with beef. Combine the broth, Worcestershire sauce, dill, thyme, black pepper and pepper flakes; pour over beef. Cover and cook on high for 3-4 hours or until meat reaches desired doneness.Transfer cooking juices into a small saucepan over medium high heat. Combine cornstarch and water until smooth; gradually stir into cooking juices and continue to stir until thickened.

6 Servings


*I generally serve this with rice or baked potatoes. We love the flavor of the onions and green peppers, but we don't necessarily like them in the gravy, so when making the gravy I only remove the juice. I love this recipe because it's really fast to put in the crockpot and it smells delicious while it's cooking!

*I'm sure I found this in a cooking magazine somewhere, but I can't remember which one - I've been making it for a few years now and it's definitely a family favorite!