Homemade Roast Beef Stew for the Cold Holiday Weather!

With winter fast approaching, I can't help but crave home of my grandmother's home cooked meals.  My favorite on a cold day was her roast beed stew.  It's so easy to make, it makes the house smell amazing and it's a great way to clean out all the veggies you've avoided making since your last grocery shopping trip, and did I mention that the crock pot does most the work for you?

Ingredients

1 3-5 pound chuck roast
1 package of Lipton's Onion Soup Mix
1 package of the little red potatoes (usually marked as the "steam bag")
1 bag of regular size carrots, do not use the baby carrots they just don't work
2-3 stalks of celery
1 can of the Hunts stewed tomatoes, I like to use the celery bell pepper mix
1 bag of broccoli florets,
1 bag of fresh green beans
1 can of corn
Salt and pepper to taste

First things first, dust off that crock pot!

I try to prep everything the night before so I can just dump it in the crock pot in the morning and get to work.  Really the only prep work is to quarter the potatoes and slice the carrots.  I usually slice them about a quarter of an inch thick.  Then I trim a little bit of the fat off of the roast.  Don't trim it all because a lot of the flavor in the broth comes from that.

Before anything goes into the crock pot, you need to brown the roast very quickly on the top and on the bottom.  A 3-5 pond roast is the perfect size for a family of 4, you'll even have left overs for lunch the next day.  Once you've done browned the roast, place the carrots and the potatoes on the bottom of the crock pot and then place the roast on top of them.  You want veggies under the roast so that they absorb all those great flavors.  Next add your Lipton Soup packet and add enough water to cover the sides of your roast.  The water line should be even with the top of your roast, but not covering it.  Turn on low and let the crock pot do the magic for you.  I typically start mine about 7:00 a.m. before I drop Zoey off at daycare and it cooks until about 4:45 p.m., when I finally get home from picking up Zoey after work.

When you get home, switch the crock pot from low to "keep warm", your potatoes, carrots and the meat should be throughly cooked.  Did I mention your house should smell amazing?    This is the fun part, you have to pull the roast out and shred it.  I use a spatula to grab it out of the crock pot and two forks to shred it, it doesn't take much effort after slow cooking all day.

Once the meat is shredded you want to transfer your broth, potatoes, carrots and meat to a large pot.
Turn the heat on between low and medium to keep it warm.  Now it's time to add everything else.  The broccoli should be a good size right out of the bag, but you may need to cut the green beans in half to make it easier to eat.  When you add your corn and tomatoes, make sure you drain those as well, you don't want to dilute your broth too much.

I bring it back up to a small boil and then simmer for about 20 minutes just to get those new veggies cooked and mixed.  I've found that this main course deserves a great side of corn bread to really make it fantastic.   Feel free to add any other veggie you have lying around, I also throw in some zucchini and any color bell pepper I have lying around.


Happy Cooking Everyone!  

The Seasons have Swapped, and So Should Your Closet!

I know it's December and Christmas is around the corner, but I'm pretty sure jack frost has awoken early in Virginia.  Being born and raised in southern California, I grew accustomed to warm weather and sunshine, and yea I have made Virginia my home for the last 6 years, but I'm still not used to these freezing cold temperatures.  Not to mention the fact that the weather is a constant roller coaster, yesterday was 74 degrees, today a whooping 37.  So what's a girl to do with her time?  Well swap out my clothes of course!

Yea, I made that sound way too fun.  This task for me is no hour job.  It involves lugging the tote out of my attic that currently houses all my winter clothes and swapping them out with all the summer clothes I'd freeze body parts off in this season.  

Step 1: Grab your tote (and if you don't have one, buy one, don't go cheap either, get a good tight snapping top to prevent bugs or critters from making your sweaters their new homes)

Step 2: Empty the Tote.  Don't just dump it either, you need to go piece by piece.  Are you going to wear that piece this winter?  If you just can't make up your mind, donate it. You typically know right away if you're going to wear something.  If you need to think twice, you won't wear it.  Does it fit you?  We all shift in weight throughout the year.  Make sure to keep in mind that we tend to gain a few extra pounds during the holidays.  So if it's tight now, you may not like the way it fits come January.  

Step 3: Swap it out.  Don't allow your summer clothes to clutter up your closet for winter.  In Virginia, there is no way I am wearing a summer dress during the winter.  I used to try to wear dresses for work with tights, but one, I can not stand tights and two, it doesn't matter how thick they are, it's still too cold for it.  There are certain tank tops that you can dress up with a cardigan, but you aren't going to be dressing up those shorts.  This step isn't limited to your clothes.  Swap out those shoes! Your flip flops have no place in the snow (if you have snow), and peep toes, that's your call, here it's a little too cold.  Bring out those boots!  Summer's way too hot to keep those piggies in those amazing boots, but winter demands the warmth of last year's awesome finds.  

Step 4: Load up the Summer Stuff.  At this point, I can attest to the lack of motivation to put all your summer items in the bin neatly.  You've tried things on, made a donate pile, and hung up all your winter stuff.  But this is the time to pull every last ounce of energy you have left and fold those clothes.  Believe me you'll be able to fit more in the bin, and when you need to pull all this out when the seasons change again, you'll appreciate all that hard work.  

Step 5:  Put that bin back where it belongs.  It's easy to do all this work and put that bin back "tomorrow" but tomorrow will come and go and you'll eventually start hanging laundry on it.  Save yourself the trouble of having to put it away later, after you've dug it out of the avalanche of purses, clothes, scarves and shoes.  

Happy Swapping Everyone!