Crock Pot Beef Stew

It's getting to be that time of year! Let's dust off those slow cookers!

Ingredients:

3 pounds stew beef, cubed
4 potatoes, peeled & cubed
4 carrots, peeled thickly sliced
1 onion, peeled & cut in wedges
2 ribs celery thickly sliced
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp oregano
2 Tbsp. vegetable oil
2 cups beef broth
dash Worcestershire sauce
and/or dash balsamic vinegar


Directions:

Place potatoes, carrots and onions in bottom of large crock pot. In a gallon ziplock bag, mix together the flour, salt, pepper, garlic powder and oregano. Place stew beef in the bag and coat with flour mixture.
Heat oil over med-high heat in a large heavy skillet. Sear the beef in the oil, and place on top of vegetables in crock pot.
De-glaze the pan with the beef broth, scraping all that great burnt stuff off the bottom, and pour it over the roast. Sprinkle with a dash of both Worcestershire sauce and/or balsamic vinegar - you can use one or the other or both depending on your taste.
Depending on your slow cooker, cook on high for 4-6 hours or low for 8 hours. Stew is done when meat is fork tender. Remove the meat & vegetables and thicken the broth with flour if desired.

Note: You can substitute any spices that suit your taste in the flour mixture, oregano is just a suggestion that has worked well for me in the past. Let me know what you try!

How to make ice cubes

Words cannot describe how funny this is - especially the comments. You MUST read the comments! Here's the link: http://www.food.com/recipe/ice-cubes-420398

Goulash

So I did an image search on "goulash" today and this is what came up.

When I was growing up, my dad and mom made goulash, which was basically a cheap way to feed 4 hungry kids. Elbow noodles, ground beef and tomato sauce. Always topped with "sprinkle cheese."

When I got to college, I learned rather abruptly that my beloved "goulash" as I called it was, in reality, called "American Chop Suey." Wow, major letdown, lemmetellya.

So I did a Google image search on "american chop suey" and this is what came up. Not so different! Except all the authentic Hungarian, Czech and Russian versions weren't included.

This all got me thinking - how do you all make "goulash?" And if it's not authentic Eastern European fare, what do you call it?

Would anyone be interested in posting their goulash (American Chop Suey) recipes here, and maybe I'll even try making them and we can have a little contest to discover who's goulash reigns supreme? Yea, a little nod to the Iron Chef there...

Post away! I can't guarantee the privacy of your family secrets here, but if you don't mind sharing with the world, let's see what you've got!

Uprooting the Leading Causes of Death

Click the link below to watch. What do you all think of this video? It's well worth the time to watch it, as Dr. Greger is highly entertaining and there is a lot of great information.

Does it motivate you to change your eating habits? Why or why not?

Uprooting the Leading Causes of Death | NutritionFacts.org

Greek-Style Dip

I found this recipe in my inbox last week, courtesy of Vernon Patch! I'm reprinting it here just for ease, but I wanted to give credit where credit was due. Greek yogurt and ricotta make an awesome base for dips, where in the past I would have not thought to use anything other than sour cream. Only 88 calories in a 1/4 cup, and it's packed with protein and calcium. YUM!

Note to self - use the food processor next time. Feta will not puree without a fight. ;)


Greek-Style Dip

8 oz. (1 cup) feta cheese
1 cup ricotta cheese
2 T olive oil
3 cloves garlic, crushed
2 T fresh lemon juice
¼ tsp. cayenne pepper
1 small container Greek-style plain yogurt
About ¼ cup chopped fresh mint
1 tsp. fresh or dried oregano
Optional garnishes: sliced black olives, chopped tomato, and lemon zest, if desired.

In a food processor (or using a whisk or potato masher), puree the feta cheese, ricotta cheese, olive oil, garlic, lemon juice, cayenne pepper and the yogurt until smooth and thick.

Place the ingredients into a bowl.  Add the mint and the oregano and stir well. Cover and refrigerate for a few hours or a day before serving.

To serve: place dip in decorative bowl and top with garnishes, if desired. Serve with multi-grain tortilla chips and fresh, cut up vegetables.

Beyond Empty

Here it was, Sunday afternoon at 4:30 pm, and I had NOTHING in the freezer ready to prepare my family for dinner. We ordered pizza. I was ashamed.

For me, this is inexcusable! I ALWAYS have something in the freezer. And yet, the spring schedule of activities  had gotten the better of even me.

Now, I didn't have literally nothing in there - there was plenty of ice cream (priorities, yo), chicken broth, stew beef, a few frozen steaks, a pound of cooked ground beef, 1 measly 1/2 chicken breast, 2 whole chickens, and some pulled pork that still needed to be sauced and seasoned. And a bunch of Kayem natural casing hot dogs. But there was nothing that I could pull out and either cook or reheat quickly enough in time for dinner. Except the hotdogs, but we had just had them for lunch.

Shame on me.

Today, I vow to never let my freezer go again. I will restock this week. I will prepare healthy food for my family. I will be prepared for this upcoming Babe Buth baseball season and summertime madness. I will not shell out my husband's hard-earned money on pizza or dinner out ever again because I've got nothing ready to go. Today, I'm taking back my freezer!

Who's with me?