Best Beef Stew Ever

During our recent vacation, I was tempted on several occasions to order beef stew for dinner at a restaurant. I never did, so there was a lingering craving that I decided to indulge on our first day back home. The result was great. I read several blog posts, recipes, and how-tos and combined what I learned with the ingredients I had on hand.

Ingredients

1.5 - 2 lb beef, cubed (I used chuck eye steaks, which required no trimming)
3 cups beef stock
Guinness
A couple thyme sprigs
A bay leaf
Salt & pepper
Worcestershire sauce
Potatoes
Carrots
Canola oil
Flour

1. Cover bottom of heavy pot with oil. Sprinkle salt and pepper over beef. Brown beef over medium-high heat. Important: only turn/stir beef every 4-5 minutes. The cubes should begin to show a nice caramel color on the browned sides.

2. Add a handful of flour, stir and cook for a minute or two (about 1/4 cup).

3. Add Guinness 2-3 oz at a time, scraping beef bits from bottom of pan. Use about 8-10 oz total.

4. Add beef stock, thyme, bay leaf and 1-2 T Worcestershire.

5. Stir well, cover and simmer for 1-2 hours, until beef is nearly fork tender. Remove thyme and bay leaf.

6. Peel and slice carrots, and cut potatoes into 1 inch pieces. Add to pot, cover and continue to simmer for another 30-45 minutes, until potatoes and carrots are cooked and tender.

Fudge Pudding

Here's an oldie but goodie!  This is more of a 'Recipes from Mom' post since she is the one who always made this for us, but I thought since I am making it tonight I would post it in case any of my sisters lost their copy of the recipe.

This is the main reason I always keep cocoa on hand (Best Chocolate Cake being a close second).  Good stuff.  Kids love it too.

Yes, this is steam!  Right from the oven!

Batter:

1 cup flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons cocoa
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla

Topping

3/4 cup brown sugar
4 tablespoons cocoa
1 3/4 cups hot water

1. Mix dry batter ingredients together. Cut in butter.
2. Add milk and vanilla and mix together. Batter will be stiff.
3. Put batter in greased 8 or 9 inch square pan.
4. Mix dry topping ingredients and sprinkle over batter.
5. Pour hot water over all right before putting in oven.
6. Bake at 350 for 35-40 minutes. Knife or cake tester inserted in batter should come out clean.
7. Serve hot with vanilla ice cream.

Red River Stroganoff

This recipe came from a small pamphlet - I am guessing it came from a magazine because it was published by Reiman Publications.  It is called Prize Winning Pasta & Rice.  I am a pretty big fan of stroganoff, so I was anxious to try this.  It was quick enough that I was able to make it for dinner even though I got home late tonight.  This is a very good homemade version of it.  Jamie loved it and the kids ate a little without much complaint. A couple of things I might try next time: saute fresh mushrooms with the onions instead of using canned; and season or marinate the meat a little better.  I will definitely be making this again.

2 lb top sirloin, cut into thin strips
1/4 cup flour
1/2 cup butter, divided
2 large onions, chopped
1 can or about 1 1/3 cups beef broth
1 teaspoon dried basil
salt and pepper to taste
1 jar sliced mushrooms, drained ( 4 1/2 oz)
1 tablespoon worcestershire sauce
1 cup sour cream

1. Saute onions in 1/4 cup butter until tender, remove from pan and set aside.
2. Dredge beef in flour (I just tossed the flour in with the beef and coated all the pieces)
3. Cook beef in the remaining butter until brown on all sides.
4. Add all remaining ingredients except sour cream, cook until thickened (5-10 minutes)
5. Add sour cream and heat on low until hot (do not boil).

Serve over egg noodles.

Peanut Butter Cookies

Ok, so I wasn't very creative in seeking out a recipe for the next post.  I have been thinking about peanut butter cookies for a couple of weeks now, so when I ran across this recipe in one of the boxes, I thought I'd give it a try.  It's a pretty standard recipe.  I used butter instead of margarine (1/2 cup salted and 1/2 cup unsalted). Other than that, I followed the recipe.  Even resisted adding a teaspoon of vanilla.

These got great reviews from the family.

1 cup oleo
1 cup peanut butter
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
2 1/2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

1. Cream oleo, peanut butter, sugar, brown sugar, and eggs. 
2. Add all other ingredients and mix.
3. Drop spoonfuls of dough onto baking sheet.*
4. Sprinkle with sugar, then press down with fork.
5. Bake at 350 for 10 minutes.

*If the butter/margarine was very soft prior to mixing, it may be a good idea to chill the dough for 1-2 hours prior to shaping.

Apple Pan Walnut Cake

This recipe came from a pamphlet-type cookbook called The Pillsbury Busy Lady Bake-off Recipes. I find it amusing because the topping actually requires some cooking on the stove, and the cake itself has several steps.  The book was published in 1966, which begs the question: what would the recipes look like if a "busy lady" bake-off were to take place in 2012? Would it be a race to the nearest bakery to see who could locate the most appetizing pastry first?  Would there be extra points for the contestant who used the most exotic ingredients?  Flipping through the book, I noticed that the majority of the recipes can be made using things that I normally have on hand.  

I'm not sure if Grandma ever made this recipe, but it is delicious.  I even burned a little bit of the sugar in the topping (I guess I don't understand 'medium heat'), so I had some brown specks in it, but it was still really good.  Despite the 3 steps, it wasn't all that difficult or time-consuming either.

Cake:

1 can apple pie filling (cherry or peach would work too)

2 cups flour

1 cup sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

2/3 cup oil

3/4 cup chopped walnuts, divided

Topping:

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup sour cream

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1. Spread pie filling on bottom of 9x13 cake pan.

2. Mix flour, sugar, soda and salt in a bowl, then sprinkle on top of pie filling.

3. Beat eggs in bowl.

4. Add vanilla and oil to eggs and mix well.

5. Pour liquid mixture over the dry mixture. Add 1/2 cup walnuts.  Stir just until blended.

6. Smooth batter evenly in the pan.

7. Bake at 350 for 35-45 minutes.

8. Mix topping ingredients in sauce pan over medium heat. Heat to boiling, stirring constantly, and remove from heat.

9. Prick cake with fork, pour hot topping over warm cake.

10. Sprinkle remaining 1/4 cup walnuts on top.

Serve warm or cold.