Rustic Beef Stew Recipe

Lately our weather has been refusing to reach a temperature above the single digits, and often in the negative with the wind chill. Yes, brrrrr. On one particularly blustery day, I decided beef stew was the best solution to warm me inside and out.  

Normally I would brown the beef and the the rest in a crockpot for the day, but I thought would only serve the "rustic" quality of my beef stew vision if it were braised on the stovetop and simmering all day long. What a great idea it was. :)

Rustic Beef Stew Recipe

recipe by adorkablerecipes.blogspot.com

Makes 5-6 servings

Ingredients

1 pound stew meat

3 Tbsp red wine vinegar or balsamic or your favorite wine

3 potatoes, cut into large chunks

3 or 4 carrots, cut into large chunks

2 stalks celery, cut into large chunks

1 onion, cut into wedges

3 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

1/2 tsp thyme

1 quart beef or vegetable stock 

2 bay leaves

Directions

Heat a 6 quart heavy bottom pot over medium heat and drizzle lightly with oil. Once preheated, add the chunks of stew meat and sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper. Let brown on one side before turning to the second (third and fourth) sides. Pour in 2 to 3 Tbsp vinegar to de-glaze the pan, scraping up bits of meat as you stir. Add in potatoes, carrots, celery, onion and garlic and cover the pot, allowing the moisture level to build, cooking the vegetables. Sprinkle with salt, pepper and thyme. Stir occasionally. Allow to cook 5 to 10 minutes before adding in the beef stock and bay leaves. Bring to a boil for 5 minutes, and then simmer for up to 3 hours. 

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Easy Beef Stroganoff

For a quick and easy dinner that makes you happy and warm in all the right ways, this stroganoff is the way to go. I have many fond memories of family dinners around this meal. We loved it served over mashed potatoes or egg noodles. Perfect for easy homestyle cooking. And only 4 ingredients (plus noodles!)

Easy Beef Stroganoff 

from my mom

Serves 3 

Ingredients

1 pound stew meat (beef or venison)

1 can cream of mushroom soup

1 can water

1/2 packet dry onion soup mix

3 cups dry egg noodles 

Directions

Combine stew meat, soup, water, and dry mix in a 4 or 5 quart crock pot. Cook on high 4-5 hours or until meat is fall-apart tender. 

When ready to serve, cook egg noodles until tender. Spoon stroganoff over the noodles in a shallow bowl. Enjoy!

Creamy Pasta and Beef Casserole Recipe

I'm not normally a casserole person. In my mind, they tend to be unhealthy, too cheesy, too fattening, too mix-it-all-together-can't-tell-what's-in-it. But this casserole blows those biases out of the water. It's healthy, creamy (without too much cheese), and super flavorful. I think the flavor of the basil is just a beautiful addition to the beef and vegetables. I think your whole family will love this! 

Creamy Pasta and Beef Casserole

recipe adapted from my mom's recipe card (no source)

Makes 4 servings 

Ingredients
3 cups short cut pasta, cooked
1/2 pound ground beef
1 celery rib, chopped
1 carrot, finely chopped
1 small onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 green pepper, chopped
1/2 tsp basil
1/4 tsp black pepper
salt
2 Tbsp flour
2 Tbsp soy sauce
1/4 cup milk
1/2 cup cheddar or Muenster or mozzarella cheese, shredded

Directions

Cook pasta in boiling water, leaving it just shy of al dente (a little tougher than you would normally want your pasta to be cooked. It will continue to cook in the oven).

Heat a large skillet to medium high heat. Begin browning the ground beef. Add in celery, carrot, onion, garlic and green pepper while beef is still cooking. Sprinkle in basil, pepper and salt and cook until vegetables are tender and meat is no longer pink. Sprinkle in flour and stir until it is no longer visible. Add in soy sauce and gradually stir in milk. Bring to a boil and stir in cheese. Cook and stir until cheese is melted. Add the cooked (and drained) pasta to the beef mixture.

Transfer to a 2-3 quart baking dish. Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes.

(This may also be made ahead of time and refrigerated. Just remove from the oven about an hour before baking to bring back to room temperature. Bake until bubbly.)    

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Garlic Ginger Beef Broccoli Stir Fry Recipe

Sometimes I find meat in the back crevices of the freezer and I am embarrassed to admit how long it's been stored. I'm some sort of a weird combination of bargain-hunter and food-hoarder. I find great deals, but then don't want to actually use it up. Ridiculous, right? 

Anyways, I found these lovely strip steaks, and knew they would need some fantastic flavor to overwrite their age. :) This sweet garlic-ginger stir fry was the perfect solution! This is a fast and easy dinner idea. The longest part is cooking the rice. 

Garlic Ginger Beef Broccoli Stir Fry Recipe 

recipe inspired by Rebecca on Tasty Kitchen

Serves 2

Ingredients

2 Tbsp canola oil

2 New York Strip steaks

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 - 1 inch piece candied ginger, finely chopped

2 Tbsp brown sugar

3 Tbsp soy sauce

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2 cups cooked brown rice

2 cups steamed broccoli 

Directions

Slice each steak into thin strips, working against the grain. 

In a large skillet add the canola oil and heat over medium. Once hot, add in garlic and ginger and cook 1-2 minutes. Arrange the beef slices in the pan and cook 2-3 minutes on each side. Sprinkle in brown sugar and soy sauce. Stir to coat the beef with the sugar. Cook another 5 minutes until sticky, like syrup. 

Serve beef atop brown rice and steamed broccoli. Add additional soy sauce if desired. 

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Vegetable Beef (Venison) Barley Soup Recipe

As I've mentioned before, I'm not a big meat lover. But can I just be honest with you--this was THE BEST stew I have ever had in my entire life (or at least the best stew I've ever made.:D) The taste of venison sometimes weirds me out, but this was melt-in-your-mouth perfection. I stopped Kevin in the middle of a sentence to express my love for the bowl of stew in front of me. It's THAT good. 

The trick is to brown the meat in a hot skillet to form a beautiful crisp edge to seal in that flavor and add to the tenderness. Don't skip that step! The tender meat, combined with the thickness of the barley and the hearty vegetables make this stew incredible! Go on, now, TRY IT! 

Vegetable Beef (Venison) Barley Soup Recipe

recipe from Betty Crocker Cookbook

Serves 6

Ingredients

canola oil

1 pound venison or beef stew meat

1/2 bell pepper, chopped

1 small onion, chopped

1/2 cup 1-inch pieces of fresh or frozen green beans

1/3 cup fresh or frozen corn kernels

1/3 cup uncooked barley

3/4 cup water

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp dried thymed

1/4 tsp pepper

1 cup beef broth or bouillon

1 -14.5 oz can diced tomatoes

4 oz tomato sauce

Directions

In a large skillet, drizzle canola oil and heat over medium. Cut the stew meat into smaller, bite sized pieces if necessary. Add in stew meat and cook on each side until crisp and browned. This is the key to delicious depth of flavor and tender stew meat!

Combine the meat and the remaining ingredients in a 5 quart slow cooker and cook on high 6-7 hours. 

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Easy Beef Stew (Slow Cooker)

This dish is the epitome of comfort food with the ease of preparation you won't believe. I grew up loving this dinner and only recently asked my mom for the recipe. It was super fast and easy to throw together and all 7 20somethings who dined with us, loved it! I'm sure your family will too!

Easy Beef Stew (Slow Cooker)

recipe adapted from my mom

Serves 8 

Ingredients

1-1/2 pound stew meat

3 stalks celery, chopped

6-7 carrots, sliced

6-7 potatoes, chopped

2 small onions, chopped

1 can condensed tomato soup

1 can water

1 beef bouillon cube

1/2 package dry onion soup mix

Directions

Coat the edges of a 6 or 7 quart slow cooker with non-stick spray. Add all ingredients to the pot. Stir to combine. Cook on high 4-5 hours. 

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Slow Cooker Steak and Potatoes

A few months back (I won't specify how long...) we purchased a few pounds of NY Strip Steaks that we had sliced to order. My lack of knowledge in the strip steak arena led me to have the steaks cut into 3/4 or 1 inch thick portions. Unfortunately, grilling a steak this thin results in tough, dried out meat. Not cool. Besides that, this particular cut of steak had far too much fat on the edges for our liking. I wanted another delicious way to use of this perfectly-good-except-not-for-grilling-meat. 

Lucky for me, Slow Cookers make ANY cut of meat fork tender and delicious!!

This was the perfect dinner to come home to after a long morning at church. Any man (or woman for that matter!) in your life, will LOVE you for throwing this in the Crockpot in 10 minutes flat. You will look like a rock star. 

Slow Cooker Steak and Potatoes

Recipe by adorkablerecipes.blogspot.com

Serves 2

Ingredients

2 New York strip steaks 

3-4 red potatoes, washed and chopped

2 cups baby carrots

1 cup sliced mushrooms 

1 celery stalk, chopped

1/2 package onion soup mix 

1 small onion, sliced or chopped 

3/4 cup water 

salt pepper 

Directions

Coat the sides and bottom of a 4 quart slow cooker with non-stick cooking spray. Combine potatoes, carrots, mushrooms, celery and onion soup mix in slow cooker. Place uncooked strip steaks on top of the vegetables, sprinkling generously with salt and pepper. Add onions on top. Cook on high 4 hours or until meat and potatoes are tender. 

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Sweet Heat Chili (Slow Cooker)

When I came across this recipe on Mel's Kitchen Cafe, I immediately wanted to try it. Normally, when it comes to chili, I totally wing it and end up with a new recipe each time. I LOVE it. But there was something special, something unique about this recipe, so I did my best to follow it to a T. I love the wide array of vegetables in this chili. I think that's my favorite part of this recipe. It's not just meat, beans, and tomatoes

The only changes I made to the original recipe (besides slow cooking rather than stove-topping it) were roasted red peppers for sundried tomatoes (as I didn't have any) and I added jalapeños--making my chili a bit heavier on the "heat" than the "sweet" side of things. . It was still really delicious, and we're super excited to have leftovers. Chili just gets better with time. 

Sweet Heat Chili

recipe adapted from melskitchencafe.com

Serves 8-10

Ingredients

1 medium onion, diced

1 large green bell pepper, diced

3 stalks celery, diced

3 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 to 1 lb ground meat

4 cups beef stock

2 cans (28 oz. each) whole stewed tomatoes

1- 14oz can kidney red beans, drained and rinsed

1- 14 oz can black beans, drained and rinsed

1/2 cup roasted red peppers, chopped
1 jalapeño pepper, seeded and diced 

3 bay leaves

1 tsp dry mustard

1 Tbsp chili powder

1 tsp paprika 

1/2 tsp pepper

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp onion powder

1/4 cup brown sugar

2 tbsp balsamic vinegar

salt to taste

Directions

Heat a medium skillet over medium low heat and brown the ground meat. Drain and rinse off excess fat.

Pour the cans of stewed tomatoes into a food processor and pulse a few times to desired consistency. 

Combine all ingredients into a 6 or 7 quart slow cooker and cook on low 6-8 hours, or on high 4 hours. 

Serve with a dollop of sour cream. 

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Beef Stir Fry

Stir fry (done right) is one of the healthiest, easiest meals anyone could make. There are no "rules" just a general destination in mind. You can use whatever ingredients you have on hand--broccoli, mushrooms, snow peas, carrots, bell peppers, garlic, onions, meat or no meat at all. The options are endless! 

From the moment I started the rice and defrosted the steak, to the moment we sat down to eat was just 25 minutes. Not too shabby! 

Kevin and I could eat a version of this stir fry at least once a week and be absolutely thrilled--not to mention skinnier! :D 

Ingredients

Canola oil

1-2 pounds New York Strip Steak, thinly sliced

Ground black pepper

Garlic powder

2 garlic cloves, peeled and minced

1/2-1 small onion, thinly sliced

1/2 green pepper, thinly sliced

1-2 carrots, thinly sliced into strips

1 cup mushrooms, chopped or sliced

Dried Thyme

Dried Ginger 

Light Soy Sauce

Teriyaki Sauce

2-3 cups cooked brown rice 

Directions

Being rice cooking. Heat a large skillet to medium high heat. Drizzle with oil. Place steak strips evenly across the pan and sprinkle generously with black pepper and garlic. Cook 2 minutes on each side. Remove strips from pan and set aside. 

Return pan to the burner. Drizzle with a small amount of additional oil. Place all vegetables except mushrooms into the pan and cook until crisp-tender. Stir in mushrooms. Add soy sauce with 5 or 6 generous turns of the pan. Add teriyaki sauce with 5 turns of the pan--more or least to taste. Place steak strips back into the pan and cook everything together for 2-5 minutes. 

When rice is cooked, make a well of the grain on a large plate. Spoon the stir fry in the center of the rice and serve with soy sauce on the side.