Comforting Beef Stew

 

When Danielle first posted a photo of her beef stew on Facebook, right away I knew that I would want to make it. Here is the deal with me and beef stews…if it has too many ingredients or too much herbs in it,  I will not eat it. I am weird like that. Although I hit a little snags a long the way…First, I spilled the broth all over my kitchen (so I had to go buy more), then I got everything ready and forgot to turn on the crock pot….the beef stew turned out pretty good. I really wished I had taken a better photo but this is the best I can do at 10pm. Lesson learned.

 

Comforting Crock Pot Beef Stew

recipe from Cozycakes Cottage

 

• 2 pounds of chuck roast, chopped in 1 to 1.5 inch pieces (Costco’s already cut meat is the best)
• salt and pepper
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 medium yellow onion, diced
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 1.5 to 2 cups beef broth
• splash of Worcestershire sauce (about a tablespoon)
• 2 stalks of celery, diced or cut into 1-inch pieces
• 6 medium red potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces (I used golden potatoes, my favorite)
• 3 carrots, peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces  (I used baby carrots)
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme (I used 1/2 teaspoon since I am not a big fan of thyme)
• 2 tablespoons Minute tapioca (If you don’t have the tapioca on hand, no worries–I use it to thicken it up to a nice stew consistency, but it’s still good without it!)

 

Dry the meat with a paper towel and season with salt and pepper.  Heat oil in a skillet on medium heat.  Add all meat and brown.  You’re not aiming to cook the meat through, but to get the outside a nice color.  When the meat is browned, place it in the slow cooker.  If needed, add a bit more olive oil to the skillet and cook the onions on medium heat until translucent.  Add the Worcestershire, 1.5 cups broth, and tomato paste to the onions in the skillet.  Mix and cook until it just begins to boil or simmer.  Place the celery, carrots, potatoes, bay leaves, and thyme in the slow cooker.  Pour broth mixture over everything in the slow cooker.  Add Minute tapioca to the slow cooker and mix everything together.   At this point I add a few pinches of salt and freshly ground pepper.  Cover and cook on high for 6 hours.   *At the 5 hour mark, I gently mix the stew and taste test, adding salt, pepper, and more broth as needed ( I usually add at least another half cup of broth at this point).  Continue to cook for one more hour.   Remove bay leaves and enjoy!

 

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My husband and I enjoyed the recipe so much that I know that I will make it at least one more time this winter season. Hope you get to enjoy Danielle’s recipe for the beef stew as much as I did.

A fresh start

At some point everyone needs a fresh start, right? Well, this is how I feel with this blog. Going back to old posts I see the numerous hours of posting, the joy of hitting publish on those posts, but I also notice the numerous, actually about 3/4 of the posts, having photos that do not show anymore.

I can understand how frustrating would be for both the visitor and myself to have the photos not show up on the post. I have been going back and forth trying to figure out what I should do: just erase those posts and start clean or should I spend lots and lots of hours, that I do not currently have, fixing up those posts. Ultimately I would love to get a new blog design, freshen things up. I am trying to figure out a way to get back into the groove of things so until then please excuse the mess, and hopefully all this will be resolved soon.

I am still here so if you need to get a hold of me please feel free to e-mail me at meganvperry@gmail.com

Wednesday House Tour

I can’t believe I am saying this out loud but I receive about 17 magazines a month. Some of my favorites have to be HGTV and Better Homes and Gardens. Those two magazines are fresh and are so much fun to read. This is a home that I saw in BHG and fell in love with: from the colors to the casual and relaxed feel of the home. The bright colors make the house cheery and very inviting. There are no words to describe the front porch. I can see myself with a good book sitting there for hours.

 

For the whole article and more photos, please click here.

 

Summer bucket List 2013

Last Thursday was officially my daughter’s last day of school. I survived her first year of preschool. I remember the first month of preschool, the constant crying and fear of going to school. Me having to sit in the classroom, pregnant, for three hours to try to ease her into it. At the end of the school year she just ran in her classroom waving a quick good bye.

 

I don't like like to make plans way too far in advance because somehow my plans always change. I like being a last minute person for the most part especially with a newborn. Madison and I were working on a summer bucket list and somehow we came up with practically the same things as last year. You can check out our list here. Then I remembered all the pins sitting in my summer board on Pinterest and came across this summer schedule.

 

photo credit: Somewhat Simple

 

What I like about this schedule is that every day has a theme. I think in the end we will be incorporating both our summer bucket list as well as the summer schedule into our daily activities to make things more interesting to my almost 4 year old. I have a few things already lined up for us and cannot wait to record them. For example on Mondays we can make things that I have found on Pinterest: some kids crafting, painting; on Tuesdays we can go to the local library to story time; on Wednesdays we can make kids appropriate recipes such as cookies, cupcakes, kids size pizza. For the summer I have signed Madison up for art class on Thursdays so we can either have that day as our “Somewhere fun day” or continue with the “Be thoughtful day”. Only time will tell!

 

To be completely honest with myself and you, the readers, I am not sure how committed I will be to the blog this summer but I will try to update every so often. If you would like to keep up with me you can always find me on Instagram – my handle is megan_splendiddesign or check out the sidebar on the right.

 

It’s been awhile…

Okay, it’s been what…two months since my last post? Well, I had my little girl…baby Sawyer…back on April 23. We are so happy to have this little addition to our family. Being on bed rest for the last two months of my pregnancy was so worth it for this little girl. Yes, she was born with so much hair, which startled me a little bit…Madison was born with barely any hair.

 

 

It is amazing how time flies even faster with two kids. I am not sure how others do it (especially other bloggers who are back to blogging the first week) but I barely get anything done. Oh, wait I don’t get anything done! There are days where I don’t even get the chance to take a shower. This is the first time in I don’t know how long that I have been able to get on my computer (love my Iphone, where I can get a lot of things done on there). With summer right around the corner and Sawyer getting a little older, I really hope that things will settle down and without having to rush to get Madison to school in the mornings things will be a little easier.

 

Thank you everyone (if there is anyone left reading my blog other than my mom) for continuing to read my little blog. I really appreciate it!