Bacon Salt and Beef Stew

First off, thanks to Patrick and Emma for their awesome Christmas gift of Bacon Salt and Baconnaise! Thank you! We haven't tried it yet. But I bought some frozen french fries today to put the Bacon Salt on. And I plan on making some deviled eggs with the baconnaise. Should be some good eats!


Second, what's for dinner tonight, you ask? (Because I know you've been eagerly awaiting my wonderful posts!! That was a sarcastic remark, by the way.)

Well, it's chilly outside (by So Cal standards, anyway) and Steve is planning on doing a little Christmas shopping after work tonight. So I thought a big pot of beef stew would be good. It's comfort food and will hold well and stay hot on the stove until Steve gets home.



The recipe is based off Steve's mom's version. It's pretty basic. Here's how I made mine, obviously you can change amounts of the meat/veggies.

1.5 lbs. london broil (or other such "stewing" meat
2 celery stalks, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
1/2 onion, chopped
6-8 mushrooms, quartered
2 russet potatoes, peeled and diced (yukon golds are perfect in this, but I didn't have any on hand and wanted to use up my russets)
1 qt. low sodium beef stock
1/2 can tomato sauce (this is what the recipe calls for, but i forgot to buy it at the store. so i used 1 can of condensed tomato soup instead. and i have to say it was really good that way! the tomato soup is slightly sweeter than tomato sauce and gave the stew a really nice velvet-y texture.)
1 cup dry red wine
2-3 T flour
salt, pepper, various herbs and spices
Worcestershire sauce

Ok, so I cubed my meat, dumped it into a ziplock bag and threw in enough flour to coat well. I rummaged through the spice rack and threw in whatever seemed good -- garlic powder, Italian seasoning, seasoned salt, and lots of black pepper. I even tossed in some Creole seasoning to spice it up a bit.
In a large stock pot, heat up a few tablespoons of oil and brown the meat. You may have to do this in a few batches to get a really nice brown crust on the meat. But I was too lazy, I just dumped it all in. Still got nice and browned nonetheless. Add the wine, scraping the bits off the bottom of the pan. Add tomato sauce, beef stock, worcestershire and all the veggies except the potatoes. Cover and simmer for an hour and then throw the potatoes in. Cook another 30-45 minutes or until meat is very tender. I tend to let my stew go for 2 hours or more sometimes...just because I like the meat to be falling apart pretty much.

Also, I'm not going to bother doing cost breakdowns for each meal. No one cares and it's too much math for this lazy brain. I do, however, try to be as frugal as I can when I go to the grocery store. I try to shop at WinCo and Costco only, where everything is cheaper. On average I spend about $65-70 per week on food. That does not include diapers, of course. :) Only food enough for 6-7 dinners, with enough leftover for lunches the next day...and snacks...and drinks...and dessert treats...and necessities like toilet paper and paper towels and such. Not bad.