Newlywed in the Kitchen Recipe #1: Beef (or Chicken) Stew

So.....it turns out to be a lot of work cooking dinner every night.  The Boy from Texas, much to my dismay, isn't really on board with my practice of eating Wheat Thins and calling it good.  The first week of this little experience, we had burritos four days in a row, at his request.  It was then I decided we had to expand his palate.  Man cannot live on burrito alone.

And so, a new blog series was born.  Lucky for us, we got several recipe books for wedding gifts.  The Boy from Texas will be choosing at least one new recipe each week, which I will be preparing and then blogging about.  He will be in charge of the ratings system.....1 to 5 stars.  At the end of the year, he will be selecting his top three recipes.

We kicked things off with my mom's recipe for Stew.  You can actually make this with either beef or chicken, but because we are from cattle country, of course we went with beef.

Boy From Texas Score:  4 Stars.

Boy From Texas Comments:  Double up the meat.

Sue’s Soup Recipe

*My mom wrote this, my comments in orange.*

Cut beef (or chicken) into small pieces or buy it in small pieces. 

Put a little Crisco Oil in pan and brown the beef (or chicken). 

Add Salt, Pepper, a little garlic salt, and a little minced onion to meat while it is browning.  {I didn't use minced onion...who has that?}

When meat is browned, add 4 cans of Chicken Broth and 3 cans of water. Add 2 small cans of  V-8 Juice. (I use the small individual juice cans).  Add cut up potatoes to the meat and broth. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover, and let potatoes cook about 1 hour. 

Sprinkle in a little minced onion, basil, tarragon, parsley, and a bay leaf. (If you don’t have all of these, use what you have. You can add any other spice that you decide you like in it.) Use things like basil and tarragon sparingly. They are strong spices).  {I used garlic powder, bay leaf, parsley, sea salt, and pepper.  They were all in the spice rack we got for our wedding present.}

About the time the potatoes are almost done, Add celery, squash, corn (I buy 1 ear of corn and cut corn off of cob), green beans, carrots, and any other fresh vegetable you want to add. {I used zucchini, yellow squash, carrots, celery, cauliflower, green beans, and cabbage--all fresh.  One thing, if you use cabbage, put it in during about the last 20 minutes or it will over cook.}

Cover and let simmer about an hour. 

Taste the broth. According to taste, you might want to add another can of chicken broth.  If you add more broth, make sure you have 1 can less of water than broth you add.  According to taste, if you want it more “tomatoey” add another small can V-8. According to taste, add salt and pepper if needed. 

Let simmer until ready to eat. Use small burner when simmering and keep heat as low as you can so you don’t burn the bottom of the pan of soup. 

Note:  Sometimes, I buy frozen noodles and defrost them and add when I have about an hour left to simmer. You kind of have to watch them to be sure they don’t absorb too much of the broth or you might have to add more broth. Don’t add too many noodles because they expand in the pan.  Sometimes, I do not add the frozen noodles. 

{I served this with cornbread--made from scratch if that means out of a Jiffy box--and sliced pepper jack and cheddar cheese}.