best. stew. ever.

i made stew for supper tonight. yes, in august. i'm aware. but today is dreary and grey and wet and all-around late fall-ish.

and i was craving stew.

so i made some.

and let me tell you how. (normally, i wouldn't post a "recipe" for stew, since it's so basic. but i'm rather proud of myself for this, so i thought i would share my domestic genius with you. lol)

so, back in the day, probably, march-ish, i picked up a giant thing of stewing beef at the grocery store. and some freezer bags. (figured out where this is going? yes, i'm just that good! haha)

i came home and got to work. i divided up the beef into 3 or 4 freezer bags, about 2/3 full.

then i cut up a couple onions, and tossed them in.

then i grabbed some baby carrots (because i hate chopping veggies, and if God gives you a short-cut, i say take it!!) and tossed them into the bags.

and tossed the bags into the freezer.

so this afternoon, with my INSANE craving for stew (of all things!), i got out a covered bowl thing (the name escapes me at the moment), and went to work.

but gah! a problem! no potatoes! and you simply can't have stew without potatoes!! what's a girl to do?!

i'll tell you what a girl is to do... grab a bag of hashbrowns out of the freezer, and pour some into the bowl-thing. then put in the frozen stew-in-a-bag.

next, add a can of diced tomatoes with garlic and olive oil. (see "when God gives you a shortcut" comment above.)

add some parsley, thyme and bay leaves.

dump on generous amounts of Worcestershire sauce. (mmm... liquid salt...)

add a bit of water.

cover, and toss into the oven (ok, place it in the oven. otherwise, if you toss it, the lid will likely come off and you'll end up with stew all over your oven, and i don't know about you, but the LAST thing i want to be doing on a saturday night is cleaning my oven) which should be preheated to (what did i randomly turn the nob to? i'm guessing here, folks, but i think it was somewhere around) 375 degrees F.

bake for a couple hours.

remove from oven. remove bay leaves.

and enjoy! :)

seriously. best. stew. ever.

Mexican Stuffed Shells

Ingredients:
12-18 large pasta shells, cooked
1 lb lean ground beef
3 tbsp taco seasoning
1/2 cup water
1 onion, chopped
1 1/2 cup salsa, divided
1 cup grated cheese, divided
750 ml tomato sauce
chili powder
green onion (garnish)

Directions:
1. brown ground beef. drain.
2. add seasoning, water, onion, 1/2 cup salsa, 1/4 cup cheese.
3. mix together remaining salsa, tomato sauce, cheese.
4. spread thin layer of sauce in bottom of 9x12 baking pan.
5. fill each shell with ground beef mixture and place in pan.
6. pour remaining sauce on top. sprinkle on the rest of the cheese on top and garnish with green onion.
7. bake at 350 degrees F for about 30 mins (or in my kitchen, "until it's done.")
8. if desired, sprinkle additional cheese on top after baking and return to oven for 5 mins longer or until cheese melts.

Verdict:
YUMMU!!! this was really, really good. my mom can't handle spice, so i didn't use much chili powder, and instead of tomato sauce, i used crushed tomatoes and 2 big garlic cloves. and it was lovely!

Feta-Stuffed Hamburgers

Ingredients:
1 lb lean ground beef
1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp dried parsley
salt and pepper to taste
1 cup crumbled feta cheese

Directions:
1. preheat outdoor grill to med heat, lightly oil grate.
2. knead together ground beef, worcestershire sauce, parsley, salt and pepper in a bowl. form mixture into 8 equal-sized balls; flatten to make thin patties. place about 1/4 cup of feta cheese onto each of four patties. make "patty sandwiches" (patty+feta+patty); press edges together to seal.
3. cook on preheated grill, 7-8 minutes per side for well done.

For Staci... and anyone else who wants to read this, really

Yesterday i wrote about trying new things. Well, today, I practiced something "new-ish"... cooking for one. I don't have money right now to eat out (because, you know, I've been so wealthy in the past! Lol), otherwise i'd have gotten myself some sushi or A&W or a nice salad (quite a variety, no?). so, i looked in the fridge. I was originally going to have some carrot soup, but decided against it for some reason, i still don't know why. But... i did find eggs and a bunch of other goodies, so i threw something together...

An omelette!

Staci asked what was in it, and i know how much she likes my recipes, so here it is:

Ingredients:

2 eggs

Some milk

A couple mushrooms

Some ham

Some cheddar cheese, grated

Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Crack the eggs into a bowl, add some milk (this makes the eggs fluffy!), and salt and pepper. Beat.

Put a small frying pan on the stove. Turn on the stove to, say, medium-ish heat, and put some butter in the pan. Watch the butter melt, or grate the cheese. Whatever. It's up to you, i guess, what you do with your time.

Pour the egg mixture into the frying pan. I guess you could chop the mushrooms now. Whatever.

Once the eggs are looking almost done, add the rest of the ingredients. Watching cheese melt can be fun, so i'd recommend you do this now. (oh, the things i do to occupy myself when the kids are gone... oh, yeah, i'm just that cool. Lol)

When it's all done cooking, put it on your plate and enjoy!

There you go, stac, my super-dee-duper omelette recipe. Hope you like it! lol