Slow Cooker Hearty Beef Stew

I have been making this one for a few years in the slow cooker.  I don't always love meat in the slow cooker as it's often too watery for my taste but coating the meat with flour prior to cooking helps a lot.  And we love the flavor of this recipe!  We usually have it with bread so we don't waste any of the delicious juices.  I will provide the recipe first as it is written for the slow cooker and then I'll tell you how I adapted it for the stove top to make a big pot for the meal swap!

3 carrots, peeled, sliced
3 potatoes, diced
1 large onions, chopped
2 stalks celery, sliced
2 lbs stewing beef, cubed
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 garlic cloves, minced
1 bay leaves
1 cup beef broth
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon paprika
2 teaspoons browning sauce

1. Arrange vegetables in a slow cooker - top with beef chunks.  Set aside.
2. Mix flour, salt, pepper and sprinkle over meat.
3. Stir well, add remaining ingredients.
4. Cover, Heat on low setting for 8-10 hours or on high for 4-5 hours.
5. Remove and discard bay leaf.

So I quadrupled the recipe for our meal swap.  I kept all the ingredients the same, I just changed the order I did everything. First, I sauteed the onions, celery and garlic in a bit of olive oil until soft.  Then I added the beef (tip: my beef was still partially frozen when I was dicing and it is SO much easier to cut...will remember this for the future!) and let it brown up a bit. Next, I added the spices, veggies and beef broth.  Then I mixed up the flour with water as if I was making gravy.  I turned the heat up to high and got everything boiling, added my flour/water mix and reduced it down to simmer.  I probably let it simmer for 2-3 hours.  I think everything was cooked earlier than that, but I thought it would be nice to let the flavors simmer as long as possible.  Cooled it all off in the fridge and froze it in individual Ziploc bags.

Cabbage Roll Casserole

This was definitely less labor intensive than cabbage rolls and is pretty tasty. It's from the Looneyspoons Collection, which is my favorite cookbook ever.

Here it is:

2tsp olive oil
1 cup chopped onions
1 tsp minced garlic
1.5 cups reduced sodium beef or chicken broth
3/4 cup uncooked brown rice
1 medium head of cabbage (about 3-4lb)
1.5lb extra lean ground beef, chicken, or turkey
1 egg
1/4 cup minced fresh parsley
1 tsp dried marjoram
1/2 tsp salt and pepper
2 cans (10oz) reduced sodium condensed tomato soup

Heat olive oil in a medium pot over medium heat. Add onions and garlic. Cook and stir for about 3 minutes, until onions begin to soften. Add broth and rice. Bring to boil. Reduce heat to medium-low. Cover and cook for 20 to 25 minutes, until rice is tender and liquid has been absorbed. remove from heat.

Meanwhile, bring a large pot of water to boil. Cut cabbage into 8 wedges. Boil cabbage wedges for 5 minutes. Drain. Remove inner tough pieces. Separate individual leaves and set aside.

In a large bowl, combine cooked rice, with beef, egg, parsley, marjoram, salt and pepper. Mix well.

Spray a 9x13-inch baking pan with cooking spray. Line bottom with half the cabbage. Spread beef-rice mixture evenly over cabbage. Top remaining leaves with remaining cabbage.

Empty both cans of soup into a medium bowl. Add 1 can of water and mix well. Pour soup evenly over cabbage. cover and bake for 1 hour at 350 degrees. Reduce heat to 325 degrees and cook for another 45 minutes. Let cook for 5 minutes before serving.

Lentil Soup

A friend of mine forwarded me this recipe this summer, and I loved it, very colourful and flavourful with unusual combination of ingredients.  I adjusted a few things to make it suitable for our vegetarian friends and it freezes well.  I've divided this one up into two ziplock bag portions per batch, as it does make a very large pot.

 

Lentil Soup

 

Olive oil

1 onion

3 cloves garlic

1 box of chicken broth

4 cups water

1 cup salsa

4 sausages ( remove casing and cut up)

1 chicken breast – bone in/skinless

1 cup lentils

½ cup barley

1 bag spinach

1 can chick peas

 

Cook onion, garlic and sausage then barley and cook for about a minute more.  Then add chicken broth, water, chicken and lentils.  Bring to a boil and then lower heat and continue to cook for about 30 minutes.  Remove chicken & shred it.  Add it back to the soup along with the chickpeas, spinach and salsa.

Cook's Notes: In place of 4 sausages I used 1 lb of ground sausage meat.  I also used baby spinach leaves in place of full leaf spinach.

Cheesy Tuna Pie

I found this recipe when I was at a playgroup, flipping through an easy and family friendly cookbook.  I was interested as it had familiar ingredients and I thought the "pot pie" type of set up would work great as a freezer meal. 

Cheesy Tuna Pie
Source: Diane Nemitz/ Ludington, Michigan

2 cups cooked rice
2 cans (6 oz each) tun, drained and flaked
1 cup mayonnaise
1 cup (4 oz) grated cheddar cheese
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup thinly sliced celery
1 can (4 oz) sliced black olives
2 tbsp onion flakes
1 unbaked pie crust.

1) Preheat oven to 350 F.  Spray 9 inch deep dish pie pan with non stick spray

2) Combine all ingredients except pie crust in medium bowel mix well.  Spoon into prepared pie pan.  Place pie crust over tuna mixture; press edges to pie pan to seal.  cut slits for steam to escape.

3) Bake 20 minutes or until crust is browned and filling is bubbly.

Makes 6 servings.

Cook's Notes:  I used 2 shells for this recipe for top and bottom.  I also used reduced fat ingredients where available (sour cream, mayo and cheese).  It is a generous amount of filling in the pie and quite "meat-y".  the onion flakes give it good flavour.

Reggae (Pork) Gumbo

Another one from the Looneyspoons Collection.  This one is subtitled, "Spicy Pork tenderloin gumbo with tomatoes, mushrooms and sweet potatoes". I made a couple of variations of this one for the swap: one without pork (and extra mushrooms) for the vegetarians and one with less mushrooms for the family that doesn't prefer fungi! The rest I did follow to recipe with the exception that I used a pork loin roast as it was on sale.

1 tsp olive oil
1 lb pork tenderloin, cut into 1 inch cubes
2 cups diced mushrooms
1 cup chopped onions
2 tsp minced garlic
1/2 cup chopped celery
1 can (28 oz) no salt added diced tomatoes, undrained
1 can (5.5 oz) tomatoe paste
1 tsp each ground cumin and grated gingeroot
3/4 tsp dried oregano
1/4 tsp each salt, ground black pepper and crushed red pepper flakes
2 cups peeled and cubed sweet potatoes
1 cup sliced okra or zucchini
1/4 cup minced fresh cilantro

Heat oil in a large pot over medium-high heat.  Add prok cubes and cook until lightly browned, about 8 to 10 minutes.  Add mushrooms, onions, garlic and celery.  Cook and stir until vegetables are tender, about five minutes.

Stir in tomatoes and their liquid, tomato paste, cumin , gingeroot, oregano, salt, pepper and crushed red pepper flakes.  Bring to a boil.  Reduce heat to medium-low.  Cover and simmer for 45 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Stir in sweet potatoes and okra.  Cover and simmer another 30-35 minutes, until pork and potatoes are very tender.  Remove from heat and stir in cilantro.  Serve hot.