recipe: beef stew

There are a few reasons why I love stews. One, it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside when I eat it. Two, it's easy as crap. Three, did I mention it's easy as crap? Because it is.

Here's the thing about stews, you can add in things you have handy. Don't have potatoes? No problem! Don't add them! Got some stock hanging around? Feel free to use it! No stock? No problem. You just pop your ingredients into the crock pot and let it do it's thang for a few hours. What did I do whilst my stew stewed? I took a nap. I cleaned. I ran a few miles and then I eventually showered. SO MANY THINGS!

I made a stew over the weekend loosely based on this Martha Stewart recipe. Here's how you can have it too.

Beef stew

1.5 lbs of beef stew meat (that's what it's called at Trader Joe's. go with it.)

1 T flour

2 T balsamic vinegar

1/4 cup tomato paste

salt, pepper

5 carrots, peeled and chopped

about 1 lb fingerling potatoes, scrubbed and cut into halves or quarters (depending on how big)

1 medium onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, chopped

2 cups chicken stock (or whatever stock you have)

1 bay leaf

Add your beef to your crock pot, and evenly distribute the flour, balsamic vinegar and tomato paste on top, then liberally salt and pepper. Add in your chopped veggies, chicken stock and bay leaf. Set that baby on high and let it marinate for about 4 or 5 hours, or until your meat is nice and tender. Enjoy the shit out of that.

Nothing says winter like stew, my friends.

And it's kind of nice to come home to flowers sometimes. You know, just saying.