Slow Cooker Beef Stew and Easy Homemade Cornbread Recipe

The winter weather seems to be back in my area. It has been spitting snow all day, which just makes me want to curl up with a good book and a cup of tea. I love winter weather for about a month, then I get increasing sick of it. I am one of those people that loves when the seasons change and then quickly get tired of the new season. Now there are some seasons that I like more than others, winter being pretty far down the list. One of the things that saves winter for me is the food. I am a huge fan of soups and stews and fall and winter are the perfect time of the year to prepare them. Approximately once a week (at least) during the winter I pull out my slow cooker and try a new stew recipe. I find stew in the winter comforting and makes the cold weather more bearable. Last week I tried a new recipe for Slow Cooker Beef Stew and Homemade Cornbread from the February 2013 issue of All You magazine.

The beef stew recipe has 17 ingredients and the cornbread has 8 ingredients. The cornbread takes a total of 25 minutes, 10 minutes of which is active and makes 9 servings. The beef stew recipe takes a total of 8 1/2 hours, 30 minutes of which is active and makes 6 servings. I did make a few changes to the recipes. For the beef stew instead of all-purpose flour I used brown rice flour. I made my own beef broth from scratch. If you have never made beef broth before it is very easy. Roast 2 onions, 2 carrots and 1 pound of beef bones in the oven at 425 for 40 minutes. When they are done roasting add them to a large stock pot, add 12 peppercorns, 2 bay leaves, 2 sprigs of parsley and cover with water. Bring to boil and then turn down to a low simmer for 4-6 hours. The longer you cook the stock the stronger the flavor. I chose not to top my stew with cilantro since my kids have decided that they currently won't eat it. For the cornbread I only made a few changes. First I used low-fat buttermilk instead of full fat. I try to limit my dairy fats and low-fat buttermilk is a great way to do it. Since I was not eating the cornbread I did not make it gluten-free, but instead made the recipe as written.

This beef stew has a little bit of a kick from the chilies and chipotle pepper. I topped my boys servings with a little bit of sour cream to cut down on the spiciness, My husband and I didn't find that the dish was that spicy, but my boys noticed immediately. I like that the beef turned out very tender and the parsnips gave the beef a delicious sweet root vegetable undertone.

For the recipes go to Beef Stew and Homemade Cornbread.

Slow-Cooker Caribbean Beef Stew

The weather in my area has been unseasonably warm. It was almost 70 degrees on Tuesday and it has been making my kids a little bit wild. With the warm days it feels more like spring than almost Christmas. Even though the weather has been all over the place, I refuse to let it change my food plans. This is the time of the year when I make pumpkin cookies, eggnog baked good and most importantly stews. I love stews. They are delicious and comforting. I make them at least twice a month and they are a fall stable in my house. Since I now am eating gluten free I have had to find new stew recipes that work well with gluten free flours. This week I tried a new recipe for Slow-Cooker Caribbean Beef Stew from the December issue of the Food Network Magazine, which looked full of classic Caribbean flavor from the allspice and white pepper and perfect for a busy weeknight.

This reicpe 13 ingredients. It takes a total time of 7 hours and 15 minutes, 15 minutes of which is active and makes 4 servings. I had no problems finding any of the ingredients at my local grocery store. Since I don't use wheat flour I substituted the all-purpose flour for gluten free all-purpose flour. Crock-pots can be very hard to clean so I always use slow-cooker liners to reduce the mess. I let my stew cook on high for 7 hours. When I only put my potatoes in the crock-pot on low for 7 hours they never seem soft enough to me, so I normally cook my stews on high. Finally, I decided to top the servings with scallions for taste and presentation. I followed the remainder of the recipe as written.

Make sure to adequately salt this stew once it is done in the crock-pot. The recipe requires more salt than the recipe states. My husband and I really liked this stew. The flavor was great and the spiciness from the green chiles was delicious. My two boys thought it was a little too spicy for their tastes, but I added sour cream to their servings and then they ate it happily.

For the recipe go to Slow-Cooker Caribbean Beef Stew.

Beef and Apricot Stew

You are probably tired of me talking about stews. In the fall and winter months I make soups and stews at least once a week and I must say they are one of my favorite foods. If you read my blog regularly you know that both by how much I talk about my love of soups/stews and how many recipes I post. I promise that come spring I will be back to lighter fair, but until then stews will be a staple. It helps that both of my sons are huge stew eaters. So much so that my son's birthday was this past weekend and that was what he requested for his birthday dinner. Love that kid. Beef stew is probably my favorite type of stew. It is comforting and re-heats well for lunches. Last weekend I tried a new recipe for Beef and Apricot Stew from Everyday Food (the last issue-boo!), which looked simple and perfect for fall.

This recipe has 11 ingredients. It takes a total of 1 hour 55 minutes, 25 minutes of which is active and makes 6 servings. I had no problems finding any of the ingredients at my local grocery store with the exception of the lamb which was supposed to be the main ingredient. I have a horrible time finding lamb in my area. I am hoping that since we now have a new International market that I might have more luck. Since lamb was non-existent I substituted beef. Two things that I would change about this recipe. The ginger sticks weren't popular in my house. Instead of making sticks I would suggest grating the ginger on a micro plane. This would allow the flavor, but not make large sticks of ginger which my kids pretty much hated. Additionally, I would cut down on the amount of apricots to 1/2 cup. Using 3/4 of a cup of apricots was just too many. I followed the remainder of the recipe as written.

With an hour and a 1/2 in the oven this recipe takes a little bit of pre-planning. However, any good stew is worth the wait. If you implement the changes that I made above  I think this stew could be a great fall and winter staple recipe. Plus it's gluten free which works great for my dietary needs.

For the recipe go to Beef and Apricot Stew.

Beef Stew with Potatoes and Parsnips

I absolutely love soup and stews. There is something incredibly comforting about making and eating a big batch of homemade soup. The last couple of months my two boys and I have seemed to be passing the same cold back and forth between the three of us. As soon as one of us gets better the next one gets sick. Since we have all been feeling under the weather I have been making a large number of soups. Plus cold weather and soup seem to go hand in hand, so it works all around. My whole family seems well this week just as the weather has gotten much colder so it's time again for a new round of soup and stew recipes. I love being able to eat the leftovers from a batch of soup I make on the weekend. It is a quick and hearty lunch option. Last month I made a new recipe for Beef Stew with Potatoes and Parsnips from Everyday Food magazine, which looked hearty and perfect for the colder weather ahead.

This recipe has 10 ingredients. It takes a total time of 1 1/2 hours, 25 minutes of which is active, and makes 4 servings. I had no problems finding any of the ingredients at my local store. I did make a few modifications in order to make the recipe gluten free. Instead of using all-purpose flour I substituted gluten free cornstarch. I do this frequently with recipes and it works very well. I made this dish in my dutch oven. If you don't already own and use a dutch oven, I highly recommend it for your holiday wish list. My dutch oven is one of my favorite kitchen tools. The recipe suggests letting the stew cook for an hour in the oven. I actually let my stew cook for slightly longer in order for the stew to fully thicken. I followed the remainder of the recipe as written.

I was really impressed with this recipe. It came out tender and delicious with little effort. I liked that this stew only takes an hour and a half instead of the 2-3 hours required by a lot of other beef stew recipes. Adding the vinegar at the end of the cooking takes this soup from good to delicious. I was skeptical when I added the vinegar, but after tasting it it made all the difference to the final taste. I will definitely make this stew again.

For the recipe go to Beef Stew with Potatoes and Parsnips.