Beef Stew...

For some reason, while soups and stews strike me as winter fare, I rarely make them in the winter, but often find myself making several different soups in the spring, and even summer.  And Beef Stew is no exception.  Having recently made it, I decided I needed to put the recipe here so I don't lose it.  

Last week I was taking a meal to someone recovering from hand surgery and stew seemed an obvious choice since she would be temporarily one-handed.  Then I found out that this person was on a no-added-salt diet.  Eeek.

I was a little worried about how to make this stew tasty without salt.  But the recipient was thrilled with the idea of beef stew, and since I was able to find no-salt beef broth (which was actually low-salt, but the recipient said it was okay) I figured Beef Stew was probably the easiest of recipes to adapt in this way.  I bravely plunged ahead.  

The written recipe below is made the way we enjoy it, but below the recipe, I've written any adaptations (both to the original recipe I have used as a template, and to my version). 

Truthfully, I don't measure much, but simply add things to taste.  I also tend to make my batches of soup larger by adding more of the ingredients, and for that reason, the measurements listed in the recipe seem pretty sparse to me.  So...  either follow the written recipe exactly, and you can always add more seasonings, or just consider the measurements below (that were pulled  from the original recipe) as suggestions.  Just know, if you cook like me, you may find yourself wanting more or less of anything.  If you cook like me, you're probably already planning how you will tweak the recipe.

Beef Stew

2 lbs stewing meat (I never measure, but these days I just put in as much meat as I can justify spending money on.  Truthfully, I'm sure I've always used at least 2 lbs of cut-up chuck steak, or stew meat.  Beef is the point, afterall.)

1-3 garlic cloves, minced (or 1/2 tsp garlic powder)

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 teaspoon black pepper (I used freshly ground pepper)

3 Tbs olive oil (or avocado oil)

1 onion chopped

At least 6 cups beef broth (I usually use two complete containers of beef broth, so that's typically 8 cups.  Save back 1 cup for the thickening step.)

1 lb of potatoes, peeled and cut into largish chunks

4 carrots (I probably use 6) cut into chunky pieces

1 tsp dried rosemary  (if you're fancy, use a fresh sprig - I assume you fish it out later?)

2 Tbs cornstarch

3/4 cup peas (or half of a small frozen package)

Lastly, I tend to drop in a beef bouillon cube at some point.  (Taste before you do this, though.)

Heat oil in a pan or pot and cook beef and onions until browned (I add onions and minced garlic toward the end of browning the beef - you don't want these to burn). That said, be sure to get some browning on the beef and pan/pot - this will add flavor.  And if you burn some onions, I'm sure it will be okay.  I have, and it is.

If transferring beef to a large pot, add beef, and all but 1 cup of beef broth.  If using a pan to cook the beef, onions and garlic, use some broth at this point to deglaze the browned bits in the pan and add this to larger pot.  This is tasty stuff.

To the larger pot, add the salt, pepper and rosemary. 

Reduce heat to a simmer.  Cover and simmer for at least an hour - until the beef begins to be tender.  Stir often.

When close to an hour of simmering, I sauté the carrots in some butter or olive oil.  I'm convinced this adds to their flavor.  

When I figure I have 20-30 minutes more of simmering time, I add the potatoes and carrots to the pot and continue simmering until the vegetables are soft-ish.  Not too soft.

After the carrots and potatoes are suitably soft, it's time to thicken the stew.  Turn up the heat to a low boil. Working with 1/4-1/2 cup of the saved-back beef broth, add 1 Tbs of cornstarch to broth, stir until smooth, then add to the slightly boiling pot.   If this doesn't thicken the stew enough, do this again with the remainder of the beef broth, otherwise, simply add the remainder of the beef broth to the pot.

Shortly before serving, add the frozen peas.  I didn't have peas the last time I made this, and found it was fine without them.

Serve with a salad (if you like) and a warm roll or some crusty bread (a must - unless poor you is going bread-less). Actually, I've cut way back on bread, and all kinds of refined carbs, but I make exceptions for something like this.  You do you.

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This section is a combination of adaptations to the original recipe, and adaptations for making this a low-salt stew:

First of all, I skip the traditional dredging of beef cubes with flour before browning.  While this can add to the flavor and thickness of the stew, I first left it out when making this for someone who is gluten-free. It was then I happily realized this is an unnecessary step for creating a perfectly good beef stew.

Skip the salt

If skipping salt, try adding more rosemary for more depth of flavor.  I added quite a bit more on the no-salt version.  Taste test, though.  Rosemary isn't a shy herb.  

I prefer using fresh minced garlic, but will sprinkle in some dried ground garlic later if the stew needs more.  Because I don't measure much, and I often use more broth than called for (because I typically use more of all the solid ingredients than called for), I often end up adding seasonings at some point and taste-testing it.  And as mentioned in the ingredient list, I'm also not above dropping in a beef bouillon cube to boost the flavor.

Other things I do not use in this recipe:

celery

wine

tomato paste 

and rarely, do I add water.  If more liquid is needed, I typically use more beef broth.  That said, if it just needs a cup of liquid, and I don't want to open a new container of broth, I'd use water.

If making this for someone who is on a low-salt diet, there are some low salt beef broths available.  I will not kid you...  they are expensive, but they are available, and will make this stew edible by pretty much anyone.  If anyone knows of other no-salt flavorings that would go with beef stew, I'm open to hearing about them. Especially, if they aren't expensive.  While I was okay with the flavor of the no-salt version I made, I much prefer this with salt.  The gal I made it for, said it was good, her taste buds being trained to less salt.

While it's an easy recipe, Beef Stew isn't exactly a quick meal.  When I plan to make it, I almost always do some prep the day before cooking it.  This last time, I actually browned the beef and froze it in a large baggy almost a week before.  But typically, I will brown the beef, and/or cut up the carrots and onions the day before assembling this recipe. 

I think I've exhausted my tips, suggestions, additions and subtractions.

If you make this, I hope you enjoy it as much as we do!

A fairly productive week...

Last week went fast!  Busy with productive things and socializing, but still plenty of time to craft. That's a pretty perfect week in my estimation.

The strawberry plants finally got uncovered, and the garlic I planted amongst the strawberries last fall appears to be thriving.  

I'm thinking some garlic cloves must have not sprouted, though, as I only have about 50 plants (between the strawberry bed and another small spot in which I planted about half as many as above).  For some reason, I thought I planted around 90 cloves.  Or maybe I'm dreaming that.  To be completely honest, I don't get great sleep, and I've been having a lot a weird dreams lately...

I've dreamt weirder things than planting 90 cloves of garlic, that's for sure!

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And look at what bloomed this weekend!

The amaryllis my neighbor gave me last Easter, I brought out of the garage into the sunroom in February to bring it out of dormancy.  It was so top-heavy, I scrambled to find something to hold it up before it toppled right over.

We crafty folks are resourceful.  

To the non yarn-crafty reading this, that is a 

knitting needle serving as a stake.

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A friend and I got together for a couple of hours one afternoon and mod-podged spring/Easter eggs - using flower designs cut from pretty tissue paper. 

It was messy, and I'm not sure I ever want to do it again, but  the finished eggs are kind of cute:

The eggs were inexpensive ones from Hobby Lobby, and are probably even more deeply discounted this week - in case anyone reading is inspired to do this. The eggs I bought are made of a ping-pong-ball material, packaged in a half-an-egg crate.  

If my friend wants to get together one more time to finish the job, I'll decorate the last three of my dozen...  Otherwise, those will be donated to a thrift shop and I'll be happy to call this done.  I've concluded I'm better at mod-podging flatter objects.

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At some point, these Tunisian-stitched hotpads were finished.  Made with a sturdy cotton yarn, they are a decent thickness for hotpads:

The one below (crocheted with a softer cotton yarn) is a little flimsier, so it will likely become a washcloth:

I like these a lot.  And they are not the least bit hard to make, but my arthritic thumbs grew pretty weary holding the long Tunisian hook in one hand, and the cloth in the other.  I think I'm done doing Tunisian crochet with cotton yarn.  

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And lastly, having recently enjoyed making some dishcloths using the moss stitch (aka linen stitch), I gave making moss stitch granny square cloths a go, and I am a little bit in love.  These fast projects made with colorful yarns are fun to make, and hopefully will be fun to use:

The orange one on the left was made with a sturdy kitchen cotton (like Sugar n' Cream or Peaches & Cream). The others are made using Hobby Lobby's I Love This Cotton Yarn in various prints.  This soft cotton yarn makes super drapey cloths, and the cotton "prints" work well in this stitch pattern.  

Though, the perfectionist in me did finagle a bit to get the colors to go 'round and 'round in a pleasing way, instead of congregating on one side, as they tend to do if you change directions each round.  Changing directions with each round keeps the squares from skewing.  To overcome the colors' tendency to pool when doing this, I did a lot of snipping and magic-knotting. In fact, I'm something of a pro at this now.  I've never before trusted the magic knot, but I figured dishcloths that will get abused and washed many times will be a great test of its reliability.

The video tutorial below was, by far, the best one I found for making these:

I hope those of you who observe and celebrate have had a meaningful Lent and Easter!

In the pink...

Recently, I pulled out a bunch of pinkish fabric scraps to make some patchwork, and I was both tickled at what I came up with...

... and confused by how I managed to turn what was supposed to be one-inch squares into rectangles.  I'm a bit embarrassed to admit that it took me quite a while to figure out what I had done.  But the important thing is that I did eventually figure it out, and (while I'll spare you the tedious explanation) in the end, I learned from the experience.  And was still able to create some cute stuffed hearts in spite of my absent-minded cutting and piecing:

And no one but me will ever notice that the corners don't match up, and I completely missed sewing one quilting line, right?  

Having seen some fun creations that use improv piecing, I think I need to give that a go. Precise measuring isn't required, but a good eye and understanding of how to piece this way is.  We'll see if I pursue that.  At the moment, I'm still in the enjoying-watching-others-do-it stage...

Then I turned my hand to making some Tunisian stitched potholders.  I got one done, but am still tackling the second one:

I made some years ago, but I had forgotten about the curling.  I had to steam it to get it to lay as nicely as it does above.  And I don't remember that this was hard on my thumbs years ago, but it is now.  Maybe I need to try tunisian crochet with something less stiff than cotton...

While giving my thumbs a rest, I crocheted a moss-stitched dishcloth.

A bit mishappen, but maybe that's user error.  I do like this change from knitting dishcloths, and this stitch produces a drapey cloth, much like knitting does.  

It's nice to have another pattern at the ready for when I need (or want) a mindless little project to work on. I followed this tutorial: 

Though, I think I might prefer this one:

I think I'm going to try making some other moss-stitch cloths - maybe one that looks granny square-ish next.

This was a long time coming...

Fixing the damaged partridge in a pear tree ornament, I was highly motivated to get the three other ornaments in the 40-something year-old crewel kit sewn up.  I had finished embroidering the last one in January, but as of last week I still hadn't sewn them all up and gotten the job completed.

Some may recall the video I posted a month ago, called The 10-year Window.  This project felt like that. When I finished these ornaments I felt both elated and, at the same time, sad that I had tucked these away for decades partially completed - instead of finishing them years ago and enjoying them every Christmas since.

I have no idea if our sons will someday want any of the handmade Christmas ornaments we've used over the years, but I hope they choose to keep some that they remember from their childhoods. Whether they've given it any notice, they've had many opportunities to see the partridge ornament, but the three last ornaments will hold zero memory for them. 

That said...what can't be undone shouldn't be lingered on for too long I'm learning.  But I'm tellin' ya'...  if you haven't yet watched The 10-Year Window video, I highly recommend you do so.

And if you do, please come back and leave me a comment!

A fine fix ...

Many years ago, (sometime in the '80's) I stitched up this cute little "bag" (which was from a Creative Circle kit), and it has served as a tree ornament ever since:

I love the colors and the folk art design. 

Well... at some point over the years a stain appeared on the back.  I was disheartened about it, but no one could see it when it was hanging on the tree, so I hung it and didn't think about it.  And then after Christmas, I packed it away with the other decorations and I didn't think about it some more.

The stain was caused by potpourri I had originally added to the fiber fill when I stuffed this.   Who knew potpourri could stain fabric?  I didn't.  Not back then.

Anyway, this past Christmas, for some reason, I decided I was not going to pack it away, but I was going to finally fix it.  I thought the easiest solution would be to cut off the back, and add new fabric.  The fabric in the picture above was what I was planning to use.

As I started to rip one seam open, I discovered that I had double stitched the seams, making it challenging to unpick without shredding this somewhat loosely woven fabric.  I finally got the seam opened, but when I went to start unpicking the other seam, I saw there was a messy mangle of threads where my sewing machine had hiccupped or barfed or I don't know what you call it, but sewists know what I'm talking about when this happens sometimes at the beginning of one's stitching.  Maybe one of you will tell me what this is called.

I was never going to get that undone, so I stared at this pitiful, stained, but adorable little crewel stitch that younger me had made and I contemplated what my options might be.  At first all I could come up with was to just cover the stain with a bit of patchwork. That didn't really sit well with me as I didn't think it would match the vibe of the front of the pillow.  

And then it dawned on me...  I had some wool left over, and I could, perhaps, embroider (on top of the stain) something on the back that would go with the front.

Since pears seemed the obvious choice, and because of their simple shape, and  I had what looked like just enough yellow yarn left, I decided to go for it.

Drawing simple pear and leaf shapes and using a very small hoop on this half-opened little sack, I set to work.

I'm torn over whether I should have done this in satin stitch rather than short and long stitches, but at the time, it seemed too large a shape to do in satin stitch.  And now that I think about it, there might not have been enough yarn to do it satin stitch.  Regardless of what might have worked best, I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out.  

With fresh stuffing, and a new red tie, I'm happy to have fixed it in this way.  Truth be told, there is more staining, but the worst is on the inside.  The pictures don't show it, but on the outside any bits of discoloration just appears to me as looking like age has had it's way.  It doesn't bother me.  I feel satisfied that I bought this little ornament some more time before someone decides it's seen too many better days.

Next on the docket is to sew up the rest of the set:  

I did actually finish the crewel work on the above in January, but I got sidetracked by life and I didn't get back to them until... ahem...yesterday.  I wanted so badly to finish them so I could show them today, but when I tried to press them it became apparent it would take more than my steam iron to get those 40-some year-old creases out.  It required wetting them all down and then the iron could do its magic.  But wetting them down meant they needed to dry before being sewn up and finished.  And I wanted to get this post published while it was still Sunday.

So...  no promises, mind you, but I see no reason why these can't be finished this week!