Posts tagged receipe

i got marshall a crock pot for christmas, and for its maiden voyage, we decided beef stew would be the mission. here’s how it works: 

cut 4 (ish) lbs of top round steak into bite size pieces.

heat olive oil on medium high and brown the meat. you’ll have to do it in shifts - put the browned meat into the crock pot as it is done and add more to the skillet as room opens up. 

when all the meat is cooked, in the same skillet, cook 2 large dices onions until translucent and then add one 6oz can tomato paste and cover the onions completely and add to the crock pot.

pour 1 cup red wine into skillet to get all the brown bits up and pour that into the crock pot as well. 

in the meantime, cut up your veggies. we used potatoes (not pictured, obvi) and carrots, celery and bell pepper. 

mix all of this in the crock pot with 2 cans of beef broth, 1 tbs salt, 1 tsp thyme and 1 bay leaf. 

cover and cook on high for 4 1/2 hours. don’t open it to check on it! this is the hardest part! 

when its just about ready (maybe a half hour or so before it’s done) add 1 bag of (thawed) frozen peas and mix it all up. 

now you could stop here and just enjoy the stew with a glass of wine. but…

to go with the stew, i also made roasted garlic toast. for this, cut the top off a couple heads of garlic and peel off as much as the paper as you can from the outside. 

put the garlic on aluminum foil or in a covered dish and drizzle with olive oil. cover it and bake at 350 for 45 minutes. 

when it’s done it should be all nice and brown and toasty looking. 

when its cool to the touch, scoop or squish out all of the garlic goodness and spread on some toasted bread. 

serve with your beef stew and enjoy! 

the other night i was invited to a cookie swap. i wanted to impress, so i decided to try something new. i found this recipe for oreo cheesecake cookies on pinterest and it looked amazing. 

in a large bowl, mix together 1/2 c butter and 3 oz cream cheese until smooth. add 1 c sugar and 1 tsp vanilla extract and mix. slowly combine in 1 c flour and stir in 1/2 c chocolate chips. 

crumble up about a cup of oreos and put them in a little bowl. roll the dough into about 1 inch balls and roll in oreos. 

place on cookie sheet lined with parchment paper and bake at 375 for about 15 minutes. 

serve with milk and enjoy! 

it was decided that we would make indian food from scratch, so that is exactly what we did. click through for the chicken jalfrezi and naan recepies! 

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a couple weeks ago we made some pretty awesome chili and i forgot to post it. its being recreated this afternoon for turkey day, so now you get to reap the benefits! 

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i’m pretty sure every christmas eve-eve, i bug my gramma with “you’re bringing bread dip, right?” it is my absolute favorite. i can’t live without it. the combination sounds a little wacky, but trust me on this one. i made it last night and it was a giant success. here’s what i did: 

• scoop 1 8oz package cream cheese and 1 8oz package sour cream into a bowl.
• chop 3-4 green onions and 1 package thin sliced beef into small pieces and add to the cream mixture. you may want to break up the beef a little bit more with your finger cause it will want to stick to itself. 
• add a couple dashes of tabasco sauce and garlic salt.
• mix it all together. i just used a spoon because by the time i had chopped everything the cream mixture was pretty soft. 
• cut the top off a sourdough bread loaf and tear out the insides into bite size pieces to make it into a bowl. set those aside. 
• scoop the mixture into the bowl, put the top back on and wrap in aluminum foil. 
• bake at 325 for 45 minutes. 
• use the bite size pieces to eat the dip with and then tear the bowl apart when you run out.
• enjoy!