Slow Cooker Beef Stew

Delicious Beef Stew perfect for Fall but who wants to wait?!

  
I do this every winter.  I dream of summer--of bathing suits, river trips, weekend boating, floating my cares away with a "pool noodle" and an ice cold beer.  But, as soon as the temperature hits close to 100 for the first time, I'm already wishing for Fall.  Pumpkins, Halloween, Crisp Cool Breezes, Scary Movies, "Fall Back" Time Change, Warm Stews, and Hot Spiced Wine!  See.  I'm doing it again.  The smells... the tastes... the fun of Fall!


To help get you in the Fall mood, I have for you a delicious stew recipe this week!  This is seriously one of my most favorite stews, which I found a while ago and modified from AllRecipes.com. 


This recipe calls for a lot of ingredients, and it could feed probably close to 10 people!  Instead of feeding tons of people, though, I just made it for me and the hubby and froze individual portions for quick, "there's nothing to eat" meals!


Without further ado, let's begin!  First, I gathered all of my ingredients together.

Lots of yummy ingredients... and yes I cheat a little.  I hate peeling potatoes!

Then, in a large plastic bag with flour, salt, pepper, and garlic, I tossed the stew meat, making sure to coat each piece.  While that was going on, I heated up a little oil in a skillet, so I could have somewhere to put all of this deliciously tasty stew meat.

I know, right?!  Looks super appetizing right now!

Once the meat was coated in flour, I browned the meat in the skillet and dumped it into the slow cooker with the carrots and potatoes.  At this point, you can also throw in any other seasonings you may want to include!  I just opt for garlic, and lots of it!  

Before the meat was added!

In a medium sauce pan, I heated up some water and beef stock.  Once it started to boil, I mixed in the dry onion soup mix and poured it over the meat and veggies.  And, in the same pan as I cooked the meat, I sauteed the onions until nice and caramelized.  

Of course, I added more garlic to the onions.  

Once the onions had softened, I dumped them into the slow cooker and used some wine to deglaze the pan, making sure to get all of the delicious crunchy bits of meat and onion up.  Then, I dumped that into the slow cooker as well, gave everything a good stir, and turned it on low.

Mmmmmmm deglazing pans with wine is fabulous!

After ten hours of cooking, the stew was perfect and ready to eat.  I ended up using a little extra flour to thicken up the stew 30 minutes before serving, but I'm sure it would be equally fabulous without the added flour.

That's right people.  I serve wine with my stew (and everything else)!

Slow Cooker Beef Stew
Adapted from AllRecipes.com

Ingredients

-  3 lbs. Beef Stew Meat, cubed
-  ¼ cup Flour
-  TT*   Salt, Pepper, Garlic Powder
-  8 oz. Baby Carrots
-  4 large Russet Potatoes, washed, peeled, and cubed
-  2 cups Boiling Water
-  ½ cup Beef Stock
-  1 pkg Dry Onion Soup Mix
-  3 tbsp Butter
-  ½ cup Red Wine (3 Dreams Merlot or Chandon Pinot Munier)
-  3 large Sweet Yellow Onions, sliced
-  ¼ cup Water, warmed
-  2 tbsp Flour
-  TT*        Fresh Garlic (minimum 4 cloves, minced), Parsley, Thyme

* TT means To Taste

Directions

-  Combine ¼ cup flour with salt, pepper, and garlic powder
-  In large plastic baggie, place meat and flour mixture; close baggies and shake until all pieces are coated
-  Heat oil (grapeseed oil or almond oil work best) in a large skillet over medium high heat, and add stew meat and cook until evenly browned on all sides
-  Transfer browned meat to slow cooker and add in the carrots, potatoes, fresh garlic cloves, parsley, thyme, and any other herbs you would like
-  In a small pan, heat water and beef stock until boiling, then remove from heat and add the dry onion soup mix
-  Once the soup mix is combined, pour the mixture over the beef in the crock pot
-  In the same skillet that you browned the meat, melt the butter and sauté the onions until softened then spoon into the crock pot
-  Using the same skillet, heat on low heat the red wine to deglaze the pan, loosening the crispy bits, then pour into crock pot
-  Cover the crock pot and cook on Low for 10 hours
-  At this point, you can turn off the slow cooker and serve, or...
-  Optional Step 1: Once the meat is finished cooking, spoon a few tablespoons of the juice into a plastic shaker with the ¼ cup warm water, then add in the 2 tablespoons of flour and shake vigorously
-  Option Step 2:  Stir the shaker contents into the stew and cook uncovered for 15 minutes to thicken up the sauce

Slow Cooker Pork Tenderloin

Dottie Approved Meal

Life is crazy and crazy busy.  I don't have time to slave over a stove for 4 hours whipping up delicious meals every day.  I may get to do that once in a blue moon but not usually, which is why my CrockPot is my best friend in the kitchen.  With just 5 minutes of prep time and 4-6 hours of cooking, you have an amazing meal that will feed you and 7 of your closest friends (or feed you 8 times)!


Today's recipe is one that I adapted from AllRecipes.com.  It takes a pork tenderloin, four or five other ingredients, and a little patience, but it's so worth it!


First, you'll want to gather your ingredients together (onion soup mix, fresh garlic, red wine, soy sauce, and spices).

There aren't going to be many photos because I actually
forgot to photograph until the very end...

Then, you dump everything into your slow cooker and cook on high for 4-6 hours or until the pork roast is to your liking!

Yeah, I know... it looks terrible, but I promise it's delicious!

Once the pork roast was finished cooking, I just sauteed up some green beans and threw in a bag of the Ore Ida Steam 'n Mash frozen potatoes and we were in business!

Slow Cooker Pork Tenderloin

Adapted from AllRecipes.com

Ingredients

-  3 lb. Pork Tenderloin

-  1 pkg. Onion Soup Mix

-  1 cup Water

-  4-6 cloves Fresh Garlic

-  1 cup Red Wine (I like 3 Dreams Merlot or Chandon Pinot Munier)

-  1-2 tbsp(s). Soy Sauce

-  To Taste:  Other spices* including Fresh Ground Black Pepper, Garlic Powder, etc.

-  Optional:  2 tbsp. flour or cornstarch

*You don't need to add any more salt because the soy sauce will take care of the saltines for you!

Directions

-  Place the pork tenderloin in the slow cooker.

-  In a bowl, combine the soup mix, seasonings, garlic, water, and soy sauce.

-  Pour the mixture over the pork tenderloin, and cover with your lid.

-  Cook on high for 4-6 hours (depending on how you like your roast).

-  Once your roast is finished cooking, you can take it out and either cut it up or use two forks to shred the meat.

Note: Once your roast is out of the pot, you can either serve the juice as an au jus, or you can make a gravy by combining 2 tbsp. flour or cornstarch in a shaker with a few spoonfuls of the juice, shaking vigorously until the flour and juice have been combined, then pour the mixture into the pot and make sure the temperature is still set to high, stirring continuously so the flour doesn't separate.  After about 10 minutes, your juice will become slightly thicker and you can use it as a gravy over your meat and potatoes.

As I mentioned above, this recipe is great when served with a vegetable and a potato, but you can also use it as filling for pork sliders or roasted pork tacos.  The uses for this recipe are nearly limitless.  I used the leftovers to add to salad, which went very well with a balsamic vinegar dressing.

Also, another thing to note is make sure you use a good quality wine.  A $5 bottle of wine isn't going to do the trick.  You don't have to go all-out, but choose a wine that is moderately priced ($10-25) and you know to be good quality.  I actually like the flavor that the Merlot gives this recipe, even though I don't typically drink Merlot, but use a red wine that you enjoy!

Homemade Cake Batter Ice Cream

The Finished Product!

Sorry I've been absent for a decent amount of time. I plan on being able to devote more time to blogging starting in June as our summers are a little less hectic than the spring.


To apologize for leaving you without delicious things to cook, I am making it up to you by sharing my recipe for homemade custard-style cake batter ice cream. Before I begin, you should know that to make ice cream, I use my KitchAid Ice Cream Maker Attachment. Regardless of how you make ice cream, the instructions (up until the ice cream goes in the maker) should be the same for you.


- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -


My mother and I sometimes have differing views on cooking. She has a very scientific mind whereas I have a very creative mind, so where her recipes are exact, precisely measured, and perfectly executed, mine tend to be very loose, not so precisely measured, and executed well (but not perfectly by any means). Unfortunately for us creative souls who "dump" instead of measure, making custard is not something we are very well suited for. To make custard, you must be precise, you much watch it very carefully, and you must not over-cook it.


This is why I have no pictures of the custard making process--there just wasn't any time to take pictures, but don't worry, I'll provide exact step-by-step instructions for achieving perfect custard below. Right now, I'm going to show you some fun pictures of the rest of the process...

This is the custard ice cream mix after it had
set-up in the refrigerator overnight

To achieve the perfect ice cream consistency, you must make sure everything is as cold as possible. If an ice cream recipe says "Chill for 3 hours", you'd be better off allowing it to chill overnight before making ice cream. Words of wisdom--I promise!

This is my Ice Cream Maker Attachment once
it was put in place

If you have a KitchenAid Mixer and you plan on making ice cream a lot, you should seriously consider investing the $80 in this attachment. It really does make life so much easier. You freeze the bowl in the freezer for (the instructions say) 15 hours, but I let it freeze at least a full 24-36 hours before using.

I poured the ice cream batter into a pitcher to make it
easier to get the batter into the ice cream bowl

You have to have your KitchenAid mixer on the "Stir" speed in order to add the batter. That's why it's easier to place the batter into a pitcher rather than pour straight from the bowl. Wasting even a drop of this beautiful batter should be considered a sin.

After 20 minutes of stirring, the ice cream
has doubled in size

Again, the instructions say that your ice cream will be ready in 15-20 minutes, but I have found that the consistency is so much better if you let it keep going another 10 minutes. Also, after 30 minutes of churning, the ice cream has a very frozen yogurt consistency. To achieve the perfect "Marble Slab" ice cream consistency, you will want to allow the ice cream to set up in the freezer for about 3-5 hours before serving.

See... it's kinda melty straight out of the
ice cream maker... still delicious though

I placed the ice cream into freezer bowls, put the lids on
and threw them in the freezer for 7 hours

Okay... enough pictures. It's time to give you the recipe and instructions! You could be 48 hours away from eating this delicious ice cream! :) I promise--it's well worth the wait!

Homemade Custard-Style Cake Batter Ice Cream
(quite possibly better than Cold Stone)

Ingredients*
- 1 Pint (2 cups) Half and Half
- 8 Egg Yolks
- 1 Cup Granulated Sugar
- 3 Cups Heavy Whipping Cream
- 2 tbsp + 1 tsp of Vanilla
(basically, take a shot glass and fill it to the absolute brim)
- 1/8 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup Betty Crocker White Cake Mix (de-lumped and sifted)


*Warning: You can substitute the 5 cups of dairy product in any combination of milk, half and half, and heavy whipping cream to make it less rich, however, this is ice cream people. You want to lose weight? Don't eat ice cream. Sure you can substitute fat-free half and half or skim milk, but it will drastically alter the consistency and richness of the final product. I promise you, Cold Stone doesn't make their ice cream with Fat Free Milk. If you choose to do this and it doesn't turn out as amazing as I say it is, that's not my fault--that's your fault for expecting fat free ice cream to taste as good as the full-fat stuff. :) Another note, this is custard. Custard is made with cream and egg YOLKS. Your custard ice cream will not turn out properly if you use any of the egg whites. Now, you don't have to throw the egg whites out, you can mix in some egg whites with a full egg or two and make delicious, healthy egg white omelets--just keep them out of the custard! :) This warning may sound harsh, but it's tough love people. I'm doing this for your own good... and for your success. :)


Directions
- If using the KitchenAid Mixer Ice Cream Attachment, place the attachment in the freezer (if it's not already there)
- Take the 8 egg yolks and place them in a mixing bowl with the sugar. Mix on Speed 2 for about 5 minutes, until the eggs have thickened a bit and the mixture is properly combined.
- While the eggs/sugar are mixing, head the half and half (only) in a medium sauce pan over medium heat (like setting 4 or 5 on the stove) until very hot but not boiling, stirring often. You do not want to chance scalding the half and half.
- As soon as it reaches the almost boiling stage (steam will be rising and the half and half will have slightly reduced), remove it from the heat and (very gradually; don't just dump) pour it straight into the mixing bowl that has the egg mixture. I find that not turning off the mixer while I pour in the hot half and half allows the mixture to combine better.
- Let the half and half mix in with the eggs and sugar for about two minutes, then stop the mixer, remove it from the stand and mix it by hand for a minute or so to ensure that the eggs and sugar have properly combined with the half and half.
- Pour the custard mixture back into the medium sauce pan and cook over medium-ish heat (about 3-4 on the stove).
- This is important, NEVER stop stirring and NEVER boil this mixture. Stir the custard making sure it stays frothy throughout the cooking process, but do not boil or you'll end up with a very large pan of scrambled eggs.
- Once the mixture is steamy (but not boiling) and very hot, remove from heat and pour into a very large bowl.
- Slowly stir into the heated custard mixture, the heavy whipping cream and vanilla.
- In a small bowl, combine the cake mix and the salt, working out all of the lumps from the cake mix, then place the cake/salt mix into a sifter and sift over the bowl of custard.
- Once the cake mix is completely added, mix the custard well, cover, and place in the refrigerator overnight to set up and chill completely (minimum of 10-12 hours, if not a full 24 hours)


- The next day, set up your ice cream maker and follow the directions for making the ice cream. If you are using the KitchenAid attachment, follow these instructions below:


- Assemble and engage the freezer bowl, dasher, and drive assembly and turn to STIR.
- Transfer your custard into a pitcher or container with a spout and slowly pour the mixture into the freezer bowl.
- Continue on the STIR speed for 20-30 minutes.
- After the 20-30 minutes are up, stop the mixer, release the bowl, and transfer the ice cream into freezer containers and chill for 3-5 hours (if not longer) before serving.**


**As I mentioned above, you can immediately eat the ice cream after the 30 minutes are up, but it will be very soupy and not like the marble slab consistency.


To serve: I have served this ice cream with fresh fruit (strawberries, blackberries, and raspberries are my favorite fruit to mix into the cake batter ice cream), caramel and chocolate sauce, and Barnum's Animal Crackers, but this ice cream is amazing all on it's own.


It is possible to mix in fruit during the last 5 minutes of the mixing time and then freeze the ice cream with the fruit already mixed in, but I have found that doing so makes it very hard to scoop the ice cream once it has completely set up because the berries freeze harder than the ice cream, so I keep my fruit fresh and add it to the servings of ice cream.




I hope you enjoy this ice cream as much as the hubby and I have enjoyed it. This recipe will become a staple for my family and me! Enjoy and please feel free to post questions in the comments if there is something I haven't completely covered! :)


Happy Ice Cream Making!