If anyone has been following this page you will have noticed a big gap between my last post and now.  A couple of years ago my youngest daughter got diagnosed with leukemia.  Last spring she relapsed with a mutation that was extremely hard to get under control.  After many failed treatments and facing the end we finally found one that worked.  She was able to get her bone marrow transplant December 17^th 2024, and is continuing to beat the odds and do great!!

Because of how careful we have to be, we are lucky enough to have an apartment at the Ronald McDonald house across from the hospital.  I finally have a kitchen again!! We were in the hospital over 300 days last year and let me tell you what, I missed cooking! I of course don’t have all of my fancy tools here but there is more than enough to make what we want! These “Ronald McDonald Style” posts will be recipes that are easy to make with not a whole lot of tools or ingredients.

Cooking wise for this recipe you will need a stovetop or burner and a crock pot. I used a larger crockpot if you are only cooking a small portion and want to use a smaller one just cut the ingredients down so they can fit.

Ingredients:

1 pack of cubed stew meat (they normally come in packs from 1 to 1.5 pounds)

3-4 carrots (not baby carrots, big beefy Bugs Bunny ones, believe me they are better)

Yellow potatoes, 6-8 depending on how big they are and how many you like

Two celery stocks

1 cup frozen corn

Half a small can of tomato paste

Two boxes of beef stock

½ stick of butter

½ cup flour

(Beef soup starter, if you don’t have this it’s ok, it is something I use to add flavor to a bunch of different dishes.  It is sold in a jar and is basically bullion.  I add a spoon or two)

                  The next ingredients are spices….add with your heart

Onion powder

Garlic powder

Thyme

Black pepper (add near the end because it can become bitter)

First step is pretty easy, cube up your potatoes, you want them fairly even chunks so they cook consistently.  For the carrots do the same, sometimes I will cut them in have then cut the back end lengthwise so when they are all chopped up they are similar in size.  Next throw in your beef and corn.  When it comes to the celery I am not a fan off the texture when it’s cooked but really appreciate the taste. If you are like me then just cut the ribs into a couple of big chunks and throw them in. 

 After that put in your tomato paste and both boxes of broth or at least as much as you can without overflowing.  At this time too if you have that beef soup starter add a spoon full.  Now with your heart add the onion, garlic powder and thyme.  You will notice I am not adding any salt, the broth, soup starter and the butter you will add later will help with that.  Once you are all done and ready to serve that is the time you can see if you want to add more salt.  With a crockpot or any slow cooking you lose liquid and that intensifies the salt so adding a bunch at the beginning could be bad news bears at the end.

 I pretty much always start my crockpot on high, I want to get the temperature up and if I need to lower it I can later on. If you are really crunched for time and need it to get hot quickly you can start it on the stove then pour it in to the crockpot.  That stops the need for the crock pot to have to bring the cold liquid up to temperature and just get on with the cooking. 

Once the potatoes start to soften and the beef can be pulled apart it’s time for my now, not so secret ingredient.   We are going to make a roux.  If you have not made one before don’t worry, it is easy just takes a lot of patience.  In a medium saucepan melt your butter on a low heat, I said a half a stick but I probably use closer to ¾.  Once the butter is melted start adding your flour a little at a time.  Use a whisk or sauce spoon and stir it constantly.  Keep adding your flour until it is all in, now keep on going. You are going to be stirring for around a half hour.  As time goes on the flour will change.  It will foam a little at first but then turn into more like a thick sauce.  Depending on what you are going to use your roux for depends on the color you are wanting.  We are going for a carmel color.  Just keep stirring and slowly you will see the color get darker and darker.  Don’t turn the heat up too much to speed up the process, all that will do is burn it. 

Once you finally get to that color you are going to carefully pour it into the rest of the stew.  You are pouring a super hot liquid made up mostly of oil into hot broth so yeah, the danger is real kids. 

                  Stir it together with some black pepper and let it hang out of a bit.  After about 10 minutes give it a taste, this is the time you can add things like salt or any other spices you are wanting more of.  The roux adds a deep flavor profile almost nutty and it also thickens up the broth.

    Hope this works for you! Enjoy, and remember….Taste as you make!