I Like Beef Stew and I Cannot Lie!

OH MY GOD, BECKY!

LOOK AT HER BEEF! IT'S SO BIG!!!!

I like Beef Stew and I can not lie.
You other foodies can't deny
That when a bowl is filled, not an itty bitty goes to waste.

And a big pot in your face
You get ...

HUNGRY!

Granny's Ingredients

1 soup bone

2lbs (approximately) beef

1 small can tomato paste

1- 14.5oz can diced tomatoes

1 - 8oz. can tomato sauce

1/2 onion, diced

1 rib celery, diced

1 large potato, diced

1 bag of frozen mixed vegetables

salt & pepper to taste

Fill a large stock pot with beef and water and salt.
Of course pre-cut beef is available, however Granny opted to slice up her own beef.

Bring the beef & soup bone to a boil until the beef is tender.  Add a bay leaf to the broth and allow to simmer while dicing and chopping veggies.

Add veggies and cans of assorted tomato products*. Continue to simmer until veggies are tender.
Serve hot with skillet cornbread.
* Granny's Beef Stew is best when she uses tomatoes she cans herself rather than those she purchased.  But since she didn't can any this year we had to settle (picture me pouting). 

Pinterest is the new Granny

It seems such a long, long time ago since I last cooked with Granny.  She's been busy, I've been busy (I consider lounging on my couch busy), she's been cooking things I won't even attempt to cook (Gumbo) as well things I don't want to cook or eat (pig feet). So I've had to rely on Pinterest cooking as of lately. So here's what I've tried (and liked):

The Good- The Best

This chocolate chip pie from bakerella.com was absolutely divine.  It comes highly recommended by this girl and her Granny (okay the whole family recommends it).  It was pretty easy too! Just make sure if you get a frozen pie crust to poke holes in it with fork and bake the empty shell for 10 minutes before filling it.


The Good

Potato Soup is a favorite among our family and using the crock pot is a favorite of mine, so I was super excited to find this recipe by it's what's for dinner.  I was very lazy and used bacon bits (real bacon) instead of actually cooking my own bacon. But the soup was still good nonetheless. 

 The Bad More Good

These pizzadillas, (as I so termed them) by Snixy Kitchen, might quite possibly be the easiest meal ever made in the history of meal making.  I have a quesadilla maker so I just used that.  Of course any type of pizza topping could be used in lieu of or in addition to pepperoni.


The Ugly Yet More Good

Okay this one could actually be considered ugly for many reasons.
1. It could get ugly when others take your "have some?" to be literal.
2. It could be very ugly when you are licking the sticky goodness from fingers (and/or bowls) and someone sees you.
3. It could be ugly when you start crying because you realize you ate it all by yourself. 
My advice: unless you are completely prepared for the good ugly stay away from this ugly popcorn from chef-in-training.

At this rate Granny may become obsolete in my culinary endeavors....NAAAAH!

D-Day Taco Soup

It's a rare opportunity that I get to teach Granny how to cook, but that's just what [almost] happened today.
I called Granny this afternoon. She was organizing her battle plans, in other words, deciding what to cook for dinner.
Me, being unaware of the surprise attack Granny was planning told her about a recipe a few of my friends told me about:
TACO SOUP
It's the easiest meal ever invented!
 It involves opening the following cans:

Black beans (or any other type of bean), rinsed & drained

Corn

Diced tomatoes with chiles (I use Rotel)

Then tear open the following packages:

Hidden Valley Ranch dips mix

McCormick Taco Seasoning

Finally, brown a pound or so of ground beef (or turkey, or chicken...)

Throw all of that in a pot (stove top or crock pot) and consider the battle a victory.

We added cheese and sour cream to ours.

But wait!
Just when I thought I had won the battle Granny invaded the soup.
She bombarded the soup with an extra can before I even knew what was happening!
Ounces of 98% Fat Free Chicken Broth were being poured in from above.
On this 6th day of June, Taco Soup would be forever changed.

The Taco Soup ambush Granny coordinated was genius!
The opposing forces (my mom, aunt and I) surrendered and became POWs (Partakers Of Wonderful soup) without being asked.
So as it turns out Granny won the battle.
And I will now add a can of 98% fat free chicken broth to my soup henceforth and forever more to commemorate this D-day Taco Soup.