My mom cooks great food. Growing up I didn’t appreciate it as much as I should, probably because it was just a given that there would be a good meal on the table every evening for dinner and good choices of foods for my lunch box every day. I suppose most children don’t really think about it all that much, except for when they are eating something they really don’t like or want, then all you focus on is the torture of eating something that you’d rather say no to. I was a child in the not so distant past where the rules clearly stated, you eat what is on your plate. None of this pandering to the child and making a whole new meal for them, or making multiple dishes so everyone can eat what they feel like. Nope. We ate what mom cooked, and compared to a lot of kids, we were lucky. She made food that tasted good and was healthy.
Whenever I try cooking something I try to make it taste as good as my mom would be able to. I generally fail on that lol Every now and then I request a recipe from her so I can recreate something I grew up eating and really miss.
My attempt this evening was her beef stew. Theoretically an easy dish, I say this because that is what she wrote in the email when she sent me the recipe, she said it was easy to make. While I won’t go as far as to say she lied about the easy level of making the stew, I did something wrong because while it came out ok it is not at all the way she used to make. No walk down memory lane when I eat a bowl of this, just me getting used to a new dish – which ok fine, new is good, but a little disappointing when I was hoping for a taste of home.
You start with browning the extra lean ground beef, I didn’t have the quantity her recipe called for so I combined extra lean ground beef and extra lean ground turkey. Instead of breaking up in to nice little pieces like mom’s always did my meat stayed in larger chunks, which I didn’t appreciate but didn’t know how to fix lol After the meat is brown you throw in chopped onion and let that cook while you prep the rest of your veggies.
turkey, beef and onion
I used quite the random assortment of veggies, basically what I had on hand and a couple things I bought yesterday specifically for this dish. I put in the remainder of a bag of mixed veggies that contained cubed carrots, peas and beans. I also chopped up some baby carrots (cause I’m not eating them fast enough and don’t want to have to throw any of them out lol). Then I threw in a mixture of frozen veggies I have that is meant for stir-fries and lastly I put in a can of sliced mushrooms, tomatoes and sliced potatoes.
look at all those veggies, Mmm!
Oh, I also have a beef broth in there and seasonings. I used a Knorr Beef Bouillon jiggly odd little thing that you mix in to 3 1/2 cups boiling water before you pour it in to the pot. I am trying not to think about what was actually in that jell-o like substance that was the broth cause I’m pretty sure it’s nasty lol 😛
So yeah, once all the veggies and broth and seasoning are in there I brought it to a boil, stirred it a bit then lowered the temp and let it simmer (with a lid on) for, um, a while? The instructions said to let it simmer until the veggies were cooked and I had no idea how long that would take so I did the dishes, and checked on it, and puttered in the kitchen, and checked on it, at one point it looked like this…
simmering, simmering, simmering.
After a while it seemed like it was cooked, I tried a carrot and it was cooked all the way through so yay! I added some more spices cause it was a little bland, stirred it all together and let it sit off the heat for a bit. I was hoping the extra liquid would go away, there didn’t seem to be too much and I was worried if I left it cooking until all the liquid was gone I’d scorch the bottom. When I got myself a bowlful for dinner this is what it looked like…
the final prodcut
Sooooo, not like how mom used to make lol when I called and asked her what I did wrong she said I could have left it on the heat for longer and no I wouldn’t have overcooked it, go figure! lol She also said I could add cornstarch to help thicken it but by the time I called her it was sitting in individually portioned containers so that wasn’t happening. Also, I used a different broth from what she uses so that is probably why the colour is different from hers and well, there is always the fact that I have some turkey meat in there not just beef. All in all, I guess I can’t be surprised it doesn’t taste like mom’s stew cause I had too many differences from what she does, shrug.
It is more like a meat soup than a stew, which is a little odd, but it doesn’t taste bad, shrug. It made enough for one bowlful today and 6 single serving size containers, yay!
I put all but one container in the freezer and am quite happy knowing that I have a ready to heat, healthy meal at my fingertips. 🙂
The Amazing Shrinking Woman 
looks good to me!!!! l