Oven Baked Baby Beef Stew

Last night we enjoyed some pretty incredible beef stew. I found two recipes on Pinterest that looked good…but each had something yummy that the other lacked. I decided to marry the two. They fell in love and  made one delicious baby…therefore the title of the recipe. This is goooood stuff.

So here it is:

INGREDIENTS

2 pounds lean stew meat

2 Tbsp. Vegetable oil

flour

1 small onion, chopped

2 regular cans stewed tomatoes

1 regular can tomato soup

1 regular can beef broth

1/2 C. white wine

1 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce

2 Tbsp. brown sugar

1 tsp. basil

6 cloves of garlic, minced

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. pepper

1 bay leaf

1/3 C. instant Tapioca

4 large carrots, cut into chunks

2 ribs celery, cut into 1 inch chunks

4 medium red potatoes, cut into quarters or eighths depending on size

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

2. Heat oil and brown stew meat in Dutch oven. Remove meat from pan. (I coated my stew meat with a little flour before this)

3. In same Dutch oven, add beef broth, tomato soup, brown sugar, white wine, tapioca, salt, pepper, basil, and garlic until combined.

4. Open tomatoes, and using kitchen shears, coarsely cut tomatoes while in the can. Pour tomatoes, including juices, into Dutch oven and stir.

5. Alternately add beef, celery, carrots, onions and potatoes to Dutch oven, folding and stirring to make sure everything is coated.

6. Place lid on Dutch oven and put in oven for 2 1/2 to 3 hours, or until meat and veggies are tender.

Cashew Chicken

I made this for dinner last night and it was too good! I had to share. I found the recipe on “How Sweet It Is” …. one of my new favorite recipe blogs.

This was definitely a winner! The kids gobbled it up and didn’t even flinch at the endamame. Imagine that.

This is not my pic. It is from the recipe blog. It disappeared before I could get my camera out.

I adjusted this recipe to feed 5-6. This was wonderful with Jasmine Rice. Mmmmm….

Cashew Chicken

4 large boneless, skinless chicken breasts, chopped

4 tablespoons cornstarch

4 tablespoons olive oil

2 cup mushrooms

1 red pepper, sliced thin

5 green onions, chopped

1/2 cup shelled edamame

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 cup unsalted cashews

6 tablespoons honey

6 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce

Heat a skillet on medium heat and add 1 tablespoon olive oil. Add mushrooms and saute until soft, about 5 minutes. Remove from skillet. Season chicken with salt and pepper, then sprinkle cornstarch on chicken pieces and make sure each piece is somewhat coated. (You can add a little more if needed.) Add the remaining olive oil to the skillet and add chicken. Brown on both sides until cooked, about 5 minutes per side. Add garlic, red pepper, edamame, half of the green onions and cashews and stir for 30 seconds. Turn heat to medium low.

In a small bowl, mix soy sauce and honey. Pour into skillet, coating chicken and vegetables. Serve with jasmine rice.