Beef Stew - yum?

Recently I have become pretty tired of all the same meals. Every now and then I try to get creative and make something new, but really, we eat a LOT of chicken and pasta prepared in an endless number of ways; and our share of "quick fix" meals. So, while I was shopping recently I decided to expand my meat selection beyond chicken breasts and ground turkey and picked up a few things I'd have in the freezer for when I'm bored.

I picked up some beef cubes and thought I'd be able to find something fun to do with them.

I decided on a beef stew.

I knew I wanted something I could throw in the slow cooker and not have to worry about until dinner time, so I thought THIS RECIPE on allrecipes.com would be perfect.

OF course, I never follow a recipe 100%, so I'll mention that I made the following changes:

1. I used a little under 2 lbs of beef - this was not on purpose, I just didn't have enough
2. I didn't use the bay leaf
3. I used extra paprika and worcestershire sauce
4. I only used 1/2 an onion
5. I added A LOT more broth (and flour - to thicken the broth - and then added a little water b/c it was TOO thick)
6. extra potatoes
7. fewer carrots and no celery
8. added mushrooms
9. served it over rice

I must say it was pretty darn good! Perfect for the semi-cool fall day and even more perfect not having to cook after working in the yard.

In the future if I make it again, I'd go much heavier on the salt and pepper add much more than 2 pounds of beef and not add as much flour to keep it a little more 'soupy' (the extra broth was a must in my opinion, a cup and a half just wouldn't have covered the ingredients).

World Famous

I honestly don't think I'm an amazing cook (probably better at baking than cooking). I think there are a few things that I cook on a fairly regular basis that are better than other things and I'm very willing to throw something new together. I rarely work from a cook book or recipe of any sort, but instead will browse through cook books, get an idea and use that as a jumping off point to make something I like (usually adding or subtracting ingredients as I wish).

I always know when Ryan really enjoys a meal, because he will actually say "this is slammin'" or something along those lines. Other times he'll eat what he's given like a good boy. I'll ask him if he thinks it's alright and he'll say yes, but when I go to cook it in the future he'll toss out some innocent little comment about needing less of this, or more of that or request a totally different meal. He's too nice to just outright say it's terrible.

Well, when Ryan REALLY likes something I make, it becomes "world famous". There are three things in particular that are world famous according to Ryan: Pasta Salad, Lasagna and Mac 'n Cheese.

I'm not sure why, but in my opinion these are the most simple things to make! They require little to no effort and just about always come out perfect. When preparing for Delaware City Day this year, I was told I HAVE to bring my pasta salad. Let me show you how simple it is (remember I'm one of those "about" type of people, so I don't have exact quantities):

"World Famous Pasta Salad":

1.5 - 2 lbs of assorted pasta noodles

2 packs of cherry tomatoes

1 cucumber

1 pepper (green on red)

1 pack of pepperoni

1 large block of cheddar cheese (or a block of mozzerella to spice it up)

1-2 cans of large black pitted olives

2 bottles of (zesty) italian dressing

Boil noodles, strain and add 1 bottle of dressing to noodles (I usually do this while they're still warm so they don't start to stick together) in a large bowl. Cut tomatoes in half, dice cucumber, chop pepper, cut cheese into cubes, cut black olives in half. Add all ingredients to the noodle/dressing combo (again, I do this while the noodles are still warm, I'm convinced it helps to bring all the flavors together), mixing well between each ingredient. Mix in second bottle of dressing and cool over night. Be sure to mix well before serving as all the dressing tends to settle at the bottom.

Also, the glory of any salad is that you can add or subtract anything to your liking... extra tomatoes, less pepperoni, no olives, etc. - but it's my personal opinion that all of these ingredients together give it the perfect amount of color...