Brunswick Stew on yet another snowy day

Another cold snowy day here, so I decided it was time for more stew to warm us up.  This northerner had not heard of Brunswick Stew until she married into a somewhat southern family.  Steve grew up eating it, so I decided to learn how to make it and carry on the family tradition.  My recipe is a combination of several recipes I researched to determine the basic ingredients.  I am using a crock pot today, you can also use a dutch oven on the stove.

Brunswick Stew

• 1 whole chicken (mine is from Dave Dietz's stand at York Central Market)
• 2 cups of water
• 2 1/2 cups of broth from the cooked chicken
• 1-28 oz. can of whole tomatoes peeled tomatoes 
• 1 red pepper, diced
• 1 sweet onion, diced
• 1 quart yellow potatoes, peeled and diced
• 1-14 oz bag of frozen lima beans (or fresh if you have it)
• 1-14 oz  bag of frozen corn (or fresh if you have it)
• 2 tsp medium hot chili powder
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• salt and pepper to taste
• 2 bay leaves

Step 1 - Place the chicken and water in crock pot, salt and pepper to taste.
Cook the chicken in a crock pot on high for 5 hours or until internal temperature is 165 degrees
Cool.  This time I cooked the chicken the night before and placed in the refrigerator over night.

 Step 2 - Strain the broth from the crock pot.  Add to crock pot with tomatoes, bay leaves,chili powder, and cumin

Step 3 - Add the pepper, onion, and potatoes.  Crank up the crock pot to HIGH.

 Step 4 - While that is cooking pick the meat off of the chicken and set aside.

Step 5 - After 2-3 hours (to allow the potatoes to cook), add the chicken, corn, and lima beans.  Turn to low and cook for 2 more hours.

 

The snow continues...

Notes:
Tomatoes, you can use what you have - fresh, diced, whole with puree

Spotlight on Local and/or Organic:
Potatoes and chicken - local
Tomatoes and red pepper - organic
Do the lima beans count- they were Hanover??

Chili is Love

Chili is love and it really doesn't have a "recipe" in my book.  Here is how I make it, more or less plus or minus a pepper or some meat.  I use Penzeys Spices in most of my cooking.  I stand by their medium hot chili powder as the cornerstone of my chili.

Chili

• 2- 28 oz cans of diced tomatoes
• 1- 15 oz can of tomato sauce
• Red Pepper - sometimes a green pepper
• 2 15-oz cans of black beans, drained and rinsed
• one big can or 3-15 oz dark red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
• Sweet Onion
• Ground beef, browned - about 1.5 pounds
• Penzey's medium hot chili powder
• Ground Cumin
• Fresh ground pepper

Drain and rinse the beans

Place the diced tomatoes and sauce in crock pot (on low)








Add spices







Saute diced pepper and onions in canola oil

Add beans and sauteed onions and peppers to tomato/spice mixture 

Brown beef

Add to crock pot

Cook on low for 4-5 hours

Mushroom Heaven - Melting Pot Mushrooms

Have I said how much I LOVE mushrooms?  I call these Melting Pot mushrooms not because the recipe is ripped off from the Melting Pot, but because they make your house smell like the Melting Pot. Yum.
I am going to serve these with a nice steak, mashed taters, and snap sugar peas.


Melting Pot Mushrooms

2-8 oz packages of Baby Bella (Crimini) Mushrooms
1 cup of red wine (this time I used a 2005 Georges DuBoeuf Beaujolais-Villages)
1 Knorr beef bouillon cube
1/2 stick of butter
2-3 garlic cloves
Freshly ground pepper

Rinse off the mushrooms.

  

Place in a crock pot, add wine.

Crumble the bouillon over the mushrooms, add crushed garlic, butter slices, and freshly ground pepper.



Cover and put on high on low for 7 to 8 hours.  Take the lid off half way to let the liquid condense.

Beefy Goodness in a Crock Pot

This is my version of Kelly Cooks Best Beef Stew Ever - it really is the best and so easy.  My husband LOVES it and it has become an easy go-to recipe at our house. I usually make it before I go to bed and put it in the fridge when I wake up. We warm it up when we want it during busy weeks.  So not foodie but oh so good. 

Beef Stew

• about 2 pounds of beef roast cut into cubes
• 1/2 of a sweet onion
• 1 leek (if you have it, I didn't this time) it adds that lovely leeky smooth flavor
• about 12 little carrots
• 3 or 4 stalks of celery
• 1 red pepper
• quart of small yellow potatoes
• 2 Knorr beef cubes
• 2 cans of Campbell condensed tomato soup
• 1 can of Progresso French Onion soup

Layer the ingredients as listed above in the crock pot, starting with the beef cubes on the bottom.
Next add the onions on top.


Then bring on the carrots and top with some red peppers and celery...

Bring on the taters and top off with crumbled bullion cubes...

Dump the tomato soups on top and then top off with the french onion soup...

 

Put the cover on and cook on low for 8 hours, do not stir...

Patience young crock pot Jedi...