A post from Kelli–
Normally the fall is supposed to get progressively cooler right? Well not this year in Iowa! It seems like the last month or so, Mother Nature has been dishing out the 75-80 degree days like crazy. Then we’ve had a few days where it’s strange because it’s cloudy, but humid, but there’s a bit of a wind. This past weekend was super rainy, but still not freezing.  It was cool enough though to make stew! Wahoo!
Since starting to work at the hospital, I’ve found myself just grabbing a couple things here and there from Walmart as it’s on my way out of town. I usually end up getting a craving for a dish or two and just grab the few things I’ll need to make those dishes, so I haven’t been truly “grocery shopping” for a while and after opening my fridge, I could definitely tell!
Speaking of opening my fridge, I needed to clean that out to–So I decided to get a couple birds with one stone and make “Clean Out the Fridge Beef Stew.” While it was really great, there really isn’t much of a recipe, so I don’t know that I’ll ever be able to replicate it, but I did have leftovers to freeze, so those will have to tide me over.
Because we live on the farm, we are blessed with a usually endless amount of meat. When I was looking in the freezer the other day, I noticed quite a few beef roasts of various kinds, so I grabbed one and defrosted it. I cut half of it up into cubes, threw them in a bag with some seasoned flour, and fried them up with a bit of olive oil in a big cast iron pot. While they were cooking, I went threw the fridge, freezer, and cupboard and pulled out a few things that maybe sounded good in stew.
I was able to find celery, half of an onion, and some grated parmesan cheese along with half of a bag of freezer corn. I found half of a bag of frozen peas in the freezer. In the cupboard I found a can of stewed tomatoes, broth, and a box of quinoa. I threw everything else in the big pot with the beef and cooked the quinoa in a separate pan. Once that was done, I added it in too along with some seasonings. I noticed that the meat was a bit tough, so I just let everything simer together for an hour or a bit longer and when it was done??!?! OOO–LALA!
Honestly, it didn’t look very pretty, but boy did it taste great! I especially like soups that are thick and a bit towards creamy. I was originally worried that this one might not be that way, but with the quinoa and only one container of broth, it still ended up thick. When I had some for supper after getting home from my first Monday shift, it tasted even better than it had on Sunday-which I think is due in part to the tomatoes. I packed a bowl for lunch Wednesday and I have two more containers that I’m going to freeze so that I’ll have a quick lunch this winter.
While I can’t give you a definite recipe, I sure encourage you to make lemonade from lemons—Or Beef stew from whatever you can scrounge up around your house!