Crockpot Stew

Well Hello -

It seems like I haven't been here in forever - but with that wicked heat spell we had, I just couldn't hold myself together. With my mom not well, taking care of the babies (their mom is a school bus aide and working for the summer - Bruiser is in summer school and Princess needs to be watched till mom comes home), trying to still help our friend for the past couple months - and I think it all just caught up with me.

I am not a heat person. As a matter of fact - most of my family is olive complected and do well in the heat/sun - meanwhile, I am like my mom and her mom - blonde and white - can't take the heat and can't take the sun. We look like we don't belong to the rest of the family! And dad was a red-head.........

It's still hot - but the humidity has dropped and I am functioning a bit better. I'm up at 3 AM - and I am at the babies by 5:15 AM - their mom goes to work and since it is summer schedule - they keep her between runs and she doesn't get home till 12:45. By that time the little guy is getting off the bus and they can enjoy a nice lunch together. So I spend my mornings giving baths (with this heat I want them comfortable), making breakfast, cleaning up her kitchen, taking him to school, then watching Princess and making lunch for them.

I get home by 1:30 and then I am cooking for us and finishing any housework or laundry I did not get to before I left the house.

With that heat spell for 5 days - in my house it was basically salads, sandwiches, and some "quick frys" such as sausage, hot ham sammies, etc. Whatever I could "cook" in 5 minutes or less. By the last day of the heat I thought I was going to pass out - pizzeria pizza was dinner that day.

After eating like that for 5 days - I was wishing for something good - a comfort food of some sort.

And to think that when I was young - we had no crockpots - and very few appliances. No matter what the temperature and humidity - we cooked and baked.



I had a chuck steak in the freezer that kept staring at me - and I really was wishing for stew. Crockpot to the rescue.



Of course, being frozen solid, I had to do something so that I could cut it up so I placed it in a hot skillet and seared it quite quickly so I could cut off any unwanted fat and cut into bite-sized pieces. I seasoned it well with Kosher salt, fresh ground black pepper, parsley, garlic, and onion powder.



Meanwhile, I prepped my veggies - a couple ribs of celery - sliced, one onion - diced, 4 carrots - cleaned and cut into chunks, 5 potatoes - peeled and cut into chunks. Placed in 6 1/2-quart crockpot and seasoned the same as the meat. Set on HIGH.



When the meat was browned and basically "thawed" so I could work with it, I removed it from the skillet and cut off the unwanted fat and cut the meat into bite-sized pieces.



Added that to the pot with a 14 1/2-ounce can diced tomatoes and 3 beef bouillon cubes. Stirred it up and continued to cook on HIGH.

After cooking for 3 1/2 hours, I added frozen peas and continued to cook another 15 to 20 minutes.



Served with a salad and some rye bread - comfort food - made in the heat - without overheating the kitchen - and done in 4 hours!