Mmmmmmm....Stew

One of the big things I miss about beef is a crock pot full of stew on a winter night. My beloved Ski grew up with "Yankee" Pot Roast and it is a favorite of his. Last year I made some stew for my sweetie, but it meant that I needed to make a seperate dinner for our youngest ds. That isn't much fun for a busy mom. Also, while ds liked his dinner, I didn't think it looked yummy enough. So imagine my happiness when someone recently blessed us with some venison. Oh yum!!!! Growing up in PA, I had been fed venison by our friends/housemates/landlords/caregroup leaders. Many times, Kerry and Joyce would have us for dinner and make us guess what we were eating. Not only did we eat deer this way, but they also fed us caribou. But since then, I rarely get a chance to eat deer. A year or so ago, friends gave us some for IZ when he was not able to eat chicken and pork. He loved it and was able to tolerate it. So last night, I made venison stew using my favorite stew recipe that I modified from one of my cookbooks:

Beef Stew
2 lb beef
3 c V8
1 Onion
3 cloves garlic
1 tsp oregano
2 tsp basil
8 potatoes
8 or more carrots


Peel and quarter potatoes. Peel and cut up carrots. Cut onion into eighths. Place veggies in crockpot in following order potatoes, carrots, onion. Sprinkle with minced garlic and herbs. Coat beef in flour and brown in skillet. Pour on top of veggies. Pour v8 into crock pot. Cook on low all day @ 8 hrs.

I love this recipe because you can add and subtract whatever you like and make it your own. So we had this tonight, but I used the deer meat and it was delicious!! My house smelled divine all day long.

Tonight, my girls are making meatballs.
I have a lovely cold, so I have been very lazy today. Hiding in my warm house and snuggling under blankets.

We'll post pics later of snow and cocoa.