This week on How Was Your Week, Honey? Ep 106: Best. Sister. Ever. We record via Skype while I’m away in Cochrane, AB watching our 2 nieces. Topics include: phone dictation, live arrests, the benefits of self-employment, feeling at home, the snowflake ball, Waterton, top 40, Alva, and Valentine’s Day! Check it out HERE!
It has been cold. Like Polar Vortex cold. This past weekend in Cochrane I woke up and looked at the weather…
I hate being cold! When it is this cold I like eating comfort food. Food that is hot, 1 pot and keeps you warm for the whole evening. My Mom made the BEST beef stew ever. Like so good it was 1 of those things I wished I had asked her about while she was in hospice. How crazy is that right? You don’t realize until too late that all the family recipes get lost when the recipe keeper dies.
I have been trying ever since then to make a beef stew that is comparable. I have tried many recipes, some I have shared on here and some weren’t worth sharing. All of them are good but none of them are the same.
This one is super good and the easiest stew recipe yet! You don’t even brown the meat and yet the beef is tender and falls apart in your mouth. This is perfect for those colds days and snowy evenings. Enjoy!
Crock Pot Beef Stew
1-1/2lbs stew meat, cut into bite sized pieces
1lb potatoes, chopped
1 cup mushrooms, cut into quarters
2 carrots, chopped
2 ribs celery, chopped
1 onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, pressed
3 tablespoons tomato paste
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary
2 bay leaves
4 cups beef broth
1/4 cup flour
1/2 cup frozen peas
Add ingredients from stew meat to beef broth into your crockpot then cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours, or until meat is tender.
Add flour to a bowl then add a ladleful of cooking liquid and whisk until smooth. Pour back into crock pot then stir well to combine and cook on high for 30-45 more minutes, or until broth has thickened.
I missed putting out a new post last week. That rarely happens but I honestly had nothing to say. The after effects of the worst cold in history hit me hard and it took a full week to catch up with life. The only thing I did worth mentioning was go out with the Ladies for drinks. YogaBesty, HLBesty and PACBesty have been crazy busy for the past 5 months with College. I am so proud of them as they ALL passed their course and ALL of them got jobs right away! Even though I was still under the weather, after 3 months of planning, we all could get together on this 1 night and I needed to buy them each a drink and cheers to their hard work!
This week was the Snowmaggedon. It snowed all week which means Ninja and Dad were out shovelling… All week 😳
HBear participated in her 1st Curling Bonspiel! She loved it and can’t wait for the next one!
School is moving along and HBear turned in her science project on the skeletal system while SBean had her 100 days of school celebrations. She wanted nothing to do with dressing up like she was 100 though 😂
Ninja has been busy with Peach City Radio and he has been training his team to get his program, Speak Out, up and running.
This past week, we celebrated Valentine’s Day! The Girls got their annual Valentine’s book and chocolate while Ninja got me gorgeous roses, chocolates and a Nintendo!!! He also dropped off a double cheeseburger and a candy to me at work ❤️. I got him a digital caricature of the 2 of us podcasting 😂.
Before lunch HBear’s, KBesty, who had moved to Calgary this past summer, came to pick HBear up for the rest of the weekend! It was wonderful to see them again and they had a great weekend together!
For the rest of the day we hung out inside and had a picnic lunch, did some play doh, and got ready for a nap. Then we did puzzles, had pizza for dinner, and more cuddles!
The next day, it was still freezing outside so we played Candyland, I gave SweetPea her very first bubblegum, CabbagePatch tricked me into a chocolate treat, more play doh, and then nap time. We had a relaxing evening and a wonderful bubble bath.
On Sunday they went to the Grandma Spa 😉 and got ready for the Snowflake Ball! Ninja was the most handsome date 😍. I ordered SBean a beautiful flower crown for the ball but she was having none of it LOL that girl is very particular in her sense of style 😂
The Snowflake Ball was a hit! Ninja and SBean had a great time!
Our flight home was good. HBear got pulled into security again because she tried bringing slime in her carry-on LOL but other than that we got to sit together, the skies were clear so we could see the beauty of the mountains, and when we got home we got to have a family hug!