Yet Another Crock Pot Beef Stew
- carrots* – 1 cup
- sweet potato cubes* – 1/2 cup
- parsnip cubes – 1/2 cup
- 1/2 cup barley
- mushrooms – 1 cup
- stew meat cubes – 1 pound
- chicken broth – 1 cup
- 1/2 onion – sliced thinly
- Mississippi Mud Black & Tan beer (or Guinness) – 2 cups+
-Boil the barley in the chicken stock (I also put the parnips in as well.) for about 5 minutes.
-Brown the meat in a skillet with a bit of the beer.
-Pour everything into the crockpot; if there’s room add beer to top off the bowl
-Set on HIGH for 5 hours.
-Stir the ingredients for consistent cooking.
-Set to LOW for another 3 hours.
Its done when the stew meat is tender. The beer will add a little bit of sweetness and works well with the sweet potato.
*bonus if you have a Trader Joe’s that has precut sweet potatoes, as well as bag of mini carrots to reduce prep time. I also just get their stew meat already in cubes-its very good quality.
Roast Chicken
Ingredients
~5 pound chicken (I use Foster Farms)
Carrots
Onion
New Red Potatoes
Butter
Garlic (chopped or clove)
Mushrooms
olive oil
sea salt
white wine (optional)
Directions
- Peel and chop carrots to desired size, I like them a bit chunky
- Dice onion, put aside in bowl
- Chop up larger mushrooms or leave button mushrooms whole
- Melt the butter in a large pan (or in your oven safe enamelware)
- Saute the onion in the melted butter until translucent
- Rinse the chicken and remove the giblets
- Place the chicken in the pot (here is where you can do your Swedish Chef imitation) and drizzle it with olive oil and then sprinkle sea salt on the skin
- Place the vegetables around the chicken in the pot
- Pour 2 cups of white wine in if you are so inclined. The alcohol will bake off before it is done.
- Stick everything in the oven at 350
- Melt some more butter for basting the chicken every 20 minutes or so.
The chicken is done when the juices run clear when you poke the joints with a fork or knife (probably about an hour and a half depending on the size of your chicken.)
If your veggies aren’t quite done, pull out your chicken and put it on a plate to rest a bit then put your veggies back in the oven until they are tender enough for you.
Serve it all up on a bed of Quinoa (video coming soon) and the veggies.
