The Stew that Grew into a 5 lb Casserole!

The Stew

It was in the air. A storm was coming (well, for Arizona standards). First came a day of ferocious winds. The next day it was supposed to rain. This spelled a piping hot, fragrant beef stew simmering in the crockpot. I brave the wind to get some stew meat out of the freezer. Tomorrow is stew. That morning I will get out the mixed vegetables.

Ingredients

• 1.5 pounds beef stew meat
• 1 pkg frozen mixed vegetables for soups and stews, containing lima beans, corn, carrots, celery, onion, okra, green beans. You can really use whatever to your taste and what is on hand.
• 1 14.5oz can chopped tomatoes, unsalted, in juice
• 1/2c flour
• garlic powder
• onion powder
• oregano
• Italian seasoning
• fresh ground pepper
• 3 bay leaves
• worchestershire sauce
• 1/2 box beef stock

Putting it Together

Add thawed stew meat to crockpot (no need to brown ahead of time). Next add the flour. Mix together until all the flour is incorporated with the beef. Now the seasonings.

I didn't give measurements, because I didn't measure the spices.

Here's what I did do: For the garlic powder, onion powder, oregano, Italian seasoning, and pepper, just sprinkle liberally over the entire top surface of the meat/flour mixture. Then mix those seasonings into the meat/flour mixture as well.

Add undrained can of tomatoes, thawed vegetable combo, 5-6 good dashes of worchestershire sauce, bay leaves, and beef stock. Stir until well combined.

Cover and set to high, and have a great day until dinner. I started mine at 9am and we ate at 3pm, so 6 hours should be great.

Beef was so tender, flavor was savory with just the right herb hint to the thick broth.

Notes: As you approach serving time, a couple things:

• Give a taste. You may want to add some salt and extra pepper. We did and we did!
• At the six hour mark, turn your crockpot off and let sit for maybe 15 minutes. This should allow it to cool enough so that no one burns their mouth in their first bite.

This is a very hearty stew, which can stand alone. However, if you prefer bread with it, try out this very easy bread recipe. It is so quick to put together, and if you don't have a warm place for the dough to rise, put it next to your crockpot. Mine radiates quite a bit of heat...so much so that in summer months I don't use it indoors, I put it outside so extra heat is not trapped indoors.

Taste Tester Results: Nut loved this stew. He kept saying over and over how great the beef came out. That's my carnivore!

...and now we have leftovers!

We have a favorite recipe which is a meat-only chili with cheddar cheese topped with cornbread. This is one of Nut's favs. (I'll get the recipe on this site soon)

We decided to adapt that idea to the leftover stew. I decided to go a bit further and make a cornbread casserole for the topper.

The cornbread casserole was a recipe I got from Food.com. This is abnormal for me but I really didn't change it much other than the cooking time, and omision of the cayenne pepper. My Nut doesn't like it hot!...Oh and I added more butter.

Cornbread Casserole

• 1 14.5oz can corn, drained
• 1 14.5oz can creamed corn
• 1 box cornbread mix
• 1/2t garlic powder
• 3T butter melted

Mix all ingredients together.

Assembly of Beef Stew Cornbread Casserole

Cheese. Whatever you have. I had a bit of shredded cheddar, and a small piece of mozzarella that I pulled into shreds. Scatter all this over the stew. I also added some shredded parmesan cheese as well, but whatever cheese you have, put it in!

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a well greased 9x11 pan, (or I used that nonstick foil which worked great), pour all leftover stew into the pan. We had about half the recipe of stew leftover. Add your cheese. Then pour over your cornbread casserole. This is optional, but I sprinkled some paprika over the top just to make it more pretty.

Warning! This pan is going to be heavy, so be ready. I'm estimating it was at least 5 pounds! This is a very inexpensive way to feed a serious bunch of people.

Put in oven for 1hr. Cornbread topping should be slightly crispy and browned. Take out and let sit for 10 minutes. Cut into squares and let the yummy noises begin!

Taste Tester Results: "Mmm..Hmmm!" He doesn't talk with his mouth full. Good sign. You still get the beef stew flavor, but then the mild sweetness of the corn casserole comes through and the stringy cheese. It was yummy.

But guess what... more leftovers!!

Part Two coming soon!