On cold winter days I like to throw together this quick stew, it's nothing extravagant or special, it takes pretty much whatever you have on hand, but it's filling and yummy served with some warm dinner rolls.

 

SANDRA'S STEW

 

We start with a little olive oil in the pot.  I add about 2 or 3 tablespoons, more or less, you know how I eyeball everything. 

Use about 1lb of stewing beef, or you can do what I do, buy the cheap frying steak and cut it into chunks.  Hey, I'm all for the cheapest stuff and if it works, why not???

Next we add the steak to the pot and turn the heat on to medium high.

Next we're going to use one medium onion, chopped.....3 garlic cloves, diced finely and some carrots and celery.  I use whatever veggies I have on hand and since I had these sticks available all I gotta do is run my knife through them to slice them and add it to the meat.

Like my Curious George bandaid? LOL  You can tell I have children, when you get a booboo in this house there's a choice of curious george, spongebob or smiley faces bandaids.  Isn't that great? LOL

Anyway, dice up the garlic finely.

Add to the meat and onions in the pot.

Aren't the colors just beautiful???  This is why I always have tons of veggies and fruit at home, the colors for me are so enticing, enough to make me want to nibble on that carrot or that stick of celery, but since we're fixing dinner, let's just slice them up and add them to the meat ok??  I promise I won't tell anyone if you do sneak in a few to your mouth *shhhhh*

Add some salt....again with the eyeballing, I'm sorry but just do it ok???  But do be careful with the salt, you don't want to overdo it.

Some ground black pepper.....for amounts look above this picture, I don't want to say the eye-something something word again. *snicker*

Here comes the paprika to join the party, all decked out in a pretty red dress.......this is one of those spices that I find I can add more or less and it really doesn't make a huge difference to the taste.

Throw in a bay leaf and give it a good stir....mmmm look, the meat is already turning brown.

Then you're going to add a can of green beans, see them in the background???  I forgot to snap a picture, sorry....I guess I was too busy staring at the Worcestershire Sauce???  Oh yeah, add about 2 tablespoons of that...more or less.  Me I love the stuff so I'm bound to add more but go with your own taste buds.

In goes some water, I add about a cup to start with and then while it's cooking I keep checking and adding a little more at a time.  You don't want it soupy but you also don't want it to dry up and burn.  That would be awful!

Cook on medium heat for about 25 minutes or until the meat is done.  Then you add some potatoes.  The way I measure is, I allow about 1 medium potato for each person, more if they're small or less if they're bigger of course.  Cube the potatoes and add them to the pot, at this point you'll probably need to add some more water.  Give it a good stir and continue cooking until they're tender.

And there you have it, a quick and easy Beef Stew.  My kids LOVE it and it's one of the few dishes that we don't have to bribe beg to eat at the dinner table.

Enjoy!