beefy!

i made my grandmother's beef stew today, and now my apartment smells homey. I aced it, too. *self high-five* There was a frozen steak in the freezer that was hanging out, lonely and un-grilled, for months, and i really didn't know what to do with it except wait until july and then grill it. occasionally i would take it out and contemplate what i could use it for, and then put it back. i don't like to broil (gross smell) and i'm not much for steak anyhow. So there it sat, until today, when my grandmother happened to pull an identical looking steak out of her freezer.

"Hey," I said, "I have one of those! What are you doing with it?"

"Beef stew. It makes a really good beef stew."

I watched her make it and went home to do the same. She gave me half a turnip to add to the veggies i already had. It was so good! I got to feed rob and jeff and have leftovers. i love feeding people and having leftovers. it was pronounced "really good". go me.

if you would like to have a go:

Gram's Beef Stew


1 steak, in the freezer forever, defrosted and chunked
four carrots, chunked*
two potatoes, chunked
one half of a small turnip, chunked
one half of a medium onion, chunked and then separated into it's thin layers
some frozen peas
one box of broth or stock
one small can of beef gravy
some pepper
some garlic salt

Set large stew pot on high heat. Begin to chunk meat. Call out, "Honey, I forgot to put olive oil in the pot and now my hands are meat-y. Can you do it?" Have honey put aprox. 2 Tbs. olive oil in pan. Kiss (the boy, not the pan).

Brown meat, reduce to simmer, add all other ingredients as you chunk them. During the chunking, occasionally drop pieces on the floor. Call dog in for clean up. Ignore protests from sweetie.

Add broth. Add pepper. Add garlic salt. Add more pepper, this time, with a florish-y flick of your wrist. Get pepper up nose.

stir the lot and simmmer until the potatoes are nice to bite into. (i forgot how long this was because right after I was done, i opened the merlot... and we all know how that goes.)

serve with crusty bread and soft butter (non-kosher) or warm olive oil and salt (kosher) and a merlot.

*chunked. def: to cut into bite-size pieces, called chunks. yeah, i made it up.