Beef Stew

This is a very basic recipe for beef stew.  It will give you all of the necessary ingredients but realize that you are free to experiment as your taste dictates.  If you think there are too many potatoes and not enough carrots, change the quantities.  If you like more celery, add more.  If you don't like celery, omit it.  Look through your spice rack and add any spices you desire.  This recipe should never be exactly the same each time you make it.  Keep changing it up!


To begin with, you will need the following:

Starting in the upper left corner we have shortening (you'll use one tablespoon), four carrots peeled and chopped into bite-sized pieces, one pound of beef cut into one inch cubes (for this recipe, two pounds would have been better), three large potatoes peeled and cut into bite-size pieces, one stalk of celery (include the leaves) sliced thinly, one tablespoon parsley, one teaspoon basil, three tablespoons flour mixed with one teaspoon pepper and dusted with paprika, one onion cut into wedges.  In the center is one bay leaf.


One word on the meat.  In the market you can buy stewing beef which comes in a tray already cut up.  Don't buy this.  You don't have any way of knowing what the cut of meat is.  Mostly likely, it's just whatever was left over all chopped up and packaged.  Take the time to look through the beef section and see what they have.  I was able to find a five pound london broil on sale for $1.99 a pound that I cut up myself.  This way I get to remove all the fat before I cook it and I have leftovers for another meal.


Start with the meat.  Melt the shortening in a skillet.  Coat the meat with the flour mixture and cook in the shortening until the meat is browned on all sides, like this:

If your skillet is deep enough you can continue cooking in it.  If it's not, transfer the meat to your preferred cooking pot and continue.  Add three to four cups of water (depending on the size of your pot) and the spices.  Heat until the water comes to a boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer place the lid on and cook for one hour.  At the end of this time the meat should be cooked through and tender.

Add the vegetables.  If too much of them are out of the water you can add a little more water.  Replace the lid and cook an additional thirty minutes.  You will know the stew is done when the potatoes and carrots pierce easily with a fork.

The finished stew will look like this:

Bon appetit!

Bread Pudding with Whiskey Sauce

Coming from a family of nine children it goes against my upbringing to waste food.  Since I live alone, I can rarely finish an entire loaf of bread on my own before it goes stale.  I feed some of it to the local birds but the remainder either gets thrown away or needs to be recycled.  This recipe is a great way to use up a good portion of a leftover loaf.  You will need the following items:

Starting at the top and going clockwise, we have a covered casserole dish (if it doesn't have a cover you can use aluminum foil), 3 eggs lightly beaten, butter (you'll decide how much to use), 1 tsp. cinnamon and 1/2 tsp. nutmeg, 1/2 cup raisins, 8 slices of bread (homemade bread is especially good), 1/2 cup sugar and 2 cups milk.

Start by preparing the bread.  Butter one side of each slice like so:

When all eight slices have been buttered set one slide aside.  Take the first slice and place it butter side up in the bottom of the casserole.  Take the remaining six slices and arrange them around the bottom slice, overlapping each slice slightly.  It will look something like this:

Set this aside.  Now mix together the eggs and sugar until all sugar is dissolved.  Add the remainder of the ingredients making sure each ingredient is thoroughly mixed through.  It's easier to do this if you leave the raisins for last.  When finished, pour the liquid mixture into the center of the casserole and place the last slice of bread on top, butter side down.  It will look like this:

I take these pictures myself and I wasn't able to photograph this next step because my hands were wet.  Place your very clean hands on the top slice of bread and press the entire thing down until all bread is soaked through.  Place the lid on the casserole and set it aside for ten minutes.  At the end of this time, place it in a 325 degree oven and let it bake for 30 minutes.  Remove the lid and continue baking an additional 30 minutes.

To make the Whiskey Sauce - place one stick of butter in a saucepan and melt over very low heat.  It is important that the heat be kept low as if it's too high the butter will burn.  When the butter is completely melted, add one cup of brown sugar and stir to dissolve.  Then add one tablespoon flour and mix it through.  When all have been blended together add 1/2 cup of boiling water.  Continue cooking and stirring until the mixture turns clear.  At this point remove it from the heat and add 1/3 cup of whiskey.  I use a good Irish whiskey, like Jameson's but any whiskey will do.

Serve the whiskey sauce hot over the bread pudding.

Bon appetit!

Hard Boiled Eggs

Have you ever peeled open a hard boiled egg only to find the yolk had started to turn green?  While this discoloration won't hurt the egg or have any effect on the taste, it doesn't look good.  The cause of this is over-cooking and is very easy to prevent.


First, place your eggs in a saucepan with plenty of head room (room above the eggs), like so:

Add enough cold water to cover the eggs by at least one inch:

Bring the eggs to a boil over medium heat.  As soon as the water begins to boil, remove the pan from the heat source.  Set a timer for 14 minutes.  The water is hot enough to continue slowly cooking the eggs for this time.  At the end of 14 minutes, immediately run the eggs under cold water.  As soon as they are cool enough to handle, place them in the refrigerator (if you won't be using them right away).

When you peel the eggs, what you will have is this:

Perfectly cooked eggs without any discoloration.

Another way of making them is to use a steaming basket.  Set the basket in a pan and pour water in to the bottom of the basket.  Turn the heat on high until the water boils.  Add the eggs and reduce the heat to simmer.  Put a lid on the pan and wait 14 minutes.  Then remove from heat and immediately put the eggs in cold water with plenty of ice added.  Add ice as needed to cool the eggs as quickly as possible.  Refrigerator the eggs once they have cooled.

Bon appetit!