Mary's Beef Stew

2 pounds stew beef (cut into 1” inch chunks)
¼ cup flour

2 TB oil

16 ounces tomato sauce

¼ tsp basil (I used dried – conversion would be ¾ tsp fresh)

2 tsp salt

¼ tsp pepper

1 cup sliced celery

6 each – carrots, onions, potatoes (I used Yukon Gold) – peeled and cut (for a bit of variety in texture, I chop some of the onions in the food processor and some by hand – the food processed ones act as a nice “thickening” agent)

Coat beef with flour.  Brown the beef with oil.  Stir in 2 cups hot water, tomato sauce and seasonings.  Cover and simmer for 1 ½ hours.  Add vegetables.  Simmer until done, about 45 minutes (I have left it on low for a few hours as well.

Reheating instructions:

Allow to thaw in refrigerator.  Pour into stock pot and heat until simmering.  Add salt and pepper to taste.

Indian Chicken Curry

8 bone-in chicken breast halves, skinless salt and pepper to taste 1 tablespoon olive oil 2 onions, peeled and quartered 1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh ginger root 1 teaspoon crushed garlic 1. Rinse chicken and pat dry; season with salt and pepper to taste. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium high heat, then saute chicken until browned. Remove chicken from skillet and set aside. 2. Saute onions in skillet until translucent; add ginger and garlic and saute until fragrant, then stir in curry powder. 3. Return chicken to skillet and add tomato sauce, coconut milk, cloves, cardamom and cinnamon stick. Season with salt to taste and stir all together. 4. Reduce heat to low and simmer until chicken is tender and cooked through (no longer pink inside), about 20 to 25 minutes.

1 tablespoon hot (Madras) curry powder 1 (15 ounce) can tomato sauce 1 (10 ounce) can coconut milk 4 whole cloves 4 pods cardamom 1 cinnamon stick salt to taste  This recipe comes from Allrecipes.com

Sausage and Peppers

3 mild Italian sausages

3 hot Italian sausages

1 red pepper

1 yellow pepper

1 orange pepper

1 sweet onion

2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped

There are several ways that you can prepare this dish. I kept the sausage separated from the peppers and onions so that you could decide on how you want to prepare the meal. I will include steps on how I like to prepare the meal and then options for other ways.

1.     Defrost the sausage and peppers in the refrigerator the night before.

2.    Cut the sausage into about bite size pieces.

3.    Place the sausage with the pepper and onion mixture into an aluminum pan covered with foil.

4.    Cook in the oven at 375 degrees for about 20 mins.

5.    Uncover and cook for another 20 mins. (I like to cook mine so that the sausage and peppers begin to brown and caramelize in the oven. )

*You can serve this meal on pasta with sauce. Or you can serve it as a sandwich. I sometimes like to eat mine in a bowl with some parmesan cheese and a salad.

*You can cook this meal in a pan on top of the stove.  The sausages do give off some grease so cooking them separately would help you control the grease if you were worried about that.

*You can also cook the sausage on the stove and cook the peppers in the oven.

Meatloaf

Meatloaf

Meat mixture

1.5 lbs ground beef

2 eggs

¾ cup milk

2/3 cup Italian seasoning bread crumbs

1/2c finely chopped onion

1.5 tsp of beef stew seasoning (I used Penzy’s brand)

1 tsp salt

¼ tsp black pepper

Topping (baste this on the top of your meatloaf for last 10minutes of cooking)

½ cup ketchup

4TBS brown sugar

2 tsp dry mustard

Mix the ingredients for the meat mixture all together, bake for 1 hour on 350. While that is baking, prepare the topping,  add topping and bake an additional 10 minutes or until it reaches 160degrees, rest 10 minutes before serving.

Helpful Hints: I don’t prepare my meatloaf in a pan, I prepare mine on a baking sheet I put down a piece of  foil, then shape my meat into a loaf. After baking the meat loaf I skim the fat and rest my baking pan so that the fat drains away from the meatloaf into the foil. This will make clean up a breeze.