Beef Quinoa Stew

Sometimes a recipe comes to me quite by mistake. I stick something in the crockpot and when I test it out half way through the cooking process, I think, "wow, this could really be good in THIS." That is when a recipe is born. And not only was it born, but it was devoured. Mostly by the adults, but the kids tolerated it. See it has the two deadly sins.

Mushrooms and Onions

At least the kids think so anyway. But we all know better.

So here is the fabulous recipe that I will surely make again and again.

And again.

Put the following ingredients in a gallon sized ziplock bag and seal:
2 pounds beef chuck, trimmed of excess fat and cut into thin slices (about 1/2 inch thick and 3 inches long)
1 large onion, chopped
1 pound mushrooms trimmed and quartered

Write on the outside of this bag: Low 8 hrs - high 6. Add second bag at hour 4.

In another gallon sized ziplock add the following:

16oz mixed frozen veggies (carrots, corn, beans, etc)
15oz canned diced potatoes (or fresh, make sure they are diced small)
1.5 cups of Quinoa
1  teaspoons of pepper

On the outside of this bag, write: Add to crockpot at hour 4 with 4-5 cups of beef broth.

This soup is hearty and seriously delicious. If you use a low sodium beef broth, be sure to add some salt, but I didn't and it didn't need any.

Beef Stroganoff

I absolutely love beef. However, it doesn't love me. It's so sad. I just end up turning it into dust, usually. The last recipe was a beef recipe that turned out rather nicely, so when tonight's dinner defrosted in the frig (From the freezer - 24 hours of defrost) I had high hopes for another savory keeper!

And a keeper it is! Hurrah!

What I like about this recipe is that it's pretty simple for the freezer. Trim your meat, throw your veggies and broth in, then seal and freeze!

Now when I found this recipe, I was a little worried about the post prep, after the crockpot. I don't like dirtying pans in addition to a crockpot not to mention it looked like it had a lot of steps to get to the sauce, so I almost didn't make it. I'm glad I took a chance. Just one extra pot. Then back in the crock.

So here we go. 

For freezer - Ingredients in your ziplock:
2 pounds beef chuck, trimmed of excess fat and cut into slices
1 large onion, chopped
1 pound cut mushrooms
1 cup beef broth
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon pepper

I know what you are thinking, "Really, that is it?" And yes, that is it. And let me just say right now, before I made the sauce this had an AMAZING flavor and I could have eaten the whole crock without the noff.

Once your ziplock is sealed stick it in your freezer with the following label:

Cook on high 4 hours or low 6 

Needed for day of prep:
4 Tablespoons butter
3 Tablespoons flour (I used quinoa flour)
Broth ladled out of the crockpot2 cups sour cream
1-3 Tablespoons Dijon Mustard
Salt Pepper to taste

After the meat is done: Melt butter in sauce pan. Add flour. mix well. Add broth and mix well. Bring to boil just for a second, add sour cream and Dijon. Salt and Pepper to taste. Add to crock and turn crock to warm until you are ready to eat.

Serve over a starch. We will use quinoa or corn noodles. Oh so good. Sooo good. I'm so glad I made a second meal of this. So glad.

Curry Beef with Quinoa

I've always steered clear of curry. I'm not sure why, maybe the other ingredients that you put WITH the curry made me nervous. I mean it's not every day I'm asked to add a spice in a foreign language to my crockpot. Nor anything resembling elmers glue! So, I'm sad to say I'd never tried to make curry anything until today.

Now I'm happy to report that it was not only a successful dinner, but a successful freezer meal as well! Hooray! Which means, of course, it will be chronicled here. So I can make it again and again.

Ingredients:

3lbs of tri-tip cut into large chunks (or some other meat you want to curry. I'm quite certain this will work splendid with chicken, which I will try!)
1 1/2 tablespoons curry
1 1/2 teaspoon garam masala
Lots of garlic. I used about 1/4 cup of chopped garlic (or one WHOLE large head of garlic chopped or pressed thru a garlic press) It looks like too much, really it does. But it's not.
1 large onion, diced
1 (13.5oz) can coconut milk
2 Gallon sized freezer bags

Freezer Directions:


Add coconut milk (everything in the can! Even the glue stuff-- lol) to one gallon sized zip lock bag. Smoosh it up with your hands and mix up all the yummy milk.

Add to the same bag all the onions and garlic and smoosh it up good. See the theme here? No dirty dishes!

Next add some cut meat then some of the spices. Then more meat, more spices, until you are done with all the meat and all the spices.

Immediately press the air from the bag and seal it up. Place in additional zip lock (to prevent leaks when it defrosts).

Cooking:

The day before you want to stick it in your crockpot, take it out and allow it to thaw in your refrigerator. Just before you stick it in your crockpot, run the bag under some warm water to get the hardened coconut paste off the sides of the bag then pour it into the crockpot. If you still feel like you were cheated on bits sticking to the sides of the bag, run the closed bag under hot water again until they all shake free. Then cut a tip in your bag and pour the bits into the crock.

Note, it won't look very good. But it will smell and taste amazing.

Cook on low 8 hours or high for 4-6 hours.


I made beef Quinoa with my Curry Beef, which also tuned out delish! So here is that recipe.

1 cup quinoa
2 cups beef broth
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon olive oil

Rinse quinoa well. Heat sauce pan on med-high with olive oil. Dry out the quinoa in the olive oil as best you can. This gives it a little more nuttier of a flavor and my kids said they loved it far more then plain quinoa. Add beef broth and bring to a boil. Cover and cook on medium about 15 minutes or until most of the broth is absorbed. Take off the burner and let sit for 5 minutes. Fluff with a fork.