Savings for Sisters: Recipe

I love it when we have the 11-2 block for church. For one thing, I have time in the morning to get dinner preparations somewhat underway. Because we can't eat until 4:30 or 5:00 when my husband returns from his student ward, I also have some time after church to finish things up at a leisurely pace. This past Sunday I decided to make Oven Beef Stew, a hearty, healthy wintertime favorite.

I was determined this year to use every last precious garden potato--including the marble sized ones that have sifted to the bottom of my big potato bucket. These take a very long time to peel, and every time I finished one of these bite-sized nuggets on Sunday morning, I pictured a family member casually forking it into his mouth in one bite, with no thought to my painstaking peeling--which at times involved the skin on my fingertips!

If you've ever purchased stew meat at the grocery store, you know that it generally isn't very lean or of very high quality. Not only that, it's expensive. Because of this, years ago I started making my own by watching for cuts of lean, boneless beef and cutting it into chunks with all visible fat removed. Almost any boneless beef works well for this, including rump roast, sirloin steak, London broil, round steak--whatever you find a good deal on. (The Rump Roast for $3.99/lb at Maceys this week would be a good choice for this). I cut it into cubes with a sharp knife and place portions in freezer bags for later use, ready to turn into stew, stroganoff, or a variety of other meals calling for boneless beef. See instructions for Oven Beef Stew below.

Oven Beef Stew

1.5 to 2 lbs Beef Stew Meat (see instructions at beginning of post for preparing your own)

1 can Campbell's Cream of Mushroom Soup

1 can Campbell’s Cream of Chicken Soup

1 small can Tomato Sauce

2 teaspoons Worcestershire Sauce

1 packet Lipton’s Onion Soup Mix

2 onions cut into about 8 chunks each

About 10 carrots or so peeled and sliced into sticks

About 10 medium potatoes or so peeled and cut into chunks

3 to 4 stalks celery with leaves, sliced

12 to 16 ounces frozen Petite Peas

2 beef bouillon cubes

Salt and Pepper

Here's everything you need.

-Peel and cut vegetables. Set aside.

For a head start on dinner, I like to get my carrots and potatoes peeled before church, then cover them with cold water.

-Mix together the mushroom and chicken soups, tomato sauce, and Worcestershire (I forgot to add the Worcestershire before the photo).

-Microwave 2 bouillon cubes in a small amount of hot water, then crush with fork to dissolve. Add to soup mixture.

-Place meat in the bottom of a large Dutch Oven and sprinkle with Onion Soup Mix.

-Place onions and celery on top of that.

-Sprinkle well with salt and pepper.

-Place carrots and potatoes next, sprinkling with salt and pepper after each layer.

-Pour soup mixture on top. Use a butter knife to help the sauce flow down between the veggies a bit, but don’t stir.

-Cook at 325 to 350. It takes approximately 2 1/2 to 3 hours at 325 but maybe only a little over 2 hours at 350. It's better to allow extra time, because you can always turn the oven way down and hold it for up to an hour after it's done.

-After it has been cooking 1 hour, gently stir it together, bringing the meat up from the bottom to mix with the vegetables. At this point you will have a pretty good idea of how much longer you will want to cook it. It will be quite undone still and most likely need at least another hour.