Healthy meal of the week: Tom’s Beef Stew
leftover idea: Stew Quesadillas
This idea was given to me by my dad (Tom), who occasionally enjoys making this recipe for our family. He has always loved this food growing up, and I finally asked him for his specific recipe. My father kindly said goodbye to his concoction and last night I put it to the test to see if what he wrote really came out with the usual flavor. He Fortunately he did!
Even though this meal takes a total of 6 hours to cook, actually most of the work is done by the crock pot. Your initial prep time will only be about 20 minutes to cook the meat, cut up the potatoes and carrots, plus open the various cans to pour them into the cooking pot. Once this is done, and you fire up your crockpot, you can relax and just stir occasionally if you like.
Necessary equipment
– clay pot for stew
– pan for cooking chunks of beef
-ladle
Time to cook
– 20 minutes of preparation
– 6 hours of cooking
Ingredients
(6 servings)
– 1 package of beef for stewing
– 1 can of ranch beans
– 1 can of corn kernels
– 4 cans of beef broth (14 oz each)
– 2 beef bouillon cubes
– 3 carrots
– 4-5 small red potatoes
– 1 tablespoon chopped onion
– 1/2 tablespoon of garlic powder
– 1/4 tablespoon of seasoned salt
For the leftover stew quesadillas:
– grated fat-free mozzarella cheese
– Corn tortillas
– spatula
Addresses
1. Open the package of beef stew. If the pieces are particularly large (like mine), you can cut them on a cutting board for smaller, bite-size pieces instead of large, rock-like meaty chunks. This is what I did because I didn’t want to have a stew with chunks of meat taking up my whole spoon. I like the mix of flavors when there is a little bit of everything in most scoops.
2. Place the pieces of meat to stew in a pan over medium heat and cook until no pink remains. Be sure to flip each individual piece so all sides cook through.
3. Open the cans of beans, corn, and beef broth and pour everything into the crock pot.
4. Cut the carrots and potatoes into small pieces and add them to the crock pot.
5. Add the chopped onion, seasoned salt, garlic powder, and beef bouillon cubes and gently stir the mixture.
6. When the meat is done cooking to your liking, add the chunks directly to the Crock Pot mixture.
7. Turn the crock pot on high, set your kitchen timer to 6 hours making sure nothing touches or is near the crock pot. Put the lid on the container and you are all set. You can stir the mixture once an hour if you wish.
8. When the time is up, use your ladle to carefully scoop (contents will be extremely hot) bowls of Tom’s Beef Stew and enjoy.
Leftover Food Idea:
One of the most obvious options you have for leftovers is to simply serve a few tablespoons of stew into a plastic travel container to enjoy for lunch the next day. Quick, easy and convenient. However, if you want a simple twist on these leftovers, you can opt to make a stewed quesadilla.
All you have to do is strain the liquid from the contents as well as possible. You can use a strainer to simplify this process, just as you would with pasta. Or, put the stew in a bowl and, using the side of the ladle, tilt the bowl to the side to pour in the broth and leave the elements of the stew in the bowl. Now you can easily scoop out a few tablespoons of stew (without juice) and put it on a dry plate. Cut the elements very thin so that they fit well in the quesadilla.
Place a tortilla in a skillet (low/medium heat), layer with grated cheese, then add all the stew elements. Top with a little more cheese and top with another tortilla. Let cook for a few minutes on each side, turning with a spatula. When both sides are lightly browned, your stewed quesadilla is ready. Cut up and store in a plastic travel container or a piece of aluminum foil and your lunch for the next day is ready to go!
