Frugal Organic Girl

Ingredients:

• 2.5- 3lbs beef chuck pot roast, cut into 1 inch cubes
• Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
• 3-4 tbsp butter
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 4-6 medium carrots, halved, quartered and cut into 1″ dice pieces
• 3-4 small onions, diced
• 2 tbsp All-purpose flour (AP flour)
• 4 C beef broth
• 2 C. dry red wine**
• 1 can (28oz)Crushed or diced tomatoes
• 3 springs of fresh rosemary
• 2-3 medium russet or Yukon gold potatoes,peeled*, cut into 1″ dice/chunks
• 2 handfuls of green beans

Method:

1. This soup was originally created in a heavy bottomed non-reactive 8 quart pot. A 6 quart pot should be sufficient though. If you have a stovetop safe metal crockpot insert you can use that instead.
2. Cut the large chuck pot roast into 1-inch pieces, trim any extra thick areas of fat that may be on the beef pieces. Season well with kosher salt and freshly ground pepper. Toss to coat all 4 sides of the cubed beef pieces.
3. Heat 2 tbsp of butter and 1 tbsp of olive oil in the pot on the stove over medium-high heat. As soon as the butter starts to turn brown, add half the beef and raise the heat to high. At first, the beef will give off some liquid, but once it evaporates the beef will start to brown. Cook turning the beef will start to brown.
4. Cook turning the beef cubes on all sides until the pieces are as evenly brown as possible, about 5-6 minutes after the water has boiled off. If the pan starts to get too brown at any point, just turn down the heat a little.
5. Scoop the beef out of the beef and brown the remaining beef the same way using the remaining butter and olive oil. You may need to do this in 2 to 3 batches at a time. Set cooked beef onto a separate plate or hard sided container to cool
6. Store the cooked, cooled beef in a hard sided container w/ lid. Once its filled with all of the cooled beef, seal it and place it in the refrigerator.
7. Add the onions and carrots to the pan and cook them until they have softened. The liquid they extract should bring up most the yummy brown bits left in the pan from the beef. Add the AP flour to the pan and keep cooking and stiring until you don’t see it any more.
8. Once the onions and carrots have softened, add the canned diced tomatoes and broth, bring it to a boil. Scraping with a wooden spoon as you go to bring up the remaining browned bits in the pan.
9. Allow this soup mixture to cool so that it is easy to handle and if your crockpot has a ceramic insert, fill it up using a soup ladel.
10. Once filled the crock insert, cover it with the lid and clean the soup pot you are done for the night! Put the beef container and crock insert in your fridge, until the next day or when you are ready to cook it.
11. On cooking day put the stoneware crock inside the crock pot appliance; add the beef and remaining ingredients except the potatoes and green beans as listed into the crock insert and cover it with the lid. Put it on your counter and plug it in; put the cook setting on low and if you have a timer set it for 6-8 hours.
12. Come back in 6 hours and check the meat..if it is tender enough to shred with two forks, then dice the potatoes and add them in, if not cook for another hour or up to 2 hours more total until the meat is tender; then add the potatoes.
13. Allow the stew to cook on low for another hour and check them..if they are fork tender add the fresh green beans and allow it to warm through just until it turns bright green and open the crock and make sure it is still tender crisp when you break the bean in half.
14. Once the green beans are cooked through unplug the appliance, using hot pads or mitts remove the inner crock and let it rest on a heat safe surface.

I did not specify times because every crock pot is different so make adjustments as needed. Also add liquids if needed too. Please be sure to use at least a 5.5-6 quart crock pot or divide the recipe in half if you have a smaller crock pot.

Sandra at Diary of a Stay At Home Mom hosts Slow Cooker Thursdays. Go on over for more recipes or to add your own.

Garlicky green beans are an easy and healthy side dish to make!

Ingredients:

• 10-12oz frozen or 3/4 lb of fresh organic green beans
• 1 tbsp organic extra virgin olive oil
• 4 clove of garlic, minced or grated, divded
• 6oz pkg whole organic crimini mushrooms, sliced
• 1-2 tsp dried and crushed or one whole fresh sprig of rosemary, chopped
• Kosher salt and pepper to taste

Method:

1. Prepare the green beans by steaming or defrosting frozen..See note1 below on preparation methods
2. Add olive oil to a medium or large skillet (depending on how many green beans you are using); heat oil until shimmering but not smoking in the pan.
3. Add sliced mushrooms and one clove of garlic; saute’ until lightly golden brown.
4. Add green beans, crushed dried or fresh chopped rosemary leaves, salt and remaining garlic and heat until just warmed through.
5. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Note 1:

For fresh green beans:

If you are using fresh green beans de-string them, wash and gently steam them until they are just turning bright green and plunge them into a bowl of cold water with ice cubes (aka ice water bath) to stop the cooking. Once beans are cool, drain water and set aside.

For frozen green beans:

Gently rinse the beans in cold water to defrost, drain water and set aside.