It’s finally the holidays! I don’t know about you, but I LOVE the holidays, spending time with family, singing nonstop Christmas songs, all the pretty lights on the houses, and the FOOD! There’s the cookies, the huge meals day of the holiday, the days and days of leftovers after, comfort foods against the cold weather, mmm my stomach is rumbling just thinking about them all!
However, I know we’ve got another week or so of lots of studying, classes, and exams standing between us and the holidays, and we need all the extra time we can get! So to start off I’ve got a delicious and comforting crockpot stew.
The Best Ever Crockpot Beef Stew
Taken from Family Fresh Meals
Ingredients
2 lb beef stew meat (cut into bite-sized pieces)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1 medium onion, finely chopped
2 celery ribs, sliced
2-3 cloves of garlic, minced
6 ox can tomato paste
32 oz beef broth
2 Tblsp Worcestershire sauce
2 cups baby carrots (I used full sized carrots that I cut into small chunks)
4-5 small red potatoes cut into bite-sized pieces, about 3 cups
1 Tblsp dried parsley
1 tsp oregano
1 cup frozen peas
1 cup frozen corn
¼ cup flour
¼ cup water
Instructions
1) Combine beef, celery, carrots, onion, potatoes, salt, pepper, garlic, parsley, oregano, Worcestershire sauce, beef broth, and tomato paste in the crockpot.
2) Cook on LOW for 10 hours or on HIGH for 6-7 hours.
3) About 30 minutes before serving mix the flour and water together in a small dish, pour into the crockpot and mix well until combined. Will add thickness to the stew.
4) Add frozen peas and corn.
5) Continue cooking covered for 30 minutes.
6) Serve and enjoy!!
Notes
This stew needs at least a 6 qt crockpot, which is pretty big, my crockpot is quite a bit smaller, so I cut the recipe in half quite easily.
Any type of potato could work here, it doesn’t have to be red potatoes. I don’t quite know how sweet potatoes would taste, but if someone tries it let me know how it turns out!
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With the upcoming holidays you may be asked to bring along a dish to share to one of the many get-togethers that always seems to pop up around this time of year. If you really want to show off your fine culinary skills with a dish that is really pretty easy, delicious, and something that everyone ends up talking about, then this apple recipe is the winner! Though it sounds like a sweeter dessert-y type dish, its actually a savory side dish, the sugar and cinnamon just compliment the natural sweetness of the apples but the breadcrumb topping make this a main meal star.
Escalloped Apples
Ingredients
½ cup butter
2 cups bread crumbs
4 medium apples, peeled and sliced
½ cup sugar
¼ tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp cloves
Instructions
1) Melt butter in large saucepan.
2) Add bread crumbs and toast lightly (about 2 minutes). Set aside.
3) Toss apples with sugar, cinnamon and cloves.
4) In an 8 inch baking dish, layer half of the apples and half of the bread crumbs.
5) Repeat layering.
6) Bake in oven at 325 degrees covered with tinfoil for 45 or until the apples are tender.
Notes
Fresh bread crumbs or store bought breadcrumbs work, but you want them to be fairly finely ground.
I think any type of apple would work here. I’ve used Jonathons, Pink Lady, Granny Smith, really any combo would work.
I also don’t bother peeling the apples, that’s really up to you. I’ve always chunked the apple slices but I’m sure that leaving them in longer slices would work as well.
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What would the holidays be without inordinate amounts of sweets lying around! If you’re a fan of cookies, chocolate and mint, and frosting, then this recipe is for you. If you’re not a fan, then we probably aren’t friends. Or maybe we’re better friends because it means that these cookies would be left all for me! The great thing about this recipe is that it can be as made from scratch or as store bought and quick-assemble as you like!
Andes Mint Cookies
Basically with these cookies you take a sugar cookie (this recipe, your recipe, a roll you got from the grocery store), stuff an (unwrapped) Andes mint in the middle, bake, then once the cookies are slightly cooled frost (with this frosting, another frosting recipe, store bought frosting)
Ingredients
Sugar cookies
6 cups flour
3 tsp baking powder
2 cups butter
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tsp salt
Andes mints
Frosting
½ cup unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
2 ½ cups powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 Tblsp heavy cream or milk
Instructions
Sugar cookies
1) Cream butter and sugar.
2) Add eggs and vanilla.
3) Mix flour, baking powder and salt in separate bowl and add to butter/sugar mixture.
4) Mix well.
5) Roll to desired thickness and cut into shapes (circles work best here).
6) Unwrap as many Andes mints as you have cookies. Push into middle of cookie and try to cover with dough.
7) Bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes or until just beginning to turn brown around the edges.
8) Take out and let cool.
Frosting
1) Beat butter on medium until cream (about 2 minutes).
2) Add powdered sugar, vanilla extract and cream on low.
3) Increase mixer to high speed and beat for 3 minutes.
4) Add 1 Tblsp more cream if frosting is too thick.
5) Taste and add 1/8 tsp salt if frosting is too sweet.
6) If you want to make the cookies more holiday themed, use food coloring for festive holiday colors!
Frost cookies once cooled. Eat and enjoy!!
Notes
I’ve made these cookies by rolling out, cutting into circles and stuffing with a mint or by making a bunch of small dough balls and mashing two around a mint then flattening out into a cookie-esq shape. Either way works, one hasn’t really proven to be easier than the other.
This is baking. Baking is chemistry. These ingredients and these amounts of ingredients can’t be changed if you want the cookies to turn out. Unless you’re a kitchen wizard and know how all these ingredients interact with one another don’t try substituting less sugar/butter/whatever. Of course they aren’t healthy sounding, they’re cookies, just don’t eat the whole batch at once.
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