Food Friday - Beef Stew

This past weekend the bf and I went to his parents house and were given two HUGE carrots that they had grown in their garden.  Immediately I thought it would be perfect to use in beef stew!

Now my mom has always made her beef stew in a pressure cooker, and that is how I make mine.  I have a horribly written recipe and must rewrite it so that it is understandable to people other than me.

So I went to the store and bought all of the necessities:
~a roast
~potatoes, onion, and cabbage

I already had the bullion cubes, garlic powder, carrots, and tin foil.  I decided I wanted to add in fresh garlic this time too.

Look at how HUGE this thing is!!!

There was also a little bitty one too.

Now I don't have pictures of the first part because I was dumb and forgot.

First in the pressure cooker you want to brown the meat on all of the sides.  Then put in some water about 1/2 way up the meat, the bullion cubes, and the seasonings.  Put the burner on high and wait for the top to start shaking fast.  Turn the burner down to Med-Med High for one and a half hours.

Once the timer goes off place the pressure cooker under running water to bring the pressure down (wait for the pressure tab to release).

Then open the top to see your wonderfully cooked meat!

Now the potatoes, carrots, onion, and cabbage should be chopped up (any shape desired).

The bf does not really like onions so I was going to do a trick that my mom used to do when my sisters and I didn't like onions either.  You place the onion pieces into a tin foil and place the tin foil on top of the other veggies in the pot.  So all of the onion pieces stay together and do not end up mingling with the other veggies.

I made the mistake of cooking the onion whole.  Make sure it is cut into smaller pieces or it will not cook all of the way.

The onion all wrapped up.

I did the same thing with the cabbage.  The bf doesn't really like that either.  But for me it is not beef stew unless there is some cabbage in there.

The veggies should be put on top and around the meat (and should only go up 3/4 of the way up the pot... you can see I didn't follow that rule).  I moved the meat around to make sure that it was not sticking to the bottom of the pot.

This is what it looked like after it was finished cooking.  For some reason I didn't take a shot after I put the veggies in.

Place the pressure cooker back on the burner on high.  Get the top shaking fast again, lower the heat to medium and cook for 5 minutes.  After that place the pot under running water to allow the pressure to release, open and enjoy!!

I will eventually rewrite that recipe and when I do I will make sure to post it for you.

What have I been up to today????

A month ago I requested 1/2 of today and all of tomorrow off from work with the hopes of going to Key West.  Well that plan got scratched several weeks ago but I never officially said that I was going to give up my day and 1/2 off.  I decided that since I have so many ideas for crafty things and I have to start getting ready for the craft fair in April, I would just take the day and 1/2 off and stay here.

I have been quite successful.  So far today I have gone to the grocery store and bought a roast to make beef stew for dinner (it is currently cooking in the pressure cooker and I forgot to some take pictures for a future post...) AND completed one of the blankets I started.

It should look slightly familiar if you have been reading the blog because it is the leftover fabric from here.  I did the back a little differently this time.  I used just the frilly things.  I still have more fabric so I think the next one I make will have the lazy flies on the back... maybe the frog face will make a guest appearance too... not sure.

I have more fabric to iron before I can finish up my next goal on my list for today/tomorrow.  Better get to it!

Mmmmm that beef stew smells great too. :)