Radio Lady: Help! I'm trying to make a beef stew and I'm totally lost.

[Radio_Lady]

If you could give me a simple recipe so I can have it cooked by 5 PM PT

Have 1.38lbs. of beef, cut into squares
Red potatoes
LARGE FRESH mushrooms
Canola/coconut oil
FROZEN mixed vegetables
Salt pepper garlic power onion powder

Please don't cast me out of this forum!

Any help would be totally awesome!

Peace, love and happiness.

Radio Lady -- who spent NO time in her life learning to cook, and married a man who feels pretty much the same.

[Midlodemocrat]

1. Okay, don't panic.

First, brown the beef in some oil, preferably not the coconut oil.

Put the browned beef, the potatoes, and the spices in a large ovenproof casserole. Deglaze the pan that you browned the beef in by pouring in some red wine and scraping the browned bits off the bottom.

Add this liquid to the beef, potatoes, etc.

Add beef stock if you have it, if you don't, use water, just about enough to cover the beef.

Cook in the over at approximately 300 degrees or thereabouts until extremely tender.

At that point, add the mushrooms, chopped up a bit, and the frozen veggies.

Use more spice to taste.

Should be okay.

[MissMillie]

3. that works

I'd actually wait until the last 20 minutes to add the frozen veggies though. They only need to be reheated.

And the recipe is screaming for an onion.

[Radio_Lady]

6. I have some dried onions. Not too fond of...

the burps I get from real onions, so hubby didn't buy them.

[Radio_Lady]

5. Thanks, Midlo. You're a real gem... I so much appreciate this... n/t

[CaliforniaPeggy]

2. My dear Radio_Lady...

I can help...

My recipe is terrific, and easy:

Put the oil away; you won't need it.

Preheat your oven to 350F...

Put the meat in the bottom of a large pot, that has an oven-proof lid.

Cut your potatoes in half..

You can either slice the mushrooms, or leave them whole...

My recipe calls for carrots, sliced...

I would not use frozen mixed vegetables, but you can if you like...

If you have any celery, it's good in this too...chopped, not too finely.

So, put all these ingredients in your big pot.

Boil two cups of water, and add some beef stock concentrate to it...Stir till dissolved. Set aside.

Throw in your seasonings...I use basil, oregano, thyme...

This next step is very important: Take 1/3 cup of instant tapioca, and pour it over your ingredients.

Then pour your beef stock over everything!

Cover, and put in your pre-heated oven. Cook for about 3 hours, and every hour or so, take it out and stir!

The tapioca makes the prettiest gravy ever!

Enjoy!

[Debi]

4. Where's bi-baby when we need her?

The only thing I'd add to your ingredients is some beef stock. Otherwise:

Brown the meat in BARELY any of the oil (if you have beef stock add 1/2 cup or so during the browning) (set pan aside)

put the beef/cut up potatoes in a pot w/2 cups of water to boil

deglaze browing pan w/water and more beef stock to make 1-2 cups stock (scrape pan for the 'tastey' bits) then add to pot

when all comes to a boil reduce heat to a simmer for 20 minutes and then add veggies - let cook for another 10 minutes and taste

THEN add any seasonings and let simmer til you're ready to eat.

[bicentennial_baby]

10. Iirc,

she has me on ignore...No matter, since the only beef stew I make takes about 8 hours in the crockpot. And, it kicks ass. :D

:hi:

[Midlodemocrat]

11. I make mine in the crockpot as well, but the latest edition of

Cook's Illustrated had a very interesting slow bake in the oven roast recipe that I'm drying to try. Figured if it worked for roast, it would work for stew.

[bicentennial_baby]

12. Oooh, let me know how it turns out!

:bounce:

[Radio_Lady]

18. Midlo, I have so many cookbooks -- I give them to my daughter, who's a really good cook.

My son's has been cooking since he was 14. He manages a Chili's Restaurant now.

They got their talent from my ex-husband (who used the Larousse Gastronomique -- did I spell that right?)

He got his talent from his mother, Rosa, who was a caterer to the German-Jewish community in Washington Heights, NYC, in the 1960s when I married her son.

RIP Peter and Rosa.
Although rich food with lots of sugar, salt, and saturated fat, probably helped kill both of them.

[Radio_Lady]

13. FYI, I do not have you on IGNORE, bb. I can see your post fine.

Maybe I threatened to do it, but please forgive me. I am hot-headed some of the time and I try to keep it under control.

I am making amends for all my written wrongs -- which we Jews usually do at Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement) in the fall, but hope I still have a chance with you now that it's almost Passover!

This friggin' website. Life's too short to be angry here. I can't even remember what we argued about. It would be best that you don't remind me.

Peace, love and happiness...

RL

:hi:

[bicentennial_baby]

14. Ok

:)

Good luck with your stew.

[Radio_Lady]

16. Thanks, sweetie. It's better than making "hash" out of people in GD:P!

:)

[Debi]

21. Oh My! I'm sure yours does kick ass

that's why I called out to you.

We just made a delicious pot roast on Saturday (and it was PERFECT)and I thought of you as I made it :hi:

[Radio_Lady]

7. OT: It might be nice to have you all as "sister wives" -- JUST in the kitchen for awhile.

Plural marriage MUST have its good points.

When my 84-year-old widowed aunt comes here to visit, she cooks and takes my husband off my hands for a couple of hours. It's delightful. Don't worry. No sex anywhere to be seen, and no kids, either, to interrupt the conversation and fun.

I'm printing all replies here.

Thank you SO much!

RL (... goes to the kitchen)

[guitar man]

8. Looks like you have most the stuff

I like to cheat and use brown gravy mix in mine, Pioneer brand is the best I've found, if you can get it in your area.

I usually brown the meat up pretty good, then I'll add the amount of water called for by the gravy packages plus about 1/2 cup and any other seasonings I'm going to use and the potatoes. I'll let that stew for about 20 min or so and then add the gravy mix and the rest of the veggies in, then I bring the temp down to a very slow simmer and let it cook on out.

good luck :hi:

[Radio_Lady]

9. Thanks GTRMAN. Wow... musician and record producer. I used to date guys like you.

Stanley R. Marshall. Worked at Reela Films, Miami, Florida, in the 50s-60s. I had also met his older brother Jerry. They produced records, as I recall.

Stan married a friendly gal, with whom I did a TV pilot called "Canine College." The pilot never sold (it was shot when I was heavily pregnant with my first daughter Linda -- in 1968). Eventually, we lost contact with this couple. I called his wife about a year ago after finding her telephone on the Internet. He had two children, and there was a young boy, early teens, killed in a car wreck by a drunk driver. Stanley "died of grief" in the late 1980s. Last I knew, she was still struggling with breast cancer, and working with an AIDs organization.

Wish I had a way to thank all you folks... Let me tackle something for you in the future. Bring over your laundry and I'll process and return it to you beautifully restored. Seriously. That's what I do best. I also restore kid's furniture with bright colors.

"Boil, bubble, toil and trouble, " said Shakespeare (not the DUer, sorry to say).

Everythings cooking... now I can get busy with the other housework.

Mother used to quote from some source:

Men may work from sun to sun
But women's work is never done.

[guitar man]

15. that's my avocation these days

I used to do music full time, now I manage a TV station in the day and squeeze in the music when I can. I just never updated my profile fom back when I joined,lol.

[Radio_Lady]

17. There's a TV station in the Bell Tower? Somewhere? Not prying, just wondering.

Have you seen Quasimoto?

[Radio_Lady]

19. I'm terribly nosy... so you ride a motorcycle and the GTRMAN stands for --

Guitar Man? I love the classical guitar, but folk and country music is OK too. My granddaughter loves Miley Cyrus, the teenager who made 18.2 million dollars last year, according to Parade Magazine. (GULP... why couldn't I have had a kid or grandkid like that?)

PS. I will remove this message if you wish to remain totally anonymous.

Nice to chat with you on the DU.

Radio Lady Ellen Kimball

In between gigs for the rest of my life -- retired but still active with my husband in lots of political and theaterical stuff. Still reviewing movies for KGW.com, the WEBSITE for Channel 8, KGW-TV, NBC affiliate in Portland.

[Radio_Lady]

20. UPDATE: It's 2 PM Pacific Time and my kitchen SMELLS DELICIOUS...

Not sure if the way to a man's heart is through his stomach, but the scent of a nicely cooking beef stew has already elicited some compliments from my SOH here! That stands for Significantly Old Husband.

Thanks, you wonderful DU groupies with all sorts of political beliefs and beefs.

Today, I am using YOUR cooking suggestions on REAL BEEF! Ha-ha...

Full of love and thankfulness and it isn't even November,

RL

[Radio_Lady]

22. FINAL OUTCOME HERE: Husband gave me a big hug and a soulful kiss.

"This is the most wonderful dinner I've had in weeks! You're definitely the BEST cook in our home!"

(Explanation: Audio Al does not cook at all. He can MIX, but not COOK! He does make the coffee and a piece of whole wheat toast pretty much every morning.)

Thanks for making me look better than Cindy McCain.

I plagarized the recipe, but not from one source! Does that count?

Good night and good luck,

Radio Lady Ellen Kimball in Oregon