Drunkin' Beef Stew: Spicing up a classic with red wine

People think soups, stews and chowders are very impressive feats but I love making them and taking credit when others are impressed. But to be perfectly honest they are really quite simple-for the most part you just throw a bunch of stuff in a pot and let it all do its thing. This winter my soon to be sister-in-law served us Beef stew with red wine-it was delish and was just so lovely on a cold night. 

Here is the recipe:

1 1/4 beef check in 2-in cubes

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1 tablespoon oil

3 large carrots, peeled and cut into 1-in pieces

8 ounces frozen pearl onions (thawed)

2 garlic gloves chopped

2 tablespoons flour

2 cups red wine

1 cup beef stock

1 tablespoon tomato paste

1 sprig rosemary

Start by seasoning the beef with salt and pepper, Turn the heat on a dutch oven on high.

Then brown beef on all sides 3-5 mins; reduce heat to med-high, Then add carrots, onions 

and garlic,  Cook for about 2 mins; stir in flour and cook 1 min; add wine and stock, 

Then add tomato paste and rosemary and bring to a boil. Cover, place in 350 oven and braise 

for 1.5 hours or until meat in knife tender and sauce thickens.

Side Notes: The red wine that you use should be dry (sweet would not be great).

Wish List: I cooked my stew in a plain old pot. So I would like to add a dutch oven to my wish list. A beautiful one that is enamel and in a funky bright color- perhaps  lime green or orange.

Once this stew is all cooked, I would serve it with mashed potatoes.  Enjoy this comfort food on a nice cold night and let me know what you think. 

And thank you Heidi for this recipe!

Twice Baked Potatoes

I love potatoes...personally I do not know how anyone could not. There are so many to prepare potatoes but one of my favorite ways is to make Twice Baked. I was introduced to this lovely potato variation from my best friend Shawna's mom. She makes amazing potatoes. The wonder of the twice baked potato is that it combines two potato classics: mashed and baked.

To make twice baked potatoes you need to bake four potatoes as you normally would for plain baked potatoes. You want the potato to be fully cooked, so the potato insides are easy to mash and work with. Once the potatoes are baked you need to cut the potatoes in half the long way. I do this while they are still hot, so if you hold the potato with an ovenmit and cut with the other hand this works well. After they are cut in half, spoon out the filling.
In a bowl combine the potato with sour cream, milk, salt, pepper and 1 1/2 cups of your desired shredded cheese. I am always a fan of extra sharp cheddar cheese. Use the same amount of these ingredients as you would to get your desired mashed potato consistency-if you like lumpy have it be lumpy or if yo like creamy and smooth make it smooth (your choice.)
These ingredients are the basics, you can add anything you want to spice up the from garlic to spinach (whatever floats your boat.) I like theses potatoes with steak, so I like to spice my potatoes up with horseradish sauce. Once you have mixed everything up, spoon the filling back into the potato skins. Lastly top your potatoes with shredded cheese. Place potatoes back in the oven at 350 and bake until the filling is hot and the cheese is lightly browned.
These are a crowd pleaser so enjoy!

My Valentine's Day Present

I have so many things on my kitchen wishlist....some more practical than others. This Valentine's Day my fabulous fiance checked off one of the things on my list. I wanted these every since I saw Sandra Lee using them in one of her cocktails. For this Valentine's Day I got Ice Balls.

These are balls used to make solid ice balls. They are perfect for cocktails because they melt slower do to their surface size. You can also put fruit or juice or really anything you wanted. I am so excited to use it for my next speicalty cocktail. Thanks Kammy!

Chocolate Chip-Coffee Muffins

I love love love muffins! But lets be honest, they are really just cupcakes that we have allowed ourselves eat for breakfast. Here is a wonderful recipe that I found in Cooking Light that any muffin lover will enjoy.

Ingredients 

• 2/3 cup whole milk
• 5 tablespoons butter, melted
• 3 tablespoons instant coffee granules
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten
• 9 ounces all-purpose flour (about 2 cups)
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• Cooking spray
• 
  
• 1. Preheat oven to 400°.
• 2. Combine first 5 ingredients.
• 3. Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour and next 4 ingredients (through salt) in a large bowl; stir well with a whisk. Make a well in center of flour mixture. Add milk mixture to flour mixture; stir just until moist.
• 4. Spoon batter into 12 muffin cups coated with cooking spray. Bake at 400° for 18 minutes or until done. Remove muffins from pan immediately; place on a wire rack.
•  Side Notes: In this recipe I used skim milk instead of whole milk. If any of you out there are Weight Watcherers' this recipe is 6 points which is pretty good in the muffin realm.  Once when I made this recipe with chocolate covered espresso beans that I ground up; it was a nice twist. 
• This muffin work well for a weekday quick breakfast or if you are having people over for a brunch. Enjoy and let me know what you think.