Fall Cooking!

It's fall! And that means my favorite time of year to cook! I love the spices, pumpkin, the warm, cozy feeling that all food this time year brings. Of course, it's a little insane for me to be cooking like I have with a new baby like this... I spend a lot of time stopping half-way through recipes to go feed her, which can frustrate some recipes, and instead of sleeping when she sleeps I've been cooking, which is probably pretty silly... but I can't help it!

So, here's a few of my favorite recipes. The first is a beef stew that Jordan LOVES! Well, I love it too. It can be done as a slow cooker recipe, but I like the texture of the different foods and I feel it all gets too mushy in a slow cooker.

Beef Stew

• 2 pounds beef stew meat, cut into 1 inch cubes
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon seasoned salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 2 clove garlic, minced
• 2 bay leaf
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 1 teaspoon marjoram
  
• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1/2 cup cooking wine
  
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 1/2 cups beef broth
• 3 potatoes, diced
• 4 carrots, sliced

1. Mix flour, seasoned salt and pepper. Put in gallon size bag, and add beef, shaking until beef is coated in flour mixture. Sauté coated beef in 1-2 tablespoons olive oil until browned. Add chopped onion to beef to sauté and soften.

2. Put diced potatoes and carrots in the pot. Pour water over potatoes and carrots until just covered, boil to soften. Discard the water.

3. Mix beef broth with Worcestershire and ½ cup red wine. Add beef, broth, Worcestershire sauce and red wine to potatoes and carrots. (I like my beef a little bit more liquid, so I might add a little more broth to make it the consistency I like).

4. Add garlic, bay leaf, paprika, marjoram to stew. Simmer for about 15 minutes, or until desired thickness. Then enjoy!

This is a pretty basic beef stew that you can add or remove things based on your preferences. Jordan doesn't like onion, so I usually use a minimum amount. You can play around with the spices, add stuff you like, etc. And it's absolutely delicious for a nice fall evening.