Friday Night Stew

I successfully made a beef stew about one month ago for a small dinner party, and it was great. I basically threw whatever I had available into a slow-cooker in the morning before leaving for work, and when I returned home, dinner was ready for the party! Totally easy!

I wanted to make the recipe again last week for another after work gathering, but I have been recording my recipes on a few different computers-- so when I was ready to make the stew again, I could not remember which computer had the original recipe. Remembering that I basically threw everything together I figured, "How hard could this be? It was not that long ago..." (*I was also running late for work, as usual, so I did not have time to hunt down original web recipe)

This is the most recent recipe

Beef and Mushroom Stew
7 servings- 242cal each

1.5lb Lean Stew Beef

1 medium potato (412g)4 Carrots (223g)

2c Sliced Baby Bella Mushrooms

1.25c Victoria brand marinara sauce

1- 14.5oz can diced tomatoes with green chili (juice and all)

2 small onions (210g)

1/3c Worcestershire Sauce

Pepper, Mrs. Dash Italian Seasoning, and salt to taste

1c Beer (*I was leaving the house when TE asked me which beer I used for the stew- I forgot to add beer- so I ran to the fridge and selected a Magic Hat Spring 08 -at his recommendation)

This recipe has very little liquid added. That did not cross my mind as a problem until I was calculating the calories on CRON-o-Meter during the day. I found the other recipe on my laptop, and had a mini-freakout when I realized that the other recipe had 3c of vegetable broth in it!

I had visions of the King clawing his way out of our burned down apartment (dramatic- I now know). Needless to say I finished what I had left at work and rushed home to save my puppy. As you can all appreciate in my before and after photos, the recipe did not need another drop of liquid! I do not know where it came from but it was perfectly stewed and there was no fire or burning puppy!

Having left work early, I time though to thoroughly clean my apartment, walk/play with the King, and make some CR friendly snacks! Gotta love the crock-pot....

Serving Note: I served this stew with 1/2c barley, sliced sourdough baguette (for the non-CR), and a hearty red wine (red zinfandel). Mmmm.