Beef Stew recipe with photo

On today's Sunday dinner menu: Beef Stew.  It tasted darn good on day when the weather was a near-blizzard.  Normally, I would have used a small chuck roast, but I had some soup bones in the freezer that needed using.

The tomatoes were from my garden last summer.  I'd peeled them, cut them up and froze them in plastic bags.  They smelled and tasted great!  That was the first time I'd done that and I'll be freezing tomatoes from now on instead of home-canning them.  Does anyone freeze tomato juice?  I'd like to try that next summer instead of canning.

Most of the vegetables I used were from my garden -- tomatoes, onion, potatoes, cabbage and corn.  I used very small potatoes, so instead peeling them and then cooking them in the stew, I boiled them with their skins on, and then peeled them.  And I cooked the carrots separately since I'm particular about the degree of doneness.  Cannot have them too firm or too soft or they will ruin the entire meal for me.

The only salt in the stew was from the canned peas (I did not even add salt to the cooking potatoes or carrots) so it needed a little something to taste.   An envelope of ranch dressing mix did the trick.  Or you could use your own blend of seasonings, or even a packet of dry onion soup mix.  Some people might want to add more salt, I really don't care for more than a bit of salt in food.

Beef Stew

3 pounds meaty beef soup bones (or 2 pound beef chuck roast)
3 tablespoons oil
3 cups chopped fresh or frozen tomatoes (or 28 ounce can diced tomatoes)
1/2 cup chopped onion
3 stalks celery, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1 pound baby carrots, cut in half
1 pound unpeeled small potatoes
3 cups water
2 cups thinly sliced cabbage
1 cup fresh or frozen corn
15 ounce can peas (or 1 cup frozen peas)
few dashes of pepper
1 envelope Hidden Valley Ranch Salad Dressing Mix

Brown beef in hot oil in 6-quart Dutch oven or kettle.  Add tomatoes, onion, celery and garlic.  Bring to a simmer; cover and cook until meat is tender and pulls away from bones, about 2 hours.

Meanwhile, cook carrots and potatoes in separate pans.  Peel potatoes and cut in half.

Remove beef from Dutch oven to cutting board.  Add water, cabbage, and corn to Dutch oven; return to simmer and cook until cabbage is tender, about 20 minutes.  Cut up beef.  When cabbage is cooked, add beef, carrots, potatoes, peas, pepper and ranch mix.  Heat through, stirring several times.  Makes 4 quarts.

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