Bashful Beef Stew recipe - slow cooker / crockpot one pot

Bashful Beef Stew

Serves 4-6 people

I cook this in a cast iron pot in the simmering oven of the Aga which is the same as the Slow Cooker.  I do not brown the meat as we love it just as it is, but feel free to before you put it in the slow cooker.

Ingredients:

500 - 750g diced beef

2 carrots

1/4 turnip

3 medium potatos

1 onion

1 leek 

1 parsnip

Beef gravy Granules

Method:

This recipe is nice and easy and perfect for busy lives and when you're short on time.

Chop the vegetables up on to bite size chunks, one thing I love about this recipe is that it is literally one pot 

Layer everything in the slow cooker, starting with the longest to cook on the bottom, so beef, potatoes, turnip, carrots, onion/leek/parsnip

Make enough gravy to cover the contents of the slow cooker and pour it over.

Switch the slow cooker on and leave it for 6 - 8 hours on low.

Trust me, it's delicious!  

Some people prefer to brown the beef and not use gravy granules, which is also fine.  This is just what works for me when I'm working full time and also running the smallholding.

Enjoy :)

Early May update

Veg Plot Update

I am so excited!  We are starting to vlog, meaning we are capturing some things on YouTube.  It is very early days and you can tell we are new at it, but what the heck.  I have uploaded an end of April/early May walkaround of the veg plots, greenhouse and polytunnel.  We plan to do those monthly - I'm not sure what else we will do though a lot will be food related and there's Ste's quail brooder update on there now.  If you would like to check out the video, try clicking here. We would love to hear comments and feedback as always.  Its super exciting if not somewhat scary for us.

It is the time of year when things start growing with gusto and being outside as much as possible if the order of the day.  Be it before work or after tea (dinner to some), our daily schedule changes and adapts as needed.  We didn't come in until after 9pm the other night, had a cuppa at the kitchen table and went to bed!  Here's a few pics of what we have done in the last couple of weeks.  Brassicas are in and some are netted and tomatoes are going in to bigger pots of all sizes.  We are still going to get frosts here and they can catch you out, so all beds will be covered with fleece when the temperature threatens to dip.  We have reserves in the greenhouse for any plants we lose, it's a fine line and all a bit of a gamble.  Sometimes it pays off and others it doesn't, however we think by this weekend we should be good to go and I am planting out the outdoor tomatoes them, gulp!

On the Smallholding

The sheep are hopefully in lamb and due at the earliest July 7th.  We took the tup (ram) on before lockdown started, meaning we still have him here as his owner is high risk with regards to the virus and would prefer not to collect him risking contact yet.  He will go back before the girls are due though.  One ewe we have, Nettle, is the orphan we kept and it'll be her first lamb, fingers crossed we have no issues there.

We have had so many things going on since I last updated, in such a short space of time.  We've dramatically increased the laying hen numbers and have been hatching our own left, right an centre.  We've had 2 lots of ducklings, chicks and just a couple of nights ago, baby quail!!

The pigs are coming along very nicely and the smaller one has caught up and I think even overtaken the bigger one.  We've managed to get all the movement forms and things done, so that's a load off our minds.

The chicken areas have been expanded to give them more space on grass and we have made a chicken tractor (moveable chicken coop) which will house the meat birds once they're big enough to house outside.  They like my wellies it seems!

 

My Mother's Day gift is growing up!

Our Rhode Island Red hens and their cockerel (plus the black one on the left of the photo) have been moved on to new grass too, which they seem very happy with.

In the kitchen

A few weeks ago we managed to get hold of 10kg bread flour which was a huge bonus as everywhere is out or low on it and our preference is to make our own, plus to only go shopping once a month and have to buy bread, that would use too much precious freezer space.  I have managed to find 16kg of all 3 flours I use on Amazon at a good, non inflated price!  Very pleased with that and they were delivered 2 days after ordering.

After running our freezers down just before the virus kicked off (typically) we are now starting to fill them again with lots of home made goodies.  I have started my menu plan page off again at the top of this page, so to see what we are eating each week, head over there and take a look.  It's helping to keep me organised and hopefully may help others looking for meal ideas too.  I am really enjoying cooking meals every night for the family and making lots of lovely left overs to freeze too.  

One thing I have decided is that as Monday's always seem borderline out of control with work and home schooling, I am taking the pressure off myself and using something our of the freezer for Monday's.  That does mean I need to keep the freezer stocked up with suitable meals though, so I will plan in a batch cooking day when I am off work at the end of May.  I have enough in until then.

The house and us

As I say, I am working from home full time at the moment and everything is fitting in nicely, most of the time.  Sometimes the days need to adapt and I start early/late and so on, as the kids are home too.  We all sit around the kitchen table, whilst Ste is at work and crack on with the tasks for the day.  We are doing our best and that is all we can do.  The kids are adapting so well, I'm really proud of them.  We naturally have our good and bad days, so if you find yourself in the same situation, don't be hard on yourself.  Everyone is trying their best and we are all in it together, one way or another.

Another huge thing we have going on is aside from work and school we are fully in to our thoughts on saying goodbye to our only debt and becoming mortgage free.  

We are at least 10 years away from that in our current situation and have plans afoot for trying to be mortgage free in 10 years.    

It is all about priorities and this whole covid situation is really helping with that would you believe.  Assessing what is important, something that might take you a long time to decide "normally" but when the decision is taken away from you, you can just get on with it.  For example, we used to spend money going out for a meal once a week which in the end was a habit and something we didn't always enjoy.  Sounds crazy now, but we still did it.  That was £200 a month say.  Little things like that, we wouldn't have easily stopped without this situation.  It's giving us time to think and better still, save.  We aren't spending as much money on fuel either, yet I am continuing to send the money to the savings as if I was still spending it on fuel and it soon adds up.

There's other decisions too which are being discussed.  Something I have always wanted to do was change the hob and sink in the kitchen, along with put a couple of shelves in.  We don't want to spend a lot of money on this, which could easily be done, so when my daughter decided she didn't need her desk any more, Ste changed it in to a set of shelves for me in the kitchen.  They have replaced the dishwasher which we no longer use and an old set of book shelves.  Don't they look marvelous?  I am SO thrilled with them.  We're keeping our eyes open for bargains for the hob and sink, we aren't in a rush.  Also, we're planning on freshening up areas instead of redoing them all, to keep costs down.  I'll keep you posted.

We are still in the middle of the bathroom and bedroom alterations, as we had to put a hold on that when social distancing was enforced and places stopped trading and we need a plasterer, however this too we will do as budget friendly as possible.

So that's about it for now everyone, I have more recipes coming up, menu plans, preserving and so on, so please stay tuned and I look forward to hearing how everyone is, safe and well hopefully, and catching up soon.  I could write for hours and still not be up to date!

Looking forward to hearing your comments and catching up with any readers, stay safe :)

Tracy x

Beautiful Banana Bread - recipe

Beautiful Banana Bread

Makes 1 small loaf/cake

Ingredients:

2 mashed bananas (over ripe ideally)

100g butter

100g sugar (caster if you have it)

140g SR flour

1 tbsp baking powder

2 eggs

Optional extras - choc chips or chocolate spread

Method:

Cream butter and sugar

Mash your bananas and add in to butter/sugar mix

Add flour, baking powder and fold in

Add eggs and mix in

At this point, giving it a good mix, I add it to the cake tin and either bake like this or I stir through chocolate chips or chocolate spread and bake for up to 40 minutes at 180 or so.

Enjoy :)

Rhubarb Cordial - Recipe

Ridiculously Rhubarby Cordial

One of my favourite seasonal recipes is from Pam Corbin's preserves book and is for cordial, which during Spring and Summer has to be rhubarb based!  Mine is adapted a little.

Ingredients:

Stage 1 

2kg rhubarb

300ml water

Stage 2

Output from stage 1

Granulated sugar (around 1kg)

Method:

Stage 1

Roughly chop your rhubarb, remember rhubarb leaves are poisonous if ingested so please dispose wisely.  We use ours as ground cover in the veg plot to help stop weeds.

Add your 2kg rhubarb and 300ml water a large pot and simmer until soft.  For me this is around 30 minutes.

Leave to cool slightly and then hang this and allow to drip overnight through a scalded muslin bag.

Stage 2

Next day, I make the residual liquid (usually around 1300ml) up to 1500ml using tap water.

To this I add up to 1kg sugar depending on how sweet we would like it, however work up from 500g to your preferred taste.

Simply warm the liquid and sugar, stirring until the sugar is completely dissolved.

Add to sterilised warm bottles and drink asap, though it will keep for a few months.

I never water bath it as we use it so quickly, however you can water bath immediately after bottling for longer term use.

Enjoy :)

Basic Breakfast Porridge - recipe

Basic Breakfast Porridge

Sometimes the simple recipes are the easiest.  

I don't weigh things out now, however I know some people find that the best way, so here is my basic breakfast porridge recipe.

Ingredients:

40g porridge oats

220ml milk

Method:

This is my method, you can also do it in a microwave I am told.

I add the milk and oats to the pan, bring to the boil and simmer for up to 10 minutes, using a whisk to make it nice and smooth.

Serve with fresh fruit, nuts, honey, whatever you fancy and....

Enjoy :) 

Comforting Chicken stock/bone broth - recipe slow cooker

Comforting Chicken stock/bone broth

Link to my YouTube video which includes how I make chicken stock

Makes as much stock as you add liquid. 

This is a guide, use what you have in and that you like.  Adapt and be flexible, it'll turn out great regardless!  

Point to note, the healthier life your chicken has had, the healthier your bone broth/stock will be for you.

The addition of ginger is recommended to help with immunity (my opinion only!).

Ingredients:

1 chicken carcass, all odds, sods and last bits of meat included.

2 onions or leek

3 sticks celery

2/3 carrots

1/4 turnip/swede

Lots of garlic cloves

Root ginger, thumb size or so

1 tsp black peppercorns

1 tsp whole cloves

Herbs such as thyme, mixed herbs

Bay leaves

Method:

Don't be precious about this.  

Bung it all in, you can even afford the skin on the onions, it's up to you.
Roughly chop the rest of your veg and put in the SC with the carcass.

Garlic I bash and thrown in.  

Ginger I cut up or bash to release the flavours and throw it in.

I don't measure the peppercorns, cloves or herbs but feel free to.
Cover with as much water as it needs to have everything submerged, season with salt if you use it, I do.
Leave it on low overnight or for 6-8 hours and then once cooled, strain it through a colander then a sieve.  The liquid is your stock which you can freeze or pop in the fridge for a few days.  Use it whenever recipes as for stock and it is so nice!

Enjoy :)

Nourishing Nettle & Lemon cake - recipe - foraging

I'm posting this a little earlier than planned as I have had lots of requests from social media for it.

Nourishing Nettle and Lemon cake

Makes 1 loaf cake

Ingredients:

2 cups nettles

200g butter

150g sugar

3 eggs

2 tsp vanilla essence

zest & juice of half a lemon

250g plain flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

Method:

Pick your nettles and ensure they are as young as possible and only the top 4 leaves are picked to avoid them being bitter.  

Obviously avoid where people walk their dogs or where vehicles pass! 

Pour boiling water over your nettles and boil for 2/3 minutes.  This loses their sting.

Drain and squeeze them out as much as you can.

Add the lemon juice and blitz with a hand blender, set aside.

Cream your butter and sugar, add eggs, zest, vanilla, flour, baking powder and salt.

Incorporate the nettle puree and give it a good mix.

Pop it in to a cake liner/tin and bake for 30 or so minutes at around 180c, testing with a skewer to make sure it comes out clean.  

I had to cover with foil half way through as it browned a little more than I'd like

You can cover with frosting or a glaze, whatever takes your fancy.  I made a glaze of sugar and lemon juice for this one and it was very nice.

Enjoy :)