As I’m sure you already know (especially if you’ve been following me for a while), Tuesdays are usually my “quilt-along” days as well as my weekly trip to town to check my P.O. Box, and yesterday was no exception. I had planned to attend, but you know what they say about “best-laid plans”: they often go awry. Mine certainly did this week! I ended up not going to the “quilt-along” session (which may have been the last one for our current project), but I did spend some time working on “Stars” (what I’d planned to do at the “quilt-along”), AND I did some figurin’ and found out that I’m not nearly as finished as I thought I was a couple of weeks ago. So, yeah… I’ll have to finish “Stars” on my own — hopefully between September and the end of this calendar year.
Anyway… The “and” in the title of this post refers to something I realized I should’ve included in the last vanity post (#86) since that was published on a Tuesday. Yep, the “and” refers to a “Tasty Tuesdays” recipe, AND the recipe I’m featuring this week is…
Cajun Beef Stew!
Since I had some meat that needed to be used up before going bad, I made a big batch of stew! I used this week’s featured recipe as a base, but I didn’t use the Cajun seasoning (since I don’t like it) or the frozen peas. I thought of adding a bag of frozen mixed veggies, but it was too late to do so. Anyway… Without further ado, here’s this week’s “Tasty Tuesdays” recipe from my Crock Pot cookbook.
Cajun Beef Stew
Ingredients
- 1 Tablespoon Cajun or blackened seasoning mix
- 1 1/2 pounds cubed beef stew meat
- 2 medium red potatoes, cut into 1 1/2-inch pieces
- 3 carrots, cut into 1-inch pieces
- 1 medium onion, cut into 1 1/2-inch pieces
- 1 stalk celery, sliced
- 1 can (about 14 ounces) beef broth
- 3 Tablespoons water
- 3 Tablespoons cornstarch
- salt
- 1 cup frozen peas, thawed
- 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
Directions
- Coat inside of Crock-Pot slow cooker with nonstick cooking spray. Sprinkle seasoning mix over meat in medium bowl; toss to coat. Place potatoes, carrots, onion and celery in Crock-Pot slow cooker. Place beef on top of vegetables. Add broth. Cover; cook on LOW 7 to 8 hours or on HIGH 4 to 5 hours or until beef and vegetables are tender.
- Remove beef and vegetables to bowl with slotted spoon; cover and keep warm. Stir water into cornstarch in small bowl until smooth; whisk into juices. Cover; cook on HIGH 10 to 15 minutes or until thickened. Season with salt.
- Return beef and vegetables to Crock-Pot sow cooker. Stir in peas and thyme. Cover; cook on HIGH 15 minutes or until heated through.
Makes 4 servings
NOTES:
- As I mentioned earlier, I did NOT use the Cajun seasoning mix nor did I add the peas — and the thyme, for that matter.
- Instead of thickening the stew with the cornstarch and water slurry, I dredged the meat in flour and precooked it — like I did when I first learned how to make beef stew.
Anyway… There’s the recipe I modified to make a batch of beef stew. If you give it a try, I’d love to hear what you thought of it. In addition, if you’ve got a favorite recipe for beef stew, I’d love to give it a try, so please leave a comment below. In the meantime… Bon Appétit!!