Beef stew and memories.

It is now almost September which means fall is just around the corner and I'm starting to get so excited for warm hearty meals. This beef stew is one of my family's favorites and each bite reminds me fondly of Eveline, my mother in law, who passed away 4 years ago. I remember going over to her house in the morning before we had kids and she would be sitting on the couch with a cup of coffee and book in hand. I would notice that the house was clean and smell that supper was already on the stove. If it was beef stew I would always find a way to invite myself and her son over for dinner that night. It always had a delicate spice to it and it had FLAVOR!! I unfortunately was never able to get the recipe from her so I worked on my own version for a few months until I got it pretty spot on. I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as we do. 

Beef Stew with beans & veggies:

1-1 1/2 lbs of beef stew meat cut in cubes

3-4 medium Yukon gold potatoes scrubbed and cut into 1 inch cubes

3 medium carrots sliced to same size as potatoes

3-4 celery stalks cut up

1/2 onion or more if you like, roughly chopped

1 can diced tomatoes with juice

1 can low sodium beef broth

1 can kidney beans drained and rinsed 

Flour of choice (gluten free, if needed for your family)

salt & pepper

Favorite beef seasoning

hot sauce (optional)

Instructions:

Season beef with salt a pepper or I use my favorite steak/beef seasoning and dust meat with a few tablespoons of flour this will help thicken the stew. Preheat a frying pan w/ a little oil on high heat, add onion and cook for a minute, then add beef and cook just until brown. Add the beef & onions to the crock pot, then add all the veggies, beans, broth, and tomatoes. Set your slow cooker to low and walk away for about 7-8 hours. Check seasoning before serving and add desired salt, pepper and hot sauce. We like just a little kick of heat that's not overpowering.

Weekly Meal Plan 4/22-4/28

I should get these up on Monday but I guess better late than never. :) We had a really busy weekend with some plans that popped up so I am shifting a meal or 2 to this week.

Here it is!

Monday - Man pleasing chicken, asparagus & salad

Tuesday - Turkey burgers (technically a sandwich, right?) with corn

Wednesday - Slow cooker pineapple glazed chicken, rice & peas. I'm going to double the recipe by about 50 % and take half of the whole thing to a friend who just had a baby last week.

Thursday - Crockpot BBQ Ham ( Ham + bbq sauce + brown sugar = yum!!). cheesy mashed potatoes & salad

Friday - Bible study pizza night at our house. We are suppling the pizza and the other attendees are bringing salad, fruit & dessert. I'll make a GF option for the kids.

Saturday - Breakfast for dinner, I'm thinking GF french toast & fruit

Sunday - Potato & ham soup.

Did you discover any new recipes recently? If so...please share!

Have a great week!

Weekly Meal Plan 4/15-4/21

Our family has had a pretty expensive month, so this week I had to dig around in my freezer and cupboard to come up with meals for this week & next week. So glad I found a bunch of meat in the deep freezer and planned meals that use very few ingredients. I'm still following my theme nights for simple meal planning and it really helps take the guess work out of the whole process. Love love love my meal planning, even though I am soooo not a planner. :)

Here you go!

Monday 4/15 - Veggie spaghetti sauce with brown rice noodles

Tuesday 4/16 - Yogurt Baked Chicken & mixed greens salad (this chicken is incredibly yummy!!!)

Wednesday 4/17 - Chicken Teriyaki, Rice & Salad

Thursday 4/18 - Slow cooker ham & great northern beans (using left over Easter ham)

Friday 4/19 - GF homemade-ish Pizza (using Hodgson Mill gluten free Pizza Crust Mix)

Saturday 4/20 - Pancakes & fruit salad (the kids' favorite night!)

Sunday 4/21 - Turkey Burgers with either a fruit or veggie


Thanks for stopping by!!

Simple Meal Planning

Do you hate scrambling to figure out something for dinner last minute? Dread noticing that it's 4:00pm and your family will be expecting some sort of meal soon? Meeeeee toooo!!! Another problem I had was the number of times I went to the store each week was getting out of hand. Taking 3 small children with me was really draining physically,  mentally and financially  Everyone knows how you walk in the store to by milk, bread and bananas and end up spending $50. I knew something had to change but I was complacent about doing anything about it. However, a few weeks ago I noticed a lot of monthly meal planning ideas on Pinterest but planning for a month seems kind of daunting so I started planning 2 weeks worth of meals. Even with breaking it up into 2 weeks, I was running out of ideas. My husband suggested that we eat the same thing each day. So, Sunday would be chicken tacos, Monday stir fry, Tuesday spaghetti and so on. Ummmm no. I need a little more variety than that and the option to try new recipes . We then decided that each day would have a theme. Knowing that Monday is Mexican or Italian night really helps narrow down the recipes that my family enjoys or ones that I have been wanting to try. I print out a cute monthly planner from imom.com and get to work. I keep my calendar on the fridge for easy viewing and to help with compiling my shopping list. Doing 2 big shopping trips per month and 2 smaller trips to stock up on things like milk, bread & produce have really helped us stick to our budget and saved my sanity.

Here's our dinner theme schedule. You can use mine or switch it around and add new ones that fit your schedule and favorite meals.

Sunday: Something new
Monday: Italian or Mexican
Tuesday: Soup, Salad and/or Sandwiches
Wednesday: Asian
Thursday: Crockpot meal
Friday: Something simple & easy (usually something like quesadillas, hot dogs, sandwiches, or leftovers)
Saturday: Breakfast for dinner

Five to ten minutes is all you need! Go ahead, try it out and let me know if meal planning has simplified your life...even just a little.

My blog has a name!!

I would like to warmly welcome you to REALISTIC HOMEMAKING!! I guess I could have done better but I think the title it fits me and my life. I don't have a family command center, I don't have a binder that organizes our entire lives and I don't have a perfectly clean house. Does that mean that I can't make things work and that our family can't thrive? Certainly not! It's not that having a super organized house and life are bad. I wish I had that but it just isn't in my DNA. My motto for housekeeping is pretty simple, I do things when I can, and I set realistic goals. I'm not putting myself down what-so-ever; I think my home is nicely decorated, I love to cook & bake, I meal plan and I have fun with my kids. I can't do it all and I'm okay with that. :)

Blog name and living room revamp!

You would think coming up with a blog name would be pretty easy but it's not. I'm serious. I've come up with a couple but they are taken or there is something out there similar. Any ideas? I'm taking suggestions.

In other news....We got a new sectional today! I'm so excited! I have been wanting a new look and more seat in our family room for ages. We walked in the furniture, saw this beauty and bought it. In and out in 10 minutes, we were thrilled for it to be so easy. New throw pillow fabric has be bought, just need to make them or have them made and I already have fresh new paint color all picked out. Right now the room is looking VERY beige; beige walls, beige curtains, beige sofa, neutral flooring. We are not that boring, I promise, we used to have a leaf green sofa in the room and colorful throw pillows. I can't wait to pull it all together!! The hardest part will be finding an opportunity to paint with 3 small children. Me and the kids are going out of town soon so I'm hoping I can talk the hubs into doing it while we are gone. The color I've decided to go with is Rainwashed by Sherwin Williams click here to see a room in the color. I just love it! We might even paint our kitchen the same color and carry the same color theme in there but I'm getting way ahead of myself. My husband says I do that a lot, but I think I'm just a planner and a dreamer. Stay tuned to see our progress and the finished product!! Thanks for stopping by. :)

Nice huh?! See what I mean by boring? Not for long!

New accent fabric. So cute and fun but still sophisticated.

 

I love this fabric!

 

 

Changes!!

I obviously have not posted anything in a long time, it has been very busy around here! Anyway, I've been at a loss as to what direction I should take this blog. Should I have it be about my home life, or about my kids or about decorating or about how our family of 5 fits in a 1200 sq ft. house or about gluten free cooking & Celiac Disease (more about that later). After careful consideration I will write about it all!! About my life. My ups and downs, my struggles and joys. I am not a master of domestic endeavors but I make it work and I think I may need to give myself more credit. Through this blog I hope to connect with other women and moms and it be a place for me to talk about the things that I want to talk about. If I help someone along the way, then that is fantastic!

My goal is to write 1 blog post per week and one favorites post per month. I think that's doable. 

I also think my blog needs a new name.....hmmmm.....