Healthy Autumn Stew

In the Fall and Winter we tend to look for recipes that are more filling as well as nourishing and healthy. This is a fairly simple recipe for stew that can be made with a few different cuts of meat, depending on your tastes. This stew can be made with pork, chicken, turkey or beef. I generally make my stew in a large crock pot and let it cook on low for about 9 hours so that the meat is very tender and all the flavors of the spices, vegetables and meat have blended together.

Ingredients

Stew Beef
Pork tenderloin
Chicken Breast
Turkey Breast
2 Cans of stewing tomatoes ( 10 3/4 ounce size)
1 Can of tomato sauce (10 3/4 ounce size can)
1-2 large raw yellow onions
4 raw potatoes
6 raw carrots
1 can of corn
1 can of peas
1 can of green beans
2-3 tablespoons of parsley flakes
1/4 teaspoon of black pepper
2 tablespoons of minced garlic (generally I use the minced garlic found in a jar at Costco or Sam's Club)
1 tablespoon of Paprika
2-3 beef bouillon cubes melted in 1 cup of hot water
2 tablespoons of all purpose flour.

First you need to select which meat product you want to make your stew with. I would use about 2 pounds of whatever meat that you have decided to use.
If you decide to make this dish with chicken instead of pork, beef or turkey than you can add 1 tablespoon of curry powder depending on your taste buds as a spice to the recipe. This will give it a totally different taste than the usual taste with pork or beef and using the other spices listed above under the ingredients list.
I generally make my stew using pork tenderloin that I have cut and cubed or stew beef that is already prepared for use for stew. I have just found that my family prefers it to be made this way, for they are not that fond of curry powder.

If using pork tenderloin than you will need to cut the pork tenderloin into smaller pieces, preferably cubes. If using beef, you can purchase stew beef already prepared for your use. Some people like to saute their meat briefly in a skillet, over a fairly high temperature to get it a little brown prior to adding the additional ingredients for the stew. So saute your meat on a high temperature until you see some of the juices running from the meat. Turn the meat over a number of times until it is lightly browned on all sides. Remove the meat from the pan that you have browned it in and place the lightly browned meat into your crock pot and set it aside. Sprinkle the flour lightly over the already cooked meat in the crock pot and stir the meat around so that the flour coats it lightly. The flour will help thicken the juices later on while everything is cooking in the crock pot.

Peel and dice your onions and than brown them along with the 2 tablespoons of minced garlic, in the same skillet that you had browned the meat in previously. Remove the cooked onions and garlic, from the pan once soft and browned and place them into the crock pot along with the already browned meat. Peel and dice the raw potatoes. Peel and slice the raw carrots. Add the diced potato pieces as well as the sliced carrots into the crock pot. Open the cans of corn, peas and green beans. Drain out the liquid from each can and add them to the crock pot as well. If you have the time and prefer fresh vegetables than you can purchase fresh green beans and wash them, cut off the ends and cut them into pieces and use them instead of canned beans. I prefer to use canned corn and peas instead of fresh corn or peas, it is just much easier and less time consuming, and certainly more economical. Now open the cans of stewing tomatoes and drain the liquid from the cans and add them into the crock pot. Also add the tomato sauce and all of the spices as listed above. Boil the cup of water and add the bouillon cubes. Once the bouillon cubes have dissolved add this mixture to the crock pot as well. Now mix all of the ingredients in the crock pot together thoroughly, and now turn the crock pot onto a low setting and let it cook for about 9 hours. You can generally tell when the stew is done, for the juices have thickened and the meat is really tender. Once the ingredients are all in the crock pot cooking you can go about your business and tend to whatever else you need to get done for the rest of the day, and let the crock pot do the work for you. Once your stew is done add some biscuits and you have a fairly easy home cooked meal that your family will certainly enjoy.