Cooking Dinner at 7am

The kitchen is on hiatus for a bit while I wait to get paid again.  We're doing the renovation on a budget so it means we have to have the cash to keep going.  It looks phenomenal already - just needs a few more touches before I can post before and after pictures.  Keep checking back.

The daily routine is slowly coming back now that the kids have been in school for a couple of weeks.  The rush of picking up the kids and getting home and trying to figure out what to make for dinner makes me absolutely nutso.  I am trying to get back into the habit of defrosting something the day before so that I have a plan for the next day.  This morning the question was "what should I do with the stew beef I defrosted?"  I have to admit that chopping veggies at 7am sucks.  But when I got home to dinner made and the whole house smelling good, it was all worth it!  The recipe is pretty simple and the results are awesome - so I thought I'd share:

Crockpot Beef Stew

Ingredients:
1 tbsp oil
1 pound stew beef
1/2 cup flour
1 tbsp garlic powder
Sliced Mushrooms (canned or fresh)
1 cup baby carrots
1 turnip, cut into 1" pieces
2 potatoes, chopped into 1 " pieces
4 stalks celery, chopped into 1 " pieces
1 medium onion, cut into 1" pieces
1 can (14 oz) beef broth
1 can (14 oz) diced tomatoes
1 pkg onion soup mix
1 tbsp minced garlic
1/4 cup water
1 tbsp cornstarch

Heat oil in a large skillet over med-high heat. In a large ziploc bag, combine flour & garlic powder. Shake stew beef until coated and fry in oil until browned. (About 5 minutes). Remove to crockpot. Turn crockpot to high.

Add mushrooms, carrots, turnip, potatoes, celery, onion, beef broth, diced tomatoes, garlic and onion soup mix to crock pot. Stir. Cover and leave for three hours.

Mix 1/4 cup water and 1 tbsp cornstarch and add to crockpot. Stir, turn heat to low. Cook one more hour before serving.