Deliciously Ruined

Tradition – noun: the transmission of customs or beliefs from generation to
generation, or the fact of being passed on in this way

Last night I “ruined” a traditional meal that has been passed down in my
family. You might be asking how I ruined it. Was it burnt? Did I add too
much salt? Neither of those apply in this situation.

I called my mom yesterday evening to tell her that I had ruined Gramma’s
beef stew recipe by adding one simple ingredient…mushrooms.

Gramma doesn’t like mushrooms, ok that’s putting it lightly. I made this
AMAZING pot roast around Christmas. I offered to warm some leftovers up for
her one afternoon. She was quite vocal about her dislike of the fungus.

While talking to Mom, I decided that my secret would be safe if I blogged
this recipe. Usually putting a piece of information on the internet isn’t
the best way to keep something quiet, but knowing that Gramma won’t be
surfing the net anytime soon, I figure it’s a safe-ish bet. (saying all that
was probably all in vain, knowing that Gramma is currently visiting my
technophile Aunt and Uncle in the D.C. Metro area and will probably see it
shortly after posting 🙂 )

So here it is, the recipe that could get me dis-owned.

Beef Stew

~ 1 pound Stew Beef

1 T butter

1 T Garlic Garlic(TM)

1 package Beefy Onion Soup Mix

~ 3 cups Water

Petite Red Potatoes cut in half

Carrot baby or cut into 2 inch pieces

½ pound portabella mushrooms

1 can tomato soup

Brown the stew beef with the butter and Garlic Garlic(TM). Once thoroughly cooked, add the onion soup mix and about a cup of water.  Let that cook down, then add more water.

I usually let that simmer down one more time while I prepare the potatoes, carrots and in this version of the stew, the mushrooms.

I used petite red potatoes in this recipe, so I just sliced them in half.  The carrots were cut into 1 ½ to 2 inch pieces, cut on the diagonal.  For the mushrooms, I removed the stems and cut the caps into quarters.

Place the freshly cut ingredients to the pot with the beef.  Add a can of condensed tomato soup to the pot as well.  Add water to cover the contents of the pot and stir.  Let the stew cook on medium heat until the carrots are cooked through.

I served my stew with a piece of a loaf of bread from Jimmy Johns! (Only 49 cents!)