Herself's Recipes

Adding tomatoes to the beef stew really livens it up, along with making it much healthier. Great for cool fall days, beef stew is usually served with rolls or biscuits.

1 lb stew beef cut into 2″ cubes
1 16 oz can “Fresh Cut Tomatoes” (or any diced tomatoes)
3-4 potatoes cut into 1 1/2″ x 1/2″ cubes
2-3 onions cut in quarters and separated
4-5 carrots cut into 1/2″ disks
2 cloves garlic (crushed)
about a half cup of red wine
3 cups bullion ( 3 cubes of bullion + 3 cups of water)

Take the potatoes, onions, carrots, garlic, and a bit of cooking oil and toss them in a skillet and cook until potatoes are tender.

Toss all the ingredients into the crock pot (or in a stew pot over very low heat) and cook about 4 hours.

Tip: Easy on the spices, a little spice goes a very long way in a crock pot! And cut vegetables small, they cook a lot slower than meat in a crock pot or pre cook the vegetables.

“The one thing I’ve learned in all my years of cooking is that it is always quietest just before the fire alarm.”

A family of three tomatoes were walking downtown one day when the little baby tomato started lagging behind. The big father tomato walks back to the baby tomato, stomps on her, squashing her into a red paste, and says, “Ketchup!”

This soup is made from scratch and a good way to use up those fall tomatoes from the garden that taste so good but aren’t so pretty. I make it in a crock pot, any pan over a very low heat will work.

Part I
Cover the bottom of two 9×13 pans with olive oil
Mix one shredded clove of garlic in each pan
Fill each pan with quartered tomatoes,( enough to cover the bottom )
Roast at 350′ for ~45 minutes until tomatoes are soft
press tomatoes through a strainer to remove skins. (don’t skip this step!)
Add to crock pot

Part II
Take a microwave proof small bowl and add:
1 Tablespoon butter
2 cloves garlic, crushed
The juice of one half a lemon
1 teaspoon oregano

Microwave 1 minute until butter is melted and garlic light brown
Add to crock pot

Part III
Add to crockpot 2 cups of chicken broth

Part IV (optional)
1/4 cup sour cream or heavy cream or both
Add to crock pot and stir in gently

Let simmer ~ 4-6 hours

Tomatoes are a fruit, not a vegetable and they are the world’s more popular fruit. They were first cultivated in Central America around 700 AD. The first mention of tomatoes in Europe occurs in the mid 1500s.

The Supreme Court in 1883 ruled that tomatoes were vegetables. John Nix of NJ declared his imported tomatoes were fruits not vegetables and therefore not subject to tax. The gov’t decided they should be taxed.