Whatchu cooking?

Those who know me well know how much I enjoy good food. I love eating, cooking, exploring new flavors and spices, going grocery shopping, and shopping for new cookware. Because I am not shy about showing my appreciation for a well-prepared flavorful meal, my sister teases me about how I should be in a restaurant commercial. However I remember enjoying experimenting in the kitchen with dishes, even for something as basic as pancakes, ever since I was a little girl. Because I have a passion for tasty cuisine, I could see myself possibly opening my own cafe or restaurant someday.

Having said that, I couldn't have a virtual cafe without including some good recipes for exploring. These are some recipes I personally tried (and I will let you know) or ones that seem good enough to try with a little tweaking. That is the joy of cooking: you can experiment with recipes and make them your own by adding or eliminating ingredients, especially if you have food allergies or recently ate at a restaurant and want to try it at home. I've done it numerous times, and while some recipes require you to follow step by step to guarantee everything turns out correctly, a lot of cooking is simply experimenting to find what works. Of course, I will say if you have a recipe you would want to share with me, just email me and I will happily post it. 

New Recipe: For the sake of space, I will leave off the instructions for the previous dish, but I will include the name below so you know what I prepared. However, if you want to know more about the recipe, please feel free to email me.

• Gumbo Collard Greens with Chicken Sausage and Shrimp

Here's my next recipe, which I prepared in my favorite slow cooker. It was hearty and quite delicious!

Dish: Stew Beef Pot Pie

This recipe was created with leftover stew beef that I had slow cooked in the crock pot or slow cooker. Again, these are the best appliances to invest in, especially if you have a busy schedule, because they allow you to simmer your meal at a lower temperature than other cooking methods such as frying, baking, or boiling. Plus, in my opinion, the seasonings are able to slowly penetrate the main ingredients, resulting in a more savory dish.

Using a fairly large slow cooker or you may call it a crockpot, I combined all my ingredients below to prepare a tasty stew beef that had vegetables in it.

Note: You can adjust ingredients to your tastebuds, portion size and dietary needs and preferences. Vegetarian Option: For a veggie-packed version, omit the meat and instead add more veggies, resulting in a "vegetable stew" that may be used on the inside of your "Pot Pie". Again, whatever suits your palate.

Ingredients: - Ingredients:
- USDA Prime Stew Beef
- 2 tsp garlic powder
- 2 tsp smoked paprika
- 1 tbsp black pepper - 1 tbsp Mrs. Dash All Purpose Seasoning - 1 tbsp beef bouillon - 2 turmeric cubes
- 1 small yellow onion, chopped
- 1 green bell pepper, diced - 1 red bell pepper, diced - 3 medium sized white potatoes, chopped
- 2 tbsp Mediterranean olive oil
- 3 cups beef broth
- 1 -1/2 cup frozen peas - 1 -1/2 cup sweet baby carrots chopped
- 1 sheet pie crust
- 1 sheet puff pastry, cut into rectangles
- 1 large egg white, beaten with 1 tbsp water
- 2 tbsp melted butter

What I did: I always rinse and/or soak all vegetables and meat before cooking. I sautéed the vegetables (onion, peppers, using 2 teaspoon of oil, turmeric, pepper and garlic powder to release flavors (3-5 mins) and browned the stew beef in a skillet on all sides before putting ingredients in the slow cooker. I chopped up my 3 white potatoes after removing the skin and set to the side in a bowl along with chopped carrots and frozen peas. I then added all other ingredients and began the cooking process in the slow cooker. Making sure the meat is covered completely with the broth I put the lid on top and start the cooking process.

Note 1: As always when cooking a pretty thick piece of meat in the slow cooker, I always start on a low heat for about an hour before bringing it up to high setting while covered. I also refrained from opening the lid after my first thorough stir of all ingredients while changing the temperatures and tasting the sauce to make sure it wasn’t too bland or over seasoned. I let it cook for approximately 4 hours uninterrupted before adding my potatoes, peas and carrots after which I turned the slow cooker back down to low heat and let it finish cooking out that way for an additional hour to 90 minutes on a low heat, making sure all vegetables along with meat are tender. The overall cooking time was about 6 to 6.30 hours. Perfect!

Note 2: I rarely add flour to these types of meals that include potatoes because the potatoes create a thickening sauce.

I enjoyed my stew beef for about 2 to 3 days with brown rice, a side salad, and/or collard greens. (As you will see, I like to have some sort of greens with my meals.) And because I slowly cooked this piece of meat, it was really tender and shredded easily with no effort on my part. The leftover meat is what I used to make my "Pot Pie."

I used a skillet but you can also use an aluminum pie pan and grease the bottom with oil before lining it with the sheet pie crust. Just like a pie, I baked the crust for approximately 8-10 minutes at 375 degrees before removing it and scooping the remaining stew beef from the slow cooker on top as my filling. Before placing my puff pastries on top of the meat filling, I made sure the vegetables and meat were evenly spread on the lightly browned pie crust. After that, I brushed the top of the crust with the beaten egg white and baked it uncovered at 400 degrees for about 15 minutes, just long enough to ensure the pastry was golden brown, before turning off the oven and drizzling the melted butter over top. I left it in the oven for approximately another 5-7 minutes.

My friend, this was the best “Stew Beef Pot Pie” I ever had.

Who said you couldn't make a new meal out of leftovers? This was another two days of eating a hearty meal. If you don't want to make a "pot pie," you can freeze the extra meat for later use. I'm not a big "freeze meals" fan, but it does depend on what it is, and it's nice to know it's always an option. This way tasted better to me after a few days of refrigeration because all the flavors really set in. When you're ready to eat it, simply warm it in the oven on low heat. Whatever works for you! I hope you enjoy.

Bon Appetit