Grandma’s Autumn Stew

Lately, it seems, whenever and whatever I make for dinner gets panned by my kids.   It can be disheartening to work on a meal only to have it snubbed by the 6 and under crowd.   So, when last night’s dinner got rave reviews, I thought it was blog-worthy.

This is a soup recipe from Mike’s mom.  It doesn’t look like anything special (no fancy ingredients), but it sure was tasty. A bonus for me was I had nearly everything already in my pantry.

Grandma’s Autumn Stew

1lb ground beef
1 cup onion, chopped
4 cups water
2 cups carrots, sliced
2 cups celery, sliced
2 cups potatoes, pared and cubed
2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1 bay leaf
1 garlic clove, mashed or minced
1/8 tsp basil
1 tsp brown bouquet sauce
1 large can whole tomatoes (28oz) put in the processor or blender.

In a large sauce pan, cook and stir meat until brown. Drain off fat. Cook and stir onion with meat until onion is tender. Stir in remaining ingredients. Heat to boiling, then reduce heat and cover, simmering til vegetables are tender and for as long after as you want.

Makes 3-4 quarts.

Here are my substitutions:

I don’t have and have never heard of bouquet sauce – I just used Worcestershire sauce instead and a couple of glugs of BBQ Sauce. Instead of pureeing whole tomatoes, I use diced or pre-pureed. For the seasonings, I just add whatever feels right – I probably put 3 garlic cloves in. I let it simmer for at least a half hour.

Making a dinner the kids don’t turn their noses up works for me!

Checkout more Works For Me Wednesday Tips at We Are That Family.

Tags: WFMW, what's cookin