The Holy Grail of Easy Dinners

Date: August 11, 2010
Recipe: Mediterranean Stew
Source: Cooking Light: 5 Ingredient/15 minute Cookbook c 2000

One day, I want to find a lotion that smells good, has SPF, is a self-tanner & while I'm at it, it should have a firming-mechanism to it as well. Why can't I find that?? Oh - and it should be under $20. However, I did find a recipe that is easy, nutritious, quick to put together, cheap to make and my preschooler would eat. And we liked it too, but that's a bonus. It's basically the Holy Grail of Dinner Rush.

I was at Value Village a few months back - just to see if I could find some of the things that I always have on my mental 'I need' list, but when I find them at Target or wherever, I always think, "THAT'S how much it is??? Forget it!!" - Today it was picture frames, a kids'desk for Big C and sewing patterns or material in case I start sewing again (which I'm not...). Of course I went to the book aisle and started perusing cookbooks, which is a major hoarding issue for me. I LOVE cookbooks. I love their potential and I have a collection of them in my kitchen as a statement piece that I am "THIS" kind of cook. There are also a lot of books that I've never used, but I wish I was that kind of cook. My aunt Martha is the epitome - what I wish I could do one day - her kitchen has a low wall so that when you wash dishes, you can see into the family room and that whole low wall is FILLED with cookbooks of all kinds. I love it!! As a guest, I can look through the titles and find all sorts of interesting things. I still hope to do that one day in my home, but for now, I just have my little nook of pretty cookbooks and then a cabinet of the non-pretty cookbook binders that I use. I'll comment more on cookbook binders in a future post.

Anyway, I found a cookbook at Value Village (pronounced with a faux French accent) called "5 Ingredient/15 Minute Cookbook". I looked through it to make sure it had recipes that I could actually see myself possibly making and I bought it. I've already made Mediterranean Pasta with Zucchini and Mexicali Turkey Skillet Casserole, so I figure I got my money's worth - all $1.99 of it. Last night, I made Mediterranean Beef Stew and it went over super-well! I even only added two extra ingredients : ) It's a crock pot recipe, so it does have to cook over the course of the day, but this is a great way to go - especially in the summer - because it doesn't heat up your house.

Mediterranean Beef Stew
"Work time: 5 minutes" - don't you love that??

Ingredients:
* 2 medium zucchini, cut into bite size chunks (I halved it and then sliced the halves up)
* 3/4 lb beef stew meat, cut into 1/2 inch pieces (I suppose you can do this with chicken chunks or 'tenders' if you wanted to - I'm talkin' to you Liz!)
* 2 (14.5 oz) cans Italian-style diced tomatoes, undrained
* 1/2 tsp pepper (seriously - just shake it on. Why wash a 1/2 tsp measuring spoon when you can just grind some on & eyeball it?? It's pepper for God's sake - not alum or tartar!)
* 1 (2 inch thick) stick cinnamon OR 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon (Um....of course I went for the ground cinnamon - I'm not going to buy a cinnamon stick for this, but if you have any left over from a Christmas cider or something, you might as well use it to say to yourself, "see? I knew buying cinnamon sticks would come in handy!") I also did not measure this, and I was pretty liberal with it.

Directions:
Place zucchini in bottom of a 3 & 1/2-quart electric slow cooker (the round one, not oval - and NOT the tiny one made for Velveeta/salsa dip ; ) You could make this in the oval one though of course. Add beef and the remaining ingredients (all 3 of them). I added chopped onions too. You could also add other vegetables that you had on hand, but I had a screaming baby by then, so I had to act quick. Cover and cook on high setting 5 hours or until meat is tender. Or, cover and cook on high setting 1 hour, reduce to a low setting and cook 7 more hours. Remove and discard Cinnamon stick if you used one prior to serving. (duh.) I also made white Minute Rice to serve this with right before and served it in bowls. If I had more presence of mind (I made this before I got my decent nights' sleep,) I would have served it over couscous made with chicken broth and added a salad and maybe some of that crazy-awsome foccacia from Top Foods.

That's it!