It's raining it's pouring! Oh and snowing! ~ Our Boy and His Cricket

Thursday, January 24, 2008 -

It's raining it's pouring! Oh and snowing!

We've had rain now for 3 days straight! I AM LOVING IT!!! The hills all around us are covered in snow and we are supposed to get more! In fact the hill over to San Jose today is a mess because of the snow fall.

Now I'm just praying my sweet husband gets home safe and sound from the bay area. When he does get home, he'll warm up to this treat...

In order to keep us warm this week I made a huge pot of Beef and Barley Stew. It is a must make for anyone who needs to keep warm! Check it out!

Ingredients

Cooking spray
2 pounds beef stew meat, trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces
2 teaspoons canola oil
2 cups chopped leek (about 4 medium)
2 cups chopped carrot
4 garlic cloves, minced
6 cups water
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
4 bay leaves
2 (14-ounce) cans less-sodium beef broth
1 cup uncooked pearl barley

Preparation
Heat a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add half of beef; cook 5 minutes, browning on all sides. Remove from pan. Repeat procedure with remaining beef.

Heat oil in pan over medium-high heat. Add leek, carrot, and garlic; sauté 4 minutes or until lightly browned. Return beef to pan. Add water and next 5 ingredients (through broth); bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 1 hour. Add barley; cook 30 minutes or until beef and barley are tender. Discard bay leaves.
Yield

8 servings (serving size: 1 1/2 cups)
Nutritional Information

CALORIES 308(30% from fat); FAT 10.1g (sat 3.3g,mono 4.4g,poly 0.9g); PROTEIN 26.9g; CHOLESTEROL 71mg; CALCIUM 48mg; SODIUM 548mg; FIBER 5.4g; IRON 4.1mg; CARBOHYDRATE 26.7g

Cooking Light, JANUARY 2005

Tomorrow and Saturday we are gonna get hit pretty hard again like the last storm that knocked out our power. Lets pray the power doesn't stay out too long this time!

8 comments:

redmaryjanes says:

5:41 PM

That looks delicious, I love warm stews and chili's when it's cold out. That looks fantastic.
This definitely is some freaky cold weather we all are getting.

D & S says:

6:36 PM

I understand that in California you're not use to getting snow but take it from a Canadian that's REALLY tired of the white stuff, it gets old very quickly. Enjoy it though.

Kayce says:

6:53 PM

Delores you crack me up! Yeah us Californians aren't used to the snow, especially those of us at the beach! :) I would LOVE to spend a winter in your neck of the woods, seriously! Yeah yeah I'm crazy!