Beef Stew

On a really chilly winter night, I tend to crave comfort food, and while I'm not a huge red meat eater, I've recently been wanting my mom's beef stew. It's very basic, but it really hits the spot. I started by dredging the stew meat in a mixture of flour, garlic salt, and pepper. I then browned the meat in a bit of oil. Once the meat was browned, I added some beef broth and a bay leaf and let things simmer for awhile. Once the meat gets tender, I added in some vegetables. I stuck with the basics- carrots, onion, and potatoes. 

I like the sauce to be a little on the thicker side, so toward the end I thickened it with a little broth and cornstarch. You could also use flour mixed with butter, but I usually just use cornstarch since it's easier. I ended up with a very simple and hearty stew that reminds me of home.

Macaroni and Cheese

When I'm in the mood for ultimate comfort food, I reach for my mom's recipe for macaroni and cheese. It's incredibly simple, but it hits the spot for me every time. While I've never met a mac and cheese that I didn't like, I prefer baked and with plenty of sharp cheddar cheese. 

For this mac and cheese, you'll first need to partially cook about 8 ounces of macaroni and then let it cool. While the macaroni is cooling, melt a tablespoon or two of butter in the microwave. While I forgot to picture it below, an egg is a crucial ingredient- at this point, beat an egg into the melted butter. After this, you need around 2 cups of milk. This isn't exact, but you need enough to make a custard for the mac and cheese. At this point, I season the liquid mixture with some salt and fresh black pepper. I also like to add in a pretty good dash of cayenne pepper, but that's totally optional. Once the pasta has cooled off a bit, mix it with the liquid mixture and add some shredded cheese. For 8 ounces of pasta, I use an 8 ounce bag of cheese. Next, put the whole thing in a covered casserole dish and bake. I'd strongly recommend putting the dish on a rimmed baking sheet in the oven, since this has a tendency to bubble over and make a bit of a mess. 

After about 45 minutes, I like to take the lid off of the casserole dish and bake for about another 15 minutes so that the top gets a little crunchy. Bake the macaroni and cheese until the liquid mixture has set- generally an hour does it. After that, dig in and enjoy!

Marinara Sauce

One of my favorite Saturday projects is whipping up a nice big batch of pasta sauce. I love my mom's recipe for this, and it's very easy to adapt it and make a meat version. It's very simple, but I'm hooked on the stuff now, and jarred sauce just won't do anymore. It tastes so much fresher!

I started the sauce by sauteing an onion in some olive oil. Once the onion has softened, I add some minced garlic and give it a minute or two to incorporate. After that, I add around half a cup of red wine and let it reduce for a few minutes. The red wine is one of the key ingredients that makes this sauce for me.  Once the wine has been going for about 5 minutes, I add some canned tomatoes- my favorite blend is one big can of crushed tomatoes, 2 cans of tomato sauce, and a can of diced tomatoes. It really just depends on what you have in your cupboard and the sauce texture that you prefer. My blend is on the smoother side. At this point, I usually add some crumbled ground beef, but you could easily leave that out for a vegetarian version. I also add a little sugar, some red pepper flakes, and some italian seasoning.  At this point, the sauce doesn't taste too incorporated, but just give it at least an hour, and it'll be delicious. It makes a huge batch, but it also freezes really well- while it's a bit of a process to make, I end up with enough sauce for about 8-10 meals in my freezer.