EASIEST CROCK POT STEW

5 Qt. Crock Pot for Easiest Crock Pot Stew

Here's the easiest crock pot stew you will ever make and it's great for any night of the week. Did you see this on Twinformation on YouTube? Let us know in the comments if you did. 
This crock pot recipe makes A LOT of food so you'll be able to freeze it, pull it out, defrost it and eat it whenever you don't have time to make something.

You can make this stew with things you probably already have in your pantry and fridge.

WHAT YOU'LL NEED (TOOLS):
CROCK POT - 3 OR 5 QT. VOLUME
CUTTING BOARD, KNIVES, OR FOOD PROCESSOR

Packages of lentils & brown rice will cost about $1 a pop

INGREDIENTS:
(all of these are really up to your discretion - what you like, what you have lying around, you get the idea)
4 carrots (peeled & diced)
4 celery stalks (diced)
1 onion (chopped finely)
4 garlic cloves (chopped finely)
1 red bell pepper (seeded & diced)
1 cup uncooked lentils (rinsed & sorted)
1/2 cup brown uncooked brown rice
Water
Vegetable or chicken boullion
Spices to taste (sage, rosemary, bay leaf, thyme, salt and pepper are all nice choices with this stew)

For the "meat" of the meal:
1 pkg tofu (drained & pressed and cut into cubes)
OR
1 lb chicken (cut into bite size pieces)
OR
1 lb ground beef

METHOD:
Put all veggie, meat, starch & legume ingredients into crock pot. Fill nearly to top with cool water and put in a few teaspoons or cubes of boullion. Add other spices to taste.

Turn crock pot on high and let stew cook for at least 6 hours. Mix crock pot contents thoroughly following cooking. You can add spices such as salt, pepper, sage, thyme, or anything else you may like to taste at this point.... or, you can allow stew to cool and package it into single-serving, freezable containers. Freeze the containers and the contents and thaw when you need a quick go-to meal.

Single Serving Container of Crock Pot Stew Ready to Freeze

You can spice the stew up to your desire after thawing and heating. Blend the stew for a creamy consistency or keep it as is to enjoy all the ingredients and the wonderful flavors.

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Super Easy (and Cheap) Fish Stew

When searching the fridge and pantry for something with a little protein I could put with the leftovers of the Garden Risotto (see previous post), I decided to experiment. My fish stew turned out awesome!
It's quick (under 30 mins), flavorful and very inexpensive to make.

Here's what I did. Recreate it and you and your family will be happy.

• 1 onion - chopped small
• 3 cloves garlic - minced
• 1/2 head green cabbage - chopped
• 1 zucchini - chopped small
• 3 roma tomatoes - chopped
• 1/2 cup dry white wine - seperated into 1/4 cups
• 1/2 lb. white fish (up to you which kind - can be frozen but make sure to thaw it before adding to pan)

Start with a large frying pan with high edges. Heat about a teaspoon of olive oil. Add in whatever vegetables you have lying around. I used a chopped onion, a few cloved of chopped garlic, chopped cabbage, a few chopped roma tomatoes and some zucchini. Sautee all the vegetables under slightly tender. Then put in about 1/4 cup dry white wine and 1/2 cup vegetable broth. Simmer this for about 5 to 7 minutes. Add in about 1/2 lb. of whatever white fish (I used frozen white fish you can get at the grocery store for about $7 for 10 lbs. Just make sure it's thawed before adding it to the pan.)
Cook on med-high heat for about 5 minutes. The fish will fall apart in the pan as you stir it. Add salt and pepper to taste. Another great flavor addition is Old Bay seasoning. I used about 1 Tbsp. You can also add about 1 tsp. corn starch completely dissolved in an additional 1/4 cup of white wine, then added to the fish mixture to thicken the sauce. Continue stirring until you reach the desired thickness.

Served this with Garden Risotto on the side. Yum!

Garden Risotto

If you can cook rice, you can make this extremely flavorful risotto dish. It can be made as a main or side dish and one of the great things is that you can use virtually any vegetables you have in your fridge in it. It's all vegetarian/vegan except for the parmesan cheese...which you don't have to use, though the cheese does give the risotto a lovely, slightly creamier texture.

 (Adding finishing touches to Risotto - putting Parmesan cheese in pan.)

I found the recipe on FoodNetwork.com from Ellie Krieger's show. If you haven't seen it, she does a lot of healthier dishes that are often vegetarian. I made the Garden Risotto as a co-main dish alongside slices of marinated, baked tofu. For the tofu, get a 14oz block at the grocery store, cut into 1/2" slices and drain from the pkg. Then soak the remainder of the moisture out of the tofu slices with a thin dishcloth.


My marinade was made up of:

• 1/2 teaspoon of olive oil
• 1 teaspoon of balsamic vinegar
• 4 cloves minced garlic 
• 10 leaves of minced fresh basil

Mix all ingredients together in a shallow bowl or cassarole dish and put tofu slices in there for about 10 mins on each side.

Click here for the Garden Risotto recipe. It takes about 10 or 15 mins longer than the recipe on Food Network indicates, though is well worth the wait. It also makes a good 6 servings so it's great if you want to make the full amount and then have leftovers for side dishes for the family the next day.

*I didn't have spinach like the recipe called for so substituted chopped zucchini and chopped green bell pepper, along with the peas.