Charlene's Recipe

Beef and Veggie Stew

Category: soup

1 lb ground beef or stew beef chunks cut up into 1 inch or less cubes
1 green, yellow or red pepper, diced
1 carrot, diced
1/2 small cabbage, chopped
1 large onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1/4 c olive oil
1 quart beef or vegetable stock
1 can stewed tomato
1/4 cup quinoa or barley or brown rice
1 12 oz. bottle of a favorite simmering sauce. (This is where you can add variety to this simple recipe by simply changing the sauce. I prefer the different curried simmering sauces but you can make it Italian or oriental)

One simple way to make this is to add all the ingredients to a crock pot, make sure you cover it all with water if the simmer sauce and canned tomatoes dont cover the rest of the ingredients. Turn it up to high in the morning and it will be ready by lunch, or just leave it on low for the afternoon.

I prefer to cook it on the stove in a large pot in the following manner:
Pour the oil into the pot over medium heat, add the garlic and meat. Keep stirring and before the meat is cooked add all the dry vegetables. Feel free to substitute any favorite veggies or add in as many as you want as this is a very flexible dish. Stir a few more minutes as I like the roasted flavor this gives the veggies. Pour in the stock, stewed tomatoes and simmering sauce. Make sure all the ingredients are covered by the liquids, if not just add enough water to cover all the ingredients. Bring it all to a boil, add the grains then simmer for 1 hour.
The simmering sauce should be all the seasoning you need.