Guinness Stew and Cole Slaw April.15.2009

Guinness Stew

1.5 – 2 lbs. beef for stew
Garlic Salt & Pepper
3 Tbs olive oil
1 large onion, chopped coarsely
1 stalk celery, cut into ½” slices
1 packet beefy onion soup mix
1 can Cream of Mushroom with Roasted Garlic soup
1 bottle Guinness
1 tsp sugar
3-4 cups water
2 cups baby carrots, cleaned
4 medium potatoes, peeled and cut into bite-sized chunks

Heat oil in a Dutch Oven. Add the beef chunks, season with garlic salt & pepper and brown well. Stir in onions and celery and cook about 5 minutes. Add the onion soup mix, mushroom soup, Guinness, sugar and water. Stir until combined. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer about 4 hours, replacing water periodically as it evaporates to keep about the same level you started out with. About 1 hour before you want to serve dinner, add the carrots and cook about 15 minutes. Add the potatoes and cook until done. Taste and add salt or pepper to taste, if necessary.

This stew is perfect for the crock pot, but since I was home and too lazy to get the thing off the shelf I store it on, I just cooked it slowly on the stove. This is a very tasty stew!

This is my version of Cole Slaw and I make it often. I never measure and you can change this any way you like with the variations. It's the best Cole Slaw I've ever tasted anywhere, if I do say so myself!

Cathy’s Cole Slaw

1 pkg cole slaw (pre-shredded with red and green cabbage and carrots)
Sugar
Mayonnaise
Ken’s Lite Sweet Vidalia Salad Dressing
Craisins

Put as much of the cole slaw mix into a large bowl as you will need. Add a tiny bit of sugar (not more than 1 teaspoon for the whole bag). Add the salad dressing to taste and enough mayonnaise to coat the vegetables. Don’t use too much mayo! Mix in the craisins and chill until serving time, but no longer than 1 hour.

Variations:
Use whatever salad dressing you like, or leave it out entirely.
Add a bit of celery seed or celery flakes
Add a chopped apple or two
Add a small can of drained, crushed pineapple
Add some grated onion and or celery
Add a bit of orange juice, apple juice or whatever fruit juice you have on hand
Add a spritz of lemon or lime juice (you may have to increase the sugar for this)