Best Ever Beef Stew and Mocha Cake.....because I love you...

Apparently it is week 14 of 'I am blissfully domestic'. I did not know this or I would have been blissfully domestic way before now.  But since I've been meaning to give you a couple of my favorite recipes and Kim at ForeverWherever always hosts Tasty Tuesdays, I'm joining both parties.  I've been promising you a beef stew tutorial video...which I went to the trouble of making....and it's horrible.  Or 'harrible' as I would have sounded on the video.  I'm not so fond of my video'd voice.  So I give you the limited pictures I took and my very granny-ish instructions on 

The Best Beef Stew Ever

Start with a package of boneless stew meat.  I usually buy a large package for my large family (I'm guessing 2-3 pounds).  Coat it with Canadian steak seasoning and salt it, then dredge it in flour. In a very hot dutch oven with a generous amount of oil added, brown the meat on all sides.  Once browned, add 1/2 cup (or so) of red wine and then enough beef stock to cover the meat and place the cover on the dutch oven and place it into a 250 degree oven.  Let it cook for 3-4 hours.  Three's probably enough, but if you leave it for four...that's okay too. After four hours, take it out of the oven and it will look something like this.  

Then chop the following items into bite sized pieces:  4 carrots, 1 large onion, 4 large red potatoes (don't use russet: they turn to mush), and  a package of cremini mushrooms.  At this point you can just add all these veggies to the stew or you can go the extra mile and give these a short saute in some olive oil to release some of their natural sugar.  I think the extra step is worth it but I've done it both ways based on time.  Generously salt and pepper the veggies and then add more beef stock so that most of the veggies are covered.  Don't totally submerse them though or there'll be too much liquid.  Also add a few shakes of red pepper, a few shakes of Worcestershire sauce, 2 T. of garlic-herb seasoning, and 2 T. of honey.  Put back into the oven at 250 for another 3 hours.  

When you take it out of the oven, the veggies should be soft but not mushy.  Now for the part that makes my family think I'm a superhero:  Add 1 cup of heavy cream, 1 t. sugar, stir and then taste it.  It may need more salt, pepper, honey, whathaveyou.  To finish it, thaw a half bag of frozen peas in the microwave and add those to the stew and then add 2T. of tomato paste.  Put it back into the oven until your ready to serve. You can turn the oven off and just let it bask in the warmth.   Serve with southern cornbread and prepare for lives to be changed.  I forgot to take a picture just as it came out the oven, but here it is after 7 hungry people devoured it!

Enjoy!

Note to parents:  The flour that you use to dredge the meat in is what will thicken your stew so be generous.

Mocha Cake

If you could see what my copy of this recipe looks like, you'd think I were 75 years old and had made it once a week.  That's the sign of a good recipe.  You must make this cake. K?

2c all purpose flour        Butter Cream Frosting

1 1/2 c sugar    2 stick butter, softened

3/4 c cocoa powder 1T vanilla extract

1 t baking soda 1/8 t salt

1/2 t baking powder 2 pounds powdered sugar

1/4 t salt 1/2 c strong brewed coffee

1 1/2 sticks butter, softened 1/2 c cocoa powder

3 large eggs Garnish with cocoa powder and powdered sugar

1 c water

1 1/2 t. vanilla 

1. Heat oven to 350. Grease and flour 2 8 inch round cake pans.

2. For the cake:  Beat butter, sugar, eggs, and vanilla.  When smooth add dry ingredients and water.  Beat for 3 minutes and divide batter evenly between the pans.

3. Bake 25-30 minutes and then cool cakes completely before frosting.

4. For the frosting:  Mix butter, vanilla, and salt and then slowly begin adding sugar and coffee, alternating.  Beat until smooth.  Remove about 2 cups of the frosting into a cake decorating bag or into a ziplock bag. (freezer ziplocks work better for this because they're more sturdy).  Then add 1/2 c cocoa to the remaining frosting.  Use this chocolate mocha frosting to ice the cakes.  If it's not spreading well you can add a little more coffee and maybe a t. or so of milk to thin it out.  Reserve a small amount of the chocolate frosting to make a few chocolate 'points' on the cake.  Using the buttercream mocha frosting that you reserved earlier, pipe 'points' onto the cake.  Use up all the frosting with as many 'points' as you can fit.  Then add a few chocolate 'points' for good measure.

Ta-da.

Your family will never leave the house again.  

Note to readers:  The mocha cake is not an original recipe.  I have no idea from what website or magazine it was originally taken.  My apologies to the chef.  No matter what I do I cannot get blogger to let me line up those ingredients how I'd like. ** The right column is the icing, the left column is the cake. **Also, my email address has been completely recovered and restored by the administration at hotmail. (High fives).  I will continue to use livinglifeingrace@gmail.com for blogging purposes.  Thank you and God bless.