Make Ahead Meals For Busy Moms Cookbook Review

Some days you just don’t feel like cooking and with everyone trying to pinch every penny they have going out to eat just isn’t an option. So I like to prepare for those days by making meals ahead of time and freezing them. This way you can have a nice home-cooked meal without all the work… well there is still work just not at that moment.

I love Jane Doiron’s cookbook, “Make Ahead Meals for Busy Moms“. There are so many great recipes that are simple to make and taste delicious. I particularly like that each recipe not only tells you how to prepare the meal but how to freeze it so you can use it later. I choose to make the Beef Stew because I got some stew meat on sale at the grocery store and needed to use it.


Jane is allowing me to share one of her recipes and I thought I would share the Beef Stew recipe with you.


Beef Stew
Ingredients:
3lbs. stew beef, cut into bite-size chunks
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/4 cup onions, finely diced
1/3 cup flour
10 cups lower sodium beef broth
1lb. boiling onions, peeled with ends trimmed
5 cups carrots, peeled and sliced
5 large potatoes, peeled and cubed
3 tablespoons flour
1/2 cup water
Salt and Pepper, to taste


Cooking Directions:
Rinse the beef under cold water and pat dry with paper towels. Season with salt and pepper. Heat a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil. Brown the beef in 3 batches and place the cooked beef in a large bowl. Turn the heat down to medium and add 1/4 cup of diced onions to the pan. Stir and cool until translucent. Add more oil if necessary. Return the beef to the pan. Sprinkle the beef and onion with 1/3 cup flour. Stir well until all is coated, about 2 minutes. Add the broth and stri until well combined. Reduce the heat to a simmer. Cook for one hour. Add the carrots and continue cooking for 30 minutes. Add the potatoes and boiling onions and cook 25 minutes longer. In a small bowl, mix 3 tablespoons of flour with 1/2 cup of water. Stir the stew as your pour in the flour mixture to thicken. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.


Freezing Directions:
Be sure to cool the stew in the refrigerator before freezing. Freeze in labeled containers up to 3 months.


About Make Ahead Meals for Busy Moms

Buy: The Make Ahead Meals cookbook is available online at Amazon.com


Win: One (1) lucky reader will win a copy of the Make Ahead Meals Cookbook