Food Friday: A Comfy Cozy Fall Supper

This week fall has suddenly really hit. In a matter of just a couple of days it went from feeling like the end of summer, to feeling like the crisp cool raw-edge of fall. Also this week, the grind of the school year has really hit. In a matter of just a couple of days it went from feeling like we were gently easing into our school year rhythm, to feeling like the cold harsh reality of the mammoth weight of our everyday routine has slammed us.

{Sidenote: extra points for me! I managed to fit in one of Kyle and Owen’s spelling words for this week– ‘mammoth’– their spelling tests are every Friday and I swear, those weekly spelling words are gonna be the death of me. This week’s include [in addition to mammoth]: befuddled, ludicrous, stoic, infamous… among others. I’m wishing them luck on their tests as I write this; they are probably taking those tests right now as I type.}

It is counter-intuitive, during weeks like this, to stop everything and devote the time to putting together an out-of-routine family meal. I have my go-to dinners for weeks like this– simple things that I can make easily without recipes and with ingredients I tend to already have. Those meals are the mainstay of our family suppers — especially during the more hectic, frenzied, stressed-out weeks of our lives. But I’ve found that it during weeks like this that it is most important, and most gratifying, to take command of this rat-race-of-a-ship and pull out all the stops to make an out-of-the-ordinary meal happen.

This week we needed a comfy cozy supper to usher in our fall, and to ease our frayed nerves. We don’t eat much beef, or potatoes, and we rarely eat one-pot meals, and I almost never bake. But Meera and Owen love meat, there’s nothing Braydon loves much more than a hearty stew, and my Ky Ky is a huge fan of any autumn-esque baked good (anything zucchini or pumpkin in the form of a bread-like item warms his heart and soul).

So, this week, on Wednesday, right smack in the middle, we had this dinner. I’m not saying that it helped us immensely in any way, shape, or form. Trust me, as this week wraps up, we are still a bunch of basket-cases. But I will say this: this meal definitely didn’t hurt. And my family saw me cook them up some love at a time when they really needed some TLC.

This one is super easy folks! Braydon and the bambinos left the house at 7:30 to head for school Wednesday morning, and by 9am our supper was already waiting for us, I was showered, and ready for a long day at work (which was good, because I had meetings that ran late into that afternoon, so there would have been no way in heck I could have pulled off a family dinner that night otherwise).

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Zucchini Bread

I’ve posted about this zucchini bread on the blog before. Click here for the zucchini bread recipe. We always eat zucchini bread with cream cheese on it (instead of butter). We’ve recently discovered Wegman’s pumpkin cream cheese — and we found out this week that some of us (mostly, OWEN) loves that pumpkin cream cheese spread on the zucchini bread.

Beef Stew

My mom has always raved to me about the Superior Touch brand of seasonings and sauce-starters. One of the Superior Touch products she’s introduced me to are the crockpot seasoning mix packets. They are really very good, and much better than the other seasoning packets on the market (both in terms of what is in the list of ingredients, and what the final product tastes like). Of course, beef stew from scratch is much better than with the packet… but… a mama’s gotta do what a mama’s gotta do, and this here little packet makes a world of difference in the de-frazzling a frantic day.

• In the bottom of crockpot, mix the Crockery Gourmet Seasoning Mix for Beef with the amount of water as directed on the back of the packet
• Add 1.5 pounds of cubed beef
• Add veggies — This time I used a bag of small golden potatoes and a whole bunch of chopped carrots, celery, onion. Sometimes I add leek, parsnips, green beans, or whatever else I have around.
• Set crock pot on low and let cook for at least 8 hours (I often let it go for 9-10, or even longer). Do not stir, just let sit.
• Right before serving, stir the stew and add in a bag of frozen baby sweet peas. It only takes only a couple of minutes for the peas to thaw in the stew. My mom always says you need a bit of bright green in a stew, and I have come to be a 100% follower of that rule. 😉
• Serve straight from the crockpot. Yummo.