Hamburger Stew for a cold winter's night

I've got a recipe to share today and it's perfect for this time of year. With all the big dinner's going on and family over but you still gotta make your normal every day dinners, this is great to have around in the fridge. It just gets better in the fridge as a matter of fact. It's also one of those recipes that you can add or delete whatever you have on hand. It's filling and warm good comfort food. I hope you enjoy it :)


Hamburger Stew

• 2 big cans of whole tomatoes
• potatoes as many as you want
• carrots about 2 lbs.
• onion
• garlic
• hamburger, about 2 pounds
• tomato sauces (according to how much you want to make, i.e. how soupy. Sometimes I use a big can of spaghetti sauce)
• sweet basil
• oregano
• salt + pepper

So the first thing I do is get a big pot and get my sauces and tomatoes simmering with the spices in it. This way they get all yummy and flavorful. The longer it simmers the better. 

Side note: This is perfect for my tomatoes that I've frozen from my garden. If you've never done this, it is sooooo much easier than canning. Just toss your washed and cored smaller tomatoes like roma type in freezer bags and freeze those suckers solid. No blanching, no peeling. When you pull them out of the freezer to use, the skins slide right off as they thaw. Great for sauces, soups and chili's.

I then peel my carrots and cut them up in 1" bites and pop them in my micro cooker with a little water to steam them in the microwave. I like my carrots real soft, so I do this instead of just letting them cook in the sauce.

I'm usually in a hurry, so I cut up my potatoes and usually cook them up in my pressure cooker which takes like 3 minutes. I should probably just toss my carrots in there too. You could also just cook them on the stove or microwave.

Then I fry up my burger with the onion and garlic. Drain the grease and add to stew. Let it simmer. You really could serve it up right then, but I like to let all the flavors come together. Serve it up with some butter bread and there you go. Like I said, it is even better the next day.


Let me know if you try it :)