Tired of being tired?

(Recipe) Poor Man's Stew

Okay, so in order to make this look like a "true" Poor Man's Stew, I used my old crock pot that has been in my life since I got married 12 years ago.  It's seen better days, that's for sure, but I can't seem to part with it.  Not yet at least.  So here's how to make Poor Mans Stew.

All it takes is five ingredients.  That's it!  

•What you'll need:

1.  Stew Meat (2 lbs.)
2.  Beef Stew Seasoning Mix, (1.50 oz)
3.  Sweet Peas (15 oz)
4.  Sliced Carrots (15 oz)
5.  Whole Kernel Corn (15 oz)



Start with two pounds of stew meat.  I found a good deal on the ones already packaged, but you can find other varieties that are prepared for stew.  It just depends on what your preference is.  I found these packages on sale at the local Safeway here in my town.


Place the two pounds of stew meat into your crock pot and add the liquid from the cans of veggies.  Don't add the veggies yet, just the liquid they are packed in.

Cook on high for 30 minutes with the lid on.

Add the vegetables in with the meat, along with the stew meat seasoning package.  Cook for an additonal 30 minutes, or on low for several hours.  I've also made this in the morning and let the stew meat cook on low all day with the seasoning and then added the vegetables 30 minutes before dinner.  This recipe is pretty easy and is a quick dinner on the go, as well.

Super delicious!  

You can pair this soup with some Hungry Hippo Soup Bread found over on Handmade Charlotte! (How cute is that?)



A season of baseball

We wrapped up our season of baseball for the year.  Skylar's team did great, but unfortunately no games were won.  This team was sort of a throw-away team with no coach at the beginning of the season and thanks to Jeff stepping up to coach, the boys were able to play.  The team was made up of a lot of kids that were either, fresh to baseball, or had taken a few years off from playing (Skylar).  The improvement of the players throughout the season was awesome to see!


Our season was full of a lot of great things.  Kids coming into baseball and falling in love with the sport, shy kids coming out of their element and making new friends, an Arkansas family surprise, and Skylar diving deeper into his game and getting better with batting.  We also found out this season, from Skylar hitting, that he needed glasses.  It was a baseball season to remember!

Jeff hitting to the outfield.

Skylar played third base this season and was a champ at scooping up grounders.


Team encouragement, even at practice, was always a plus!






Great group of boys! We hope to see them all next spring!



We wrapped up the end of the baseball year with a bowling party for the boys, courtesy of the Lebanon Boys and Girls Club.  It was a great way to end the season!



You can follow our baseball season on Jeff's coaching blog here.
We can't wait until next season!