Potato Soup & Beef Stew

The only part about winter I like is soup! Unfortunately Derek isn't a big soup fan, but he does like the following two recipes. I made the potato soup for a Relief Society meeting the other day and it all got eaten, so I guess it was pretty good. The beef stew, in Derek's words, is "the best I've ever made" so I guess it was pretty good too.

Baked Potato Soup

Ingredients:

5 bacon strips
1 small onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, chopped
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 tsp dry mustard (I didn't have any and it tasted fine without it)
1 T Worcestershire sauce
2 T chicken bouillon granules
4 T real butter (I used margarine, it was fine)
4 T flour
6 c milk
4 potatoes, boiled and diced

Cook bacon until crisp, and crumble into pieces. Saute onions and garlic (I did it in the bacon grease). Drain. Melt butter in large pan. Whisk in flour, salt and pepper. Stir until smooth and bubbly. Stir in 4 cups of milk. Add sauteed onions, garlic, dry mustard, Worcestershire sauce, bouillon granules, bacon and potatoes. Cook on low until thickened. More milk or half and half can be added as needed. Top with cheese, chives, and sour cream if desired (I just added cheese [pepper jack and cheddar] and chives when I cooked it).

Beef Stew

I love crockpot recipes and this is a great one.

Ingredients:

2 lb. lean beef stew meat in 1 inch cubes
1/4 c. flour
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
1 1/2 c. beef broth
1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
1 clove garlic
1 bay leaf
1 tsp. paprika
4 carrots in 1/2 inch slices
3 potatoes, diced
2 onions, chopped
1 stalk celery, sliced

Place meat in crockpot. Add flour, salt and pepper. Stir to coat meat. Add remaining ingredients, stir well. Cover and cook on low 10 to 12 hours or on high 4 to 6 hours. Stir thoroughly before serving. Remove bay leaf.

*Note: I used garlic salt and Montreal steak seasoning instead of the clove of garlic, bay leaf and paprika. My crockpot also cooks really fast, so I cooked it on low for about 7 hours and it was fine.