Monday, January 9, 2012
Winter Hike
Sunday afternoon we went for a hike in the Hauser Lake area. About 20 minutes Northeast of Spokane. There was a little snow on the ground and we saw a million moose and deer tracks. I took a few photos and thought I'd share.
Vegetable Beef Stew
Two things. 1) I got an immersion blender a while back and I am now obsessed with it and 2) after the holidays I feel the need to eat copious amounts of veggies. So with that said, this isn't your traditional stew. The thick broth (I really want to call it stew juice) is made just from veggies and not thickened with flour. The only thing about this recipe is that if you don't have an immersion or regular blender, your out of luck.
Vegetable Beef Stew
What you'll need:
1 roast (fairly lean, size is up to you. Mine was really big, but I only used half for the stew)
4 cups beef stock (take as much of this from the slow cooker juice as you can.)
1 large parsnip
5 cups carrots diced
3 cups small yellow or red potatoes quartered
2 cups celery diced
1 cup onion diced
1 medium crown broccoli
1 medium to large celery root, peeled and diced (Ugly little vegetable, I took pictures on how to deal with it)
3-4 cloves garlic
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon oregano
1/2 teaspoon thyme
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1/2 teaspoon caraway seeds
1 teaspoon worcestershire sauce
In the morning, place your roast, season with salt and pepper into your slow cooker. Cover it with as much of the onions, potatoes, carrots and celery as you can fit and set to low. You probably won't be able to fit even half, but thats ok, you'll cook those later.
After at least 6 hours, when beef is falling apart, remove vegetables from slow cooker and place in a large bowl. Place the roast onto a plate and break up into quarters to allow to cool enough to handle. Add 4 cups beef stock, spices and remaining uncooked vegetables into a large pot and bring to a boil. Once boiling vegetables are fork tender, remove some of the parsnips and as much of the other remaining vegetables you'd like and add to the bowl, these will be the vegetables in the stew so you'll want a good variety. You want about 5 cups cooked vegetables set aside and about 5 cups left in the pan. Just eye ball it though, it doesn't have to be exact.
Remove any extra beef stock so that the liquid is at an equal level with the vegetables, reserving about a cup. Using your immersion or regular blender, pulse vegetables until smooth. If it seems too thick, then add the reserved broth until desired consistency (think stew!). When meat is cool enough to handle, break up into bite size strips and pieces. Depending on the size of your roast, you probably won't need all of the meat. I added about 4 cups, you use as much as you'd like. Add cooked vegetables and meat and mix into stew. You may want to reheat on medium for a few minutes, just make sure you gently keep stirring it so it doesn't burn. Done!
I feel like that was a really weird process to explain. I hope it all makes sense. As for the stew...it was AMAZING! I really loved the fact that it was just as thick and yummy as normals stews that you would use flour as a thickener, but instead it was all veggies. I made a tikka masala in a similar way the other day and it was amazing. I used all the normal spices and tomato paste but skipped the butter and flour. I might just make it again soon and share that with everyone too! Plus I have SUPER yummy recipe to share later that I did with the left over beef. Enjoy!
Hope everyone had a great weekend. I pretty much just sewed and cooked all weekend. Although I did sneak out on Saturday for a little trip to Hancock Fabric, who was having a 60% off sale. I scored some pretty floral prints for cheap! Like $2 per yard cheap. Yay me. Not sure yet how I'm going to put outfit posts together yet to show you my creations, but I've got one skirt finished to share already! Oh and I guess we did go on an awesome hike sunday. We saw lots of deer and moose tracks, I will post a few photos from that adventure too. I guess I have a lot of stuff, I'd better get busy! Have a great Monday! 4 more days until another glorious weekend!
What you'll need:
1 roast (fairly lean, size is up to you. Mine was really big, but I only used half for the stew)
4 cups beef stock (take as much of this from the slow cooker juice as you can.)
1 large parsnip
5 cups carrots diced
3 cups small yellow or red potatoes quartered
2 cups celery diced
1 cup onion diced
1 medium crown broccoli
1 medium to large celery root, peeled and diced (Ugly little vegetable, I took pictures on how to deal with it)
3-4 cloves garlic
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon oregano
1/2 teaspoon thyme
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1/2 teaspoon caraway seeds
1 teaspoon worcestershire sauce
In the morning, place your roast, season with salt and pepper into your slow cooker. Cover it with as much of the onions, potatoes, carrots and celery as you can fit and set to low. You probably won't be able to fit even half, but thats ok, you'll cook those later.
After at least 6 hours, when beef is falling apart, remove vegetables from slow cooker and place in a large bowl. Place the roast onto a plate and break up into quarters to allow to cool enough to handle. Add 4 cups beef stock, spices and remaining uncooked vegetables into a large pot and bring to a boil. Once boiling vegetables are fork tender, remove some of the parsnips and as much of the other remaining vegetables you'd like and add to the bowl, these will be the vegetables in the stew so you'll want a good variety. You want about 5 cups cooked vegetables set aside and about 5 cups left in the pan. Just eye ball it though, it doesn't have to be exact.
Remove any extra beef stock so that the liquid is at an equal level with the vegetables, reserving about a cup. Using your immersion or regular blender, pulse vegetables until smooth. If it seems too thick, then add the reserved broth until desired consistency (think stew!). When meat is cool enough to handle, break up into bite size strips and pieces. Depending on the size of your roast, you probably won't need all of the meat. I added about 4 cups, you use as much as you'd like. Add cooked vegetables and meat and mix into stew. You may want to reheat on medium for a few minutes, just make sure you gently keep stirring it so it doesn't burn. Done!
Hope everyone had a great weekend. I pretty much just sewed and cooked all weekend. Although I did sneak out on Saturday for a little trip to Hancock Fabric, who was having a 60% off sale. I scored some pretty floral prints for cheap! Like $2 per yard cheap. Yay me. Not sure yet how I'm going to put outfit posts together yet to show you my creations, but I've got one skirt finished to share already! Oh and I guess we did go on an awesome hike sunday. We saw lots of deer and moose tracks, I will post a few photos from that adventure too. I guess I have a lot of stuff, I'd better get busy! Have a great Monday! 4 more days until another glorious weekend!
Saturday, January 7, 2012
Happy Birthday!
Today is Don't Get Your Dress DIrty's one year birthday! I have succeeded my 2011's new year resolution! To blog for one year. Yay me! I guess I didn't do a New Year's resolution post on the 1st because I was waiting for today.
Starting this blogwas to give me a hobby was a way to jump start myself in exploring different ways and techniques of cooking and also to explore new recipes and spices. For those of you that have followed along, last year was I was a busy girl in the kitchen. Looking back on my first post, I'm really happy with how the year (and my resolution) came together! I accomplished what I set out to do.
I would never have really thought of myself as a new year's resolution kind of gal, but I seem to mildly set them at the beginning of the years, and the last 2 years I been really great. Two years ago, I had just finished college and wanted toget a design job really explore and bring together my design skills. I did a few side project that helped, but in June I had my design job and by the end of the year I was really starting to find my confidence as a professional designer (that sounds kinda stupid, but I'm not sure how else to put it).
So 2 years in a row I have met my personal goals! Now, maybe your wondering what my resolution for 2012 is? To learn to sew! The best part? I have already started! So far I am about half way done on my first skirt, but I'm reallyfrustrated enjoying myself! As of now, I just plan on making skirts. Once I have about 10 new skirts and I am starting to understand the process more, I may move onto a dress. But thats months down the road (just between you and me, I and scared shitless of a zipper). Or maybe I will just make skirts for everyone I know and call it good. I can tell you one thing though, I have a whole NEW respect for my mom, who, as far as I'm concerned could make a ball gown out of a paper sack. Right now I am making just about the simplest skirt you can, and I have screwed that thing up more times in the past 2 days, ripped out more seams that I could even count, and I'm still not done. But, I'm no where near giving up! Practice makes perfect.
So what will happen to DGYDD? I plan to continue cooking and sharing my adventures in the kitchen (I have something new to share at the end of this post that will help with that). I would like to share and offer more of my design work with everyone. That's where the desktop calendar project comes in. I am also planning on venturing into the world of outfit posts. Quite a few blogs that I follow mix design with craft with food with outfits and clothes. I never really planned on doing outfit type posts with this blog, so I will limit it to only sharing when I have completed a new sewing project. So they won't be too often, but I am excited about it.
So are you curious about the stats of DGYDD for last year? I don't know what impressive blog stats are for someone in their first year, nor does it really matter to me how many views or comments someone else gets. Pages views and comments aren't why I started this blog. To be truthful, I didn't even know you could monitor your views and what not for about a month after I started blogging. So here goes....
Most Viewed Post: Cake Pops without the Sticks! 254 views
2nd most viewed: Cake Pops without Sticks Revisited! 170 views (Surprise Surprise. Created 7 months apart too)
Busiest month: November with 1301 views.
Total comments: 100 (I really don't get very many comments, but I don't mind! Thanks to Jo and Lizzie for all your kind words)
Total pageviews for 2011: 9,141
I was thinking about going though past posts and talking about my favorites, but this post is getting long enough. So now onto my new toy, which could be considered DGYDD's birthday present....
Starting this blog
I would never have really thought of myself as a new year's resolution kind of gal, but I seem to mildly set them at the beginning of the years, and the last 2 years I been really great. Two years ago, I had just finished college and wanted to
So 2 years in a row I have met my personal goals! Now, maybe your wondering what my resolution for 2012 is? To learn to sew! The best part? I have already started! So far I am about half way done on my first skirt, but I'm really
So what will happen to DGYDD? I plan to continue cooking and sharing my adventures in the kitchen (I have something new to share at the end of this post that will help with that). I would like to share and offer more of my design work with everyone. That's where the desktop calendar project comes in. I am also planning on venturing into the world of outfit posts. Quite a few blogs that I follow mix design with craft with food with outfits and clothes. I never really planned on doing outfit type posts with this blog, so I will limit it to only sharing when I have completed a new sewing project. So they won't be too often, but I am excited about it.
So are you curious about the stats of DGYDD for last year? I don't know what impressive blog stats are for someone in their first year, nor does it really matter to me how many views or comments someone else gets. Pages views and comments aren't why I started this blog. To be truthful, I didn't even know you could monitor your views and what not for about a month after I started blogging. So here goes....
Most Viewed Post: Cake Pops without the Sticks! 254 views
2nd most viewed: Cake Pops without Sticks Revisited! 170 views (Surprise Surprise. Created 7 months apart too)
Busiest month: November with 1301 views.
Total comments: 100 (I really don't get very many comments, but I don't mind! Thanks to Jo and Lizzie for all your kind words)
Total pageviews for 2011: 9,141
I was thinking about going though past posts and talking about my favorites, but this post is getting long enough. So now onto my new toy, which could be considered DGYDD's birthday present....
Isn't it pretty?? Oh the places we'll go! I'm going to give her some sort of name like Betty or Lucy or Eleanor, so stay tuned for that announcement. I will have a story that will tie along with the name I choose.
So Happy Birthday DGYDD! You have been a fun and challenging experience for me. Thanks to everyone who has read along or even possibly been inspired to cook or create along with me. I hope you are looking forward to another year and continue to check in from time to time. As always...Enjoy!
Friday, January 6, 2012
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
WWW Jan 4 2012
I made this vanilla extract label for one of my favorite people. She gave pretty little blue bottles of wonderful vanilla extract as christmas gifts. You can read her how to here. I also made the cute header and background for her blog too!
Love this dress!!
I want to move here!
Has anyone ever used this stuff?
Is this for real?
Book I loved.
Kam and I paid the $5 bucks and watched this. Totally worth it, love him!
How do I not remember this? And I would like to own it now.
My christmas gift to Kam, I can't wait to get started!
Excited for this start!
Little late for a holiday to do, but I love my little deer and glitter so....
I want to work for a company like this (or start my own mini version!)
Over New Years, I was talking to my niece and nephew (who are 12) about what we would want to be reincarnated as. We all settled on a sea turtle. After watching this, I'm sold!
This entertained me.
And...
Cream of Mushroom Chicken and Vegetables
Have you ever started cooking something with no idea what you were really planning. Well I did, and this is where I ended up. I did step one. I sort of had a plan with what I was going to do with the cooked veggies after they were soft, but ended up making homemade cream of mushroom soup instead. Who doesn't remember their mom making something like this when they were kids? I am also really into wild rice blends and quinoa right now, so we'll see where that goes.
Cream of Mushroom Chicken and Vegetables
4-6 chicken thighs
2 cups carrots diced
2 cups celery diced
3 cups mini yellow potatoes halved
1 medium onion sliced
Any other vegetable you want to add (this is all I had in stock at the time)
Remove skin and excess fat from thighs. Place sliced onions in bottom of slow cooker. Even lay chicken over onions. Add remaining vegetables over chicken and cook for 3 hours on high. Make soup recipe as follows.
Mushroom Soup
2 tablespoons olive oil
5 cups chopped mushrooms
1 generous cup chopped onion
2 cloves garlic minced
1 cup chicken or vegetable stock
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon rosemary
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon white pepper
2 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon butter
2 cups milk (your choice on %, I used 1/4 cup whipping cream and 1 1/2 cups 2%)
Heat oil in a large skillet over high then add mushrooms. Saute until browned (5-7 minutes). Add onion, saute for another 3 minutes until you can see onion start to turn translucent, then add garlic and butter. When garlic becomes fragrant, add stock, thyme, rosemary, oregano and pepper. Cook until stock reduces almost out (about 5 minutes) and add flour and mix to coat mushrooms. Add milk and stir with a wooden spoon to combine, being sure to scrape up all the bits from the bottom of the pan. Return to boil then reduce and heat to medium low stirring fairly frequently until thickens (about 3-4 minutes).
Remove vegetables from slow cooker (don't worry if you don't get then all) and add to mushroom soup. Mix to coat veggies and pour back over chicken. Allow to cook about 2 more hours on low. Serve with wild rice.
PS. This is even better the second night!
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
January Desktop Calendar
hey all! I have been quiet, oh so quiet. I decided to take a break from everything and just kick back over the holiday. Christmas and New Years was great for us. Very relaxing and easy going this year.
I have a few ideas up my sleeve for new posts for this year. I feel like I don't share enough design stuff here. So my first new year's plan is to make monthly wallpaper calendars for anyone who would like a spiffy new desktop wallpaper every month. I have no idea what the themes will be, but this was the first one that came to my mind. I hope you are as excited about this little project as I am. I'm a little late on January, from now on each new calendar will be posted on the 1st.
I have a few ideas up my sleeve for new posts for this year. I feel like I don't share enough design stuff here. So my first new year's plan is to make monthly wallpaper calendars for anyone who would like a spiffy new desktop wallpaper every month. I have no idea what the themes will be, but this was the first one that came to my mind. I hope you are as excited about this little project as I am. I'm a little late on January, from now on each new calendar will be posted on the 1st.
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