CONFESSION: To say my husband’s a little timid about cooking is an understatement. Still, occasionally he’s willing to tackle dinner, as long as he has VERY SPECIFIC INSTRUCTIONS. This is the email I sent him to make this delicious beef stew. You really can’t go wrong with this recipe, just season to taste (I season generously with garlic salt, pepper and random herbs).

1. Clean carrots (peel if you want, it’s not necessary if they’re clean), cut into large chunks. All of them (yummm, carrots)
2. Clean potatoes, cut into large chunks (quarters). About half as many potatoes as carrots is a good margin (yummm, carrots)
3. Cut mushrooms in half if button, chunks if portobella
4. Peel and cut two red onions in quarters
5. Mince one full clove of elephant garlic (you can cut it in pieces and run it through the garlic press)
6. Use the Penzey’s beef roast seasoning. Read the directions and add 2x  the recommended amount of spice.
7. Up to you if you want to chop the meat into cubes. It can go in as one big slab and will break apart well enough.
8. Place potatoes and carrots and half of onions and garlic at bottom of crock pot with a sprinkling of the spices.
9. Add beef
10. Add the rest of the beef broth in the carton in the fridge (1 cup) and 1 can cream of mushroom soup and 1 can cream of celery
    
11. Add seasoning
12. Add mushrooms and second half of onions and garlic.
13. Heat on low ‘til I come home.

About 8 hours later we had awesome stew!! Because of the cream soups, this version isn’t a very rich gravy but it’s tasty and  full of flavor. Super easy!

CONFESSION: Campbell’s taught me how to cook. The first cookbook I ever used regularly was Campbell’s Quick and Easy Cookbook. While my dad has a lot to do with my love of cooking, this was the first cookbook that taught me how to shortcut through recipes and how to begin experimenting with the possibilities of everyday foods.

The Beef & Broccoli recipe was one that I absolutely lived on when I was first living on my own. I make a few changes when I make this, adding some Chinese Five-Spice to punch up the flavor, and I marinate the beef in teriyaki or soy sauce.

When I told my husband that the sauce was made with Campbell’s Tomato Soup he looked at me like I was crazy. Two servings later, he was a believer.

Today was a lazy day if there ever was one, but I went into it not knowing what I was making for dinner. After talking my husband into putting some rice into my Black & Decker Handy Steamer and thawing some chicken, I was committed. Remembering a lonely can of cream of chicken condensed soup in the pantry and some mushrooms that had seen better days in the fridge, I had my inspiration.

When I got home I pulled open my Campbell’s Quick and Easy Recipes cookbook (as low as 75¢ at Half.com!) and tried to figure out where to go next. I love this cookbook, by the way, even though I never really use the recipes 100% as they are in the book. It’s great inspiration for working with condensed soup as a base, and even if you don’t follow the recipe to the letter (I tend to find it to bland or salty), it’s a great starting point. I decided to modify a recipe for Chicken Paprikash and go from there. This is my version of the recipe, and while it’s hardly traditional and would probably horrify my Hungarian grandmother, but it’s absolutely delicious.

Shorcut Chef Chicken Paprikash

INGREDIENTS:

• Olive Oil
• 4 cloves of garlic, crushed
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1/2 bag of frozen green beans
• 1 container of mushrooms, chopped (I prefer Baby Bellas)
• 4–5 chicken breast halves, chunked
• 1 can condensed cream of chicken soup
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1.5 tablespoons of Penzey’s Hungarian Sweet Paprika (invest in a good paprika)
• Dash of tabasco sauce
• 2 cups of white rice, cooked

Sauté garlic, onion, mushrooms and green beans until onion is translucent. Add chicken breasts and season with a dash of the paprika cook on low for about 8–10 minutes. At the same time (if you can manage it) In a separate small saucepan, mix the condensed soup and sour cream with the remaining paprika and stir until combined. Allow to simmer on low until the chicken is almost cooked and there’s a bit of liquid in the other pan and the chicken is mostly cooked through.

Add the sauce to the chicken/onion/etc. mixture and stir to combine. Simmer on low/medium for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Serve over white rice.