My favorite thing to make in the autumn (and even early spring!) is my famous
beef stew!
You can click on the link to get the recipe, but I make some changes!
1) I cut the carrots into small, bite sized pieces (either whole carrots or baby carrots), and then I sauté the carrots, garlic, onion, and celery together before putting them in the crock pot.
2) I very lightly coat the beef with corn starch and fry it up in a pan on medium high, just to get the outsides browned/crisp. You don't want to cook it completely in the pan, but just enough to get the outsides 'seared' which will help keep the juices in and make the meat super tender.
3) Instead of adding the potatoes at the beginning, I cut them up into bite size pieces, coat them in olive oil and herbs/spices (Sayler's Old Country Kitchen spice, or season salt, rosemary and garlic and thyme, whatever you like), and then roast them, and add them in at the last 30 minutes of cooking, along with the frozen peas/carrots and the flour/water mixture. I generally cook the stew for about 6 hours on high, and try to make sure the potatoes are finished by the time the 6 hours is up (so pop them in the oven at around 375 for 30-45 minutes about 30-45 minutes before the end of the cooking time). Then add them in with the other ingredients that go in for another 30 minutes at the end. (I feel like I over-explain this part every time, but I can't figure out how to say this more succinctly!)
The roasted potatoes add a really nice depth of flavor that just putting in raw potatoes at the beginning doesn't give you. It's a bit of extra work, but it -seriously- makes the stew!
I also really like to make
Pumpkin Custard Crumble. It's pretty easy, and it comes out pretty sweet. The girl who gave me this recipe says she cuts the sugar down some (by half?) and skips it in the crumble topping altogether. I've only ever made it with the full amount of sugar, but either way it comes out great! I like to pair it with a nice vanilla ice cream and serve it warm. It's to die for.
So there you go. I know you basically asked us just to state what we like, but I figured I'd share recipes, because if we're gonna talk about food, we may as well also share how we make it/like it!
