Comfort Food And Dessert!

We have been having an unusually cold winter so far and it's not even "really" winter yet. I mean it was 32 this morning when I left the house...that is REALLY cold for Florida!

So I thought it would be a great night to break in our new crock pot with an amazing beef stew recipe I found on my new favorite cooking blog Our Best Bites. They have the best recipes and a little bit of everything! I got the apple pie recipe from there too...everyone loved it by the way! :)

Sunday Beef Stew

Recipe from Our Best Bites

1 1/2-2 lb. lean stew beef, cut into even smaller bite-sized pieces (just pull out a pair of kitchen shears and cut anything that looks like you'd need to use a knife and fork on)

4-5 medium red potatoes, chopped

4-5 medium carrots, peeled and chopped

4 stalks celery, chopped

2 onions, chopped

4-5 cloves garlic, minced

2 12-oz. cans or 3 c. vegetable juice cocktail (like V8 or even Bloody Mary mix)

1 10-oz. can condensed tomato soup

10 oz. water (just use the can from the tomato soup to measure)

1 tsp. basil

2 beef bouillon cubes (or 2 tsp. beef base)

1/2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper

I made a few small changes to suit my family...like I left out the celery since Rick doesn't like it and I used beef broth instead of water. Just add all the ingredients into the crock pot and cook on high for 5-6 hours. It doesn't get much easier then that! Then I served it over white rice with some fresh Italian bread...perfect comfort food on a cold night!

While the stew was in the crock pot I had plenty of time to work on something new for dessert. I love baking cookies and new cookie recipes...well they just make me happy. :D

This one is a...White Chocolate Coconut Sugar Cookie with Citrus Coconut Icing

Just use your favorite sugar cookie recipe or mix if you are in a rush and add...

1 cup coconut

1 cup white chocolate baking chips

1/2 tsp. coconut extract

For the icing mix...

1 cup Powder sugar, 1/4 tsp. coconut extract, and add orange juice until you have the desired consistency for your icing.

Melt in your mouth yummy goodness! I think these might be a new favorite. Well I am off to check out Our Best Bites for some more amazing dinner and dessert ideas!

Stay warm!