Irish Stew and Yorkshire Pudding

Irish Stew is a good healthy all in one meal. I love to use this recipe when I have leftover roast, but you can use any kind of cheap cut for this stew.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 to 2 lbs of meat cut into cubes*
5 beef bouillon cubes
4 cups water hot
1 onion chopped fine
1 celery stick chopped fine
2 lbs. mixed frozen veggies
2 tsp. minced garlic
1 bay leaf
1/2 tsp. thyme
1/2 tsp. savory
salt and pepper to taste

*you can use any kind of cheap meat that you found on sale. I have successfully made this with leftover round roast, as well as, london broil, round steak and stew beef.

Directions:
Brown stew meat, onions and garlic. Save the drippings from browning this for the yorkshire puddings. Dissolve bouillon cubes in water. Place all ingredients in crock pot and cook 4 hours on high or 8 hours on low. You can serve this with mashed potatoes, but we like Yorkshire pudding and gravy with ours. If I just want the stew for dinner then I will chop about 2 medium potatoes into small cubes and add to the stew. Then you have a complete meal in a bowl.

Yorkshire Pudding
Ingredients:
3/4 c. all purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
3 eggs
3/4 c. milk
1/2 cup beef drippings*

* If you don't have much drippings from browning the beef above then add about a 1/3 cup water with 1 bouillon cube dissolved, that should stretch the drippings to the amount that you need.

Directions:Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Sift flour and salt together in a bowl. In another bowl beat together eggs and milk until light and foamy. Stir in dry ingredients just until they are well incorporated into the milk/egg mixture. Pour the drippings into a 9 in. pan, cast iron skillet, or baking dish. Put the pan in the oven and get hot. Then take the pan out of the oven and immediately pour in the batter, put the pan back in the oven and cook until puffed and dry about 15-20 minutes. Serve with brown gravy and Irish stew.

Brown gravy: There are several ways to do this.
1. If you still have drippings then heat them in a pan, stir in some flour and add water once flour is brown.
2. Use a package mix for brown gravy and follow directions on the package.
3. Take a beef bouillon cube, dissolve in 1/2 c. hot water over medium temp. Dissolve 1 tsp. corn starch in 3/4 cup cold water. Add the corn starch water to the bouillon water and stir until thickened and add a touch of salt.

Method 1 or 2 makes the best brown gravy.