Mexican Chicken Rolls

My mother's recipe. Tender chicken covered in a toasty breaded exterior and filled with melted, spicy cheese. Excellent.
It takes a little more time with the make-your-own breadcrumbs and the pounding and rolling, but it's worth it. My mom suggests making quite a few at once while you're at it since the rolls freeze so well.



Serves 8
2 hr for breadcrumbs + 1.5 hours of pounding/rolling/dredging + overnight freezing + 1.5 hr baking (obviously these take awhile)
- blender or food processor
- Al foil
- 9" x 12" baking dish
- meat tenderizer (or a hammer)
- small saucepan
- 16 toothpicks
Difficult/Involved

INGREDIENTS
3/4 c. fine, dry prepared GF bread crumbs -OR- make your own with 4 slices favorite GF bread (I used Glutino corn-based frozen white sandwich bread and the crumbs turned out very fresh)
1/4 c. grated Parmesan cheese*
1 tsp. chili powder*
1/2 tsp. cumin*
1/4 tsp. pepper*
8 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
3 Tbsp. butter
1 (8 oz.) cube spicy Pepper Jack cheese

*Kraft Parm. cheese is GF (and low in lactose), McCormick spices are GF

DIRECTIONS
Homemade Breadcrumbs:
0. Preheat oven to 180 F.
1. Arrange 4 slices of bread onto a cookie sheet and place in the warm oven for 1 hour.
2. Flip the bread to the other side and return them to the oven for another 40 minutes of drying.
3. Take dried (not burned) bread out of oven and break into pieces with your hands. The bread should be very stiff and you will get crumbs everywhere.
4. Place breadpieces into a blender or food processor and pulse several times until they become fine crumbs. 4 slices should get you around 3/4 cups of crumbs.
5. At this point I just mixed the Parm cheese and spices into the bread crumbs while still in the blender.. saved me from having to wash another bowl. Place spiced crumbs aside and skip to preparing the chicken.
Store-bought Breadcrumbs:
1. Mix prepared breadcumbs with Parmesan cheese, chili powder, cumin and black pepper. Place breadcrumbs aside.
Preparing Chicken:
0. Cover baking dish with aluminum foil (the chicken makes a mess when cooking).
1. Wash the 8 pieces of chicken and remove excess fat. Place 2 pieces of chicken into a heavy duty gallon size freezer bag. Place that bag into another freezer bag (double bag them). Lay the bagged chicken onto a counter and pound to 1/4" inch with a meat tenderizer mallet (or a wide hammer). The breasts will almost double in size. Take the flattened chicken out of the bags and lay onto the baking dish. Continue beating meat, 2 per bag, until all 8 pieces are pounded.
2. Meanwhile, melt the butter in a small saucepan over low heat. Bring the seasoned breadcrumbs over to the same area.
3. Cut the cheese cube crosswise (as opposed to lengthwise) into 8 equal pieces. Place each cheese slice onto the middle of a chicken breast. Start from the short side and roll the chicken breast up around the cheese. Secure the chicken roll tightly with two toothpicks at the seam of the roll.
4. Once all of the chicken is stuffed and secured, dip each roll into the melted butter, covering evenly with oil. Then dredge the chicken in the waiting breadcrumbs. Make sure they're well coated with crumbs (the homemade crumbs were so dry that they easily stuck to the chicken).
5. Arrange the breaded rolls onto the baking dish, cover and freeze until solid. I let mine freeze overnight and cooked them the next day. Alternatively, you could place the rolls into another freezer bag and freeze for up to 6 months.
Cooking the Rolls (the next day):
0. Pre-heat oven to 400 F.
1. Place frozen rolls (arranged on the prepared pan) into the oven, uncovered.
2. Cook for 1 hour, or until the breadcrumbs are golden brown, cheese is bubbling and chicken reaches an inside temp of 175 F. Mine needed 1 hour and 30 minutes.. best to just check at the hour mark and adjust from there. Serve warm with something good, like Rich Asparagus Risotto (pictured) or Spanish Rice.
**CAUTION!! Remind your family and friends about the embedded toothpicks!!!**

Thick Chicken Noodle Soup

It's been wet around here... very wet. Nothing like biking to class in the steady rain to make you want soup. I like my soups thick.. very very thick. This was wonderful, with big fettuccine noodles, fresh parsley and big chunks of chicken.

Lately, I've been bartering: Soup for homework help. So far it's worked out well.

Makes about 5 to 6 cups of thick soup.

35 minutes
-large large soup pot
Easy

INGREDIENTS

3 heaping Tbsp Earth Balance butter
1/3 c Bob's Red Mill all-purpose flour (sorghum?)
3 (15 oz) cans Swanson natural goodness chicken broth
1 can water (fill up empty chicken broth can)
1 (or two) large chicken breast
2 thick carrots, peeled
1 large white onion
handful of fresh parsley
fistful (about 1/3 to 1/2 of a package) of Tinkyada fettuccine noodles, broken in half
1/2 c. frozen peas
2 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. black pepper
1 tsp. oregano
1 tsp. celery flakes
sea salt to taste

DIRECTIONS
1. Melt butter in the wok over low heat. Once butter is fully melted, add in the flour, one tablespoon at a time. Stir well to mix, breaking up any flour clumps. Mixture should be thick and sticky, like a paste.
2. Continue to heat the butter/flour roux, stirring frequently. Add in a little more butter if necessary to aid stirring. When flour in the roux just starts to tan/brown (around the 5 minute mark), add in the chicken broth + 1 additional can of water. Mix well. Don't be discouraged if lumps occur at this point; they should break up later upon boiling (the end product is silky smooth).
3. Rinse off the boneless/skinless chicken breast(s). Tear into bite-sized chunks and add to the broth/roux. Turn heat up to medium high. Cover and let simmer softly while you chop up veggies.
4. Wash and peel the carrots. Slice into thin-ish circles. Half the larger circles if they get too big in diameter. Peel and chop up the onion; pieces don't have to be super small. Wash and dice the fresh parsley.
By now the soup should have boiled for around 10 minutes, cooking the chicken pieces.
5. Add in the chopped carrot, onion and parsley to the boiling soup. Take a handful of Tinkyada flat fettuchini pasta and break in half lengthwise. Add pasta to the soup pot (it will be awkard). Cover and let simmer for another 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. **Be sure to scrape the bottom of the pot during stirring. The soup will become very thick and might stick to the bottom and burn if left totally unattended. Add in more water to alleviate this problem.**
6. Once the pasta becomes tender, wash off the frozen peas and add them to the pot. Season soup generously with garlic powder, black pepper, oregano and celery flakes. Turn heat down to medium. Stir to mix. Add in extra water as necessary.
7. Simmer gently for another 5 to 10 minutes, or until veggies are tender (but not shapeless) and pasta and chicken are fully cooked. Soup should no longer have any large clumps, but it will be quite viscous, coating spoons and pouring slowly.
Serve warm with favorite gluten free bread.

Honey Garlic Chicken Drumsticks

This makes incredibly juicy and tender chicken legs smothered in a sweet-garlicky glaze. Make the simple sauce up while the legs are baking in the oven, then drizzle over the chicken for the last 15 minutes, letting the sauce caramelize over the meat. Easily doubled to feed a crowd of people.



Makes enough to cover ~18 chicken legs. Feeds 4 people.
1 hour baking time
Preheat oven: 375 F
-9 x 12 inch baking dish
-medium pot
Easy

INGREDIENTS
18 or so chicken legs (preferred skinless)
Sauce:
4+ garlic cloves
1/2 c. brown sugar
2 tbsp. cornstarch
3 tbsp. soy sauce*
1 tbsp. honey
3/4 c. water
*Argo cornstarch is GF; La Choy soy sauce and Eden Organic Tamari soy sauce in GF (purple-red wrapper)

DIRECTIONS
1. Preheat oven to 375 F. Wash off the chicken legs. Lay the legs out in a single layer on your baking dish. Place chicken into the preheated oven and bake covered for 45 minutes.
Sauce:
--This doesn't take long at all, start making the sauce once 30 minutes has gone by.--
2. While the chicken legs are baking, wash and peel the garlic cloves. Either finely dice the garlic, or crush it into small pieces (I place the chopped cloves into doubled-up sandwich baggies, then whack with a hammer until they are crushed into pulp). Place garlic aside.
3. In a medium pot, without heat, add in the 1/2 c. pressed brown sugar and mix lightly with the cornstarch. Pour in the soy sauce and honey, stirring the slightly damp mixture until well combined and smooth.
4. Pour in the water and mix well. Also add in the diced/crushed garlic.
5. Begin cooking the sauce over medium heat, stirring constantly. It will take less than two
minutes for the concoction to start boiling (small, rapid bubbles); keep stirring.
6. Turn the heat down to medium-low and let the sauce mildly bubble for 2 to 3 minutes. It's done when slightly thickened and a darker brown.
--At this point the chicken should have cooked for 45 minutes.--
7. Pull the covered chicken legs out of the oven and pour out the drippings; discard grease. Spoon the sauce over the top (may reserve some for dipping). Return the chicken to the oven and bake for an additional 15 to 20 minutes, uncovered. The chicken is done when fully cooked and the glaze clings to the meat. Eat warm, right out of the oven-- these don't taste very good cold.

BBQ Beef Brisket

This oven-cooked recipe turned out wonderful-- incredibly juicy and tender. Cut into slices and serve with beans and a salad, or shred it and put on GF hamburger buns. Either way, slather with the following tangy BBQ sauce.. it really compliments the beef!

Serves 8 (10+ as sandwich meat)
Overnight prep
20 minutes + 5 hours
baked
-large, DEEP DISH, 13 x 9 inch disposable Al pan
-empty tin cans to collect beef fat

Easy

INGREDIENTS

4-5 lb beef brisket
2 tbsp. Colgin's liquid smoke (I used Mesquite flavor)
2 tbsp. garlic powder*
2 tbsp. onion powder*

3 cups BBQ Sauce: Beef BBQ Sauce (or favorite bottled BBQ sauce)
*Colgin's Liquid Smoke is GF; McCormick spices are GF

10 GF BBQ sandwich buns

Bakes beans

DIRECTIONS
Day before:
1. Cut the raw meat out from it's package and place into the large, deep dish Aluminum pan with the fatty side down. Rinse beef with water, then drain (careful to keep hold of the meat when draining).
2. Splash meat evenly with 1 tbsp. liquid smoke, then cover with 1 tbsp each of garlic and onion powder. Rub powders and liquid smoke into meat with your hands. Flip the meat (fatty side should now be up) and evenly pour 1 more tbsp. liquid smoke, garlic and onion powders over the beef. Rub flavors into this side like you did previously. Leave meat fatty side up.
3. Cover meat tightly with Aluminum foil and place in the fridge to marinate overnight.
Day of:
1. Preheat over to 300 F. Take marinated brisket out of the fridge and cook for 5 hours at 300 F. Remove fat periodically from pan if you want.
**Cook up BBQ sauce when there is ~30 minutes remaining for the beef
2. Remove beef from the oven and uncover. Scrape excess fat gently off the top of the meat (it should peel right off.. gross). Careful not to scrape off too much of the meat since the meat is very tender. Spoon fat into waiting empty tin can(s). Discard fat.

3. Once all the excess fat is removed, cut brisket (perpendicular to the grain) into thick slices or shred meat for BBQ beef sandwiches. Smother with warm BBQ sauce and enjoy with baked beans (I used Bush's Best Original Baked Beans), chips and a summer salad.

Fresh Strawberry Syrup

Scandalously easy and oh so good. Perfect for a painless GF dessert (no expensive, hard to get GF flour!!). I once made this for a bunch of friends, serving it over regular vanilla ice cream. They couldn't believe something so yummy could be so simple. Wonderful and fresh with only 3 ingredients.





Serves 3-4
15 minutes
-medium saucepan
Quick and simple

INGREDIENTS
1 lb of fresh strawberries
1/4 c. water (approx.)
1/4 c. white sugar (or more, if desired)

DIRECTIONS
1. Wash and coarsely cut up the strawberries. Any way you cut them up is fine, but thin slices of berry will totally fall apart when cooking . If you want strawberry pieces left over in your syrup, leave the slices at least 1/4th inch thick.
2. Place cut strawberries into a medium saucepan. Add in enough water so that the bottom of the pan is covered (it might be less than 1/4 cup, depends on your pan). This is important.. don't add too much water. Your berries should NOT be swimming in water.
3. Add in white sugar and being cooking berries over high heat. Stir to fully dissolve the sugar. Water will begin to collect rapidly in your pan. Once the water comes to a rapid boil, reduce heat to medium-high.
4. Continue cooking the strawberry syrup for 5 more minutes, watching the pan as the water foams and boils. Take a taste of the pink froth-- add in a bit more sugar if not yet sweet enough.
5. Once the water is reduced by half (might have to briefly remove the pan from the heat to see the water level) turn off the heat and let cool.
6. Serve over white cake, ice cream or pie. Store chilled.

3-Bean Salad

It's potluck season here at UIUC (okay, I really should be studying for finals). I wanted a cheap, easy salad I could take to a BBQ. This worked well; a standard dish. Refreshing and tart with no-hassle.



Serves 5
20 minutes + 3 hours
-large bowl (or disposable Al pan)
Quick and simple

INGREDIENTS

Dressing
3-4 tbsp. vegetable oil
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1/4 cup white sugar (or more, depending on taste)
1 tsp. garlic powder
Salad
1 can light kidney beans
1 can wax beans
1 can green beans
1 medium red onion
1 medium green bell pepper

DIRECTIONS
1. In a large bowl, whisk together vegetable oil and red wine vinegar till blended. Add in the white sugar, mixing until it fully dissolves.
2. Open up the can of beans and drain well. Let sit to get all the water out, then pour beans into the large bowl with the dressing. Stir gently to cover beans with oil-vinegar mixture.
3. Dice up the red onion and green bell pepper. Add to the beans and stir gently to mix. Sprinkle salad with garlic powder and let it sit, chilled, for at least 3 hours. Taste salad at some point-- if it needs more flavor, add a bit more red wine vinegar, but don't forget to balance out the addition with more sugar.
4. Serve cold with BBQ meat of choice.

Cajun Red Beans and Rice

Hearty and spicy with so little effort. I couldn't get my hands on for-sure GF Italian sausage, so I used Hillshire Farm's Polska Kielbasa sausage and loaded this up with black pepper. Don't half it and you'll have enough leftovers for several lunches (tortilla bean wrap, anyone?) I loved this over white rice, but brown would probably work well, too.
From Pillsbury's Best of the Bake-Off Cookbook.



Serves 4
30 minutes
-large large saucepan with deep sides, or pot
-large pot for rice
Easy

INGREDIENTS
Bean Sauce
1/2 of a package Hillshire Farms Sausage (Smoked or Polska Kielbasa)
1 large white onion
1 medium green bell pepper
1 medium yellow bell pepper
4 cloves garlic
2 (15.5 oz) cans of red beans*
1 (8 0z) can tomato sauce*
1-2 tbsp. black pepper
1 tsp. dried thyme leaves
1 tsp. dried (or minced fresh) oregano leaves

1 cup uncooked white or brown rice
*Bush's red beans are GF; Hunt's tomato sauce is GF

DIRECTIONS
1. Rinse off sausage then cut into 1/2 inch slices; half each slice. Place into large large saucepan.
2. Chop onion into coarse pieces and add to the sausage. Let the sausage/onion mixture sit for a couple minutes while you cut the rest of the veggies.
3. Wash and core the bell peppers. Coarsely slice, then cut up each pepper. Also rinse off and mince the garlic. Set veggies aside near range.
4. Add 1 cup rice to another pot and begin cooking as directed. This should all come out at once.
5. Begin cooking sausage and onions over medium heat. Add in 1 tbsp. of black pepper. Cook until sausage is heated through and onions are just translucent, around 5 minutes.
6. To the sausage/onion mixture, pour in the beans, tomato sauce and rest of veggies (green bell pepper, yellow bell pepper, garlic). Season with thyme and oregano.
7. Turn down heat to medium-low and continue cooking beans/veggies/sausage uncovered for an additional 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. You want some liquid left in the saucepan, so don't let the beans simmer too rapidly. Add a little water as needed.
8. When rice is ready, sample the beans again. Sprinkle saucepan with more black pepper if not spicy enough. Remove beans from heat and serve in bowls over the rice. Easily frozen or doubled.

Lentil Soup

During the previous cold spell, I finally got around to opening the small bag of lentils I bought months ago. I remember as a child this being my favorite soup. It was surreal to make this myself instead of eagerly watching my mother. Earthy, mild and thick. Beware: this recipe will easily serve 8 people, so half accordingly.



Serves 8-10
1 hour
-large large pot or dutch oven, with a lid
-peeler
Easy

INGREDIENTS
2 medium red potatoes
2 celery stalks
2 large carrots, peeled
1 large white onion
2 c. lentils, washed and sorted
1/2 c. brown rice
2 tbsp. olive oil
10 c. water
1 bay leaf*

2 tbsp. red wine vinegar
Parmesan cheese (for topping)
*McCormick spices are GF; all lentils should be GF-- wash them well

DIRECTIONS
1. Cut the potatoes into small cubes, about 1/4th inch on each side. Peel the carrots, slice, then chop up into small pieces. Cut up the celery and onion likewise into small pieces. Pour veggies into large pot.
2. Spoon lentils out of bag 1/4th cup at a time onto a paper towel or plate. Sort through the dry lentils with your fingers, picking out twigs, pebbles or other foreign material. Rinse shifted lentils, then place into pot with veggies. Continue to sort and rinse until needed volume of lentils is shifted/washed and placed in pot.
3. Measure out brown rice and add in with lentils/veggies. Pour olive oil over all and mix well.
4. Add 10 cups of water to pot along with a bay leaf. [New cooks: be sure to REMOVE the bay leaf before eating.. the leaf is just for flavor while cooking]
5. Heat pot over high heat until lentils come to a rolling boil. Then turn heat all the way down to medium-low and cover with a large lid.
6. Let soup simmer gently for 45 minutes. Uncover and stir well every 10 minutes or so-- the soup will quickly thicken, so make sure the lentils do not start sticking to the bottom of your pot. Turn heat down to low if the lentils begin to stick.
7. Once lentils and potatoes are tender, and the soup is a lovely shade of earthy grey-brown, remove from heat and stir in the 2 tbsp of red wine vinegar. Serve warm, generously topped with Parmesan cheese, alongside a nice slice of GF bread. This tastes even better the next day.

Sloppy Joes

Slop-Sloppy Joe, yeah. This one is 100% college (or middle school, however you want to look at it).
Pretty sure I got this recipe from my mother's files. I know most people can buy the canned stuff, but this is very easy and you can spice it up as you wish for a super-quick hot lunch. Easily doubled or tripled to feed a gang of hungry kids.





Serves 2 (3 with a side)
25 minutes
-medium saucepan
Quick and simple

INGREDIENTS
1/2 lb. ground beef
1 medium white onion
3 tsp. chili powder*
2 tsp. garlic powder*
1 tsp. dried celery flakes (or 1/2 tsp. celery salt)*
salt and black pepper
1 tsp. yellow mustard*
dash of Worcestershire sauce*
1/3 c. Heinz ketchup (or other GF brand)
2 hamburger buns-- I used EnerG tapioca buns
corn chips* for serving
* McCormick spices are GF; French's original mustard is GF; Lea and Perrin's Worcestershire sauce is GF; Frito's original corn chips are GF

DIRECTIONS
1. Chop up onions in small-ish pieces. Dice them fine if you want (I prefer larger pieces). Set aside.
2. Begin cooking ground meat over medium heat in the saucepan. Break up large pieces of meat while cooking, but don't pulverize it. Cook for around 5 minutes, then drain out some excess grease if needed (not all of it).
3. When meat is browned, but still juicy, add in the onion. Also shake in the chili powder, garlic powder, celery flakes, salt and pepper-- mix well, and continue cooking for another 5-10 minutes or until onion becomes barely translucent. Don't burn the meat.
4. Remove meat/onions from stove and add in the mustard, a dash of Worcestershire sauce and then the ketchup. Start out with the 1/3rd cup of ketchup; if the mixture looks too dry, work your way up to 1/2 c. The exact amount will vary depending on how sloppy you want your Joes.
5. Heat up the GF hamburger buns in the microwave for 20 seconds on 'high' (makes them waaay softer). Re-heat meat/ketchup mixture over low heat on the stove to make sure it's still warm, then spoon a generous helping of meat into the buns. Enjoy with a side of pan-fried potatoes or corn chips.

Burritos/Tacos

I used cheap ground beef, since I was making a ton of tacos for a gathering of hungry boys, and I think the extra fat made the burritos extra juicy. This is the halved recipe, but if you want to cook all 2 lbs of beef, freeze the rest of the meat and rice and reheat later for several quick dinners.



Serves 8-10, more with fillers
40 minutes
-large saucepan
-medium pot
-baster or paper towels to remove excess grease
Easy

INGREDIENTS
Taco Meat:
1 lb. ground beef
1/2 red bell pepper, cored
1/2 green bell pepper, cored
1 medium white onion
1 small can of diced green chilies (optional, for a spicier taste)
2+ tsp. chili powder*
2+ tsp. garlic powder*
1+ tsp. dried cumin*
Rice w/beans:
1/2 c. uncooked white long grain rice (makes 1 c. cooked)
1 15 oz. can pinto beans
10 corn taco shells or 10 large, soft, brown rice tortillas (I used Food for Life, but you can make your own)
*McCormick spices are GF

Fillers:
CHEESE!! (I used Galaxy Nutritional Foods rice shreds- they melt great; DF and GF, but not CF)
sour cream
shredded lettuce
diced tomatoes
guacamole
salsa

DIRECTIONS

Rice:
1. Cook 1/2 c. white rice according to directions in package; use a medium pot. Let it simmer gently, covered, for 15-20 minutes, while the meat is being prepared.
Meat:
1. Wash and finely dice both bell peppers and onion. Set aside.
2. Place beef in large saucepan or skillet. Turn heat to medium and begin cooking meat.
3. If you are using fatty beef, like I did, be sure to pour off excess fat. You shouldn't need more than a tablespoon left.
4. Once meat is fully browned (barely cooked on the surface, 3-5 minutes), add in all diced veggies (plus chilies, if desired). Season generously with chili powder, garlic powder and cumin, to taste. Add a little salt if desired.
5. Cook another 8-10 minutes over medium heat or until meat is done and onions are translucent. Set meat aside.
Rice, continued:
6. Check on rice, it should also be cooked, fluffy and tender. Turn burner down to low once rice is done.
7. Open can of pinto beans, drain, and rise 3 or 4 times with cold water. Pour washed beans right into pot with rice. Stir/fold beans into rice until they are heated through.
8. Defrost/soften tortilla shells by placing them in the microwave for 30 seconds or so. Top with meat, rice and favorite cheese.

Red Spaghetti Sauce

My Italian mother's tomato spaghetti sauce... easily the best red sauce I've ever had. Meaty. Thick. Savory, not sweet. Easy to make and freezes well.



Serves 2-3 -- easily doubled or tripled
1 hour and 15 minutes
-medium pot or saucepan with lid
Easy

INGREDIENTS
1/4 lb. ground beef**
14.5 oz. can tomato sauce*
1 medium white onion, diced (not too small)
6 cloves fresh garlic, minced
1 tbsp dried sweet basil*
1/2 tbsp dried oregano*
salt and pepper
grated parmesan cheese, for topping over pasta
*Hunt's isn't 'listed' as GF, but I've never reacted to it and I'm very sensitive; McCormick spices are GF
**VEGETARIAN: Replace beef with 1/2 tbsp. olive oil

DIRECTIONS
1. Cut up onion and mince garlic cloves.
2. Wash ground beef and place in pot or medium saucepan. **
3. Brown meat over medium-heat (cook it till outside surface is no longer pink, but not fully cooked).
4. Add in can of tomato sauce, onions and garlic. Also stir in basil, oregano, salt and pepper to taste.
5. COVER, reduce heat to medium-low (or low) and simmer gently for 45 to 60 minutes. Stirring occasionally and adding more water if needed.
6. Serve over cooked GF pasta, with parmesan, or use in lasagna or eggplant parmesan-- Tastes better the second day!! I sometimes double the recipe, freeze in small baggies and heat up later for a quick lunch.
**If making a meat-less sauce (like for eggplant parmesan), skip this cooking step and instead add 1/2 tbsp olive oil directly into the tomato sauce.

Beef Stew

Hearty and full of veggies; this is my mother's recipe modified to be GF. Makes alot, so invite a friend who likes beef.



Serves 8
2.5 hours
-large pot or dutch oven, with lid
Easy

INGREDIENTS
1 to 2 lbs beef stew meat
1/4 to 1/2 c. flour; any kind will work.. sorghum, rice, potato...enough to coat meat
2 tbsp olive oil
15 oz can tomato sauce*
4 c. water; or more, later
1/4 c. Worcestershire sauce*
5 small red potatoes; coarsely cut into 1 inch cubes
2 carrots, cut into thick round slices
2 celery stalks, cut into thick slices
1 c. fresh corn (or one 15 oz can sweet yellow corn, if out of season)*
1 medium sweet potato
1 medium turnip (use the turnip; it tastes good in this.. I promise)
2 large leeks; wash and cut into thick round slices-- only use the white bottom portion of the stalk, not the green part. Separate the O's once cut.
salt and pepper to taste
*Lea & Perrins original worcester. sauce is GF; all DelMonte canned veggies are GF

DIRECTIONS
1. Wash stew meat and place into large, deep pot. Sprinkle flour over meat and stir in pot to coat. Also add some salt and pepper.
2. Brown meat in olive oil over medium heat until meat just starts to sizzle.
3. Add tomato sauce, Worcestershire sauce, and 4 cups water. Increase heat to 'high' and bring to a boil.
4. Once boiling, reduce heat to medium-low, cover and let simmer for 2 hours. DO NOT cook longer than 2 hours... your meat will turn to mush.
5. While meat is simmering, coarsely cup up all veggies.. there will be quite a bit.
6. Add in all (potatoes, carrots, celery, corn, sweet potato, turnip, leeks) to pot at 2 hour mark. Slowly add in more water if you desire a soup-like stew. I like mine thick and rarely add more liquid.
7. Cover and let veggies simmer for 30-45 minutes. Again, do NOT overcook! When the potatoes are tender, stew is ready to eat.