Garden Veggie Stew

I was recently asked to cook a recipe that somehow relates to my connection with farming and agriculture. My first thought was, “This is easy! We raise beef cows, and I cook with beef all the time!” And then I thought to myself, “Self, you also have all that yummy produce from your garden this summer – why not experiment with it a bit?”

And that’s exactly what I did. I call it Garden Veggie Stew. Farmer Doc has been calling it Feutz Farm Stew. Make it your own, and call it whatever you want!

I started with 1 pound of beef for stew. When I started, I wasn’t really sure if this was going to be a stew or a soup, so I cut the beef into smaller, bite-sized pieces. (There’s nothing worse than a chunky soup with chunks that are too big!) I tossed the beef into my lined crockpot with a diced onion from our garden.

I added in about 1 cup of butternut squash (from our garden) and 1 quart of tomato juice that we made from our tomatoes last weekend. I also added 2 cups of frozen sweet corn from our garden. (Just toss it in there in a frozen block. Check back in about an hour and it will thawed enough that you can stir it around and mix the corn into the rest of your soup/stew.)

Give that all a good stir, put the lid on your crockpot, and cook on low for 6-8 hours (or on high for 3-4 hours).

During the last hour of cooking, I added one quart of canned green beans (from our garden stash).

Then I decided I didn’t really want soup, I wanted something thicker. So I added 2 cups of instant brown rice. I put the cover back on, turned up the heat to high, and let it go for another 45-60 minutes.

And that was it! With the exception of the rice, we raised everything in this dish! (Okay, we didn’t raise this beef, but we do raise beef, so I think it counts.) I served it with a side of our favorite cornbread recipe, although the rice certainly gives it enough carbs that you don’t need the bread if you don’t want it. (But who doesn’t want fresh-from-the-oven cornbread?)

What are you cooking up from your garden this fall? I’m pretty excited to get my hands onsome pie pumpkins from our garden in the next few weeks!

{I am participating in Indiana’s Family of Farmers Table Talk Series and received a gift in exchange for my participation. There is also an affiliate link in this post.}