Sunday Mornings at Home
Happy September Sunday, friends! Thank you for joining me for my weekly lifestyle post called Sunday mornings at home.
In Texas, we really don’t need cooler temps, falling leaves, or sweaters to think fall…we only need one thing and that is FOOTBALL.
While all those things are welcomed changes, once football begins we think fall.
Football is something my entire family loves…grandchildren included. It is a bonding experience.
If not together, we are texting or calling one another about the games we watch.
My family includes support of six different college teams...we are very diverse….plus we support more than one professional team.
So, let fall and the fun begin.
Sunday mornings at home starts with a recent recipe for game watching!
SUNDAY MORNINGS AT HOME: FOOTBALL FOOD
No matter what heat is outside, when we watch football, we bring our home cooked hot meals.
Pre-season included my traditional BEEF STEW.
I have told you before that I am a huge fan of the slow cooker. I believe by slow cooking infuses flavor into meals more than the fast and furious methods.
My life now doesn’t require speed cooking, but rather flavor forward cooking.
My Beef Stew begins in the slow cooker. Sometimes cook overnight, and sometimes begin early morning hours.
I put in the slow cooker two pounds of beef chuck, which I purchase in small cubes already trimmed by our local HEB.
With it, goes
One tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce
3 cloves of garlic…I like to mince them.
One large onion chopped
2 Bay leaves
1 tablespoon of salt, or two teaspoons of sea salt
1/2 teaspoon of pepper (Mr. B will add more)
1/2 teaspoon of smoked paprika
Dash of allspice or cloves
2 teaspoons of sugar + 1 teaspoon of maple syrup. (of course it tastes good without this)
Cover with four cups of water.
I slow cook this low for at least 6 hours….smells so good!
While it is cooking, I slice 6 farm fresh carrots (they are large), 6 small gold potatoes with skin on, and another large onion.
I put these in my soup pot covered in about three cups of water and cook on the stove.
When the slow cooked beef is ready, I remove the bay leaves and pour that into the veggies on the stove and mix together.
While that has cooked for about 30 minutes, I drain a can of my favorite small peas and stir them in.
In a small bowl, I pour 1/4 cup of water over 2 tablespoons of flour and make the thickening for the gravy.
I remove into a large measuring cup about 1 1/2 cups of hot liquid from the stew, mix the flour In it and pour back into the stew for the thicker sauce.
Then serve…it is great with cornbread muffins…though we haven’t had that for awhile.
Our favorite football meals include stew, chili, and chicken enchiladas.
No matter how the game is going, we enjoy it better with good food.
I told you last week that Mr. B has been in training for a big race which happens soon.
This means he eats more carbs and more beef for the iron.
Recently I also cooked for him a pan-seared ribeye steak with butter, garlic and rosemary.
While cooking, I thought I needed a sauce but I did not want to go to the store…so I opened the pantry and refrigerator.
In the pantry, I found two packages of McCormick brown gravy mix…..and thought, I can work with that!
I chopped a sweet yellow onion and cooked it in this Kerrygold Garlic and Herb butter…probably three tablespoons.
This butter is amazing…if you haven’t tried it…do…it would also be incredible in mashed potatoes.
In a small bowl, I whisked together together the seasoning packets in a small amount of water following the instructions on the packet.
I added the rest of the water in with the onions…except I shortened the amount by 1/4 cup. Then I added 1/4 cup of cooking sherry.
This sauce was so good and cooked together very well. I know I will make it again…maybe to go on those mashed potatoes.
SUNDAY MORNINGS AT HOME: FALL BIRTHDAYS
We also have several family birthdays in the fall including a granddaughter who will turn seven.
Last year, I began a James Avery Craftsman charm bracelet for her at Christmas.
Her dad since then added a charm to it.
For her birthday, I am going to added three more James Avery Charms. These are the mini-versions rather than the regular charms.
Since she is Texas born, I am adding the state of Texas.
For her birthday, I am adding her birthstone.
When she was a baby, we all sang “Jesus Loves Me” to her at nap and bedtime, so I am adding Jesus Loves Me (on the back, This I Know).
I know she will love this.
Her parents had to sneak out the bracelet to me, so I can stop by a James Avery location in San Antonio and have the new ones added.
I also have a special James Avery surprise planned for her at Christmas.
In Texas, women begin life with a charm bracelet and add to it into adulthood.
James Avery jewelry is a tradition in many families…just as it is in ours.
At some point, I will upgrade my granddaughter’s to a larger bracelet.
Thank you for joining me today for Sunday Mornings at Home…I have so much for you this week…fun fall fashion and inspiration too.
I hope you will join me…happy holiday weekend to all who are celebrating Labor Day..see you tomorrow…
KEEP SMILING!!
By Pamela Lutrell
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Happy Sunday Pamela. Your post brought back such a rush of lovely memories. I have happy nostalgic tears in my eyes. I’m not from Texas but football was hugely important in my family. My mother’s father was a head coach, both college and pros. My dad was first string all state and probably would have been All American but for WWII. While my parents and grandmother were alive the whole family very large family gathered for football on Saturday and Sunday. And of course we had great snacks and meals. Now my siblings & I have scattered to different states. The teams I used to watch aren’t on TV here and I’ve pretty much lost interest but for most of my life fall was the most fun family time. The charm bracelet for your granddaughter is such a lovely tradition. My grandmother started mine too and I still have it in my jewelry box. A friend of mine had hers converted to a necklace and I’ve thought about doing that. Thanks for reminding me that its time to get out the crock pot. And yes to the Kerry Gold butter. I always have some in my freezer. Thanks for the wonderful memories. Have a lovely day.
Your beef stew recipe made me hungry at 7:00 am on Sunday! I will look forward to making it in the cooler months hopefully ahead. Thank you for keeping us informed. I don’t always comment but read your inspiring words each day.
I love the story of the charm bracelet for your granddaughter and how you will add significant charms to it at meaningful times in her life. I was given a small charm bracelet as an older child (11 maybe?) but lost it somewhere. My mother was so hurt that I was careless with it and all the memories tired to each charm. I never have felt such guilt . Today I am extra cautious with everything precious- almost to extreme.
On football – well we used to be more football oriented but other than our loyalty to area pro team- Patriots – we no longer are. It seems I use to cheer for Boston College, Notre Dame team and Georgia, but for no special reasons. I think my dad and uncles were fans of these teams and loyalty was passed down. Funny how that goes.
I’m sure you and your family enjoy any rivalry taking it with merriment!
Happy Sunday!
You are so welcome, Kathie. It is so funny how I find comfort in just the sounds of a football game on tv…I do not even have to be watching it! The only real relationship I had with my father was watching the Dallas Cowboys together. Then with my own children football games became a time of community celebrations and fun. On another note: James Avery does sell on their website charm necklaces. Necklaces of various designs which will hold your charms. You might look over what they have and consider doing that.
Thanks so much, Cheryll. I appreciate having you in our audience with an occasional comment.
We support so many teams because of family history…my husband still watches Nebraska because that was his dad’s school. No one ever gets mad over the teams we support or when they play each other…it is all part of the fun.
My oldest son is coming this week to help with several projects, and besides just being elated to see him I am thrilled because he really appreciates my cooking. Stew is a great idea, and yours sounds tasty! We are Seahawks fans here, and foods of choice are always homemade bbq’d wings, and a thick homemade herb/sour cream dip with lots of fresh veggies for dipping. Still have my charm bracelet, gifted by my grandmother with a ruby (birthstone) in a heart, and mounted 1963 dime as starters. To that were added a horse, sailboat, grand piano, sombrero, and dozens of momentos from national parks we visited growing up.
Happy Sunday,Pam! Thanks so much for the beef stew recipe! I haven’t really found a beef stew recipe that I like,this recipe sounds wonderful! I also like the idea of cooking the vegetables separately and then adding them to the stew. The sauce for meat or mashed potatoes sounds really good,too!
Thanks!
Now I can’t help but sing: “Count your blessings, name them one by one. Count your blessings, see what God has done!” I will have ear worms all day! LOL
I believe I will copy your charm idea for several granddaughters and daughters. The “Jesus Loves Me” is a smiler.
I “watched” three football games yesterday as I worked around the house!!! 🙂 Isn’t the time and place in which we live a puzzler? I read once that team loyalty happens because we have lost our clans, tribe, and close family ties (migrating far from home, even across America), and have a need for bonds, even with strangers with whom we’d have little else in common.
The stew looks lovely, simple, satisfying, and doable! It’s on my short list.
Thank you, Pam, for a gentle start to the week. Have a great day!
Hi Connie…I so hope that my granddaughter will keep hers as long as you have kept yours! And that Seahawk stadium is quite a site! Something I saw recently in Seattle.
You are so welcome, Denise. Enjoy!
You are so welcome, Lou…thanks for being here!
It does feel like fall despite our current heat. The college students are returning: it was hard to find a place to eat this morning. My husband loves football but always has a hard time when the Pats play Cleveland. Our DIL is HUGE Packers fan, and she and my son live in Seattle — so that’s our roundup. Thanks for the stew recipe! We can all enjoy it no matter whom we are rooting for.
It is still very hot but the light is changing which makes a house bound person like me feel like fall. Your stew sounds delicious! We need to check out our Broncos this year. It has been a few since we watched them. I never had a charm bracelet but it sounds like a wonderful tradition. Enjoy your weekend!
Thanks for the beef stew recipe, Pam. I am looking forward to trying it. I grew up in a college town and football was a wonderful fall tradition. I worry about player injuries, but hopefully there is more knowledge about these things than there used to be.
I need that coffee mug!
Hi Sandy…I found those at Hobby Lobby!
Thanks for all you do! Since I have moved back to California the 49 ers are the team we watch and even when we moved away we wanted them to win. All my grandsons played and now they too have their favorite teams.
Your stew sounds delicious. I add carrots and broccoli to mine. I had to laugh about the package gravy. I too needed a meal one day so added the gravy mix with added onion, put it in the crockpot with some cut up steak and served over mashed potatoes and now it’s one of the meals I make often and so simple lol.
I will be in San Antonio in October so hopefully it will be cooler.
It should be cooler, Patricia…but no guarantees. If I can help you with anything, please let me know. All forecasts are showing September with triple digits the whole way…though we have gone from 108 to 100! That’s progress!
Both the stew as well as the gravy sauce sounds delish! As to Football, we are more of a hockey family (comes with the territory of living in the Great White North) and even more so with having one of our Grandchildren hoping to make the sport his career. (He recently turned seventeen and is awaiting a confirmation as to whether he ‘made the cut’ to play on a major league junior team, being one of the first of many steps of becoming a professional player.) Last but not least; the idea of a charm bracelet for your Grand Daughter is wonderful and wishing success to your hubby on his upcoming race.
Thanks so much, Brenda. I love it when a family has a sporting tradition…no matter the sport…we have friends that are soccer families like we are American football. My kids learned so many great lessons through athletic participation and I try to pass those lessons on the grandchildren.
Thank you for including stores like Hobby Lobby and Marshall’s on your blog. I will make your beef stew and would say you are a creative cook!
You are so welcome, Mary. I have to occasionally give Hobby Lobby a shout out…it is one of my favorite places to shop.