I went for years not fixing any kind of homemade stew for my family. Oh sure, we did the canned stuff. We also did soups and chili, lots of them, at least once, if not twice a week. Lentil soup, minestrone, and my favorite, yet unappealing sounding, “clean out the fridge soup.” I hopefully renamed it “Happy Harvest” soup. That’s simply a conglomeration of compatible main dish and veggie side leftovers harvested from the fridge, oomphed up with chicken broth or tomato sauce, and some seasonings. As a mom on a budget, that’s been a staple.

This stew, modified from the Stew of Love recipe from the Trim Healthy Table cookbook p. 101, makes me wish I could go back and serve this once a week during the fall and winter when my older kids were all home. It is soooo good! It’s the kind of food that makes you happy that it’s raining or snowing so you have an excuse to make it. That way you can serve it piping hot to warm everyone up and feel cozy together. So now that I’ve moved back to Utah, instead of dreading winter, I’m looking forward to the cold. Armed with this stew recipe and all the other things I’ve learned about hygge, I’m excited about winter.

Even though it’s not winter yet, I’m going to serve this stew this Sunday in between General Conference, whether it rains or not. I can’t wait!

OK, here’s how to make it!

Dump the following into your Instant Pot:

(This serves 12 to 16 single serve or 6 to 8 with double helpings, or 6 to 8 with leftovers, which is what I love! Cook once, eat twice! If you don’t want that much, then cut in half except for the meat.)

2 1/2 to 3 lbs diced beef stew meat

2 to 3 cups shredded cabbage to stretch the meat (leave out if you are halving the recipe)

1 T garlic powder

4 (14.5 oz. ) cans of Rotel type diced tomatoes if you like spicy food, if not, just use diced tomatoes. (Rotel has peppers added)

2 (3 to 4 oz) cans of sliced olives

1 to 2 cups of low starch diced veggies, like celery, bell peppers, zucchini, summer squash, and onions–or–2 (10 to 12 oz) bags of small cut seasoning blend (has celery, bell pepper, and onion, or just peppers and onions, found in the frozen veggie aisle of the grocery store)

2 cups sliced mushrooms, or if you don’t have those on hand, more shredded cabbage or other low starch veggies, as listed above

2 (6 oz) cans tomato paste

3 T paprika or chili powder

1 T plus 1 t mineral salt

2 t black pepper

2 t onion powder

2 tsp Italian seasoning

3 cups beef broth or just water, with 3 T nutritional yeast

Mix ingredients together. Seal and cook on the high pressure setting for 1 hour. After you let the steam out add and stir in:

1/2 to 2/3 c heavy cream

Serve with salad and bread and butter to those who aren’t watching their weight. If you/they are, then eat with just salad. Enjoy!