Vegetable Beef Stew

1 lb. hamburger, stew meat or leftover roast

1 vidalia onion diced

4 carrots peeled and diced

8 red potatoes cut into bite size chunks

1 ear of corn cut off the cob

1/2 lb. fresh green beans snapped into bite size pieces

3 basil leaves finely chopped

sprig of rosemary finely chopped

2 cloves of garlic minced

1 T. bacon grease

10 very ripe roma tomatoes diced very small

2 cups homemade chicken broth(this is just what I had in the freezer)

This is a very easy, very versatile stew recipe. I usually use whatever beef I have in the freezer & whatever vegetables I happen to have in the refrigerator. The vegetables can be altered to your liking. I've always thought that celery would be good in this. But, I married a man who not only hates celery, but passed that trait onto my 3 children. So, celery is a no go for me. If you don't have any fresh tomatoes, you could always use canned. I only used chicken broth because that's usually all I ever have here at my house. Beef broth in the can would be fine too. If you don't have any broth, water will always work. The broth just gives it that little extra something. If you like your soup thick, I would stick with my measurements, but if you like it more soupy then I would add a little more broth.

Brown the hamburger(for this recipe it is important to use regular hamburger, not lean. I know, I know..........but we need the grease that cooks out of the hamburger for later) in a large skillet. Season meat with salt, cracked pepper & garlic powder. Once hamburger is cooked, using a slotted spoon ladle hamburger out of skillet draining the grease back into the skillet. I used a large wooden spoon to push the hamburger down to get all the grease out. Put the drained hamburger into crock pot. To the hamburger grease add 1 tablespoon of bacon grease(I always have bacon grease in the frig for this sort of thing. It must be a southern thing. If you don't have any bacon grease add a tablespoon of olive oil to the hamburger grease.). To the greased skillet add onions, potatoes and carrots. Season with salt, cracked pepper and garlic powder. This will take about 20 minutes or so. Stir every few minutes so nothing starts to stick. The purpose of this step is to not only lightly brown the potatoes, but marry the flavors of the meat with the vegetables. The potatoes are not going to be completely cooked in this step. You just want to give them a light brown color. Once this has been achieved add chopped garlic, basil, rosemary and green beans to the vegetable mixture. Only sauté for a few minutes or the garlic may burn and taste bitter. Now, add the entire pan of vegetables to the crock pot. Next, cut the corn kernels off of the cob right into the crock pot. Add chopped tomatoes and broth. Cook all day stirring whenever you happen to think about it. Make sure you taste this before serving. It may need more spices. If you like it spicy you could add hot sauce to this or even cayenne. I always serve mine with crackers or corn bread. Tonight will most definitely be crackers!