I’ve said it many times that my mother was queen of the soups and stews.  She knew how to stretch a pound of meat to serve six kids and the two of them.  No question about it.  And there’s a lot of things she made over the years that I make similarly, today.  Her potato salad…  The Olive appetizers…  And her stew.

Mom’s stew was pretty basic and simple.  Lots of potatoes and lots of gravy.  Sop it all up with bread.

It doesn’t get any better.

Fast-forward a few years and you find me in the kitchen making a similar stew.  There’s a few differences…  I use fresh onions because I wouldn’t know what to do with onion soup mix and I use beef broth in place of the bouillon cubes – another non-ingredient in our house.  But the concept is the same.  Coffee and worcestershire sauce are definitely in there.  As is garlic powder.

In reading the recipe above, I think she inadvertantly left out celery.  And Kitchen Boquet.  I kinda think she always had celery in her stew.  I know I always add it to mine.  It’s a natural.

I don’t recall when she started using coffee in her beef dishes – soups, stews, gravies and the like.  I do remember that she was kind of proud of how the dishes came out, though.  Coffee does add a richness to beef.  I use it a lot.

I’ll also add frozen peas or mixed vegetables if I happen to have any in the house.  And unlike mom, I rarely peel my potatoes or carrots.

But even though I tweak it here and there, it is her recipe that it’s based upon.

And if she were still here to make a pot of it, I’d be standing in line for seconds – onion soup mix and all.