August 3, 2025

Croissant 🥐

August 2, 2025

Weeknight Beef Stew

Slow cooked style beef stew – on a Monday – a quick sautée, a sear & a bath in the Instant Pot. What more could you want out of your meat box subscription beef cubes?

gluten-free, paleo, low carb

Weeknight Beef Stew

4 cloves minced garlic

1 yellow onion, chopped

1 Tbsp oil of choice

1 pound cubed beef (stew meat or top sirloin cut into 1-inch pieces) 

1 large or 2 medium potatoes, chopped (optional but gives body to the dish if you’re not serving with a side of carbs)

2 stalks celery, chopped

3 large carrots, chopped

1/4 c caramelized onions (optional but a good flavor boost)

4 cups beef broth (I use stock starter)

¼ cup worcestershire sauce

2 Tbsp mushroom powder (optional but gives an extra umami kick)

2 Tbsp fish sauce 

2 teaspoon each dried basil, oregano, cumin & sweet paprika 

2-3 tsp salt – or to taste, keeping in mind you’ll probably want to finish with flake salt

¼ cup cold water 

3 Tbsp arrowroot powder or cornstarch

20 grinds black pepper

Optional serving: precooked rice, mashed potatoes, sautéed cabbage strips or egg noodles

Prep your veggies and set aside.

Set your Instant Pot to sauté and add the oil.

Sauté the garlic & onions until you get a little color. Remove. Add the beef and sear.

Add all the ingredients but the starch + water and your optional side and set to cook for 45 minutes.

When done and the pot has de-pressurized, remove the stew from the pot, keeping the liquid back.

Make a slurry out of the starch + water. Add to the pot and set to sauté. Stir until the broth is thicker. Add back to your stew and serve.

Serves 4-6 depending upon whether you serve with a side

August 1, 2025

Latest make! Petticoat style skirt with huge pockets out of a Viking weaving style recreation linen fabric dyed the color of woad. It’s a bit more poufy than I would maybe like, but I wasn’t sacrificing any of this fabric to scrap.
The poufiness is also cute in the back

Item #1 of my next travel capsule is complete!

July 31, 2025

July 30, 2025

Work pal

July 29, 2025

The only pic I snapped was of today’s cleaning house charcuterie plate: radishes, the last of the carrot coins & cherry tomatoes, a small cucumber, the last of the turkey kielbasa, these crazy grapes I found & a mayo/chili crisp/English mustard dip

July 28, 2025

July 27, 2025

July 26, 2025

Midwest comfort via the Middle East. Indomie (local fav ramen noodles) with Omani (local favorite comfort food chips) or Pufky (Qatari brand comfort) chips, cheeses & (probably not canned) chicken. All that’s missing is the frozen peas.