Man Friendly Recipes: Beef Stew

One of my friends recently suggested that I try to make some food that had some "manly" flavor to it to appease her husband.  At first I was a bit confused by what this meant, I thought my recipes were things that everyone would like.  Then I realized that perhaps the abundance of veggie burgers, quinoa, and sweet potatoes that I have on here may not appeal to all the fellas out there.

Josh is willing to try pretty much anything that I make him, and usually likes it.  I don't have to make meat and potatoes every night to make him happy, which makes me happy too.  One time, a few months after we started dating, I asked him what he would like to eat for his birthday dinner.  What was his favorite food from growing up?  To which he replied, "beef stew".

Ughhhh, beef stew.  I'm pretty sure I had some bad experiences with day care center government subsided meat as a child, and beef stew was one of the things that made my stomach uneasy.   But, being the good girlfriend that I was, I obliged, and made him beef stew for his birthday.  (Side note - I slaved over that stew all day, and he ended up being too sick that day to eat it.  Fail)

So anyhow, as I was thinking about "manly" recipes to make, beef stew came to mind.  Being that I never enjoyed beef stew growing up, I didn't even know what to do to make my own.  So I went to the source.  The woman who knows everything.  Ree.  This recipe is made with beer, so I knew it would be good :).  I followed the recipe as written, except I cut the amount of meat in half, and doubled the potatoes.  2 lbs of beef seemed a little excessive to me personally.

I served this with a side of my new homemade sourdough baguettes (post coming tomorrow!) and what do you know, it was delicious!  Josh got his favorite  meal, and I was happy too.  I'm not going to copy the recipe here, that would just me mean, but head on over to the Pioneer Woman and she'll show you how to do it.