Beautiful SoDak, USA is in a pretty, yet dangerous blizzard right now, and everyone is encouraged to stay home. In fact, school was called off long before the blizzard even arrived. So, we decided to hang out at the store for the day (even though it isn’t likely many would visit.) The kids brought some movies, I brought tons of work. But, there is just one thing missing. You see, kids seem to think they need to eat three meals a day, and don’t get me started on snacks, 😉 so we decided to make a GRASSLAND GOURMET DAY out of this crazy blizzard! We have been selling the awesome South Dakota based gourmet company out of Creative Lush Boutique for quite a while, and before we did, my mom and sister carried in in their store. We LOVE supporting South Dakota talent, and are so happy to have Grassland Gourmet in the store!

Even though we are having a Dip & Wine night on Thursday, February 11th from 4-8, I still thought I would have a little private taste testing of my own! I have tried many of the dips, I LOVE LOVE LOVE the Gold Dust Dilly Dip and Cool Cucumber dip, and the SoDak Salsa is to DIE for, but had never tried the Garlic and Parmesan Galore or the Dawg Gone Beef Stew, so Today is the Day!

The instructions on the package are super easy, but we tweaked it a bit to our liking. Grassland Gourmet instructs to brown 2lbs of hamburger or stew meat in a large soup pot. Add stew mix, two 14 1/2 oz. cans stewed tomatoes, crushed, and 3 cans of water. Stir well and bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer until vegetables and meat are tender. They also share how you can make it in a crockpot as well, which always is my favorite way to cook because those seasonings just simmer right into the mix!

We tweaked ours a bit, and not on purpose, really. Have you ever heard of a “Happy Accident?” Well, they happen! I didn’t read the “crushed” part after Stewed Tomatoes so I just added a couple cans of sliced stewed tomatoes– and thought that my stew looked like it was missing the soupy look to it. So after re-reading the directions, I decided to add two cans of Tomato Sauce to it, to add a little bit more zest. B.E.S.T. H.A.P.P.Y. A.C.C.I.D.E.N.T. EVER! It was PHENOMENAL!

We also used ground hamburger meat instead of stew meat, which I felt really added to our “happy accident.” Because we wanted to have it done a bit faster, we also opted to make it in a pan on our induction cooker, (since we don’t have a stove at the studio) but I feel like the flavor would be much more enhanced if the seasonings stewed in a crock pot all day!

Ingredients:

• Grassland Gourmet Dawg Gone Good Beef Stew Mix (Only $7!)
• 2lbs Hamburger
• 2 cans stewed tomatoes
• 2 cans Tomato Sauce
• 3 cups Water
• Crockpot OR soup pan

Come on back to the blog tomorrow, I am going to share my rendition of the Parmesan & Garlic Galore Dip!