Cold comfort [UPDATED!]

It was not exactly cold when I got up this morning. It was, however, raining and about 55 [12.77 C] and only expected to go up to 64 [17.77 C] by mid-afternoon. Tonight it will dip down to almost 40 [4.4 C], which is just a little below average for this time of year where we live.

Still, I had volunteered to cook and the weather called for comfort food. So I decided to make Frito Pie: easy peasy, tasty and comforting as all get out -- as long as one ignores the sodium content. If you are not familiar with this culinary delight/abomination, I posted about it and gave the recipe here. It is, of course, one of those recipes that exists in many iterations and you can do whatever you want with it.

Speaking of recipes, I had a request for the one I mentioned recently that included stew meat and whole cranberry sauce.  I got the bare bones of that recipe many years ago from a Jesuit who was part of the retreat team for a thirty-day retreat I was overseeing in Ohio. His was very simple and I call it Jesuit Beef.

JESUIT BEEF

1 pound beef stew meat in one inch cubes

1 can whole cranberry sauce

Place meat in slow cooker. (Spray inside of cooker with Pam or something like that to facilitate cleanup.)
Dump can of cranberry sauce on top and break up.
Cook on low for 6 - 8 hours. Or on high for four hours.

That is okay, but I thought it needed a bit of perking up. So this is my version.

CARMELITE BEEF

1 pound beef stew meat in one inch cubes

1 can whole cranberry sauce

1 envelope onion soup mix

1/4 - 1/2 cup red salad dressing (e.g., French, Western, etc.) 

Splash of cooking sherry or marsala

2 tablespoons cornstarch

Cooked rice

Place meat in slow cooker. (Spray inside of cooker with Pam or something like that to facilitate cleanup.)
Sprinkle onion soup mix over beef.
Dump can of cranberry sauce on top and break up.
Add salad dressing and cooking wine.
Cook on low for 6 - 8 hours. Or on high for four hours.
Remove meat from cooker, leaving juices inside. Turn cooker to high if necessary.
Stir cornstarch with two tablespoons of cold water until dissolved. Stir mixture into juices in cooker and let simmer for five minutes to thicken.
Return meat to sauce.
Serve over rice.

UPDATE:  I usually use a pound and a half of meat but leave the spices the same. The one pound serves four in theory, but if you think you will want more, it is easy to throw in more meat.

This morning I found a recipe similar to my version online, called Slow Cooker Cranberry Roast, pictured above. It calls for chuck roast instead of stew meat. If you want to see that, click here.

Enjoy!