Italian Beef Stew

Ingredients:

3/4 lb. beef cube steak, cubed
1 c. water
1 can (8 oz.) tomato sauce
1 small potato, peeled and cubed
1/2 c. sliced fresh carrot
1/2 small onion, cut into thin wedges
1/2 small sweet red pepper, chopped
1 t. onion soup mix
1/2 t. Italian seasoning
1/4 t. garlic powder
1/2 c. frozen peas

In large saucepan coated with nonstick cooking spray (or olive oil), brown the meat over medium heat for 5 minutes. Stir in the water, tomoato sauce, potato, carrot, onion, red pepper, soup mix, Italian seasoning and garlic powder. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, for 45 minutes.

Stir in peas; simmer 15 minutes longer or until vegetables are tender.

Yield: 2 servings

Personal Observations: Okay, let me get this off my chest -- cube steak is about as useful as ground beef. While trying to "cube" it, I could hardly get it to even stay together! If I make this again, I will seriously consider finding a substitute meat... Secondly, the prep for this dish is much more than I had anticipated and the steak was done way before I had even gotten the first vegetable chopped! Bad timing on my part and dinner took forever to finish. It even got to the point where I just "estimated" how much veggies I had cut. I'm sure many were more than what the recipe called for but I was tired, darn it!

Also, I made a vow after making this recipe. I solemnly swear to NEVER again double a "Cooking for 2" recipe until I have first tried it in it's original form. Holy cow! I don't know where I sent wrong, but my attempt to have 4 servings instead of 2 turned into 8 servings! Needless to say, I'm tired of eating this stuff.

Gidget's Rating: 4 stars, due to the preparation requirements!