February 4

Cold, dark and dreary days inspire us to create a soup or a stew. I have been experimenting with a Beef and Beer crockpot stew which has been a winner so far. Beer and wine add unique flavor to food but also bring out the flavor of other ingredients in your recipes. I also like the fact that they tend to have less sodium than commercial broth or stock and so you can use them to create flavorful dishes with much less salt. While most of the alcohol cooks out of your dish, if you prefer not to add alcohol to your recipes you can achieve a similar effect with one of the non-alcoholic beer and wine products now available.