Divine Guidance

Marnie Reilly’s Beef Stew and Pot Roast Recipe
Beef Stew and Pot Roast
Beef Stew / Pot Roast ready for the oven.

Beef stew and pot roast are two of Marnie Reilly’s most requested dinners. Detective Tom Keller and Carl Parkins are particularly fond of her pot roast – and raspberry pie (recipe coming soon). As it happens, both dishes (and raspberry pie) are some of my favorite comfort foods.

I have never seen this specific recipe written down – but this is loosely how my parents ( and Marnie’s parents) made pot roast and beef stew. Over the years, I have adjusted the recipe to my taste; and I have added in the extra garlic, the celery and mushrooms.

Beef Stew / Pot Roast Ingredients

1 medium yellow or red onion – chopped
1 celery stalk – chopped
3-6 cloves of garlic, crushed (this will depend on how much you like garlic – I use 6 cloves)
8 ounces fresh mushrooms (optional)
1 Tablespoon olive oil
4 Tablespoons butter (divided)
3 Tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon of sea salt
½ teaspoon celery salt
1 teaspoon of cracked black pepper
½ teaspoon of thyme leaves (optional)
3-5 pound chuck roast (leave whole for pot roast / cut into 1-inch cubes for stew
1 10 oz can of Campbell’s cream of mushroom soup
10 oz of water (use the soup can to measure
2 cups of beef stock
8 baby potatoes, halved
10-12 ounces baby carrots

Method

Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit.

Add the flour, salt, pepper and thyme leaves to a zip-lock bag. Close bag and shake to mix. Unzip bag and add the whole chuck roast or beef cubes pending pot roast or stew preference. Zip the bag, and shake to coat beef with flour mixture.

Add olive oil and 2 Tablespoons of butter to a 5 quart Dutch oven (with cover). Melt butter over medium heat. Add beef and turn to brown on all sides. Remove beef to a bowl. Add 2 Tablespoons of butter and stir until melted – scraping up browned bits from the beef. Add onions and garlic. Cook 3-5 minutes over medium heat. Add mushrooms. Cook 8 minutes – stirring occasionally. Add beef and juices back to pan and stir to mix thoroughly.

In the bowl you used for the beef, mix together cream of mushroom soup and 1 can of water. Add to Dutch oven when thoroughly mixed. Add beef stock, baby potatoes and carrots. Cover and place in oven for 2-3 hours (or until meat easily pulls apart).

You can also place is a slow cooker on low for 6-8 hours.

Enjoy!

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Murder mystery, Torn Veil – Officially on the way to the editor…

That’s right! Murder mystery, Torn Veil was sent off to the editor on Friday. That’s excellent news for readers because that means we are one step closer to release. November 2020 is just around the corner. And it’s excellent news for me because I can now start pouring my energy into the third book in the series.

As I read through Torn Veil for the fifth time, I picked out a few passages that resonate with me. Does that sound strange? Shouldn’t they all resonate? Perhaps, and the paragraphs, dialogue and chapters do, but there are moments when I write and I don’t remember typing specific sections of text. Something takes over and the words appear on the screen in front of me. It’s kind of like auto-pilot I suppose. Then again, I wrote a story that has been played out in my head for the better part of 5 years – I suppose I was on auto-pilot. The fact that I love my characters probably has something to do with it too. I do love my characters. Even the bad ones.

The character interaction is so much fun. I have conversations in my head about how they will discuss a certain subject or how Marnie will react to something Danny has done or something silly Tom has said. Their chatter is in my head when I fall asleep, brush my teeth, have a shower, cook dinner… They are with me a lot! Writing dialogue between Danny, Marnie, Tom, Carl and Tater is a breeze because of this. And the characters are bits and pieces of the many people I have met throughout my life. My characters are pieces of friends, relatives, acquaintances and of course, some people I don’t particularly like.

Adding new characters, one with a pronounced stutter and one with a Southern drawl, gave way for interesting interactions. And of course, writing for Gram is a heap of fun. Researching her Irish brogue and the colloquialisms of the Emerald Isle delivers better dialogue for her character. Watching a bit of ‘Mrs. Brown’s Boys’ was great inspiration too.

Writing Tater’s actions and behavior is such a joy for me. Tater is a cross between my first border collie, Murphy, and my second border collie, Finnegan. There are also a few character traits from my current border collies, Dougal and Callee, as well. Border Collies are such intelligent cheeky dogs. I do love writing Tater. He is my favorite character after all – and then Tom.

And then there is the genre… Having been introduced to mysteries at a young age, murder mysteries are my favorite genre to read and write. Starting with Trixie Belden, Nancy Drew and The Hardy Boys, then moving on to Agatha Christie, Mary Higgins Clark, Ruth Rendell and so many others, I have consumed mystery novels for over four decades. It’s the same when it comes to television and movies. Murder She Wrote, Diagnosis Murder, Mystery 101, Murder 101… you name it, I will watch it. I love figuring out the mystery before the end.

With all of that said and/or written, I better get back to focusing my energy on Fatal Vow – the third in the series.

Torn Veil, a murder mystery with a paranormal twist

Creekwood – The Good. The Quirky. The Bad. The Evil.

Torn Veil is just a bit darker than Divine Guidance. We dive into occult practices and the seedy underbelly of Creekwood, NY, a fictional town located along the Hudson River somewhere between the Adirondack Mountains and Hudson, NY.

Why somewhere? Because reading fiction is all about using your imagination. Every writer hopes their description of a place, person or thing helps the reader see what they see. I know what Creekwood looks like – I see it in my imagination every time I write about the quaint little town. Hopefully, readers do to.

I try to do the same with characters. Gram for instance – I don’t give too much detail about her physical appearance because readers should visualize her in their own imagination. A few characters’ physical appearances are explained in detail – like Marnie, Tater, Danny, Tom and Carl. A few are not. What they look like is up to the reader.

Speaking of characters… Torn Veil has a host of intriguing characters – good, quirky, bad and pure evil. I love writing all of them – but it is so much fun to write the dialogue and the thoughts of a nasty, vile, psychotic and evil character. It’s like therapy – you get to take your evil twin out for a stroll.

Anyway, I better get back to work. I’m still fiddling with few final changes to chapters. Why? Because my proofreaders ask a lot of questions. If a vital bit isn’t as clear as I thought and two or three proofreaders ask the same question, I make a tweak to ensure clarity. Sometimes the clarity is already there and just one of the proofreaders missed it. It’s a balancing act, folks.

I will keep you posted. Have a great day!