Wash Day Stew

Wash Day Stew... ready in 30 minutes.

Long... long ago, when I was a young girl, automatic washing machines were not affordable to the average housewife. But thankfully clothes didn't have to be beaten on rocks either. As the oldest daughter of eight children, I learned to wash clothes in the beast pictured below. Nowadays, a parent would probably be arrested for letting a child use this dangerous machine. Let me explain that the danger was not in the actual wash tub. It was the wringer part of the machine that could rip off a finger, tear skin, or break an arm.

People romance about hanging clothes outside in the fresh air. Personally, I never found anything wonderful about wearing stiff, scratchy clothes. Trust me, you've never lived until you tried to get into bluejeans that were as stiff as cardboard.

Women marveled at the new "Wringer Washers."

Here is a list of more reasons why I hated washday:
1. It was an all day job. And women still needed to have supper on the table. So easy, fast, meals were important.

2. Shirts and tops would be distorted in the shoulders because of the clothes pins.

3. Clothes, on occasion would have to be rewashed because of bird poop.

4. Surprise rain showers drenching your almost dry clothes.

5. Japanese beetles seemed to love wet laundry. There's nothing like finding one hidden in your clothes.... while you're wearing them.

6. Just about everything was made of cotton, and that meant ironing and lots of it.

7. Winter! Clothes were hung in the basement. Basement is not quite the right word. It was more like a dungeon. And my dungeon had a big coal furnace. The only good thing about it, the furnace was hot, and the clothes would dry in record time.

Ingredients for Wash Day Stew:
1 pound beef stewing meat
4-5 medium potatoes, peeled and cut into large cubes
1 pound carrots (I used 1 bag of mini-carrots. And used them whole.)
1 medium onion, diced
2 ribs of celery, diced
salt and pepper to taste
1 medium jar (32 ounce) spaghetti sauce

Directions:
1. In skillet, brown meat in 3 tablespoons of vegetable oil.

2. Put meat into pressure cooker. Add 2 cups water and cook for 15 minutes. Let pressure drop.

3. Add remaining ingredients, cook for 8 to 10 minutes.



Hey.... here's some of those stiff bluejeans I was talking about.


This is one of my favorite stews.