Time for spring

Happy Spring to you all! The trees are waking up around here, some overly zealous rhododendrons are already in fool bloom and even though it is gray and gloomy here today - it is already spring!

Since I haven't baked anything disastrous in a while I can only brag about a slow cooker beef stew that I made on Saturday with slight modifications of this recipe. As recommended by some of the reviewers this recipe can easily be started of in a pan in order to brown the beef, and then transferred into a slow cooker. I cooked mine on high for 2.5 hours before adding vegetables, then another hour or so. It does need a lot of flavor added to it so I added beef broth, vegetable stock, can of diced tomatoes and good two spoons of paprika. In future I will also try adding some asparagus to the veggies.

To add entertainment value to this post here are some pictures:

Long forgotten Valentine's day crafts:


And some pictures of my kiddo enjoying spring:

"Look mama, tiny pine cones!"
"I am in the puddle!"