It.is.friggin.FREEZING! When the temperature drops below 30, this Minnesota Girl starts craving stew…..So, here is a  German-y, warm, sweatshirt season recipe for when you need a little warming up.

Ingredients:

• 4 Gangster brats from Stokkes Meat Market at The Adolph Store (or whatever kind of brats you can find)
• 2 onions, sliced
• a buttload of garlic, diced
• 1 Grain Belt beer (or whatever you like)
• 3 lbs or so of potatoes, cut into chunks
• 4 c Beef or Chicken Stock
• 1 large jar of sauerkraut
• Top The Tater (or sour cream, but it will.not.be.the.same.)

Step 1: Cut your brats into chunks (use a kitchen shears to make it easy on yourself) and brown the brat chunks with onions. Toss in your garlic about a minute before the brats are brown and the onions are soft.

Step 2: Open your beer and take a big swig to make sure it’s fresh, then deglaze the pan with the beer. (Deglazing is just fancy cooking talk for pour the beer in the pan and scrape all the little brown bits off the bottom)

Step 3: (I got into the rest of the beer and forgot to take a picture…oopadee!) At this point, you can toss the brat/onion/garlic/beer combo and the remaining ingredients into a Crock Pot, or a regular pot, and cook on low until the potatoes are tender.

While you’re waiting, watch this video Minnesota Girl  and laugh your keester off.

Step 4: Ladle that stew into a bowl, and top with a healthy dollop of Top The Tater. What’s that? You live in a region that does not have access to Top The Tater? Well, now I just feel bad for you…Wait, you’re probably skinnier than me, so I totally don’t. You poor saps will have to just use sour cream.

Listening to: Say Shhh by Atmosphere

Drinking: The other 5 Grain Belts in the sixer