By Santee Ross, University of Montana

As classes are coming to their final weeks I notice that I’m eating less and less. I’ve gone from making oatmeal or eggs for breakfast straight to skipping the most important meal of the day altogether. I could blame my recent bad-eating habit on the stress of the last weeks of school but let’s get real here, I just am not in the mood to cook anymore.

Summer brings me out of my hibernation so I don’t feel the need to cook anymore. I mean who wants to slave away in a hot kitchen when the weather is already reaching as high as 80 degrees? You can just as easily snack on popcorn, fruit or other finger foods. No brainer there.

But the other realization I’ve come to over the weekend is when I leave back to Wyoming for the summer I will have to start cooking again for ceremonies. My mother will give me her famous scolding look unless I can redeem myself with at least one good dish when I get back home. My solution? Stew.

Stew comes to my rescue because since I am by no means “wife worthy” to cook, I rely on the easiest thing to throw together. So let’s get started.

Prep time: Since I kept wanting to run around outside instead of cook, it took me about a half-hour to get all the chopping and slicing done.
Cook time: Now, I am rusty so all in all it took me an hour and a half to get the stew delicious enough.

What you’ll need:

• Carrots
• Onions
• Potatoes
• Meat (I really wish I had wild game this weekend but I had to settle for store bought)
• Butter to fry the meat in
• Any seasonings you want to give it the kick you want
• Water

Measurements for stew really just depends on what you want. You like carrots? Get a whole bag. You love potatoes? Have twice as many potatoes as meat. The reality is you have to be worse than the worst cook on earth to screw up stew. So don’t sweat it here.

Alright here’s what you do:

1. Cut up your carrots, onions and potatoes into bite-size pieces. Keep these aside until you need them later.
2. Cut up your meat into bite size pieces. Place it in a stew pot with a spoonful of butter to soften up the meat. Fry your meat with the seasonings your heart desires. I personally add salt, pepper, little bit of paprika, thyme and a pinch of cumin.
3. After your meat is brown on the outside but still a little uncooked in the middle add your carrots, onions and potatoes. After you add all those add enough water to boil all the ingredients together.
4. Now it’s just a matter of time. You boil everything until the potatoes and carrots are soft when you stick them with a fork. Once they’re done your stew is ready to be dished out and enjoyed.

This is probably the easiest thing to make next to opening a can of Campbell's beef stew but this will always be a more delicious option. Mom you don’t have to scold me or give "the eye” when I come home because I’m confident that what I made this weekend would gain your seal of approval.

Tip: Bread is essential to dip into the broth and finishes this dish. So welcome the carbs with open, uh mouths?

Santee Ross (Hopi/Lakota) is from Lander, Wyo.