Country Pork Stew

  Saturday was my twice a month cleaning day at the company my GF is a plant manager at,  so despite wicked weather and nasty roads it was off to work GF and I went. It sure was a nail biter of a ride and the snow just continued to fall through out the morning. We had a bit of a reprieve temperature wise with it being in the high teens (been a long time since I thought of those kinds of temperatures being relatively warm, lol) and on the ride home to GF's house we actually had some sunshine.  GF treated us to a lunch at Chipotle with some gift cards he got for Christmas then we made a quick run into the grocery store to pick up some minor things for dinner and Sunday breakfast. Minutes after we arrived home it began to snow again and continued until well after we'd called it a day.  All I have to say is the 2014 Farmer's Almanac has been spot on correct so far this winter. I am going to go out on a limb here and say I expect that its prediction of even more snow for February is going to be a good one. <sigh>
Thinking about dinner for the two of us (college age daughter and teen son opted to remain at home with adult brother) I dug around in GF's freezer and came up with a package of pork cubes. We'd picked up some potatoes and carrots as well as a can of diced tomatoes on our shopping trip so I turned to an old favorite recipe of mine for Country Pork Stew.
In a heavy dutch oven over medium heat I heated a bit of olive oil, added 2 teaspoons of minced garlic and the pork cubes to brown. Once I had a nice color on the pork I added the can of diced tomatoes, a large onion (peeled and cut into eighths) 4 potatoes (peeled and cubed), a half pound of baby carrots, 4 tablespoons of tapioca, 4 cups of beef stock, some freshly ground pepper, a teaspoon of sage, a teaspoon of thyme and a half teaspoon of rosemary. I popped on the lid, turned the temperature to low and let this simmer for 2 1/2 hours. A package of crescent rolls baked in the oven was the side dish.
For GF who is a major fan of pork this was the perfect winter dinner. Unfortunately my cell phone camera is acting squirrely and I was unable to get any pictures. :-(
Hot, filling, delicious.