Winter Slow Cooker Series #4 — Beef Stew

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Finish off the winter with this cozy Beef Stew…

In the last of our slow cooker series, I am making Beef Stew. Winter has finally decided to come in with a blast of cold, windy temperatures and nothing warms a body up quicker than a bowl of steamy, Beef Stew.

Need a St. Patrick’s Day Recipe?

This is a staple in the wintertime and especially around St. Patrick’s Day, but since I was doing a slow cooker series, I though I would post it now.

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Beef Stew with Vegetables

Prep Time 25 minutes

Cook Time 8 hours

Total Time 8 hours 25 minutes

Servings 6 people

Ingredients

• 1 cup flour
• 1 tsp. seasoning salt
• 1 tsp. Italian seasoning
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 1/2 pound stew beef
• 1 medium onion
• 2 stalks celery
• 2 cloves garlic
• 3 tsp tomato paste
• 5 medium russet potatoes
• 3 large carrots
• 4 cups beef broth
• 2 tsp Italian seasoning
• 2 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce

Instructions

1. Put the first four dry ingredients in a large ziploc bag. Add the stew beef in the bag and shake vigorously to ensure all pieces are coated.

2. Add 2 Tbsp. of olive oil to a large saucepan and turn on heat to high. Once your pan is hot, add the stew meat. Keep turning the pieces until they are all browned. Transfer the meat to the slow cooker.

3. Prepare the vegetables by washing thoroughly and dicing the celery, onion and garlic. Saute these in a small frying pan with a small amount of olive oil. Once this step is complete, add to the slow cooker.

4. Scrub the potatoes and carrots. Dice into bite-size portions and add to slow cooker.

5. Add beef broth, Worcestershire sauce and Italian seasoning to the mixture, stirring well.

6. Cover and cook on low for 8 hours. 

This is a fairly easy recipe to put together it just takes a little prep time for getting the ingredients ready.  For a basic stew beef dish, I only put in potatoes, carrots, onions and celery. I also have other spices and flavoring items. You may find recipes that have sweet potatoes, squash, eggplant and many other veggie selections. That is what makes this such a good dish. You can  tailor make it to suit your family’s tastes.

Mix the dry ingredients in a large ziploc bag.

Give the bag a good shake to ensure the items get mixed together. In small handful, add the stew beef to the bag and shake vigorously coating the meat well. In a large saucepan, add the oil and heat on high.

Add the meat, turning each piece until they are browned on all sides. Remove from the pan and transfer to a plate.

After you have the meat browned, it is ready to add to your slow cooker.

This recipe calls for beef broth. I didn’t have any so I made gravy. This really is better I believe. To make the gravy, I use cornstarch.

Once the cornstarch is dissolved in the water, add to the meat drippings. Stir over medium heat quickly til the ingredients are mixed. Slowly add two cups of water, stirring well. The cornstarch thickens very fast so make sure you turn the heat down to low when the water is added and keep stirring until you are ready to add to the slow cooker.

Add the gravy to the meat in your slow cooker. You can go ahead and turn it on low if you are cooking all day. Oh, boy this is smelling so good already it is going to be difficult to wait 8 hours to eat this!

Next, the veggies are to be prepped. For this, wash all the items. Dice the onions, celery and garlic into small pieces and saute in a pan with a small amount of butter and olive oil. Once these are done, add to the slow cooker.

Wash and peel the potatoes. Dice them and add these into the slow cooker.

Now, I thought I had carrots, but the ones in my refrigerator were very out of date so I found a can in my cabinet that I will add about 30 minutes before I serve it. All the carrots really need is just to be heated and let the tastes marry together.

Cooking is like that. Sometimes you have to find a substitute. It’s okay put your own taste to the dish.

I like to serve this dish with sweet potatoes and cornbread, but a simple salad is really all this meal needs.

I hope your family will enjoy this wintertime favorite. Next time we will be gearing up for the “lovely” month of February.

Check out my slow cooker country style steak here…

This post was written by Macy, the incredible mother & mother-in-law of the bloggers here at Puppies & Piña Coladas. She loves spending time with her daughters, granddoggies and grandkitty. She is a phenomenal southern cook and will be posting her secret recipes and amazing crafts regularly on the site.