Slow Cooker Beef Stew

 “Cooking is like love. It should be entered into with abandon or not at all.” (Harriet Van Horne)

 
Hello, my lovely friends!

 
        Yesterday morning was a cool crisp autumn morning with a misty dew on the fallen leaves on the ground and I knew it was a perfect day to make beef stew in the slow cooker.  Out of all the comfort foods to make, beef stew would have to be my top pick. I make different versions, a quick one, long and slow, on the stove or in the oven. On this day I was feeling very “cheffy” and went with a long one in the slow cooker. 

 

 Beef Stew in the Slow Cooker
 
What you need:
Slow Cooker
Beef, cubed
Garlic, 3 gloves chopped
Onion, ½ chopped in small pieces
Carrots, 4 sliced in thick slices
Celery, 2 chopped in bit sized pieces
Mushrooms, 3 cups sliced in thick slices
Frozen corn, 1 cup
Frozen peas, ½ cup
Potatoes, small round ones about 15 of them (just washed them and put them in whole)
Worcestershire sauce, ½ cup
Powder Beef Gravy, 4 TBSP.
Fresh sprig of Thyme and Rosemary
Salt & Pepper
 
Directions
1. In a large bowl add your beef cubes and Worcestershire sauce. Massage it into the meat. Then add 2 TBSP. of the powder gravy into the bowl and about 1 tsp. of pepper. Mix all that together and put it aside. 
 
2. Get your slow cooker, spray it with Pam and turn it on high. We want it to heat up before adding everything in it.
 
3. While the slow cooker is heating up grab your cutting board because we’re going to cut all the veggies and garlic up. 
 
4. Since I’m feeling “cheffy” about this beef stew we’re going to the stove, but not to cook everything like I do sometimes, just the things that will bring some more flavor to everything. I’m going to use my cast iron pan to cut my onions, mushrooms, and garlic. I cook the onions first and let them get a good brown coloring on them and add the mushrooms about five minutes in or so. I let that cook together for about ten minutes and add the garlic. I cook the garlic with everything for about a minute or two. I’m going to put everything from the pan in the slow cooker first. 
 
5. I’m going to add the rest of the potatoes and veggies into the slow cooker (except the corn and peas), mix that all up. Add all the meat from the bowl including any of the powder at the bottom of the bowl. Mix that all up with the veggies. 
 
6. Now time to add the water to the whole thing. I usually add enough to barley cover everything. I haven’t added any salt to the dish and that’s because the Worcestershire sauce and brown gravy have salt in them. I’m going to wait for about an hour into it to taste it to see if it needs salt. 
 
7. I cook it on high for about two hours and then turn it down to low for another four hours. 
 
        I like to make corn bread with it because it just taste so good crumbling it in big pieces into your bowl of beef stew. My mom likes a thicker gravy in the stew and I achieve that with some corn starch and a little bit of cold water and mixing it in. It was good and I really didn’t need to add extra salt to it. 
 
        Time has passed and it’s done cooking and the house smells like a warm comfy blanket of YUM! I did make a lot this time, but it’s because I’m going to put a batch of it in the freezer for later on down the road. I’m actually trying to make meals big enough to freeze half of it for the winter months. Also, when we’re outside decorating for Christmas I’ll have something I can defrost and heat up on the stove. 

 

 So glad you stopped by! Wishing you the coziest morning/afternoon/evening ahead. Can't wait for our paths to cross again!