Crockpot Beef Stew

This is crock pot beef stew......my family loves it.

 I like to make it in the crock pot, so that I can do the work of it in the morning when I have more energy.....then leave it to cook all day.











                                  
I don't always make it the same.....sometimes there are variations depending on what I have on hand, but it is usually pretty similar.

I started here with about 2 pounds of baby carrots - they were on sale this week and I was in a hurry, so didn't want to peel and cut up the regular carrots. Personally, I think the regular carrots have better flavor than the baby carrots, so that it what I usually use.

I had found red potatoes on sale, so we just scrubbed them and cut them up, leaving the skins on. We scrubbed 5 pounds and used all but 3 potatoes.....I ran out of space in the crock pot. :)

We cut up 2 large onions also.....and added both the potatoes and onions to the crock pot.

I had bought stew meat - about 1 1/2 pounds of it and I browned it in olive oil in a frying pan on the stove. I also used 1 packet of onion soup mix on it and about 1/2 cup of water. I rarely use mixes, so felt a bit guilty about this, but this helped since I was in such a hurry this day.

When the meat was browned, but not cooked all through, I added it to the crockpot.

Next came the diced tomatoes.....after I took this picture, I added another can of diced tomatoes.........then decided there was enough room for some green beans in there.....see those little spaces?... well, I filled them up with green beans.  By this time, the crock pot was really full........and I added water.....enough to bring the level up near the top, but not all the way. I also sprinkled some red pepper flakes on the top.

I had to push the lid down to get it to close since it was so full, but it worked. Normally, I do 2 crockpots of a meal like this so that we will have some leftovers, but I broke the liner of my other crock pot, so only have one now. I have to fill it really full......then when it is cooked, I transfer some to a saucepan and add salt, pepper and thicken it with corn starch in water, to make a nice thick hearty broth in both the crock pot and in the saucepan. When I use 2 crock pots, I don't have to transfer it, but this works for now until I get another one. With my size family, we put 2 crock pots to use very often.

We served fresh homemade bread with butter with the stew..... the whole meal was delicious and we all enjoyed it greatly. I love making crock pot meals.....they cook while I am doing other work and they taste wonderful after simmering all day.

Thank you for joining me here at Gentle Joy Homemaker. I hope you have a great day!   :)


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