Fall is officially upon us, in fact the first snow has flown at my parents' house in Wyoming! There is
something so wrong with that. I remember when I was going to Ricks College (now BYU-Idaho) in Rexburg, Idaho, and when that first snow fell all I wanted was warm soup. For me, that meant cracking open a can of soup. One of my favorites was beef stew - it made me warm but also filled me up.
Since then, I've moved on to a little better quality of food than canned stew. Enter the slow cooker, again! Yay! And this is another recipe where it's "dump all the ingredients in" and let it simmer and get that meat so nice and tender. Ah-mazing. And while you are looking at the ingredients, you will notice a can of diced tomatoes. Wait, Woah? Tomatoes, in beef stew?! Yup. It gives the stew more depth, the tomatoes pretty much melt into the stew, and just adds to the broth.
Slow Cooker Beef Stew
Ingredients:
3 carrots, peeled and sliced
1 medium onion, chopped
5 medium red potatoes, scrubbed and cut into 1 inch cubes
1 bag frozen peas
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp. salt
2 lbs. beef stew pieces
2 tsp. olive oil
1 tsp. thyme
1 tsp. parsley
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. ground allspice
1 can diced tomatoes
3 bay leaves
4 cups beef broth
1 Tbs. + 1 tsp. cornstarch
Salt and Pepper to taste
Directions:
1. Place carrots, onion, potatoes, peas, and garlic in the bottom of slow cooker. Sprinkle with salt. Add beef.
2. Pour olive oil over beef and add thyme, parsley, salt, and allspice. Top with diced tomatoes and bay leaves. Add beef broth.
3. Cook on LOW for 8 hours or on HIGH for 5 hours.
4. With 30 minutes remaining, ladle 1 cup of liquid out of crock pot and whisk in cornstarch until dissolved. Pour slowly back into slow cooker and stir to combine. Replace lid and let thicken for 30 more minutes.
Serves 8