What’s Cookin’, Good Lookin’?

Baby, it’s COLD outside!  WHEW!  I mean evil cold!  The kind of cold we Southerners are just not built for!  And this kind of cold weather begs for a big pot of soup or chili or STEW!  Oh yeah!  Beef Stew!  That’s just what it’s begging for!

Ah, Beef Stew!  Hearty!  Rich!  Delicious!  And SIMPLE!  When you add simple in there you’ve got the perfect recipe!  Today, I’d like to share my own version of a recipe shared with me (and many others) by my friend and former boss Lisa.  When I was a stay-at-home mom all those years, I worked for an online forum designed with moms in mind.  Lisa shared this recipe over and over at Moms Online.  It was a favorite there and it’s a favorite at my house to this day!  It truly is THE BEST Beef Stew I’ve ever tried!  Over the years, the recipe has evolved to reflect my own family’s taste and the end result is the Beef Stew you see above.

Let’s make some!  Here’s what you’ll need:

Stew beef, frozen English peas, potatoes, carrots, onions, paprika, fresh garlic, soy sauce, beef broth, tomato sauce, fresh-cracked pepper and flour.

Start out by peeling the veggies.  If you happen to have a few ankle biters at your house, they’re the perfect folks for this task!  Ankle Biter #2 is a fabulous little carrot and potato peeler!  So I put him to work!

See?  He’s a fantastic little potato peeler too!  Ah, the joys of having kids big enough to help out in the kitchen!!!!

While AB2 peeled, I was doing the chopping.  Cut the potatoes in half and lay them cut-side down on a cutting board.

Cut each half into 2 or 3 wedges.  I cut the larger potatoes into 3 wedges and the smaller ones into 2 wedges.  It all depends on how large you want the potato chunks to be.

Then cut each wedge into chunks.  We like the potatoes in fairly large chunks.  But you can cut them whatever size you and your family enjoy!

Slice the carrots.  I like to cut them on the bias, meaning cut them at an angle.  Anyway you want to cut them is fine!  I just think they look purty sliced on the bias like this.

Cut the root and the tip off the onion and remove the peeling so it looks like this.

Cut the onion in half root to tip and lay it cut-side down on the cutting board.  Cut it into half-rings like this.  For this stew, I like the onions to be in large chunks much like the potatoes and carrots, but you can certainly dice them finer if that’s how you prefer them.

The potatoes, carrots and onions are READY!!!  Just set them aside while we prepare the meat.

Place the cubed stew beef in a large mixing bowl.  You can certainly cut your own stew beef.  A nice sirloin tip roast makes fabulous stew beef.  But honestly, the best of this stew I ever made, I used bison cubes instead of beef.  Now THAT is some fine stew!  Unfortunately, we don’t seem to have any bison wandering around our place out here for me to shoot and haul back up to the house to dress and process into useful cuts of meat.  And Whole Foods is over a hundred miles away where I can get ready-to-use bison.  So I was relegated to using regular ole stew beef that Tall Skinny Man rustled up at the not-so-friendly neighborhood Wal-Mart.

Sprinkle the flour on top of the meat.

Add the paprika to the meat and flour in the bowl.  This recipe is what made me “discover” paprika.  Before this recipe, I thought paprika was only for sprinkling on top of potato salad and deviled eggs to make them pretty because that’s what my Moma used it for.  I never realized just how much fantastic flavor it has until I started making this beef stew.  Now I use it when I made roasted potatoes.  I put it in other soups.  I sprinkle it on pork chops.  Trust me!  Paprika is good for way more than sprinkling on potato salad and deviled eggs!!!

Now stir the flour and paprika around with the meat until all the cubes are coated.

Like this.  Make sure each piece is evenly coated and you don’t have some pieces that don’t have any flour or paprika on them.  Now just set these aside while we put together the liquids that will make the “stew” part of the stew.

Pour the tomato sauce into a large mixing bowl.

Now add the beef broth.  I generally try to use the lower sodium varieties of any broth because the “regular” is so salty.  And this still has plenty of salt in it so I don’t add any additional salt for this recipe.  Just because something says “Less Sodium” doesn’t mean it’s LOW sodium!  Always keep that in mind!

Add some fresh-cracked pepper.

Now for some minced garlic.

Add in the soy sauce.  Again, I’m using the less sodium variety.

Give it a whisk to combine it all well.  Make sure it’s well-mixed.  Now we’re ready to start assembling the stew!

See this fantastic machine?  It’s a life-saver, folks!  When you know you have a super-long day ahead of you and still have people at your house that think they have to eat dinner…..this is the ticket!  I travel a LOT for work and sometimes after I’ve traveled, I’m just too whipped to come in and stand in the kitchen and make a right and proper dinner for my family.  But I can get up in the morning when I’m fresh, throw something in the crockpot before I leave for work and when I come home, dinner is DONE!  Or pretty close to it anyway!

Now with that said, I have to extol the virtues of that little plastic bag you see inside my crockpot.  For me, the main drawback to using a crockpot has always been cleaning the sucker.  If you own one, you know it can be a monumental pain the backside to clean!  A couple years ago, I discovered these liners.  They’re made by Reynolds; the folks that make aluminum foil.  They’re in a little box in the same section where you buy foil and plastic wrap.  I can’t even tell you how highly I recommend these liners!  I haven’t used my crockpot without on in over two years!  WON’T use my crockpot without one!  So make sure you get some of these little jewels before you make this stew (or anything else in your crockpot for that matter!!!)  They are worth every penny!

Start by adding the meat to the crockpot.

Now add the potatoes, carrots and onions.

Pour the tomato sauce mixture over it all.  If you feel like you don’t have enough sauce, add another can of beef broth.  We like a very thick stew, but if you prefer the “gravy” part to be more of a soupy consistency, go ahead and add another can of broth.

Give it all a stir.  Make sure the meat and vegetables are well-combined.

Just like this.  And now, it’s ready to go!

Remember that commercial from a few years ago that used the catch-phrase, “Set it and forget it?”  Well, set the crockpot on high and then forget it……..at least until you open the back door in the afternoon and get a whiff!  I believe Tall Skinny Man’s exact words were, “I didn’t know whether to cry, pee in my pants or pass out it smelled so good.”  And well, I guess you just don’t get a higher compliment than that, huh?  So just wait til this is done!  The insane aroma is going to just about knock you down it smells so good!  God help you if you have to stay in the house with it all day long while it’s cooking!  You’ll be gnawing on your own arm to keep yourself out of it while it’s “stewing!”

OK, so let’s pretend TSM just said that because we just walked in the door…….we’re not QUITE ready to eat yet.  We’ve got to add the English peas.  Dump the bag of thawed English peas into the crockpot and replace the lid.  Let it cook another 30 minutes or so.  This gives you just enough time to make some cornbread muffins, some homemade pimiento cheese sandwiches or grill up some grilled cheese sandwiches.

Make sure to give them a good stir, then replace the lid while you’re preparing the rest of dinner.

And NOW, you’re ready to eat!  I’ve tried a lot of recipes for beef stew.   This beats them all hands down!

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Crockpot Beef Stew

*  2 lb. cubed stew beef

*  1/2 cup flour

*  1 Tbsp. paprika

*  1 lb. carrots, peeled and cut into chunks

*  3-5 potatoes, peeled and cubed

*  1 large or 2 medium onions, cut into chunks

*  2 15 oz. cans beef broth

*  2 15 oz. cans tomato sauce

*  1/2 cup soy sauce

*  fresh cracked pepper and minced garlic to taste

Peel potatoes, carrots and onions.  Cut potatoes and onions into chunks and slice carrots on the bias.  Mix stew beef with flour and paprika.  Stir until all pieces are well-coated with flour mixture.  Mix tomato sauce, beef broth, fresh-cracked pepper, garlic and soy sauce together.

Place stew beef in the bottom of the crockpot.  Top with vegetables and then pour tomato sauce mixture over all.  Stir until meat and vegetables are well-combined.  Place lid on crockpot and cook on high until meat and vegetables are tender.  Add thawed English peas, stirring them in to combine.  Cook an additional 30 minutes.  Serve hot.

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This stew is fantastic with a cornbread muffin or some kind of cheesy sandwich to dunk in it.  My favorite way is with a homemade pimiento cheese sandwich.  But I’ll take it just about anyway I can get it!  And IF there’s any left, this is even better after a day or two!

A HUGE thanks for my pal Lisa C. for sharing this recipe with me and so many other people years ago!  It is a winter staple at our house!  I hope you enjoy!  I promise it will warm you to the bones!  Have a fabulous day!

Filed under: Beef, Main Dishes, Meal Ideas, Menus, Recipes, Soups