CROCKPOT BEEF STEW

Our weekend was cold, rainy and blustery, so what could be better than a big crockpot full of beef stew and some of my homemade brown and serve rolls? The beef stew made the whole house smell yummy and we snacked on it all weekend (it just kept getting tastier and tastier).

My beef stew recipe is very basic...no frills here, just big beefy flavor.

1½ pounds of stew beef
½ cup chopped onion
½ cup chopped celery
½ cup shredded carrot (it melts into the gravy)
4 cups good beef broth (not bullion)
8 ounce can of tomato sauce
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon black pepper
16 ounces frozen mixed vegetables
3 large potatoes diced
1/3 cup pearl barley (don't leave out)

I cut the stew beef into bite size pieces and brown it in a tablespoon of olive oil. Make sure you brown it long enough to get some nice "crusties" on the meat. Remove the meat from the pan and throw in the chopped onion, celery and grated carrot. The moisture from these veggies will deglaze the pan.

Once the veggies are sauteed, transfer them (and the meat) to the crockpot. Add everything else and stir well. Cover and cook on low for 8 hours. Don't leave out the pearl barley. It not only gives a nice rich flavor, but it will thicken the stew gravy. If it looks like you are low on gravy, add a little more beef broth. Crack the crockpot lid open just a little the last couple of hours and the gravy will thicken up nicely.

NOTE: For stew vegetables, I use Yukon Gold potatoes and a 16 ounce package of (frozen) carrot-green bean-pea-corn mixture, but any vegetable that will hold up to a long cooking time will work well. I often cut corn on the cob into 2" slices and add those too, its delicious.
NOTE: You can add a bay leaf to the crockpot if you like that flavor, we don't care for it so I leave it out.