Beef Stew
This is a family favorite – this recipe will feed a family of six, including two teenage boys.
Ingredients:
3 pounds lean stew meat, all fat trimmed
little bit of flour, salt and pepper
olive oil
1 large sweet onion, like Texas 1015 or Vidalia, chopped
1 bottle dry red wine, merlot or cabernet work well
2 tsp oregano
1 tsp thyme
2 tsp beef stock base
1 small bag of baby carrots, or a couple of big ones, peeled and sliced
1 14oz can of petite diced tomatoes
1 lb Cremini mushrooms – sliced if they’re large, halved if they’re medium, whole if they’re buttons
2T butter
5 lb Yukon Gold potatoes
Spinach salad
Directions:
1. Cut stew meat into smaller, bite size pieces if your butcher hasn’t already done so. Pat dry.
2. Dredge stew meat in flour, adding salt and pepper to taste.
3. In a large, heavy skillet, lightly brown stew meat in 1 T olive oil, a few pieces at a time, leaving space around them so that they brown nicely. Use more olive oil as necessary.
4. Transfer browned meat to crock pot. Toss your onion in the skillet with the drippings, and saute until almost translucent. Pour about a cup of wine into skillet to deglaze, then dump onions, drippings and wine into the crock pot.
5. Add oregano, thyme, beef stock base, carrots and tomatoes to the crock pot, pour in the rest of the bottle of wine.
6. Cook on low setting for 6 – 8 hours, until the meat is very tender and the carrots are soft.
7. When stew is done, saute mushrooms in butter until desired tenderness. Stir sauteed mushrooms into the stew.
8. Make mashed potatoes with the Yukon Golds, serve stew over mashed potatoes, with a spinach salad on the side.
Keeping the Faith 
Your stew looks yummy! Thanks for linking your post to Tempt My Tummy Tuesday.
This is a go-to meal in our house. And the leftovers are even better!