(We had Beef Stew after church this past Sunday.  It was the perfect meal for a very cold and snowy day. )

Beef Stew

Place in crock pot:

1 Package of McCormick’s Hearty Beef Stew

8 potatoes (or more, I usually use about a dozen)

Bag of carrots – cut up

1 onion chopped

2 cloves of garlic – pressed

1 and a ½ cup of red wine (this is optional, but personally, I think it tastes better with it.)

Cover all of the above with water.

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Meat:  You can use “stew” meat, but I use round steak so I don’t get a lot of fat running through the meat.  I brown it first (I’ve been told that this seals in the flavor.) Then I trim the sides of any fat, then cut it up into small bite pieces. The smaller the pieces, the more chances of everyone getting some meat in their bowl of stew.

I try to make this the night before so I turn the crock pot on low and it simmers all night and through the day until dinner time.  This past Sunday morning I had not started it the night before, but was determined that this was the best meal for this cold, wintery day.  So, when I browned the meat, I let it simmer in the pan with some water so that the meat would be already partially cooked.  The stew cooked in the crock pot until after church, some time around 4:00 p.m.