Sometimes you just need something warm and satisfying and after an entire day of “playing” in the leaves, I knew that our family was up for just that kind of food!
As a nod to how far my culinary abilities have come, I love to share with people that I had no idea that beef stew was something you could make and was not something that came out of a can. Dinty Moore was what we had always ate growing up and it was served with a can of biscuits as a quick weeknight meal.
Imagine my surprise when one day I was watching Food Network and watched as someone made this dish out of common pantry items. To me, it was completely mind-blowing! I always think of that day as a turning point for me in the kitchen. It was that year that I made some of my greatest culinary discoveries and the year that I suffered through some of my biggest culinary failures.
Over the years, I have prepared this beef stew for our family hundreds of times. This beef stew is one of my favorite fall dishes to share around the dinner table after a busy day. It can be created in your slow cooker and cooked until you need it or it can be prepared in a pot and ready to go within an hour of cooking. Either way, it is a satisfying meal that will warm you up on the coldest day!
We serve our beef stew with a big batch of pumpkin cornbread muffins and cups of cider.
I hope you can indulge in this delicious dish one night in your house and be sure to check out our One Month of Slow Cooking for other great slow cooker dishes to prepare!
Slow Cooker Beef Stew
2 pounds beef stew meat – cubed
2.5 cups carrots
2.5 cups potatoes
1 cup celery
1 can diced tomatoes – with the juice poured in
1 can beef broth
1 cup water
1 tsp ground mustard
3 sprigs rosemary
Put beef in a zipper bag with a 1/4 cup of flour and toss to coat. Brown the meat in a skillet and place on the bottom of the crock pot. Coarsely chop vegetables and place on top of the meat. Pour in the can of diced tomatoes with juice, can of beef broth, water, and ground mustard. Place sprigs of rosemary on top and cook on high for four hours or on low for six to eight hours.
Oven-Version: Follow directions above, but fill the pot with the chopped vegetables after browning the meat. Pour in all of the additional ingredients and cook on low heat for one hour, stirring occasionally.