Recipe #23 - Slow Cooker Beef Stew

I had some beef already cut up and ready to use stored in my deep freezer, so I searched for a new recipe to try it in. That's when I found this recipe for Slow Cooker Beef Stew. It was very good, and so easy!

Ingredients:
*2 tblsp olive oil
*1.5 lbs of boneless sirloin, diced into 1 inch pieces
*1.5 tsp of kosher salt, divided
*1/2 tsp pepper, divided
*2 tblsp all purpose flour
*2 med onions, each cut into 8 wedges
*8 garlic cloves, crushed
*1/4 cup white cooking wine
*1 cup beef stock
*2 tblsp tomato paste
*3 bay leaves
*1 tblsp thyme
*1 (14.5 oz) can of diced tomatoes, drained
*3 cups of potatoes, diced into 1 inch pieces
*2 cups of carrots, diced into 1 inch pieces

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Meanwhile, sprinkle beef with 1/2 tsp of salt and 1/4 tsp of pepper. Cover beef with flour, until well coated. Place beef in skillet, until all sides are browned. Dump beef into crock pot.

Add garlic and onions to skillet and sauté for 5 minutes. (I did not use onions, only the garlic, so I only sautéed for about 2-3 minutes, until the garlic was fragrant.) Add wine to skillet, scraping bottom of pan to loosen up browned bits. (I did not have white cooking wine so I just used a small splash of some white zin I had on hand.) Add mixture to crock pot.

Top beef and onion/garlic mixture with remaining ingredients. Cover and cook on LOW for 8 hours, until beef is tender. I stirred about every 2 hours. With about 1-2 hours left, I realized the veggies were not as tender as I would have liked. I turned up the heat to high and cooked for about another 45-60 minutes, and it was perfect. Top with remaining salt and pepper. Discard bay leaves.

Enjoy! TTFN!