Busy Day Beef Stew

My husband's birthday rolled around again this year and his special request for his birthday dinner was beef stew.  My mom makes the best beef stew so I raided her recipe box for her easy slow cooker recipe for Busy Day Beef Stew  I LOVE using my mom's recipes, but when she gives them to me- they are sometimes not so easy to understand.  She sometimes just lists ingredients and not amounts.  She'll say, "oh, just use about this much", or "use three or four potatoes, whatever looks good."  So, this is how I learned to cook. A little of this.  A little of that.  Whatever looks good.  More importantly, whatever tastes good.

Below is a copy of her recipe.  As you can see, she lists ingredients, but I have no idea how many potatoes, carrots, meat, or onions to write for the recipe!

I've made it easy for you and listed all the ingredients with amounts.  You're welcome!  But, as always, feel free to do like my mom always says, "do what works and do whatever looks and tastes good!"

Here's what you'll need:

24 ounce bag of tiny yellow Idaho potatoes, cut into small chunks

12 ounce bag of baby carrots (about 2 cups)

1 package beef stew meat, cubed (about 1 pound)

1 yellow onion, cut into chunks

*2 containers mushrooms, clean and cut off stems  

1 cup beef broth

1 8 ounce can tomato sauce

1/3 cup soy sauce

* 1 small can tomato paste

* 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

*  These are items that were not in the original recipe that I used. 

* You could use any kind of potato- just make sure the chunks cover the bottom of the slow cooker.

Makes about 12 servings.

Not pictured:  tomato paste and Worcestershire sauce. 

Here's what to do:

Layer potatoes in bottom of slow cooker.

Later carrots on top of potatoes.

Layer beef stew meat over potatoes.

Layer onions over meat.

Layer mushrooms over onions.

Combine beef broth, tomato sauce, and soy sauce.  Pour over ingredients in slow cooker.

Cook on high for 5 hours, or low for 8 hours.

After cooking, I turned to low/warm and added 1 can tomato paste to thicken sauce and 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce to give it some "oomph".  At this point taste and see if it needs salt and pepper.

The beef stew is so good and everything just turns out so tender!  So yummy on a cold night and so easy after a busy day.  I guess that's why it's called Busy Day Beef Stew!  Enjoy!

Karen