Beef Stew

A few weeks ago, my boss told me I had a few more personal days left that i could take before they get cancelled out Jan 1st. So I decided to take a long weekend. While Kev was at work, I had time to think about what to make for dinner. We have this pack of stewing beef that Kev's parents had given us a while ago. We didn't quite know what to do with them. So I looked up online for a stew recipe. The recipe i found actually didn't even have the veggies in it. So I tweaked the recipe as I usually do and took some advice from reviews of this recipe. I've never made stew before and the only stew i've ever eaten is my mom's. That day, I had a lunch/shopping date with my friend Judy. So I didn't want to rush home to make this...knowing that stew takes a lot of simmering. So Kev's slow cooker from the 80s (from his parents') saves the day. This thing is so old that i'm sure it'll burn down the condo one day. lol The very first time Kev and I used it, we stayed home...just so we could watch it.

1lbs Stewing Beef
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1/2 cup of beef broth
1 pack of onion soup mix
2-3 potatoes, cubed
1-2 Carrots, sliced or cubed
1 Onion, cubed
2 stalks of celery, chopped
salt & pepper
dried thyme
garlic powder
onion powder
cayenne pepper

***Please note that vegetables should be cut into big chunks as to not turn to vegetable mash in the slow cooker.

1. Brown meat, this is supposed to keep the juices in the beef when being slow cooked.


2. Put Potatoes, carrots, celery, and onions at the bottom of the slow cooker. Add the meat on top.


3. In a bowl, mix mushroom soup, beef broth, onion soup mix and pour it on top of everything in the slow cooker. Set on medium heat and cook for 6-8 hours.


4. Before serving sprinkle the spices and mix.

To begin, I just want to mention that i'm actually a bit fuzzy about how much beef broth I put in. since mushroom soup was a bunch of goop, I was afraid my mixture wasn't liquid enough, so I improvised and used beef broth to thin out the soup. I wouldn't recommend adding much more salt into it since the Onion soup mix gives it enough saltiness, but I think I added a little bit for taste. I served it on rice. Kev wasn't raving about, but asked me what I put it in. I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not. But I think he didn't mind the recipe. By now, you probably know that i always use the same old spices...i guess everyone has their base cooking style. My mom's is soy sauce, salt, pepper, and sugar. lol I'd also like to emphasize that it's important to put the veggies at the bottom so that the liquids will cook it properly. I didn't know because the recipe I used doesn't have veggies in it. So I had put it on top of the meat and after 6-8 hrs of cooking the veggies still weren't quite done. So I have to cook it on the stove top for an hour before Kev got home. And since the veggies are at the bottom, it would be wise to cut your veggies in big chunks so they don't disintegrate in the soup.

Note about the picture: I took the picture the day after our dinner...the stew is actually cold (right out of the fridge) in the pic. I simply forgot to take a picture of the stew and only remembered to do so when I wanted to write a post about it.