Sunday Dinner 2/15/2015 #crockpot #recipe #food #bread

Beef Stew and fresh bread

The beauty of beef stew is that you can clean out your fridge or pantry and still come up with fabulous comfort food.

It's frigid today and my 10-year-old was up last night feeling nauseous. And I, like most mothers, don't sleep well when my kid's sick. Therefore, we needed comfort food.

This is what I threw together with few ingredients, intending to add barley. Ended up, I added so many potatoes that I didn't need more starch in the stew.

• one to two pounds beef (top sirloin, stew beef, chuck, whatever you have) seasoned with salt and pepper, cut into bite-size pieces. 
  
• flour (for dredging the beef)
• olive oil (one to two tbsps)
• potatoes (washed and cut into bite-sized pieces)
• carrots (washed and cut into medallions)
• bay leaf
• onion or onion flakes
• minced garlic or garlic powder
• beef broth or red wine or a combination of the two (what I do)
• italian seasoning

1. Place potatoes and carrots (and any other vegetables like peas, lima beans or green beans) in bottom of slow cooker. Add herbs and spices.
2. Heat olive oil in skillet. Dredge beef in flour and brown in oil. Place in slow cooker. 
3. Deglaze pan with red wine/beef broth and pour over everything.
4. Cover and cook on low for 4 to 5 hours. The dredged beef with cook with the liquid to make a thickened sauce.
5. Don't forget to remove the bay leaf before serving.
6. I am serving this today with fresh baked bread in my Parnell bread bowl. This lovely bowl is a functional work of art and makes bread baking easy! Check out their recipe and bread bowls on his link.

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