Crockpot Beef Stew

There's nothing better than beef stew on a snowy evening in New England.  I love coming home to the smell of stew from the crockpot.  It's also one of the easiest recipes you can make.  My husband and I prepped all the veggies over the weekend so he could just throw it together in the crockpot during the week.

This is another one of those recipes where you don't have to be precise.  It's my kind of recipe.  You can make it to suit your tastes.

Here's what we did this time:

Jenny's Slow Cooker Beef Stew

2 approx. pounds beef stew meat, cut into 1 inch cubes
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
5 whole garlic cloves, peeled
1 bay leaf
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1/2 cup pearl onions
1 cup beef broth
1/2 cup red wine (you can omit and add an extra 1/2 cup broth)
1 lb. Teeny Tiny Potatoes (these are Trader Joe's)
1/2 small bag of baby carrots
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 14.5 oz can chopped tomatoes
 
Place meat in slow cooker. In a small bowl mix together the flour, salt, and pepper; pour over meat, and stir to coat meat with flour mixture. Stir in the rest of the ingredients.
Cover, and cook on Low setting for 10 to 12 hours, or on High setting for 4 to 6 hours.
 
I also mixed up some rosemary and garlic biscuits to serve on the side.  These are adapted from Paula Deen's recipe. 

Rosemary Garlic Biscuits
Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoons sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
8 tablespoons butter, cubed
3/4 cup milk
1 tablespoon granulated garlic
1 1/2 tablespoons dried rosemary - or more to suit your tastes

In a large bowl combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt together. Cut butter into mixture until it begins to look like cornmeal.

Make a well with flour mixture and slowly add milk into the middle. Knead dough with your fingers and add milk when necessary. Roll out dough onto a lightly floured surface and roll out to desired thickness. Cut with small biscuit cutter - which I don't have, so I just used a glass.

Butter bottom of baking sheet (I used Pam spray) and place biscuits in pan. Bake for 12 minutes or until golden brown.