Slow Cooker Beef Stew

This is my trusty slow cooker.

By now, if you've been reading my blog, you know that I love using my slow cooker (crock pot).  It is a very good friend to the cook who wants to prepare something and then "forget" about it.  It's all in the preparation of the ingredients for the desired recipe.  Once the crock pot is turned on, the food practically cooks itself.  That's why I like making stews in my slow cooker.

This is about a pound of beef stew meat.

Cubed meat is perfect for a beef stew.  You can also use cubed chicken for a hearty soup with the same ingredients pictured below.

These are the other ingredients for beef stew.

For this beef stew I used the following ingredients:

--2 cans of creamy mushroom

--1 envelope of Lipton Onion Mushroom

--3 small potatoes cubed

--about a cup of cut up carrots

These are cubed potatoes.

I cubed the potatoes and placed them in water.  Doing that keeps the potatoes from turning color.

Pam spray is very useful.

The only thing I don't like about using a crock pot is the cleanup.  Scraping the stuck on food is not a chore I like.  That's why I chose to spray the crock pot with Pam.  It really did help the cleanup later.  The food did not stick as much to the crock pot.

The meat is placed first in the crock pot.

I scoured the internet to see how to make a good beef stew or chicken soup in a crock pot.  Most, if not all, recipes said to put the meat in first and pile on the other ingredients.  That ensures that the meat will cook thoroughly.

The cream of mushroom was added in next.

I poured in the cream of mushroom on top of the meat.  I wanted the liquid ingredient ready for the powdered ingredient pictured below.

This is a very delicious ingredient.

Onion mushroom Lipton package was tossed in.

I stirred the liquid and the powder.  Then, I added the carrots and potatoes.

Potatoes and carrots were added.

I submersed the carrots and potatoes into the liquid.  This would insure that the vegetables would get cooked.

My concoction was ready to be cooked.

I adjusted the setting to high.

I set the timer to 5 hours to make the beef stew.

This is how the stew turned out.

I'll tell you somethin' about this stew.  It was scrumptious!  The meat came apart easily.  No knife was needed.

I made some brown rice.

I made some brown rice to accompany the beef stew.  Yes, white rice can be used, too.  I just wanted a healthier alternative.

I threw in brown rice to my bowl of beef stew.

I had fun making and eating this simple beef stew.  It was hot outside when I made it.  Yes, summertime is not the best time for beef stew.  The beef stew was hot when we ate it, but there are times when one wants to eat something different.  After all, we were inside with the air conditioner blasting away!

Well, thanks for reading about how to make  

beef stew in a crockpot. 

I hope you enjoyed this blog entry as much as I enjoyed writing it.

 

What about you, my readers? Do you like beef stew? What would you add or subtract from beef stew?  Stews are versatile.  Try one, and you'll see.

May God bless you with His peace and wisdom, my beloveds.

This has been an entry for Saturday Spreads. I hope you enjoyed it!