Jacky's Beef Stew

Our friend made this for us recently. It's just good old wholesome yummy food that's easy to make and great in the lunch box the next day!

1 ½ lbs of cubed beef stew meat
½ cup of flour
1 ½ teaspoon of salt
½ teaspoon of pepper
1 teaspoon of thyme
1 teaspoon of oregano
1 teaspoon of basil
3 ½ cups of beef broth
 ¼ cup of vegetable oil
1 onion –chopped

Potatoes, carrots, celery- I just put however much I like of each ie. two stalks of celery with the tops on, 3-4 potatoes (but again, depends on the size), and maybe a half cup chopped carrots (I really should measure!) I also throw about a half a cup of frozen peas in near the end, but you can add/take away anything you like from the recipe.

Put flour, salt and pepper into a large bowl. Put the meat in the bowl and thoroughly coat with the flour mixture, then lightly brown it in the frying pan.

Place browned meat into large pot, add the beef broth.

Combine the remaining flour from the bowl with the chopped onion in the frying pan that you browned the meat in. After the onions are cooked, add the flour and onion mixture to the large pot. Add the spices. Add all of the vegetables. 

Simmer for several hours in the pot on the stove OR put in all in the crock pot for approx. 4-5 hours and the meat will be nice and tender.

Beef Stew

If you need something to stick to your ribs (although do any of us really need that), stew is a good choice. Amounts of each ingredient are really up to you. Start with some stewing beef cut into cubes. Shake beef in a bag with some flour.  Brown the beef in a frying pan and add it to a large pot. Add a tin of canned tomatoes and/or beef broth (I prefer beef broth to tomatoes). Add chopped celery, carrots, onion, mushrooms (other veggies can go in as you like, hold off on the potatoes till later). Simmer on stove for at least 4 hours, more time is better.  Add potatoes (cubed) 1 hour before serving. Salt and pepper to taste. Thicken with a small amount of flour.

Beef Stew