Hearty and Healthy Beef Stew

I have recently fallen in love with cooking soups. Right now I think I have five different soups in our freezer which is perfect because we can rotate them through and not get tired of one flavor. They are perfect for quick lunches or a warm hearty dinner.  My four year old has even started to eat them, she still fights us with just about everything except macaroni or cheese pizza but she will tolerate most of my soups. This is a new household favorite, Hearty Beef Stew. It makes the house smell wonderful as it cooks and it also freezes really well for future meals. It's simple, easy and fairly inexpensive to make.
I am still in the market for a perfect biscuit recipe which I think will go wonderfully with a stew like this so if you are reading my blog and have a suggestion, let me know! (as stated on previous posts, I fail at biscuits.  I have high expectations for my homemade biscuits and will not settle for anything but exceptionally light, fluffy and buttery)

Hearty Beef Stew

Emmie Loveless

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 8 hours
Servings: Approximately 6

INGREDIENTS

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 lbs stew meat

3 carrots peeled and chopped into bite sized pieces

3 stalks of celery diced

1/2 large onion cut into large slices

8 oz. button mushrooms, halved

2 medium potatoes peeled and chopped into bite sized pieces

2 sprigs fresh thyme

32 oz beef stock

salt and pepper to taste

2 cups of sliced cabbage

2 cups of frozen corn

Directions

Heat oil over high heat in a large skillet until just smoking. Salt the meat and add to the skillet browning the outside, the meat does not need to be cooked through, just browned on the outside. Put the browned meat into a large crockpot. Add all of the vegetables (except the corn), thyme, salt and pepper. Pour the beef stock over the vegetables.  Cook on low for 8 hours. About 30 minutes before serving add the corn.

Serve with crusty bread.

To store, put the stew into quart plastic bags in the freezer. I try to freeze it in the serving sizes that are easy for me to heat up so I will put 1 cup of stew into the bag for each serving I want to store, for us it is usually 2 cups per quart bag. When you are ready to use again, run hot water over the bag until you can get a pair of scissors in to cut the bag. Put the stew into a medium sauce pan with 1 cup of beef stock or water and cook over medium heat until warm, about 20 minutes.

Enjoy food, family and everything else that makes you happy