Recipe Thursday - Beef Stew

Each Thursday, I am going to be sharing a recipe with you!I will pick a recipe from my collection and I will be sharing where I got the recipe and everything. But I am going to include my own photo of the finished food, the original recipe, and try and share the things I changed when I made it!

I would love your help too! If you have a great recipe, especially week-night dinner recipes (but I would love all kinds of recipes) - please share it with me, by emailing me at dedesmith32@gmail.com. I will try it out and feature it on my blog! If you have cooking tips or anything else in regards to cooking and food - please email me!


This week's Recipe:
I've never made beef stew until now. I need more practice, but this was a good recipe for it. I actually did this in the crockpot - cooking the vegetables and meat beforehand. I just needed to save a little time. But this was good.


Beef Stew
by Tia Juana from her Secret Combinations Blog

3 pounds boneless beef chuck roast cut into 1 1/2-inch cubes (I used stew meat)

Salt and pepper

3 tablespoons vegetable oil

2 onions, minced

1 tablespoon tomato paste

2 garlic cloves, minced

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1 cup red grape juice, cranberry juice, or apple juice (I used apple juice)

2 cups low-sodium chicken broth

1 tablespoon minced fresh thyme or 1 teaspoon dried thyme

2 bay leaves

1 1/2 pounds red potatoes (5 medium), scrubbed and cut into 1 1/2-inch chunks (I used regular potatoes)

4-5 carrots, peeled and sliced one inch pieces (I just like to chop up baby carrots - its easier)
* I also added corn

Adjust an oven rack to the lower-middle position and heat the oven to 300 degrees. Dry the beef with paper towels and season with salt and pepper. Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a large dutch oven over medium-high heat until just smoking. Brown half of the meat, about 10 minutes, then transfer to a plate. Return the pot to medium-high heat and repeat with 1 more tablespoon of the oil and the remaining beef.

Add the remaining tablespoon of oil to the empty pot and return to medium heat until simmering. Add the onions and cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Stir in the tomato paste and garlic and cook for 30 seconds. Add the flour and cook for 1 minute. Slowly stir in the juice, scraping up any browned bits. Stir in the broth, thyme, bay leaves, and browned beef alone with any accumulated juices. Bring to a simmer, cover, and transfer pot to the oven. Cook for one hour.

Stir in the potatoes and carrots. Cover and continue to cook in the oven until the beef is tender, about one more hour.

Remove the pot from the oven and discard the bay leaves and let stand off the heat for 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste before serving.

This stew can be prepared ahead of time up to the point of adding the potatoes and carrots. Cool the stew, cover and refrigerate for up to 3 days or freeze up to 1 month. To prepare to serve, reheat over low heat, adding additional water or broth to adjust the consistency, before adding the potatoes and carrots and baking in the oven until the beef is tender.