Slow Cooker Beef Stew

Submitted by June Shockley,
My cousin put this recipe on Facebook and it looks like a winner for those cool fall days or those snowy Sunday evenings.

Slow Cooker Beef Stew

30 Minutes to Prepare
8 hours in slow cooker

Ingredients
This whole stew is meant to be chunky.  Just sayin'..........
1 large onion chopped into bite size pieces
2 thinly sliced medium sized carrots
2 large potatoes cut into 1/2" chunks
1 cup fresh green beans cut into bite sized pieces
1 LB. stew meat beef chunks (I like to salt and pepper the beef and even brown it a little. ( The darker the beef the darker the gravy.)
1 bay leaf
1 teaspoon fresh thyme
1 clove garlic crushed
3 cups beef stock
2 tablespoons light brown sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
Pepper to taste
3 tablespoons flour
2 teaspoons tomato paste


Preparation

• Place all ingredients except for flour and tomato paste into slow cooker, stir to combine
• Cover and cook in slow cooker for 8 or 9 hours on low, or 5 to 6 hours on high  until beef is tender and potatoes are fork tender.
• Stir stew once or twice as it cooks if possible.
• 3o minutes before serving transfer a ladle full of the broth to a small mixing bowl
• Add the flour and tomato paste, whisk until smooth, then stir the mixture back into the stew and cook for the remaining half hour  Be sure there is a bit of a boil so the flour cooks through.

This is great served with a simple salad and some hearty bread or biscuits.