Slow Cooker Beef Stew

This is the slow cooker version of the Oven Baked Stew, I made a while back.  The difference is instead of taking 3 hours this is now an all day slow cooker meal.  Now with this particular batch, I didn't eat any of it because Justin and I had just gotten home from a date day where we saw "The Magnificent Seven" and "Masterminds" with a delicious (but heavy) lunch from Bucca di Beppo (recommended by a friend, and I would also recommend it to you --- especially with a family).

So my hand model above is my dear husband.  Here is a goofy picture of the kids eating the stew, and they loved it!  Who doesn't love to eat dinner in their diapers? ;)

Recommendations: Make sure to shake the meat in the seasoning bag as the recipe describes - it makes it a bit more flavorful somehow.  Also, cut the vegetables(not carrots tho) up into larger than bite size pieces so they don't break down as fast for being in the crock pot. You could try halving the recipe and making it in a 4 quart slow cooker (this may change cooking time) but I used my 7 quart oval one.

Results: Justin was raving about it and youngest who is a bottomless pit enjoyed (I believe) the most over everyone.  Josh wouldn't eat the potatoes (not recipe fault but the fault of his opinionated age).  It smelled delicious and again it was easy to make. For those that need more than 8 hours cooking time,  I'm not sure how long it would last in the slow cooker after it's turned over to warm.  My concern would be that the sauce would burn and would taste funny.  But if you're like me, I say give it a try!

Recipe adapted from one of my favorites: Life In The Lofthouse

Ingredients:

1.5 - 2 lbs of beef stew meat (leaner the better), the kind that is in bite size pieces
2 (1.25 oz) dry onion soup mix packages
1 Tablespoon of paprika
3 medium russet potatoes(2 cups), cut into a bit larger than bit size
1 small package of baby carrots (2 cups)
1 medium onion (1 cup), chopped (not diced)
2 (10 oz.) cans of cream of celery soup
1 cup of ketchup

Mix the onion soup mix and paprika in a gallon size Ziploc bag.  Add the meat, zip the bag shut (leaving a bubble of air) and shake until the cows come home (ok--- shake until the seasoning is evenly distributed). 

In a 7 quart slow cooker, spray the inside with cooking spray.  Add the meat until the bottom of slow cooker is distributed. Add the vegetables on top (if you can mix them up but don't disturb the meat layer when you do).

In a medium bowl, mix the celery soup and ketchup together.  It looks questionable but it turns out delicious.  Add the mix to the top of the vegetables.  Put the lid on and cook on low for 8 hours.

Enjoy! 

*You may be able to freeze the leftovers.  Worth a try because this makes a huge batch, probably feeds at least 8.