Beef Stew

I love beef stew. I always have. I have seen a million different recipes but I've come up with one that my family loves best. The great thing about beef stew is that you can use an otherwise tough piece of beef, slow cook it all day and enjoy fabulously tender stew by the end of the day. When choosing your beef you can either buy pre-cut beef stew meat, sirloin steak or half of a roast cut into cubes. Here's a meal plan idea for you: Buy a large roast when on sale. Cut it in half. Use one half of the roast (about 1-2 lbs) to make your family's favorite roast recipe and the other half cut up into cubes to make this beef stew. Yum :)

Ingredients
1-2 lbs beef stew meat (your choice) cubed
4 cups beef broth/stock (one carton is 4 cups) plus one can if needed for thinning
2-3 carrots sliced
2 celery stalks, sliced
1 onion, diced
2 large potatoes, cubed
1 cup frozen corn
1/3 cup flour
1 can tomato paste
2 tablespoons worcestershire sauce
1 bay leaf
3-4 sprigs fresh thyme
2 garlic cloves
1/2 cup red wine ( you can marinade in 1/3 cup worcestershire and a few dashes of red wine vinegar instead if desired. Just omit 2 tablespoons above if doing this)
salt and pepper to taste (I'll be honest I like my stew really peppery)

Directions:
The night before you intend on making your stew, marinate your stew meat in the red wine, thyme and one diced garlic clove (you can use powder if you don't have fresh).

When ready to make the stew, brown the meat (along with the marinade) in a large pot for about 5 minutes. Add all diced vegetables and continue to saute about 5 minutes longer.

Add the additional garlic clove, bay leaf, thyme and flour. Stir well to distribute the flour evenly.

 Add the tomato paste and stir well to combine.

Add the stock and corn. Simmer for 2-3 hours for best flavor and tenderness. Salt and Pepper as desired. Serve with cornbread and Enjoy.