Here's an easy and nourishing beef stew that doesn't use any fancy ingredients- just common things you probably already have in your fridge!

Recipe notes:

Serving amount:  This will make plenty of stew for one family meal plus leftovers.  If you are only cooking for 1 or 2 people, you may want to half the recipe. 

How to use leftovers:  If you have leftovers, you can make it into beef pot pie by baking it in a pie crust!  If you don't have quite enough stew to make pot pie, you can add some frozen peas or green beans to round out the amount.

How to cook the stew faster:  If you need the stew to be done in less than 8-9 hours in the slow cooker, you can sear the stew meat in a hot skillet before adding to the crock pot.  This will hasten the cooking process.

Crockpot Beef Stew

• 2 lbs grassfed beef stew meat
• Half of an onion, chopped
• 3 stalks of celery, chopped
• 3 large carrots, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
• 1 lb potatoes, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 2 cups water or beef stock (this may not seem like much, but once everything cooks down there will be plenty of liquid)
• 2 T ketchup or tomato paste
• 1/2 T dijon mustard
• 1 tsp salt (or more to taste)
• 1 tsp thyme
• 1/4 tsp black pepper

Place all ingredients in a slow cooker.  Cook on high for around 9 hours or until the beef and vegetables are tender.  Check the stew during the last hours of cooking to test doneness.

This is delicious served with grated parmesan, sour cream, and a slice of buttered sourdough!