Even though tomorrow is the first day of spring, with the cold weather and the huge snow flakes that fell today, I was in the mood for a warm and filling comfort food. I got to thinking about beef stew and couldn’t seem to get it off of my mind. Fortunately, we had everything I had in mind that I wanted to put in the stew on hand!

We just finished eating an excellently executed beef stew dinner, and I couldn’t be happier with it! If you are looking for a great beef stew, why not try out my rendition? Let me know how it turns out! -Shelley.

Beef Stew

1 ½ pounds beef stew meat – cut into about 1 inch chunks
1 c flour + ½ T salt + ½ T black pepper mixed together {to coat meat pieces}
Cooking wine to de-glaze pan {I used sherry cooking wine}
4 stalks celery, chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 large onion, chopped
1 red bell pepper, chopped {green bell peppers are fine too}
6 carrots, peeled and cut into pieces
2 medium potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
1 16-oz package frozen peas
3 pieces of bacon, cooked crisp and crumbled + grease {reserved to braise meat in}
extra olive oil to add to grease as necessary
1 bay leaf
1 T dried parsley
½ t – 1 ½ t ground black pepper {to taste…the more you use, the spicier the stew is}
½ t salt {or to taste}
2 T Aminos All Purpose Seasoning {or soy sauce or Worcestershire sauce}
*2 c vegetable broth
*2 c beef broth
*2 c tomato juice
{*or 6 cups total liquid…these broths are just what I had on hand at the time. Feel free to use all veggie broth or all beef broth, etc. I would not use all tomato juice though!}
¼ c water + ¼ c flour whisked together at the end of the cook time…mixed with 1 cup of beef stew broth to thicken up

Cook bacon pieces in large Dutch oven until crispy. Turn burner on low, set bacon pieces aside and reserve bacon grease to braise meat in. Crumble bacon.

Mix 1 c of flour, ½ T salt and ½ T black pepper together. Dip beef chunks in flour mixture and shake off excess.

Add olive oil to bacon grease in the bottom of the Dutch oven to just cover the bottom and turn heat back up to medium/medium-high.

Add flour coated meat pieces and brown meat on all sides. This may have to be done in a couple of batches {adding extra oil as necessary to ensure meat doesn’t stick to bottom of pan and/or burn}.

After browning is done, set meat aside temporarily in a different pan.

De-glaze Dutch oven by pouring in a little bit of cooking wine at a time to bottom of Dutch oven. Use a wooden spoon to loosen any stuck-on pieces, as well as get all flavor from the braised meat mixed into the cooking wine.

Add chopped onions, garlic, celery and chopped pepper to pan and cook a few minutes.

Add carrots, potatoes, peas, spices, liquids and meat. Stir to combine.

Cover and cook over medium heat 40-45 minutes, or until veggies are tender.

If desired, remove 1 cup of broth at this point and whisk together with the ¼ c water + ¼ c flour blend {that has been whisked together first}.

Add thickened mixture back to the beef stew and mix well.

Serve by itself…or serve with Whole Wheat Drop Biscuits {click here for recipe} like I did! Enjoy!