Beef Stew (and variations)

Beef stew is a really easy slow cooked meal that I love to do because I can dump everything in the morning and come home to a complete meal in the evening.

Ingredients (Serves 4 for at least 2 meals):

1. 1kg Beef chunks (I usually have frozen beef cubes in my freezer)
2. 3-4 Indonesian potatoes (do not use the Russets. Indonesian potatoes hold better over long cooking)
3. a bag of young carrots (about 5 in there)
4. 2 big white onions
5. half a bunch of celery
6. a can of tomato paste/ chopped tomatoes
7. flour for coating the beef pieces
8. 1-2 bay leaves
9. salt and pepper
10. 1 cup stock (I use Swanson's chicken stock)
11. 1 cup red wine (optional)
12. 2tbsp red wine vinegar (optional)

Method:
Cut up all the vegetables (3,4,5) into similar sized pieces. I usually cut mine into about 4cm pieces.
Coat the beef chunks with flour, brown them over  some oil in a pan. (optional)
Put all the ingredients into the slow cooker and cook on low for about 8hrs or high for about 4hrs.
Serve with rice.

Notes:

1. Browning the meat makes the stew taste better. However, it is still not too bad without. When I make this in the mornings before I leave the house (and that's at 620am in the morning), I simply do not have time to brown the meat.  I just dump everything into the cooker, turn it on and leave.
2. Liquids - if using both wine and stock, just make sure that the total liquid barely covers the ingredients. In slow cooking, a lot of liquid is retained in the dish. This also depends on how "wet" you like your stews.
3. I vary my stews with different liquids. If I have leftover wine, I'll use it, if not, then it'll just be the stock.
4. This is absolutely freezer friendly. 

 Other items I've thrown into my stews:

1. kidney beans
2. mixed grains (this bulks up the dish nicely) 

This is how I pack everything the night before in the fridge. I just dump everything into the slow cooker in the morning and turn it on.

and a lovely meal awaits when we get home. :)