Crock Pot Beef Stew

Hi!  I'm Kirsten, Kira's friend from...well, from pretty much forever.  She is a lovely person and has let me ride her coat-tails and contribute to her recipe blog.  Hopefully, she won't regret that decision :)

When I was pregnant with my son, I craved V8 like nothing else, which is weird because I usually can't stand the stuff.  As soon as I gave birth, the cravings for V8 disappeared and I found myself with several LARGE bottles of V8 to use.  I found this on a recipe website (Recipezaar, which is now food.com) when I was looking for something that would use it up.  It also used up a bunch of the stuff in my overly-crowded freezer.  So I couldn't resist trying it out.  It turned out really good!

 

Old-Fashioned Beef Stew for your Crock Pot

 

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 lb beef or pork stew meat, cut into 3/4 inch cubes
• 2 tablespoons cooking oil
• 1 medium onion, cut into thin wedges
• 2 1/2 cups cubed potatoes
• 1 cup frozen cut green beans
• 1 cup frozen whole kernel corn
• 1 cup sliced carrot
• 2 1/2 cups vegetable juice cocktail
• 2 teaspoons beef bouillon granules
• 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
• 1 1/2 teaspoons snipped fresh marjoram, crushed or 1/2 teaspoon dried marjoram, crushed
• 1 1/2 teaspoons snipped fresh oregano, crushed or 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano, crushed
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1 bay leaf

Directions

1. Place flour in a plastic bag.
2. Add meat cubes, a few at a time, shaking to coat.
3. In a large saucepan or Dutch oven brown meat, half at a time, in hot oil.
4. Drain off fat.
5. In the bottom of a 3-1/2- or 4-quart electric crock pot layer onion, potatoes, green beans, corn, carrot, and meat.
6. Combine vegetable juice cocktail, bouillon granules, Worcestershire sauce, marjoram, oregano, pepper, and bay leaf.
7. Pour over meat and vegetables in crock pot.
8. Cover and cook on low-heat setting for 10 to 12 hours or until meat and vegetables are tender.
9. Discard bay leaf.