Vegetable Beef Stew

This is my favorite go-to meal for company or extra people for supper.  It makes a lot and tastes wonderful.  I don't really follow a specific list of ingredients every time because it's so universal.  You can basically just gather whatever veggies you have and throw them in.  I also don't measure, my meat and veggies but I will attempt to for your benefit.  :)  I put in quite a bit of meat.  I like a little beef with my veggies and I love how it kind of shreds apart so you can get a small bite of steak within each spoonful.  My kids really love this stuff and it's a great healthy meal chock full of veggies that are so flavorful.  I love how the potatoes absorb the flavors. 


Vegetable Beef Stew

Ingredients:
2-3 pounds sirloin or tenderized steak, trimmed of fat and cubed**
half a small bag of baby carrots
6-8 small red potatoes
half a bag of frozen pearl onions (I think the bag is like 10-12 oz or something)
9-10 oz package of frozen green beans
1 green pepper, chopped
1 16-0z can tomato sauce (or you can use diced tomatoes)
1/3 cup Homemade Cream Soup Mix  (or a can of cream of mushroom soup)
5 tablespoons Homemade Dry Onion Soup Mix (or an envelope of Lipton onion soup mix)
1 cup red wine
1 cup beef stock
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon crushed marjoram

Instructions:
In a large skillet brown the edges of the cubed meat.  Put everything in a 5 or 6 quart slow cooker and cook on low for 8-10 hours or high for 4-5.  If it seems like it's not thick enough closer to eating time, turn the lid to the side to let the steam escape for about 20 minutes to a half hour.

**I always have packages of steaks in my freezer since we buy a half a cow at a time.  So for this recipe I used 2 frozen packages of sirloin steak.  I'm thinking each of my packages was right around 2 to 3 pounds and after you trim the fat and the bone off you are left with probably 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 pounds.  You can use a very cheap cut of meat for this meal because it cooks for so long - it will bring even the toughest of meat to a wonderfully tender bite.  Just be sure to cut off as much fat as possible to keep it lean.