Slow Cooker Beef Stew

In the winter time I love my slow cooker. It's true. I haven't entered into the realm of making lasagna and cookies using the device. Rather, I appreciate my crockpot for allowing me to slow cook stews and other meat dishes with my busy schedule. I can plug it in in the morning and come home to delicious stew. Perfect.

For this stew I simply threw together cubed stew meat, mushrooms, onions, potatoes, carrots, red wine, beef stock, rosemary, salt, and pepper. I put it on low before I left for work and came home to find tender meat and satisfying flavors.

Because I didn't have time to sear the meat first in the morning, I threw it in a hot pan for a few minutes when I came home. Then I deglazed the pan with a little red wine, added some butter, and drained the liquids from the crock pot into the pan to reduce the sauce. This makes for a thicker, heartier stew.

Return the thickened sauce to the crock pot and mix to combine.

Serve in large bowls and enjoy! Pair with the red wine you cooked with, or a cold dark beer.