Vegetable Beef & Barley Stew

I've said it before and I'll say it again: I love this time of year! When the weather turns cool, all I want to do is make soup because, hello?!, who wouldn't?! As much as I enjoy standing over a simmering pot of something on the stove top, nothing beats the convenience of using a slow cooker... that's if you've got the patience to actually WAIT for the final product some 6 to 8 hours later. Beef stew is really one of those soups that is best when done in the slow cooker, mainly because the cut of meat traditionally used in beef stew is a cheap cut which translates to a very tough cut of meat that benefits from slow cooking at low heat. I suppose if you want to make a quick version of beef stew, you can always use a more tender cut of meat... but why bother? It just won't taste the same. 

Vegetable Beef & Barley Stew

Ingredients:
1 large onion, diced
3 carrots, peeled and diced
2 ribs of celery, diced
2 parsnips, peeled and diced
1 (14.5 ounce) can of diced tomatoes with their juice
1 lb. beef stew meat, cut into slightly larger than bite-size pieces
2 Tbs. flour
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. pepper
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 lb. red new potatoes, diced
3/4 cup barley
4 cups beef or vegetable stock
2 bay leaves
1 tsp. dried rosemary, crushed
1 tsp. dried thyme
1/4 tsp. ground cloves
1 cup of peas

Directions:
Okay, so I know it's an incredibly looooong list of ingredients, but it really is easy to put this stew together and here's the breakdown:

Step 1: Get your slow cooker out from wherever you keep it hidden.
Step 2: Dump the onions, carrots, celery, and parsnips in the bottom of the slow cooker then cover them with the tomatoes.
Step 3: In a large bowl, toss the beef together with the flour, salt, pepper, and garlic powder until well coated.
Step 4: In a large non-stick skillet over medium-high heat, quickly brown the beef on all sides.
Step 5: Dump the beef into the slow cooker then add in all the rest of the ingredients (except the peas), making sure that there's enough liquid to mostly cover the ingredients.
Step 6: Put the lid on the slow cooker, plug it in, set in on LOW for 6-8 hours, then walk away. Works well overnight.
Step 7: Unplug the slow cooker, stir in the peas, and dish up a big ol' bowl of beefy goodness.

Enjoy!