Beef Stew

I'm stuck at home during a Nor'Easter and I really have been craving a home-made beef stew. I found a really great recipe here, but I made a few tweaks to it because it didn't roast in my oven too well. In my pictures, you can see I started off cooking in an oven roasting pan, but just ignore that! It was taking way too long to cook, so put it on the stove in a stockpot instead of in the oven. 

Oregano and Red Wine Beef Stew
Serves 4

1 bag of cut and peeled baby carrots (16 ounces)
7 stalks of celery
1 pound fresh green beans (or one 14.5 ounce can of green beans)
1 whole onion (medium size)
2 large cloves garlic
1 jalapeno
1 can cut tomatoes (14.5 ounces)
3 whole potatoes (red or russet)
32 ounces of beef broth
1 cup of red wine
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 ½ pounds beef stew meat
2 teaspoons dried oregano
2 teaspoons ground pepper
2 teaspoons dried parsley
4 bay leaves
1 teaspoon salt (or salt to taste)

Directions:

Remember, although I put all of my ingredients into a roasting pan, you should put yours on the stovetop. I don't know how the original recipe was able to be cooked in the oven with a roasting pan...I used a cover on my roasting pan just like the original recipe, but the ingredients just weren't cooking for some weird reason. Oh well! Just cook it on the stove and you should be fine!

First, dump out your can of tomatoes into the pot and turn on the stove to medium-high heat.

Chop up all of your vegetables and add them to the pot.

Add everything else except for the olive oil and beef.

Let your stew cook on the stovetop (not oven--haha) while you prepare the beef.

In a separate pan, add your olive oil and beef, then cook throughly.

When the beef is browned, add all of the pan's contents (beef and liquid) to the large stock pot.

Let cook 2-4 hours, or until the vegetables and beef are soft enough to cut with a spoon.

This stew is SO good! Plus, it makes the house smell delicious! I think the red wine gives it some amazing flavor, and the jalapeno just gives it the right amount of heat! This is definitely a great stew for a cold day. Enjoy!