Slow Cooker Beef Stew

We usually have a hearty soup or stew for our Halloween dinner before we head outside to trick-or-treat.  This year I decided to try a new recipe, Slow Cooker Beef Stew.  It has great reviews over at allrecipes.com.  I changed it just slightly by leaving out the celery and using smoked Spanish paprika.  I'm hoping this fills the kids tummies and leaves less room for all the candy they'll be bringing home!

Ingredients  (printable recipe)
2 pounds beef stew meat, cut into 1 inch cubes
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 clove garlic, minced
1 bay leaf
1 teaspoon smoked Spanish paprika
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 onion, chopped
1 1/2 cups beef broth
3 potatoes, diced
4 carrots, sliced
Directions
Place meat in slow cooker. In a small bowl mix together the flour, salt, and pepper; pour over meat, and stir to coat meat with flour mixture. Stir in the garlic, bay leaf, paprika, Worcestershire sauce, onion, beef broth, potatoes, carrots. Cover, and cook on Low setting for 10 to 12 hours, or on High setting for 4 to 6 hours. 

Adapted from Allrecipes.com

The Results...
I really liked how easy this was to put together.  There's no browning the meat first, just throw it in the slow cooker and it turns out delicious!  It tasted like pot roast in a bowl and the kids did fill their tummies because they all liked it!  It was hearty, satisfying and I didn't feel as bad about them eating candy since they had a good dinner.  Between trick-or-treating, school parties, church party, and all the extra candy we couldn't get rid of (it was raining here and we had a lot less trick-or-treaters this year) we have enough candy to last until next Halloween!  Maybe I can find some recipes for all this leftover candy....

We hope you had a happy and safe Halloween!

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