Hearty Slow Cooked Beef Stew

"This smells just like the recipe my former father-in-law used to make, except he didn't put potatoes in his. He'd simmer it down and serve it over hot buttered egg noodles. I gave it 4 stars because i..." See moret was too salty for my tastes. Next time, I'm omitting the salt, as there is plenty in the onion soup mix and canned tomato sauce. I also use beef broth base, which is much lower in salt than bouillon. I don't use canned veggies, so I used fresh potatoes. Here's what I did: 3 lbs stew meat, 1 1/2 lbs potatoes, 1 chopped onion, 2 cups carrots (I love carrots), 1 8oz can tomato sauce, 1 cup water, 1 small bottle (single serving size) of Gallo Cabernet Sauvignon and enough water to make 1 cup, 4 tsp Orrington Farms Beef Broth Base & Seasoning, 1 envelope dry onion soup mix, 1 tsp dried rosemary, 1 tsp garlic powder, 1/4 tsp of fresh ground black pepper, 1 small can of mushrooms, drained. You can thicken it with either corn starch or flour, as directed, but other methods such as using potato flakes like Potato Buds, or pulling out some of the potatoes, mashing them, and stirring them back into the broth work equally as well. I prefer to mash up some potatoes and stir into the broth, which is why I upped the quantity of potatoes."

"Have to admit to NOT being a fan of slow cooker recipes. Boy was I wrong on this one. The only changes I made were to throw in a bay leaf and leave out the canned potatoes (I didn't have any) I added ..." See moreadditional fresh potatoes and carrots the last 90 minutes of cooking and this was delicious! Thanks so much for sharing!"

"It was ok had to tweak it a bit but it sure doesn't take 4 hrs since I use fresh potatoes and veggies they were still hard as a rock!..." See more"