Beef Stew

Ingredients:
2 lb chuck roast
2 cups diced celery (pea sized chunks)
2 cups diced carrot (pea sized chunks)
6 cups beef broth (or water + bouillon)
1 medium to large onion, diced
1 - 2 potatoes cut into 1" cubes
1 package frozen peas
1 package white mushrooms, diced
2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
4 cloves garlic (or generous sprinkling of garlic powder)
1 can diced tomatoes
2 tbsp of tomato paste
Salt and Pepper
Rosemary, basil and other herbs to taste (if you don't want to have specks of herbs floating in the stew, you can put the herbs in a large ball-type tea strainer so you can pull it out after cooking)
about 2 tbsp of oil

Directions:

1. Trim excess fat off the meat. Cut into 1" cubes. Blot on paper towels to dry
2. Toss with toss with about 2 tbsp of kosher salt and 1 tbsp of black pepper
3. In a well oiled (or PAMed) skillet, brown the meat in batches, transferring the browned meat into a 6 qt pot. 
4. Add a little more oil (if necessary) to the skillet, the caramelize the onions. The moisture from the cooking onions should help deglaze the pan of the bits from browning of the meat. Once the onions are golden and translucent, add the garlic and tomato paste and cook for 2-3 minutes. If you need to, add a 1 -2 tsp of water or broth the loosen the paste and help further deglaze the pan. Transfer into your pot. 
5. Saute your celery until it turns a bright green, then transfer to the pot.
6. Brown your mushrooms with a pinch of salt. transfer to the pot
7. Add the canned tomatoes, worcestershire sauce, beef broth, your optional spices and a generous dash of salt to the pot, gently stirring the ingredients together. 
8. Bring to a boil, then reduce to medium. Cook uncovered for 30 minutes. 
9. Add your potatoes and carrots, cover, and cook for 30 minutes. Test the potatoes for doneness. They should be fork tender or a little firm. 
10. Reduce to a simmer (or transfer to crock-pot set to low) for 2 hours. (OK to simmer for longer. Just watch it so there is enough liquid in the pot to keep it cooking and not burning). 
11. Add the frozen peas and let simmer for another 10 - 15 minutes. (The low cooking time for the peas keep them a bright, vibrant green. It's totally OK to put them in before the 2-hr simmer time.)
12. If you'd transferred the stew to a Crock-pot, reduce the heat setting to warm. 

To thicken the stew: 

Option 1: Coat the meat in flour before browning.  Add 1 tbsp of flour and tbsp of oil to the caramelizing onions to create a roux. 

Option 2: Make a slurry with 1/4 c corn or potato starch and 1/4 c water. Add the slurry to the stew between steps 9 and 10.

Crockpot only version: 

Reduce cooking liquid by 50%
layer ingredients w/ root veggies on the bottom. 

Increase cooking time to 6 hr on high, 12 hr on low. 

Tip: Beef broth vs Beef bouillon - the bouillon has a lot of salt in it, so adjust the amount of salt in the rest of the recipe to taste.