My Mom's Beef Stew

Total Time: 2 hrs 50 mins Preparation Time: 20 mins Cook Time: 2 hrs 30 mins

Ingredients

• Servings: 6
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 1/2 lbs stewing beef
• 1/2 cup flour (to dust beef with,you probably won't use all of it but what ever is extra just falls off (and flour)
• 6 cups water
• 2 (14 ounce) cans tomato soup
• 1 onion, diced
• 3 stalks celery, diced
• 3 carrots, sliced diagonally
• 3 potatoes, cubed
• 2 tablespoons worcestershire sauce or 1/4 cup dry red wine
• 1 bay leaf
• 1/4 teaspoon ground pepper

Recipe

• 1 coat stewing beef in flour, i use a colander so that the excess easily goes through.
• 2 heat a large pot, add oil and then beef and onion.
• 3 cook, stirring occasionally until the outside is browned (you are not cooking it; just giving it a crust).
• 4 add water, worcestershire sauce, or wine and spices (except salt and pepper).
• 5 add one 14 oz can of tomato soup, depending on your taste you may or may not want to add some or all of the second can. start with one.
• 6 simmer for approximately 2 hours (it really depends on the size of the pieces of stewing beef and if you want them firm or more towards the shredded stage.
• 7 after the beef is close to your desired texture add vegetable, another partial or full can of soup, and pepper. salt is optional, as the tomato soup contains salt. cook for 20 min or until vegetables are cooked to your liking.
• 8 stir occasionally through the cooking process so that it does not stick.
• 9 * this feeds four in my family but it should feed six (they just like it a lot so eat more than they normally would.
• 10 * dumpling are a perfect companion to this recipe.