Yummy Beef Stew and Popovers!

I've been looking around the internet for different crock pot recipes. I honestly don't use my crock pot much, because it's still a lot of work to make anything with a crock pot, especially when I have to pull it out of the cabinet and then use pliers to turn the knob (mine broke off and cuis.inart doesn't carry replacement knobs).

Anyways....

I got an email the other day from BHG that had a bunch of slow cooker recipes. They had a recipe for Burgundy Beef Stew which sounded pretty good. Of course I couldn't follow a recipe and had to do my own thing.

I took 2 lbs of stew beef and floured it, along with salt and pepper, browned it in some olive oil, then threw it in the crock pot. Then I chunked a large onion into 1/2" segments (about the size of my fist) and cooked that until it was soft and golden in some butter, tossed in 4 cloves of minced garlic. Then threw all that in the crock pot.

I added in 1 cup of Cab Sauv wine, that Matt had made in 2008, and about a cup and a half of beef broth.

Set that all to cook on low for 4 or 5 hours, then about an hour and a half before we were ready to eat I cut up carrots and threw them in, and some small new potatoes.

While that was going I put a couple of slices of bacon in the toaster oven (I hate the smell and mess of bacon on the stove) then crumbled that in the stew, and poured the drained fat in as well.

Then an hour before we were ready to eat I made popovers (aka Yorkshire Pudding) to go with our stew: 4 eggs, 2 cups milk, 2 cups flour, and a 1/2 tsp salt. Beat it all together and pour into 16 greased muffin tins, bake for 25 minutes at 450* then bump it down to 350* for 15 minutes (or golden brown).

Oh my goodness, this was such a yummy stew. I do think I could've added more water and a little less beef broth, especially since I had added bacon fat, because it was a touch on the salty side. We had enough to put in the freezer for another dinner!