Beef Stew during a Midwest Winter

Nothing says winter in the Midwest like a pot of bubbling beef stew and wool socks.  The snow had piled up over night and I was freezing, so as I was pulling on my wool socks, I thought...a good book and blanket with a cup of coffee would be great.  Then the hubby asked what was for lunch.......BEEF STEW!

I usually use roast when making stew as it is my husbands least favorite cut of beef.  I take what ever roast I have in the freezer and cut it up into bit size pieces and season with a little salt and pepper and dredge through some flour.  I brown the beef in a dutch oven with a little bit of oil.  It took me two separate batches to brown all the meat.

Once I have browned all the meat, I take out and lay it on some paper towel.  Then, in the same pot, I throw all of my veggies in with a little salt and pepper.  For this stew, I used celery, onion, carrots, and potatoes.  You want to make sure that all the veggies are roughly the same size.

I sauteed the veggies for about five minutes before I add my secret ingredient........

You can use any dark beer or amber beer you have on hand.  I drink Guinness so that's what I used and perhaps enjoyed while cooking the stew...guess the coffee idea went out the window.  Once I added the beer I stirred and scrapped the good dark brown stuff off the bottom of the pot.  I threw the meat back in and added two cubs beef stock and one cup water.  I then threw in a bay leaf or two and some thyme and let it simmer with the lid on for about two hours.  The result......a fabulous lunch on a cold Michigan day.

2-3 pound beef roast

3/4 cup of flour

3 tbls veggie oil

2 sticks of celery

2 carrots

1/2 a large onion

3 potatoes

1 dark beer

2 cups beef stock

2 bay leaves

1 tbls thyme

salt 

pepper