This one is for my friend Sheila.

Rachel comes to my house on Monday and Tuesday to take the dog for a midday walk while I'm sleeping (Scott walks the dog on Wednesday and Thursday), and sometimes when I wake up, I find that she has made dinner in the slowcooker and the house smells like delicious food! Here is the recipe for Rachel's Slowcooker Beef Stew, with only 5 ingredients!

1-2 lbs of stew beef, cut into one inch-ish chunks, or just leave them big, like Rachel does! We usually use 2 lbs, because we like a lot of meat. You can even use frozen, straight from the freezer!

Half a bag of baby carrots, or you can cut up a couple of big carrots into chunks. No need to peel them!


2-4 potatoes, depending on the size and how much you love potatoes. Peel (or not) and cut into biggish chunks. If you're using thin-skinned Yukon Gold potatoes or any kind of fingerlings, you don't need to peel them. Also? If you use fingerling potatoes, you don't need to do much chopping.

One small onion, chopped.

2 Tbs of Beef stock powder (I use Orrington Farms Broth Base and Seasoning) or a couple of boullion cubes.

4 cups of water

Some salt and pepper, which doesn't count in the number of ingredients, because bitch, please.

That's it! That's the whole recipe, and I know there are six ingredients, but one of them is WATER, so it doesn't count. You know you've got water in your kitchen. (If you don't, you have bigger problems than what I can solve with a Beef Stew recipe!)

Set it on Low, and let it cook all day while you're at work. If you have a timer on your slowcooker, set it for eight hours. If you are starting this in the middle of the day, like Rachel does at my house, set the slowcooker on High, and let it cook for 5 hours.

One half-hour before you are ready to serve this, mix 2 Tbs of Corn Starch with a half cup of cold water, and stir into the mixture. Let it bubble and thicken the stew while you change into your pajamas and turn on the TV, then eat a big bowl of stew with some buttered toast while you sit on the couch and watch Netflix.

You're welcome.