Rustic Beef Stew

Although it's not cold (or even cool) out yet, the combines are rolling, and a few leaves are starting to turn so I made stew last weekend. I, personally, love all types of soup/stew. And I like them any time of year...even when it's hot outside. But my kids are hit-or-miss on this type of meal. I'm in the process of "cooking through the freezer" so that was part of the motivation behind the decision to make this meal. Normally, I would use some type of roast but this time it was several packages of cubed steak that I ordered a little thinner than we like for dredging and pan frying. They were actually perfect for this stew and thawed in no time!

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Everyone really liked this stew, went back for seconds, and even cleared out the leftovers the very next day. So, I'd say this recipe goes in the "keeper" pile. This is also one of those recipes where you could swap things in and out, change it up each time to use what you have, or add in extra vegetables to stretch the meat and make a bigger batch. We loved this recipe as-is, but next time I'd like to try adding in some peas, green beans, or maybe even thin-sliced cabbage.

This would also be a good meal to make if you are like us where after each supper, we have a little container of sides left over that gets pushed to the back of the refrigerator. Just put them in the freezer instead of leaving them to get lost and thrown away a week later. Then, when you have a few different things frozen, make stew!

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