Crock Pot Recipe #1: Beef Stew with Chocolate

I decided to try a nice crock pot recipe to start us out... I mean it's just prep, toss in the pot, and let it cook while I take care of the baby. And I knew just where to look for that recipe... Semi- Homemade with Sandra Lee.

Sandra loves to cook with her crock pot. In fact out of all of the Food Network shows she is the only one that does a lot of crock pot cooking. I don't know why! I love my crock pot. I've had my current one since I was in college. It's such an easy way to have dinner ready for you when you get home after a long day. It's sad that I don't use mine all the time. But I think it's partly because there are just not a lot of recipes calling out me to be cooked.

The other day was her chocolate episode and she made a tempting stew. So today I decided to strap on the baby and start cooking.

Beef Stew with Chocolate



Photo from Food Network website 



Recipe courtesy Sandra Lee
Prep Time: 5 min Inactive
Cook Time: 6 hr 0 min
Level: Easy
Serves: 6 servings



Ingredients
2 pounds beef stew meat, cut into bite-sized pieces
1 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more for seasoning
1 teaspoon ground black pepper, plus more for seasoning
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons canola oil
1 cup frozen sliced carrots
1 (8-ounce) package sliced brown mushrooms
3 cups diced red potatoes
1 (14.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes
2 tablespoons finely grated bittersweet chocolate
1 teaspoon crushed garlic
1 (1.5-ounce) packet meatloaf seasoning (recommended: McCormick)
1 (14-ounce) can low-sodium beef broth
1 cup red wine, preferably Merlot
1 leek, white part only, sliced and cleaned



Directions
In a large bowl combine beef stew meat, salt, pepper and flour. Toss until beef is well coated.  Heat the canola in a large saute pan over high heat. Add seasoned beef and sear on all sides until brown and caramelized. Remove to a plate and set aside.  Combine seared beef, carrots, mushrooms, potatoes and tomatoes in a 4- quart slow cooker.  In a medium bowl, stir together grated chocolate, garlic, meatloaf packet, beef broth, and red wine. Pour into slow cooker and sprinkle the leeks over the top. Cover and cook on HIGH setting for 4 to 6 hours.  Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper. Serve hot.



My finished product



Here is my review:

(Star rating with a grade scale of 5 stars - 5 being the highest)

Read of Recipe - * * * * *   

Even though I saw this recipe prepared on TV (which helps me a lot) it was very user friendly.  I had no problems following this recipe.   

Prep Time (with Baby)/ Ease of execution - * 



It took me an hour - 60 minutes (with a fussy baby who wanted to be held) to prepare this dish.  Not 5 minutes.   I am sure that having items already cut, sliced, diced, grating, and shredded would help cut down time. But not 55!  The hardest part was grating the chocolate.       

Recipe items needed - * * *



Taste -  * * * * *

OMG!  This was amazing!  Amazing! This stew was so flavorful.  I don't know if its the Meatloaf spice pack or the wine but it is delicious.

Overall - * * * 1/2



This was my first Sandra Lee recipe and I was very impressed.  I have made other Food Network recipes before and this one measures up!  I will be making this again... though it only got 3 1/2 stars (due to low prep score). Yes, it took me an hour to prep it... but it was worth it!    We had this for dinner 1 night and I had it for lunch everyday after till it was gone.  I actually thought we had too much and I was going to give some to a friend.  But after tasting it there was no way I was going to part with the leftovers. 

I had some of the items already so I just headed over to Target to get the rest. I ended up using the Strong Arms Shiraz for the wine and used green onions instead of leaks.  The cost to obtain the missing items was not bank breaking.  I spent an additional $10 to get the items needed.