Beef Stew

On a cold winter day, nothing is better than a hot bowl of beef stew. One of my husband's favorite dishes that I make is a classic stew. It uses the fairly inexpensive stew meat, but it cooks all day, so the meat it so tender when it's finally time to eat. Here is how you make it:
Ingredients:
*1 pound lean stew meat
*1 onion (chopped in inch pieces)
*2 medium sized potatoes (inch sized pieces)
*3 carrots (1/2 inch sized pieces)
*1 beef bouillon cube
*1/2 bag frozen peas
*2 cans tomato soup
*enough water to cover the meat and vegetables
*salt and pepper to taste
*flour to thicken the soup
Directions:
*Begin by cooking the meat through. I use a cast iron pot and add about a tablespoon of olive oil. While the meat is cooking cut up all of your vegetables.
*When the meat is cooked, add the 2 cans of tomato soup, all of the vegetable (except for the peas), and enough water to cover it all. Go ahead and throw in the bouillon cube while your at it.
*Let all of this simmer for at least 3 hours. You know the old phrase.... Set it and Forget it!
*45 minutes before you plan to serve your stew, add half a bag of frozen peas.
*15 minutes before you plan to serve the stew, add enough flour to thicken it. I usually ladle some of the soup into a coffee mug that has about 1/4 cup of flour. I whisk that and then pour it back into the stew. (Never add straight flour to your soups or stews! It will get lumpy!)
*Let it simmer fifteen more minutes to cook out the flour taste.
*Add salt and pepper to taste. (I usually add some garlic salt to give it more flavor.)

That's it. It's very simple, as I like it, and it requires very little effort. Don't forget some cornbread or biscuits to go with it!

And I would have taken a picture, but we ate it too quickly. :)