[gblowfish]

Today I made one of my favorite winter comfort foods. Crock pot beef stew. Here's what you do: Get about a pound and a half of quality stew meat. Put some flour, black pepper and old bay in a plastic baggie. Coat the meat in flour mixture, dust off the extra. Put a skillet on the stove with some olive oil med high heat. Brown the beef, just till its brown on all sides, chuck it into the crock pot. 1 can drained white sliced potatoes, 1 can drained sliced carrots, 1 can drained button mushrooms, a couple dashes of worchestestesteshire sauce (did I spell that right?) a few jalapeno pepper rings (just a few), a packet of beef stew seasoning and 12 OZ can (like a soda can size) of V8. Let it crock all day. Everything gets super tender, beef flavor is great, not too spicy. Serve over rice or with biscuits and butter. If you don't like V8 you can use beef broth. You can also put a little red wine in the mix if so inclined. It's easy, freezes well if you have extra left over, is relatively cheap to make (less than ten bucks) and is great on a cold day like today.