Made this for the first time, so yummy and tender. I doubled the recipe exactly as directed and it came out perfect. Even my picky 5 year old ate it and my 7 year old told me to put it on the list. Even being doubled, we barely had enough for leftovers. Having the right red wine is key, I had a cabernet sauvignon that had been sitting around a while in the kitchen (I leave the remainders of any opened bottles to use as cooking wine, the longer it sits, the better it is for cooking.) Don't use a newly opened bottle, it needs to breath a lot before cooking with it. The sauce/gravy was perfect as well. Can't wait to make this again!

Reviewed On: Nov. 1, 2009

I love the colorfulness, I'm tired of bland brown stew, and it was quite tasty. I froze the meat in the wine and vegetable broth until I was ready to make this recipe, marinates while it thaws. I followed advice on adding the spices (along with salt and pepper) towards the end and cut the water in half since I used the crockpot (I actually used vegetable broth instead of water), turned out perfect, didn't need to thicken it at all. Served over a bed of egg noodles, simply delicious.

Reviewed On: Jan. 4, 2009

This came out fantastic, so easy. Instead of using a blender, I used my hand masher (keeps the consistency thicker, not too smooth like some of the previous reviews). I only used 1/4 cup butter, added the maple syrup and milk a little at a time until the consistency was perfect and so was the taste. The recommendation for cinnamon was the perfect touch. There were a lot of "Mmm mmm's" at our table tonight and seconds all around.

Reviewed On: Oct. 28, 2007