I made this today. I used diced tomatoes rather than stewed for dietary reasons and added two cans instead of one. I also added a can of black beans and some roasted canned chiles. I used Salsa instead of Picante Sauce since all I found when I googled Picante sauce was salsa so I am guessing that they are the same thing? Anyhow, I used 3/4 of a cup instead of 1/4. I was also careful to use a high quality brand of salsa and the hot version. I am more of a medium person myself but the hot gave a nice medium kick to the stew when it was mixed with the other ingredients. I also added 1 1/2 tablespoons of fresh cilantro at the end. It came out very flavorful and delicious. I will definitely be making it again.

Great recipe. I've made this 4 times already, and take it to work all week.

I just substituted Rotel tomatoes for the regular ones suggested in the recipe. Easy and great!!

This was a good recipe. I replaced the ranch style beans with 1 15oz can of blk beans and 1 15oz can of pinto beans. I used mexican style stewed tomatoes & added 1 T of chili powder. My husband and his friends loved it. I placed it in the crockpot and forgot about it.

Definitely not the most attractive looking dish but very easy to make, and good for a rainy Autumn day. I added quite a bit more cumin and also some chili powder. It looked a little bit watery towards the end of the cooking time, so I just took the lid off for the last hour, and it turned out fine. Thanks, Betsy!

I make this dish quite often, however I use light & dark kidney beans instead and I add sliced carrots, use diced tomatoes, beef bouillon cubes and add little "stars" noodles in mine. My kids seems to like the little noodles in it, so they don't mind eating all the vegtables since they are thinking about the cute lil noodles! I also add vegtable juice. Plus just half the green pepper, so it doesn't overpower the stew.

We love this dish! I used ground turkey in place of the beef and my family never knew the difference.

Jane B

It's in my recipe box! I only keep the ones I know I will fix again. What a great warmer upper on these cool Chicago evenings. Help me with one thing tho. What is the closest bean to "ranch style"? I've looked everywhere but no luck in my area. What would you suggest I substitute?

I made this stew last night and it was just ok. There was nothing particularly good or bad about it. We had to heavily salt it to eat it though because it did seem quite bland. It smelled great, so we assumed it would be really flavorful, but it wasn't. I would make again if I had all ingredients on hand, but nothing I'd rush out to buy up so we could have again. Thanks anyway.

I cooked mine in the crock pot while I was at work, so it cooked for 9 hours which was a little too long, my cabbage basically disappeared. We still enjoyed it but next time will make when it won't have to cook as long.

Sooooo good! Cabbage came out sweet! I did it on the stovetop because I don't have a crockpot, used diced tomatoes with chilis and mixed it with rice. Was very spicy.

We love this recipe. Have made it numerous times since finding it last year. It always turns out well even with substitutions. Great way to use up cabbage. I like this recipe so much better than a regular beef soup as it has a lot of flavor. We've also substituted sausage for the beef and that was great too.

Very good! I will be making this again. We loved the cabbage and will be doubling it next time.

Before I altered this recipe, it was bland, and tasteless. I added jalapenos, another can of beans, more picante, and lots of different spices to make this have any flavor to it. In the end with sharp cheddar on top it was good. I won't be making this again, even when tweaked, it wasn't an outstanding favorite. If you like food that is very mild, bland, and unflavorful this would be a good choice. I don't mean that in a bad way, people have different tastes.

This was great. Even my little ones liked it

I made this for my husband and he loved it. He said when I first told him what was in this stew he didn't think it sounded to good. He later told me he sure was glad he didn't go with his inital thoughts of this stew. He loved it and has already put in as request for it again this weekend.