This worked out really well for me. I used organic beef broth in place of the water, added a couple bay leaves and added an envelope of aujus gravy mix. I also switched out the peas for corn. (The au jus mix was a stew secret ingredient I learned from my father in law for my own batch of stew. It's not really needed in this stew recipe, as I learned. My mistake, not the recipe.) Mine turned out a little salty but still delicious. I added a couple tablespoons of brown sugar, which tamed the salt. This recipe makes a lot so be sure you have a large and hungry brood or you'll have leftovers for days. I'll make this my go-to recipe for stew now. Thanks ever so much to the person who shared it!

Pretty good! I agree with everyone else--definitely double the spices, and add some thickener of some kind. I cooked mine in the crockpot (low, 8 hours). I omitted the celery and the peas, but that's just because we don't like them.

Extremely tasty! I did not change a thing except coat my meat in flour and brown before adding. I used the slow cooker and layered it as follows: tomatoes, carrots, celery, potatoes, onions, meat. I added 1/2 cup water and 1/4 cup red wine and then cooked on high for 2 hours with no stirring. After 2 hours I began stirring about every 30 minutes and then 2 hours before serving, I added another 1/2 cup water and then the boullion and spices as another member said that the salt in the boullion draws moisture out of the meat if you add it at the beginning and she was right as the meat was nice and tender this way. Add peas 20 minutes before serving. This came out very thick and rich for me and I had to use no thickner, other than the flour coating on the meat. This is by far the best stew I have made. Oh, and I recommend pepper.

Dan added salt and pepper for more flavor I really enjoyed the homestyle cooking. Would definitely make again.

I read this recipe in a Christmas novel submitted by it's author years ago and have used it since. My kids grew up on it and love it. My sister and I used to make this while on vacation in her crock pot. It's that easy and delish! I recomend this reciipe 100%! Just put everything in crock, stir and walk away. Dinner will be ready when you are. No mess. This recipe will stay in our family forever.

We thought this stew was wonderful. We don't like a thick pasty stew so we thought it was perfect. Didn't change a thing.

Excellent recipe. I love spices so added a lot of extra spice to the dish. Also, I floured and browned the meat before adding it to the cockpot. I also used a pork and beef combo for the stew meat. Added the Knorr's brown gravy mix the last hour, and it was the perfect consistency. Next time I will add mushrooms as recommended by another reviewer. I served in round sour dough bread bowls. Yummy!! I would have given it 5 stars, but had to read all the reviews first and then modified it accordingly.

I made several adjustments to this recipe, to accommodate what I had on hand, and preferences. I added 1/2 chopped green bell pepper, skipped the tapioca (as I was afraid it would provide a strange consistency), used 1 15oz. can petite diced tomatoes & 1 15oz. can stewed tomatoes, used beef broth for the water and bouillon, used 1 tsp. Italian seasoning (though next time I would double that) and 1 tsp. montreal steak seasoning, then skipped the red wine altogether. I cooked in a slow cooker for 2 hours on high heat, then reduced to low for 5 hours. The meat was very tender and the broth was very rich. However, it did seem to be lacking in herb flavor. I may try it next time with the Knorr brown gravy packet as another reviewer suggested. I also plan on using 1 8oz. can of tomato sauce for half the broth/water next time. Overall, good recipe, hubby *loved* it, but it could definitely use more seasonings.

good basic recipe. i also thickened it and added more seasoning and veggies (peas,more carrots and potato also chopped prunes (husband's family trad.)and i used garlic flavored oil to brown meat.

Okay,I really did not think this was anything special, tasty definitely but...my family LOVED it! There were not any left-overs. ALL GONE. I used fresh herbs instead of dried. I added a touch of red pepper flakes because we like it spicy. And I did have to thicken it with cornstarch at the end. its a keeper!

This recipe turned out very flavorful. I didn't follow the suggestions of other viewers and I should have, because they were right, the stew turns out very runny more like a soup. I prefer a thicker stew so I added a little corn starch to the stew and it thickened right up. Delicious! I will make this again and again. My family loved it too.

First of all, this isn't what I would call beef stew like I'm used to having. The stew I'm used to having has a really thick hearty sauce, this was rather watery. However, that aside..... I made this recipe to the letter, and actually fudged a bit on the spices. I doubled at least the amount of all of them. I also added in 4 chopped cloves of garlic. I can describe it in one word...bland!!! I can eat it with a *lot* of salt and pepper, but it just tastes like beef and vegetables. The only good thing is that the beef ended up very tender.

Mmmmm...good :) I think it was the tapioca that added that little extra "something".

I make this in the slow cooker following the recipe exactly, and it is always delicious. My family loves it.

I made the following adjustments: - Floured and browned the beef first - Rinsed the browning pan with the wine and 1 cup water (only used half the water since using a crock pot) - Layered the veggies in the bottom, meat on top, held the spices and bouillon back, cooked on low - crumbled the bouillon and spices into the pot 2 hours before serving. Crushed the spices between my fingers to release flavor, used 1/2 tsp of each. - Added 2 bay leaves and a lightly heaping tablespoon of cornstarch. Wound up a little thin but acceptably so to my tastes. Very flavorful. Keeping the bouillon back towards the end will help keep your meat moist; the sodium draws moisture out.