Guinness Irish Stew - Crock pot

From our friends at 44Stone, some Guinness Irish Stew

Ingredients

• 2 pounds red potatoes, quartered
• 4 carrots, cut into chunks
• 2 celery stalks, cut into chunks
• 2 bay leaves
• 3 pounds cubed stew meat
• flour, salt and pepper for dredging
• 3 Tablespoons olive oil
• 1 medium onions, diced
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 8 ounces mushrooms, halved
• 16 ounces of tomato sauce
• 1 can low sodium beef broth (15 3/4 ounce)
• 1 envelope lipton onion soup mix
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/2 teaspoon oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon marjoram
• 1 teaspoon basil
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 12 ounces Guinness Stout

Methods/steps

1. Place potato, carrot and celery chunks in the bottom of a slow cooker. Top with the bay leaves.
2. Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Season about 1/4 cup of flour with salt and pepper. Dredge beef in the flour. Brown in the skillet in batches, adding more oil if necessary.
3. Remove beef, set aside.
4. Add onion and garlic the the same pan and sautee for a minute. Add some of beef broth to deglaze the pan. Scrape all the bits from the bottom of the pan.
5. Add the meat and mushroom to the vegetables in slow cooker. Mix together remaining beef broth,tomato sauce, onion soup mix and seasonings. Pour on top of meat and mushrooms. Add Guinness.
6. Cook 8 hours on low.