Leftover Roast Beef Stew

Sooooo I'm an idiot.  I admit it.  I willingly admit that I'm a nerd and a dork, but tonight I am a total idiot.  Dinner tonight was supposed to be made in the crock pot.  I put all of the ingredients in the crock pot just like I was supposed to.  I turned the crock pot on low and went to sit down in the living room.



About an hour later I decided to go check on dinner and realized I had forgotten to plug it in!

I turned it on high to compensate for the lost time, but it took forever.  I finally ended up feeding Bailey some leftover chicken, grapes, and a few cheese cubes because I had to feed her something before bed.

Eventually I wound up transferring the whole thing to a pot and cooking it on the stove for half an hour.

Mistakes aside, dinner was pretty awesome tonight.  I saved the roast beef from Monday night along with the broth and turned it into this delicious stew.  When Aaron originally asked me to make beef stew (again, what he thinks is beef stew is actually vegetable beef soup) this is what I pictured.

Hearty hunks of beef combined with chunky chopped potatoes and carrots in hot broth, perfect for a cold night or for when you're sick.  You could use stew meat for this recipe, but I paid a pretty penny for that roast beef and we barely put a dent in it.  You could also add some celery and onion if you like.  I knew the carrots were already a stretch for Aaron so I skipped the celery and onion.

So if you happen to try the Roast Beef I posted on Monday, definitely consider stretching your dollar and using the leftovers for this stew.

Leftover Roast Beef Stew

Source: Totally Original!

2 cups or so leftover roast beef, chopped or shredded (could also use 1 lb stew meat browned in a stew pot)
4-6 cups beef broth (I used the broth from the roast)
2-3 large potatoes, peeled and chopped
3-4 carrots, peeled and chopped
1 small onion, sliced (optional)
3-4 stalks celery, sliced (optional)
salt and pepper to taste

Combine all of the ingredients in a crock pot.  Cook on low for 6-8 hours or high for 4-6 hours.

You could also do this on the stove.  Combine all of the ingredients in a large pot.  Bring to a boil.  Reduce to a high simmer, cover, and cook for about 30-45 minutes.

Serve warm with some kind of bread.