Hearty Beef Stew

What could be better with two foot or more of snow on the ground than some nice warm beef stew? Well, probably a ton of stuff depending on your tastes, but thats besides the point.

Hearty Beef Stew
Servings: 6-8 people

Ingredients:
2 lbs. beef cubes
1 cup flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
3-4 potatoes, peeled and cut into bite-sized chunks
2 carrots, peeled and sliced
1 can corn, drained
1 onion, roughly chopped
1/2 bag fresh green beans, cut in half or thirds
1 tbs. garlic powder
1 tbs. paprika
2 bay leaves
1 tbs. cornstarch (or flour)
2 and 1/4 cups water, divided
2 cups beef stock

Directions:
1. Add about 1 tsp. of oil to a large skillet over medium high heat.
2. Mix together flour, salt and pepper in a small bowl. Dredge each piece of meat through the flour mixture.
3. Add all of the meat to the skillet and cook until browned on all sides, about 7 minutes.
4. Remove the meat from the skillet and put into a large pot. Add in the vegetables, spices, 2 cups of water and beef stock. Put over high heat and bring to a boil. Let boil for about 10 minutes.
5. In a cup, add the 1 tbs. corn starch and approximately 1/4 cup of  warm water. For an 8 oz. cup, I filled it up about 1/4 of the way. Stir until the cornstarch is incorporated.
6. Pour half of the cornstarch mixture into the stew and stir. Pour in the other half and stir some more.
7. Lower the heat to low/medium-low and let cook until the vegetables are soft, about 1.5 hours, stirring occasionally.

I tasted the stew then and didn't think that it had enough flavor so I added about another 1/2 tsp. of salt, pepper, garlic and paprika. You can leave this on low for as long as you like as long as you keep stirring it so nothing gets stuck to the bottom. Currently, mine has been on the stove for about 3.5 hours and we're still not hungry for dinner yet, so I just turned down the flame as low as it could go.

Don't forget to search for and remove the bay leaves before serving.