Alright, I know that beer doesn’t sound very kid-friendly, but the alcohol evaporates while cooking, really! Of course, you can finish off the rest of the can or bottle of beer yourself if you’d like; that’s a nice perk of this meal. It’s a crockpot recipe, which is especially handy if you’re out all day at work or some other activity and don’t have much time to prep when you get home. It’s easy to prepare the night before and throw in the crockpot before you leave the next day.

2 lbs cubed stewing beef
1/4 cup flour (or enough to coat meat)
1 tsp seasoning salt
one large onion, chopped
1 tbsp butter
1 cup dark beer or stout
1 pressed clove garlic…or more!
1/2 tsp sugar
2 cups new potatoes, chopped
1 1/2 cups baby carrots
1 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp thyme
salt and pepper (to taste)

Saute the onions lightly in 1 tbsp butter until transparent and set aside. Sprinkle meat with flour and seasoning salt. Brown in remaining butter, adding more butter or oil if needed. Brown cubes on all sides. In a saucepan, combine and bring just to boil the beer, garlic and sugar. In a crock-pot, put in carrots and potatoes, then meat and onions, then pour beer mixture over top (if you like your veggies more firm and less mushy like I do, don’t put the carrots and potatoes in until about an hour or two before serving, and turn the crockpot on high when you do to make sure they cook through). Cook for 6-8 hours on low setting. Stir in spices about 10 minutes before serving (I like to do this with crockpot recipes, otherwise I find the spices get diluted with the long cooking time).
I was going to add mushrooms too, but when I went to the grocery store today they were sold out. That’s right, they had NO mushrooms! Just my luck. Anyway, it was still very good without the mushrooms. It seemed to be a hit with the boys, they both ate it. I asked my older son Cole if he liked it and he said “yes sir Mommy!” My husband Tony didn’t get to enjoy it because he was working tonight but I’m sure it’ll make great leftovers.