So this morning, I woke up, and had my usual cup o’ joe.

I then IMMEDIATELY set to work on the stew, because I knew it would take around 8-10 hours to cook (the longer, the better!!).
I lined up my key players:

and started with a pound of stew meat in the slow cooker:

tossed into some flour, salt, and pepper and coated the meat:

threw in the vegetables (ended up only using 2.5 potatoes, 3 carrots, and 1/2 the onion and that was plenty!!) as well as 1 can beef broth and 1.5 cups water. added spices to taste…bay leaves, oregano, garlic powder etc. had to add some more flour later on to get it thicker.

Ended up having a small bowl around 2:30, before my in-laws came up with more stuff to unpack. It was unreal!! The house smelled fantastic, I couldnt wait until dinner time to try it! It was perfectly thick and stew like. And the meat was SO tender. I am in love with this crockpot!! Will make awesome leftover lunches this week, too! Beef stew gets better with time!

Which ended up being good because then my mother in law took me to Panera!! Finished off the day with a Bacon Turkey Bravo. I know, I know. Yesterday I was sick of bacon, today I had it in dinner! Bacon and I took a break (about 36 hours) and now we’re back on good terms!!

Now…back to my episode of Real Housewives of New York. And maybe grading some MCAS review problems. FUN!