Menu Monday: Crock Pot Beef Soup

The original recipe for this soup was titled: Easy Slow Cooker Beef Stew and I found the recipe in the sale flier for our local grocery store.  It called for frozen stirfry peppers and onions, which sounded a bit strange to me, so I tweaked the recipe to suit our tastes.

Here's "my" version of what I'm calling Crock Pot Beef Soup

Ingredients:
4-5 medium red potatoes
2 large carrots
2 stalks celery
1/2 onion diced
1-1/2 lbs beef stew meat cut into chunks
1/3 cup flour
salt and pepper to taste
14 oz can diced tomatoes, undrained
1 cup water
1 cup beef broth

1. Scrub potatoes and veggies.  Cut potatoes into quarters and veggies into chunks.  Place in bottom of a 4 quart slow cooker.

2.  Mix flour, salt and pepper and toss with beef to coat.  Add to slow cooker.

3.  Add undrained tomatoes, broth and water and stir.

4.  Cover and cook on low for 8-9 hours until beef and veggies are tender.  Serve with a nice salad and some biscuits.

This turned out very well!  I think it was a little light on seasoning.  Next time I might throw in a few other spices, maybe a bay leaf.  Also, it reminded me of a beef barley soup my dad makes, so I might try adding some barley at the end of cooking and see how that works.  If you want to make it like the "original" recipe, omit the carrots, onions and celery and add 3 cups frozen stirfry peppers and onions in the last 30-40 minutes of cooking.

Do you have a favorite (code for EASY) soup or stew recipe you like to throw together when the weather turns colder? Please share!