Cindy's Beef Stew

When my husband I got married, we both had different ideas about what made beef stew. My mother made a tomato sauce-based stew, and his mother made a gravy-based stew. Neither person had a recipe, so I had to come up with my own that we would both like. We are pretty simple eaters, so you won't see anything too exciting here, but this is a really great stew that doesn't take all day to make. It's really wonderful served in a bread bowl on cold days. :)




Ingredients:

1 pound beef stew meat, cubed
6 cups water
1/4 t marjoram
1/4 t thyme
1/4 t black pepper
2 bay leaves
6 yukon gold potatoes, peeled and cubed
2 carrots, peeled and cut into 1 inch pieces (feel free to use more carrots if you like them)
1 bag green beans (or 1 can)
1/3 cup flour
1 cup water
salt and pepper

Directions:

Brown the stew meat in a large stock pot. Add the 6 cups of water, marjoram, thyme, pepper, and bay leaves. Bring to a boil. Turn heat down to medium and add the carrots and potatoes. Cover pot and heat until vegetables are cooked through (20-30 minutes). Whisk together the flour and water and add to pot to thicken the gravy. Add in the green beans and cook until heated through. Add additional salt and pepper to taste.