Slow Cooker Beef Stew with Potato Dumplings

This is an incredibly easy and tasty slow cooker recipe. For the first week we had Owen home I couldn't imagine having the time, energy or desire to cook for a while, but once we got into a bit of a groove I started getting the urge to cook again.

Trying to cook something while standing over the stove is, at this point, kind of out of the question, so I picked a slow cooker recipe I've had filed for over a year. This recipe is from the November 2010 issue of Family Circle magazine. I thought the addition of gnocchi instead of potatoes was interesting and different.

photo: familycircle.com

Slow Cooker Beef Stew with Potato Dumplings 

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Makes: 6 servings
Prep: 10 minutes
Slow Cook: 5 1/2 hours on HIGH or 7 1/2 hours on LOW

Ingredients

1 pound chuck steak, trimmed and cut into one inch pieces
3 tablespoon flour
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon black pepper
3 medium size carrots (or two handfuls baby carrots)
1 package cremini mushrooms, cleaned and quartered
2 clovesgarlic, minced
1 package frozen pearl onions
1½ cups low-sodium beef broth
¾ cup dry red wine (I skipped this)
¾ teaspoon dried thyme
1 package gnocchi

Directions 

In large bowl, toss together steak, flour and 1/4 tsp each salt and pepper. Place steak in slow cooker with carrots, mushrooms, garlic, onions, broth, red wine and 1/2 tsp thyme. Cover and cook on HIGH for 5 hours or LOW for 7 hours.

Remove lid and stir in remaining 1/4 tsp each salt and dried thyme and the gnocchi. Cover and cook an additional 30 minutes or until gnocchi is tender.