Slow Cooker Sunday: Sweet & Sour Stew

On Sundays, I am going to try to post a slow cooker recipe that you can use during the week.  In my opinion, when your time is limited, when it is frigid outside, there is nothing better than coming home to a warm dinner in the crock pot.  Crock pot cooking can be extremely easy to challenging.  I find making healthy meals is a bit more difficult, and there is nothing worse than coming home to something that just did not work.  I am going to try to make traditional recipes a bit more healthy and everything I post should turn out as long as your follow the instructions.

This first recipe is an old family recipe.  I believe it might be my great-great grandmother's.  Although it is not the healthiest, it is definitely fits the definition of comfort food as the stew is served over creamy smashed potatoes.

Ingredients for the Stew
2 lbs of beef stew meat
2 tbs of flour
salt & pepper to taste

1 cup of water
1/2 cup ketchup
1/4 cup vinegar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tbs Worcestershire sauce
4 medium carrots, peeled and sliced
1 large onion, cut into chunks
3 stalks of celery sliced (optional, I had it on hand so I threw it in)

Ingredients for mashed potatoes
6 baking potatoes or yellow potatoes, cut into eighths 
1/2 cup milk
3/4 cup unsalted butter
salt & pepper to taste

1) Heat a frying pan to medium to high heat.  Add meat, flour and salt & pepper and cook until the meat is brown (about 5-7 minutes).
2) Add the browned meat to a crock pot.  Add the water, ketchup, brown sugar, vinegar, Worcestershire Sauce, and cut up veggies and stir until the veggies and meat are covered in the sauce.
3) Set the crock pot on low and let it cook for the day, at least 4-5 hours.  If you only have 2-3 hours, cook it on high for at least an hour.
4) About 30 minutes before dinner, boil the potatoes until they are soft.  Drain the water.  Add the butter, milk, salt & pepper and mash until they are to your liking.  (I know there are a million ways to make mashed potatoes, so do so however you like!)
5) Serve the stew over the mashed potatoes.

I also like to have a salad on the side, just to make sure I get some green veggies.