I haven't made a lot of soups or stews this winter season. Even while the weather is warming up, I still enjoy having a good bowl of stick-to-my-ribs stew every now and then. This one came up with something new for me - dumplings. I've never made dumplings from scratch, so I figured this was worth a good try.
I like that this can be thrown into a slow cooker and left to itself the entire day; there's no need to be rushing around or checking on it every few minutes. The dumplings were pretty easy too - just mix up the batter, drop it by the spoonful on top of the stew, and let it do the work. The recipe can easily be doubled to feed a crowd, with a double-batch easily fitting into a 6-quart slow cooker. But be careful with the dumplings if you double the recipe - I had batter left over because I made the dumplings smaller and couldn't fit them all on top of the stew!
Adapted from Slow Cooker Gourmet
A hearty and easy to make stew that simmers all day in a slow cooker, with dumplings cooked in the stew for a true one-pot meal.
Adapted from Slow Cooker Gourmet
In a 4 quart or larger slow cooker combine stew beef, carrots, and peas. Add flour, steak seasoning, and salt, and mix to coat everything with flour.
Add tomato paste, then slowly stir in the beef broth so there are no lumps from the flour.
Cover and cook on Low for 7 hours. Add dumplings and continue cooking (see below).
In a bowl combine all ingredients except the parsley and mix until a dough is formed. Add parsley and continue mixing.
Set the slow cooker to High. Drop dough into the stew in spoonfuls. Cook 45-60 minutes or until dumplings are cooked through.
Servings 6
Serving Size 1 1/2 cups
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily value may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.