Guinness Beef Stew

I absolutely love stew in the winter.  Growing up in England I have fond memories of big pots of beef or lamb stew simmering away for hours and nothing says winter food to me more than a bowl of hot stew, suet dumplings are a must but unfortunately for me this time I was all out of the vegetable suet I need to make my dumplings, but the stew was still delicious.

This is a little different than the traditional stew that I make, with the addition of the Guinness, I guess it made it more of an Irish stew, but that's close enough to home for me!

2 lbs boneless stew beef
1 large onion, chopped
3 parsnips
3 carrots
3 potatoes
2 celery stalks
1 bottle Guinness
2 tbsp tomato paste
1 tbsp Worcester sauce
2 sprigs fresh time
1 bay leaf
2 cups beef broth
salt and pepper
flour for coating

Heat two tablespoons of oil in a large pan.  Coat the beef chunks in the flour and brown in the oil.  Add the browned beef to the bottom of a slow cooker.  Top with the chopped onion, the peeled and chopped vegetables season with salt and pepper.

Pour the beef broth and Guinness into the slow cooker, stir in the tomato paste, worcester sauce and add in the bay leaf and thyme.

Cook on low for 8 hours.