Beef Provencal

I'm not even really sure how to pronounce the name of this recipe...and, I know I say this about almost every recipe...but this is SOO good!! Seriously. You must make this during the fall season or else. It SO beats hamburger helper and it is pretty easy and quick to put together. I ripped this recipe out of a Cooking Light issue at least two years ago and never made it. Then the other day when I was rifling through old recipes looking for the baked potato soup recipe, I found this one. AND I had just bought a roast at Fry's on sale for $1.97/lb and needed to use it up. I altered the recipe a bit. So good. Make this.

As a note, this recipe calls for red wine. If you aren't a wine drinker you can buy a 4-pack of little mini bottles for less than $5 and keep it in your pantry for future wine-recipes. I used Cabernet but Merlot or really any red wine that isn't a sparkling wine would work fine. Coming soon is a chili recipe using red wine--so right there you have another red wine recipe! I guess you could make this without the wine....but don't. It adds such great depth of flavor.

Another great part about this recipe is that it's made in the crockpot. I love the crockpot.

Beef Provencal

2 tsp. olive oil

one head garlic, cloves peeled

1 boneless beef roast trimmed and cut into 1'' cubes. (1 1/2-2 lbs)

1 1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. ground black pepper

1 c. red wine

1 lb. diced carrots (about 2 cups)

1 large chopped onion

1/2 c. water

2 heaping Tbs tomato paste

1/2 tsp dried rosemary

1/2 tsp dried thyme

1 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes w/juice

2 dried bay leaves

egg noodles (I used wheat)

Heat olive oil in a large skillet over low-medium heat. Toss in whole garlic cloves and cook until they start to brown. Keep an eye on them that they don't burn. Remove garlic and set aside. Increase heat and brown beef on all sides, sprinkling with salt & pepper. Add red wine and bring it to a boil, scraping bottom of pan. Pour the wine/beef mixture into the crockpot. Add garlic, and all other ingredients. Cook on high for 4-5 hours. Boil egg noodles directly before serving and serve stew over the noodles.