As promised, I’m sharing my latest Crock-Pot find with you. I made this creamy Crock-Pot beef and noodles recipe last week, and while it didn’t get any “super thumbs up!” ratings, it didn’t get any “thumbs down” ratings either, so it’s going in my permanent recipe file. (We have one or two days of the week with afternoon activities this year, so I can’t get too picky about Crock-Pot meals, or we’d never sit down to eat until 8 p.m.!) 🙂
I adapted this recipe from Slow Cooker, Casseroles, and One-Dish Meals, published by Publications International, Ltd. My mom generously let me borrow this book on a recent visit, and it’s been a real lifesaver! You can find the Creamy Crock-Pot Beef and Noodles recipe on page 34.
Ingredients:
2 pounds beef stew meat, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1/2 cup thinly sliced carrot
1/4 cup minced onion
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon salt*
1/2 teaspoon black pepper*
1/8 teaspoon dried thyme
1 bay leaf
1 can (13 ¾ ounces) beef broth
1 carton (8 ounces) sour cream
½ cup all-purpose flour
¼ cup water
4 cups hot cooked noodles
*Note: The original recipe calls for 1 teaspoon salt and 1 teaspoon black pepper. If you’re trying to cut back on sodium, you can easily cut the salt in half without losing flavor. As for the pepper, 1 teaspoon was a little too strong for my taste, so I cut the pepper in half, but if you enjoy a strong pepper taste, you might want to add the full teaspoon.
Also note that the original recipe calls for 1 jar (4 ounces) sliced mushrooms, drained, but this would definitely be a deal breaker at my house, so I omitted them. If your family is a fan of the shrooms, by all means, add them back in!
Directions:
Brown beef in hot oil in a large skillet. Drain off fat.
Combine beef, mushrooms (not at my house!), carrots, onion, garlic, salt, pepper, thyme, and bay leaf in your slow cooker. Pour in beef broth. (I didn’t have any beef broth on hand, so I made my own from two cups of hot water mixed with two beef bullion cubes, which worked just as well.) Cover and cook on LOW 8 to 10 hours. Discard bay leaf.
Increase heat to HIGH. Combine sour cream, flour, and water in small bowl. Stir about 1 cup hot liquid into sour cream mixture. Return to slow cooker and stir. Cover and cook on HIGH 30 minutes or until thickened and bubbly. (In the meantime, cook noodles according to package directions.)
Pour over hot, cooked noodles and serve. (Or, for the children at my house, carefully place a small portion next to, but not close enough to touch, the cooked noodles!) 🙂
More notes: Because this recipe calls for an additional half hour of cooking, plus noodle prep, at the end, this is NOT a meal you can serve immediately as soon as you walk in the door, so plan for 30 minutes of additional prep and cooking time when you add this recipe to your menu plan.