Slow Cooker Beef Stew with Olives

There are things in life that are meant to be together. One of them is the combination of beef stew with olives.

In this recipe, I got a lot of help from my pantry and I am okay with that including bottled salsa as the tomato base of the dish. I also included pickle juice to add a little something something to the dish.

For the olives, I used the ones from the Giant Eagle deli that were leftover from Thanksgiving. Bottled ones are fine too. However, the little brine from the deli olives add a little bit more flavor.

Slow Cooker Beef Stew with Olives

• 2 lb beef, cubed
• 1-16 oz bottle salsa
• 1 tbsp dry onion flakes
• 1 tsp dry garlic flakes
• 1 tsp soy sauce
• 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tbsp pickle juice
• 2 tbsp tomato paste
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 cup olives (I used mixed ones from the deli but bottled ones are good too)
• 1 cup whole button mushrooms
• 1 cup baby carrots
• 1/2 cup roasted red pepper, chopped

Add all the ingredients in the crock pot. Cook for 4 hours at high or 8 hours at low setting. I cooked mine in an Aroma brand rice cooker/slow cooker for 3  hours at slow cooker setting.