Beef Stew

Original recipe found on allrecipes.com.

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 pound beef for stew, cut into 1-inch cubes
1/4 of yellow onion, chopped

1 (10.5 ounce) can Beef Broth

1/2 cup water

1/2 teaspoon dried Italian Seasoning

1 bay leaf

3 medium carrots, cut into 1-inch pieces

2 medium potatoes, cut into quarters

1.	Stir the flour and black pepper on a plate. Coat the beef with the flour mixture.
2.	Heat the oil in a 6-quart saucepot over medium-high heat. Add the beef and cook until well browned, stirring often. Remove the beef from the saucepot. Pour off any fat.  Saute onions in a little bit of olive oil until translucent.
3.	Stir the broth, water, Italian seasoning, and bay leaf in the saucepot and heat to a boil. Return the beef to the saucepot. Reduce the heat to low. Cover and cook for 1 1/2 hours.
4.	Add the carrots and potatoes to the saucepot. Cover and cook for 30 minutes or until the beef is fork-tender and the vegetables are tender, stirring occasionally. Remove and discard the bay leaf. Suggestions: -Cook diced onions when browning beef. -Add frozen peas at the last moment. -Use olive oil instead of vegetable oil. -Add cornstarch to thicken. -Cook in slow cooker after browning beef. REVIEW:  Made this recipe tonight and it was great!  I did however make some changes, so I changed the recipe to reflect that, mostly.  I left the potatoes the way the original recipe had them b/c maybe in the future I will try it that way.  But this time i made the potatoes like one reviewer suggested on allrecipes and served it over mashed potatoes.  I also sauteed some mushrooms and added them to the stew with the carrots.  I made the broth from some stuff saying it was better than boullion.  I did also add 16 oz of broth, not the 10.5 oz.  Truthfully, I just wasn't paying attention and I thought that's what it said.   I thought it was just fine, but maybe a little too much juice.  I also add about 1T of cornstarch at the end to see if it would thicken it up.  I don't think it did much.  Maybe I need to add it at the beginning of the 1 1/2 hrs or maybe it wasn't enough cornstarch to do anything.  I will play around next time to see if I can get different results.  and oh the biggest change I made was use my hubby's deer meat that we butchered ourselves!  So the recipe is definitely a keeper and will be going into my recipebook!