Meatball Stew

My mom made this all the time when I was a kid, I love it! Sometimes I do meatballs and sometimes just get stew meat and toss that in instead to make it super easy. A couple of cloves of garlic don't go amiss in this recipe either. It's very versatile.

• Ready In: 1 hr 30 mins
• Serves: 6-8
• Yields: 8-10 cups

Ingredients

• 1⁄2-1  lb ground beef
• 2  carrots
• 1  large potato
• 1  onion
• 3 (1 ounce) packets  mccormick's  brown gravy mix
• 2  teaspoons Season-All salt, to taste

Directions

1. Cube the potato, pieces should be smaller than dice size. (Remember, this is a stew, so it's easier to eat if all the bits fit on your spoon!).
2. Slice the carrots. I use a bag of baby carrots instead of 2 large ones. Makes for nice little bits.
3. Dice the onion.
4. Place all the vegetables in a 2.5 quart (or larger) oven safe crock (with lid). Leave about 2 inches of space to the top.
5. Roll ground beef into balls. They should be no bigger than 3/4 inches in diameter about thumbnail size).
6. Gently put the meatballs on top of the veggies to avoid crushing them.
7. Heat the oven to 400 degrees.
8. Follow instructions on the gravy packets to make 3 cups of gravy.
9. When the gravy is done, stir in some Season All to taste (I use ~2 tsp) & pour it slowly into the crock. Make sure all the meatballs are covered.
10. Cover with lid and bake for 1-1.5 hours. Open and gently stir occasionally.
11. You may want to put a piece of foil (or foil covered cookie sheet) on the rack below, as this tends to drip over once it begins to boil.