Slow cooker Louisiana beef stew recipe

If I have to eat stew, I want an interesting one and this stew proved that interesting doesn't have to mean spicy. It has some odd sounding ingredients but go with me - it's sweet, yes, but subtly so. It could take some spice if you wanted to add it.

Ingredients for 5 people:

1 large onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1- 2lbs stewing beef, cut into 2 cm/ 3/4 " chunks (I used 1 lb meat for 5 people - it would stretch to 6-7 people with 2 lbs
1 can chopped tomatoes - 400g/14 oz
300 ml/ 1 and 1/4 cups beef stock (go ahead and use a cube - I won't tell!)
1 tsp dried thyme
1 bay leaf
450 g / 1lb pumpkin or half a butternut squash, cut into similar sized cubes to the meat
4 potatoes, cut the same way - I left peel on for fibre
100g/ 4 oz frozen sweetcorn or baby sweetcorn
1 can peaches - 400g/14 oz - drained
salt an pepper to taste

Directions:

Just dump everything in and cook on Low for 8-10 hours or High for 4-6.We had this with rice. It would also be lovely with buttered baked potatoes.

Verdict:

The meat was beautifully tender and the peaches and corn brought out the sweetness of the meat without it tasting like a beef dessert! I could see this being quite child-friendly and a good way of getting some veggies AND fruit into them. It was also dead easy.