I love stew. I think there are a few essential things to do,then the rest is up to you and what you like - like leaving out parsnips if you don't like them! 1) make sure you trim the meat well. I hate finding nasty bits of fat or gristle on the meat. 2)toss the meat in a little flour and brown well in some oil, then soften the onion. Do you like garlic? If so, add that now to the onion. 3) do you like wine in your stew? You can add wine, water or stock. 4) decide on which herbs you like. Bay, thyme, parsley...... 5) you can continue to add veggies at stage 2 like celery or carrots. 6) you can fry off som bacon chunks and mushrooms and add them to the stew half an hour before the end of cooking. Have fun inventing your "stew style"!

This recipe is from the Once-A -Week Cooking forum, Your Favorite Family recipe thread. I've been making it for years and it's always a favorite. My grandsons love it, and in fact requested it for camping this weekend. I cook it in my Nesco Roaster and serve it over mashed potatoes. I use Eye of Round Roast cut into chunks, and no mushrooms except what's in the soup (grandsons don't like them). Teresa, I don't use bread crumbs. Here is the recipe as copied from other forum No Peek Casserole 2 lbs stew meat ( i use 3 lbs) 1 can Campbell's Chicken Mushroom Soup 1/2 cup Gingerale 1 pkg Lipton Onion Soup Mix 1 4 oz jar mushrooms, drained (optional) Preheat oven to 300. Comebine ALL ingredients (DO NOT brown meat and DO NOT dilute soup with water) together. Mix well. It will be lumpy before it's cooked. Pour into a casserole dish and cover. Bake 2 1/2 to 3 hours. DON't PEEK!! Serve over pasta, rice or mashed potatoe's. The smell as it's cooking is WONDERFUL This post was edited by ruthz on Fri, Oct 25, 13 at 8:42

I think the no-peek casserole was invented by Rival. I remember seeing it in a recipe book specifically for their Crock Pot. So, yes, it would be good that way. This is Rival's original recipe. No Peek Beef Casserole 2 lb Stew beef, cut into 1-inch pieces 1 1-3/8-ounce envelope dry onion soup mix 1/2 c. red wine 1 10 1/2-ounce can cream of mushroom soup 1 4-ounce can whole mushrooms Combine all ingredients in CROCK-POT. Stir together well Cover and cook on Low 8 to 12 hours. Serve over noodles or rice. (High: 3 to 4 hours). Serves 4. This recipe may be doubled. From Rival Crock-pot cook book, date unknown

1) the chopped size is really your choice. It is a personal preference issue, not a safety issue, and depends on the texture you want to end up with after opening the jars. Just as with salsas, the bigger your chopped pieces to begin with the chunkier the mix will be when the jars are opened. Some prefer the soupy texture, some don't. So as long as you end up with 16 cups the safety aspect of volume remains the same regardless of the chopped size. 2) I too make them with all sorts of varieties but some require more draining up front. The problem is if you over-drain you end up with an overly dry mix (been there, done that). It is still safe to eat but overly dry, taste is affected, and I worry about effective heat penetration just as with any overly thick product. So the solution I use is to just drain the big juicy varieties briefly and leave most of the juice in the mix. The jars, if overly soupy can be drained after opening just as we do with many canned foods. Better too thin for safety than too thick. 3) the juice or citric acid is a relatively new added safety factor by Ball to several of their recipes. It was added to compensate for just the issues you have asked about - a way to insure safety given the different methods used by different people when making. So in some ways it is sort of optional. If one has the experience to know for sure they have measured accurately and have a good balance of solids and liquid for good heat penetration I suppose they could leave it out. But personally I don't find the citric acid changes the flavor so I add it. Dave PS: edit to add I have also made them using bottled lime juice instead of lemon - very nice flavor enhancement.