Very often, I just throw a little of this and a bit of that together in the kitchen and a few days ago I threw together what turned out by all accounts to be the best beef stew I've ever made. So, I'm going to try to remember all the ingredients and estimate how much of each one to share this delicious stew with you. Don't worry too much about measuring ingredients--just throw in what you have on hand!

Ingredients:

1/2 beef chuck roast (leftover) and the natural juices it was cooked in. (I cooked this roast overnight with a bit of Byron's Butt Rub to season it. We ate half of it and I made stew out of the leftover.)

2 C. green cabbage, cut into small chunks

4-6 yellow and/or red mini sweet peppers, seeded and cut into small pieces (I used 4 yellow and 1 red)

1 large sweet onion, diced
1 zucchini squash, cut into small chunks

3 unpeeled carrots, sliced into 1/2" rounds

5 large stalks celery, sliced into 1/2" pieces

2 C. Picante sauce (I was out of tomatoes so I substituted this instead--now it'll be a standard ingredient!)

1-2 t. RealSalt sea salt

Instructions:

Place all ingredients in large stew pot and add enough water (about 2-3 cups) to ensure that it won't burn after several hours on the stove. Bring to boil uncovered, cover and reduce heat to just barely simmering. Cook 2-4 hours, stirring occasionally. When carrots are tender, the stew is done although as long as the heat is very low, you may continue to let it cook until you're ready to eat.

We enjoy topping each serving with some grated cheese from grass-fed cows.  The tomato and basil cheese is a tasty complement but cheddar would also be a delicious topping.