Mom's Beef Stew and Dumplings

I hemmed and hawed about whether to put this under soups and salads or a main dish... since my mother has it under soups in her cookbook, I'm just following suit. Although, I will be posting another Beef Stew recipe that I make from time to time. This is my moms, its what I grew up on, and yes, the secret is in the McCormicks Beef Stew Seasoning Packets!! Not to mention the dumplings really make this dish special!

3-4 lb pot roast cut up or beef stew meat

2 McCormick Seasoning Beef Stew Packets

4-5 celery stalks cut up

4-5 carrots peeled and cut up

4-5 potatoes peeled and cubed

1 large onion, diced

2 bay leaves

Flour (1-2 cups)

Season Salt ( 1 tablespoon)

Vegetable Shortening

Cut up your beef. Mix together the flour and season salt. Dredge the beef in this mixture till all pieces are coated. Melt vegetable shortening in the bottom of your stew pot, brown the beef in batches, do not overcrowd the pan. The beef should be a rich dark brown, do not under brown it. Pour off excess grease, leaving a little bit in the bottom of the pot for the next step. Okay, here's a trick i learned in culinary school... take the 2 seasoning packets and dump them into the bottom of the pan and stir them around until they change color, this "wakens" up the seasonings in the packets and adds to the flavor of the stew, careful not to burn the seasonings. Add the beef and onions, bay leaves, cover with water (the back of the seasoning packages give an amount of water to put in, I think it comes out to be 6 - 8 cups) Simmer for 1 1/2 hours. At the end of that add all of your vegetables and potatoes, cover and simmer for another 40 to 45 minutes. Take Bay leaves out. you can add frozen or drained canned green beans at this point or even frozen peas. Then moving on to make the dumplings that cook right on top of the stew..

Dumplings (Sinkers)

2 cups of Flour

2 eggs, beaten

1 heaping tablespoon of Baking Powder

1 tsp of salt

1/4 tsp Pepper (optional)

enough warm water to absorb flour, about 1/4 cup.

Mix all ingredients to combine. Mom's directions say to a paste consistency.. I think that might be misleading, i add water till all the flour is just absorbed and when i stir it, it comes together in the center of the bowl. Take this and drop it by the spoonful on to boiling stew mixture. Cover and simmer for 15 minutes. The dumplings will initially 'sink' to the bottom but float on top near the end. Floating dumplings though in this recipe are NOT an indication of doneness, make sure you cook it for the full 12- 15 minutes and even test one just to make sure. You will want to make plenty of these dumplings!