Old Fashioned Beef Stew

Ingredients

• 1/3 cup bacon, diced
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 4 lbs stewing beef, cut in 2 inch cubes
• 1 cup flour
• 4 tablespoons sweet paprika
• 5 medium onions, quartered
• 2 whole cloves
• 1 (14 ounce) can diced tomatoes, do NOT drain
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 3 sprigs fresh parsley, chopped (or 1 Tablespoon dried)
• 2 bay leaves, crumbled
• 1 lb baby carrots
• 2 stalks celery, chopped
• 1 (14 ounce) can beef broth
• salt and pepper
• 1 teaspoon orange peel
• 2 lbs potatoes, peeled, quartered and boiled seperately

Instructions

1. Heat the oven to 250 degrees.
2. In a dutch oven, brown the chopped bacon in the oil. Remove bacon when done and set aside.
3. Place the flour and paprika in a plastic bag. Add the beef cubes and shake to coat the meat evenly.
4. In the same dutch oven you browned the bacon, add the meat, 1/3 at a time, and brown on all sides.
5. Add remaining ingredients, including the browned bacon bits. DO not add the potatoes at this time.
6. Bring to a boil, cover and bake 5 hours.
7. Before the stew is done, prepare the boiled potatoes.
8. When stew is done, remove from the oven and add the potatoes.