Beef Stew

Ingredients

2 tablespoons olive or vegetable oil
1/2 pound cremini (aka baby portobella) mushrooms, cleaned, stems trimmed, and sliced.

2 lbs stew meat
2 teaspoons kosher salt, plus more as needed
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus more as needed

2 medium celery stalks, medium dice
1 medium carrot, peeled and medium dice
1 turnip diced (optional)
1 medium yellow onion, medium dice
3-4 medium garlic cloves, finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary

2 tablespoons tomato paste

1 - 1.5  cups dry red wine (I used Tilia Malbec)
2 tablespoons mustard (Dijon)

1/2 teaspoon paprika
3-4 potatoes cut into large chunks (Can use sweet potatoes, yukon golds, red, etc)

2 cups chicken broth
2-3 dried bay leafs

1 cup frozen peas (optional)
2 tablespoons coarsely chopped fresh Italian parsley leaves

Directions

1. Heat oil in cast iron skillet. Add butter if desired. Brown mushrooms in cast iron skillet and add to slow cooker.  
2. Coat the stew meat with salt and pepper. Saute the meat in a cast iron skillet in as many batches as needed to get them evenly browned. Remove the meat to the slow cooker. 
3. If needed, add a little oil to the skillet. Add the celery, carrot, turnip, onion, garlic, and rosemary and cook, stirring occasionally, until the carrots just begin to soften, about 10 minutes. Add the tomato paste, stir to coat the vegetables, and cook until it’s no longer raw-tasting, about 3 minutes. Add the wine and mustard, stir to combine, and bring to a simmer. Use spatula to deglaze skillet. Cook until the wine reduces by roughly half, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and add to the slow cooker. 
4. Now add the following into the slow cooker: paprika, potatoes, chicken broth and bay leaf, tucking the bay leaf into the broth. Stir.
5. Cover and cook on high (300 degrees F) for about 30 minutes and then set to low (200 degrees F) for about 9 hours until the beef is tender and can easily be pierced with a fork.As an alternative, one recipe I read said to cook on high, stirring about every 1 1/2 hours if possible (if you can’t stir it that often, it’s OK), until the beef is tender and can easily be pierced with a fork, about 5 hours. 
6. At the end, add the peas and parsley, stir to combine, and continue to heat until the peas are warm, about 5 minutes. Taste and season with more salt and pepper as needed.

I took several recipes from the internet and combined what I thought were the best ideas. Sources included Chow.com, The Pioneer Woman, TPW again, and I read a few others (who can keep track?). There's one I found that uses Guinness that I plan to try sometime soon.