Beef Stew with Root Vegetables

After Christmas dinner, my mom gave me the leftover prime rib, which I promptly threw in our freezer. I have been contemplating what kind of soup to make with it... beef with barley? Regular beef stew? I was perusing some blogs today and came across a few recipes from Simply Recipes that I modified a bit. I used the recipes Lamb Shank Stew with Root Vegetables and Irish Beef Stew as inspiration.

Ingredients:
4 cloves minced garlic
1 medium rutabaga, peeled and cut into 1" cubes
1 medium turnip, peeled and cut into 1" cubes
2 parsnips, peeled and cut
2 carrots, peeled and cut
1/2 white onion, cut into large pieces
4 cups beef stock
1 1/2 cups chicken stock
1/2 cup red wine
1/2 cup Guiness beer
4 oz. tomato paste (2/3 of the small can)
1 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
1 bay leaf
2 tsp/ dried thyme
Apx. 2 lbs. cubed, cooked prime rib. You can also substitute any kind of stewing beef.

Combine all ingredients, except for the beef, in a slow cooker. Cook on high for 4 hours. After 4 hours, add in the prime rib. It has to be added towards the end because it is so tender and will fall apart if you add it at the beginning. Cook on low for an additional hour. If you are using stewing beef, you will need to brown the meat at the beginning and then add to the stew when you add all of the other ingredients to the slow cooker.

This turned out savory and slightly sweet. The root vegetables softened nicely, but maintained their shape and texture. I served it with an Asiago and Dill bread that I will blog about later.