The number one reason I do not have the desire to make a pot of beef stew is directly related to the color it usually turns out to be.  Beef stew is so ugly!  If you want to see precisely what I am talking about go to Google images and type in beef stew.  Before you, a sea of bowls each filled to the brim with a murky brown substance, will magically appear.  I would be willing to bet that 80% of them taste absolutely amazing!
When it comes to food though, at least for me, I want it to “look” like something I want to eat, then smell good, and then taste good.  One of the reasons I love a medium rare tenderloin is that rich, deep red, bloody color you get to feast your eyes on when you cut into it.  I love to eat my vegetables, partly, because I love the way they look!  So my goal for this beef stew was to create one that looked almost as good as it tasted.

Ingredients:

-2 large carrots (peeled, diced large)
-2 stalks celery (diced large)
-4 cloves garlic (rough chop)
-1 med red onion (rough chopped and then minced in the food processor)
-olive oil
-1 large russet potato (peeled, and then diced medium)
~1 and 1/2 lbs. chuck steak (cut off as much fat as possible then cubed 1 in.)
-S & P
-3 c. beef stock
-1/4 dry porcini mushrooms (reconstituted in 2 c. boiling water, reserve water)
-2 envelopes dry mushroom gravy mix

In large stock pot sweat vegetables (except potatoes) in olive oil. Meanwhile sprinkle meat with salt and pepper.  Brown beef in olive oil in a separate skillet.  Add browned meat to vegetables.  Remove mushrooms from water pour mushroom water into meat vegetable mixture. Be careful not to add the silt at the bottom of the mushroom water.  Chop mushrooms, add to pot.  De glaze the meat skillet with some of the beef stock, add to pot.  Temper envelopes of mushroom gravy mix with remaining beef stock, add to pot.  Add potatoes to pot.  Stir to evenly combine everything in pot.  Simmer on low heat while potatoes and meat soften and flavors combine.  Eat with an entire loaf of fresh French bread!

So my plan failed indeed!  I thought that the mushroom water,  mushroom grave mix, and not using any flour would give the stew a silky dark chocolate hue.  But alas, my stew turned light s–t brown just like every other bowl of beef stew since the cow was invented!  At least it was edible.