Beef & Mushrooms Over Noodles

3 lbs stew meat
8 oz. brown mushrooms
1 bay leaf
3 tbs. each butter and flour
1 1/3 c. beef stock
salt and pepper to taste
3 tbs. chopped fresh parsley

Finely chop half of the mushrooms and slice the rest. This is so little ones with mushroom apprehension disorder can still enjoy them and can't pick them out.

Melt butter over medium high heat and add flour. Whisk until they're blended together. Slowly add your broth while whisking to avoid lumps. Add the mushrooms and boil for a little bit.

Put everything but the parsley in the crockpot and set to cook for 6 or 8 hours.

When it's nearly done, check to see if you need salt or pepper. Add in the parsley and stir. Serve over hot egg noodles.

Note: I think this was a little runny and needs to be thickened. Maybe adding more flour and butter will help with that because a tbs. of cornstarch so far isn't helping. This recipe was based on one in a book called Beyond Macaroni and Cheese which called for canned mushroom soup and sherry so I made quite a few substitutions for those and added the bay and parsley leaves.