Irish Beef Stew

We did another cooking activity for one of our country/continent studies. This time, we decided to cook something from Ireland. We're studying Europe, so we had a lot of great places to choose from. I thought Ireland would be a good choice with St. Patrick's Day upon us. We made Irish Beef Stew. The kids originally wanted to make the Irish stew that contained mutton, but I just didn't think that I could find that, or that I would even want it if I did! We settled on beef stew instead and made homemade cornbread to go with it. Here is the recipe that we used:

1 1/4 pounds stew beef, cut into 1-inch pieces
6 large garlic cloves, minced
6 cups beef stock or canned beef broth
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon dried thyme
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
2 bay leaves
2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) butter
3 pounds russet potatoes, peeled, cut into 1/2-inch pieces (about 7 cups)
1 large onion, chopped
2 cups 1/2-inch pieces peeled carrots
Salt and Pepper
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

We just put all of the ingredients into my crockpot, boiling the carrots and potatoes and adding them an hour or so before serving. We also sauteed the onion before adding it. We loved it and will definitely be making it again!