• Chop the onions, carrots, and mince the garlic and set it aside.
• Heat about a tablespoon of extra-virgin olive oil in a stock pot or a Dutch oven over medium heat. When it's hot, add the onions and ½ cup of carrots and saute for about 5 minutes or until the onions are tender and translucent. Add the garlic and saute it for about 1 more minute, stirring constantly.
• As vegetables are cooking, in a shallow dish, whisk together ¼ cup flour, ½ teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper, ½ teaspoon kosher salt. Toss the beef in the flour and toss until it's all coated. Set aside.
• Remove all vegetables from the pan and set aside. Place them in a dish that's larger than you need since you will also add the cooked meat to this same dish.
• Add another tablespoon of olive oil to the pot. Add beef to pot (do this step in 2 batches to avoid overcrowding) and sear until golden on all sides, about 5 minutes.  Remove beef from pan and add to vegetables.
• Pour the wine (or juice/vinegar mixture) into the pan and allow it to deglaze the pan (loosen up the cooked bits on the bottom  of the pan). Scrape it regularly for about 5 minutes or until the liquid is reduced by about ⅔.
• Return the meat and onion mixture to the pan. Add the undrained canned tomatoes, broth, water, oregano, thyme, bay leaf, mushrooms and remaining carrots.
• Bring it to a boil and then cover the stew and reduce the heat to a steady simmer for about 1 ½-2 hours or until the beef is tender.
• Discard the bay leaf and then add chopped parsley and basil and season with additional salt to taste. Serve it with crusty bread or over mashed potatoes.

Freezer Instructions

• Prepare through deglazing the pan. Place all of the ingredients except for the water, fresh basil, and fresh parsley into a freezer bag or freezer safe container and freeze. Freeze the herbs separately in a small freezer safe bag. When ready to serve, place the contents of the large freezer bag and 1/2 cup of water into a slow cooker and cook on high for 6- 8 hours or on low for 8-10 hours. 1 hour before serving, add fresh herbs.