While one could buy a roast or some other cut of beef and deal with the unholy mess that is washing, trimming and cutting said slab of meat into reasonable stew-sized chunks, our tiny apartment kitchen would never be the same, so we've found that the pre-cut "stew beef" or even the pre-cut "stirfry beef" packages work perfectly well. You'll need about two of them for this recipe. If they're skimpy packages, buy three.

Ingredients:

2 -3 packages of stew beef or stirfry beef
1/4 cup flour with one tablespoon of each of the following: thyme, rosemary, parsely, onion powder, garlic powder. Also, add one teaspoon of salt and freshly ground black pepper to the mix.
1 16 oz. can of chopped tomatoes sans any seasoning (as in: don't get the kind with the Italian seasoning already in it)
1 bottle of V-8 (you culd use the spicy kind if you wanna)
1 bag of frozen corn
1 bag of frozen peas
4 medium sized red potatoes, chopped into reasonable bite sized and either par-boiled or microwaved until soft, but not totally done
2 - 4 stalks of celery (depending on how much you like it) sliced into 1/4" pieces
1 medium onion (color of your choice), diced
1 or 2 cloves of garlic, minced (again, depending on how much you like it)
enough olive oil to keep the onions, celery and garlic from sticking to your pot
two or three shakes of Worcestershire sauce

Directions:

First, rinse and pat dry all the meaty pieces.
Dump flour and spices into a sturdy bag, preferably a zip-lock of some kind, and toss together briefly.
Next, heat the oil over medium heat in your stew pot and add the onions and celery. Sautee for a few minutes until the onions start to get clear, then add the garlic and turn the heat down a bit while you do this next bit. Try not to let the garlic burn.
Now, dump the clean meat (in batches) into the bag and shake wildly to coat all sides of the beef. We like to incorporate a little booty-shaking, as well, for flavor.
After the beef has been tossed, pull out the pieces and shake off any excess seasoning, then throw (yes, throw) it into the pot with the other veggies.
Turn up the heat to high and sear the snot out of the beef, so that all sides are crunchy and brown.
When things start sticking to the pan (which will happen pretty quickly), add the can of tomatoes and scrape all the bits off the bottom of the pot. You'll also need to turn the heat down at this point.
Once all the bits are scraped off and the liquid of the tomatoes has made a really thick sauce over everything, add the peas, corn, potatoes and any V-8 you might need to thing things out a bit more, plus the Worcestershire.
Simmer this fabulous concoction for about 35 minutes over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally. You may need to add more V-8 or even some water, so keep an eye on the pot.
When the stew has reached the consistency you like and the meat is done, ladle it into a bowl, grab some crusty french bread, pop in a movie and enjoy your evening!