Slow Cooker Beef Ragu

I have a feeling the slow cooker is going to become my best friend when I go back to work in a couple of months. That and freezer meals will hopefully help get me through the first couple of months of juggling work, school and a baby. This recipe will definitely come in handy, especially because you don't have to sear the meat or anything before throwing everything in the slow cooker. And apparently it freezes well, let's hope so because I froze the leftovers for another meal sometime.

Slow Cooker Beef Ragu (from Canadian Living)
- 450 g stewing beef cubes
- 4 slices bacon, diced
- 2 onions, diced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 cup low sodium beef broth
- 1 cup bottled strained tomatoes (passata) *
- 1/2 cup red wine (I used an Oyster Bay Pinot Noir and we finished the bottle at dinner)
- 1 can (156ml) tomato paste
- 1 tsp granulated sugar
- 1/2 tsp each fennel seeds and dried Italian herb seasoning
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 bay leaf

Combine all ingredients in slow cooker. Cover and cook on low until beef is tender, 7-8 hours. Discard bay leaf, break up beef using potato masher until coarsely shredded. At this point I added a mug full of hot water because it had dried out a bit during the slow cooking.

Serve over pasta, or use in a lasagna.

*I had to go to three grocery stores to get this, more and more stores aren't carrying it anymore so I bought 4 jars*