All-Day Meatball Stew

We had this on Friday, and we had some of the leftovers for lunch today, which is Sunday.  There is still enough for two more servings.  So it makes a lot.  It's from Simple & Delicious.

All-Day Meatball Stew
2 pkg (12 oz each) frozen fully cooked Italian meatballs (I used a 2 lb bag)
5 medium potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 lb fresh baby carrots
1 medium onion, halved and sliced
1 jar (4 1/2 oz) sliced mushrooms, drained (omitted)
2 cans (8 oz each) tomato sauce
1 can (10 1/2 oz) condensed beef broth, undiluted
3/4 cup water
3/4 cup beef broth
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp pepper
2 tbsp flour
1/2 cup cold water

Place meatballs, potatoes, carrots, onions, and mushrooms in a 5 or 6 quart slow cooker.  Combine the tomato sauce, broths, water, garlic powder, and pepper in a large bowl; pour over top.  Cover and cook on low 8-10 hours or until vegetables are tender.  Combine flour and water until smooth; gradually stir into stew.  Cover and cook on high 30 minutes longer or until sauce is thickened.

I never thickened it.  The sauce seemed fine, and today when we had the leftovers it had thickened up some more, so I'm glad I didn't.  Also, I had mine in the crock pot for 8 hours on low, but some of the potatoes and carrots were still a bit crunchy.  I couldn't let it cook any longer though because I had to work on Friday night.  But today it was perfect.  Because this has prepackaged meatballs, there was a thin layer of fat once the soup was cooked that I wish I could have removed somehow.  I tried to strain it off.  Once it cools and the fat hardens it's obviously much easier to dispose of, but when the soup was hot that was kind of an "ewww" factor.  Nobody noticed that but me, though.  Everyone really liked this soup.  It was expensive to make, because meatballs by themselves are ridiculously priced, and then you have to buy tomato sauce and the condensed beef broth and the potatoes, too.  So it's not a soup I'll make often, but I'm definitely saving the recipe.  Next time I will cut the baby carrots in half, and cut the potato chunks smaller, too.  Yummmmm.