Stew Sucker

I'm a sucker.  A sucker for stew meat.  Good stew meat.  Several weeks ago I picked up a little over a pound of some on sale, organic, wonderfully cared for and grass fed stew meat.  The meat was beautiful!  Last week I had planned stew for dinner tonight.  Why? Why do I fall for the stew meat? Why do I insist on making stew?  Because I'm a sucker.  I can't make stew.  There, I said it. It's out there forever now.  Let me revise that.  I can't make stew and have it taste any good.  I've tried a few different recipes--herbs, red wine, variety of potatoes, browning the meat, etc.  I typically end up making stew in the crock pot.  It has never tasted good.  One time, Jaime made this incredible stew from a Jacques Pepin recipe.  It was pretty wonderful.  It took a long time.  It was NOT in a crock pot.  Maybe that's my problem.  Maybe I just haven't tried the right recipe.  Anyone out there have a good great crock pot stew recipe?  I know I'm a sucker and I'll probably end up buying some beautiful stew meat again.  I'll need a fantastic recipe. Help me out please, won't you?