"No peeky" stew

I cook by evolution. Seldom use recipes. Heck, I've been cooking for so long, I just do it from memory. "No peeky" stew was one of the kid's favorite recipes (and cheap to make) so it was part of the repetoir. It started out as a basic beef stew - you know the drill, potatoes, carrots, and stew meat. It has evolved.
I have had an experiment going on - it seems I've just been going to the store, buying food and sticking the appropriate food in the freezer. I decided about a month ago, to NOT buy anything and use up what was in there. I found this stew meat and some raspberries - no the raspberries didn't go in the stew!
The name "no peeky" came from the fact that I would tell the kids "no peeking" so they wouldn't lift the lid to look in the pot and subsequently it became "no peeky" stew. I've tried to make it here a few times but my stove's burners wouldn't be low enough and the stew was never just right. I finally broke down and bought a crock pot and yesterday, since the weather was so cool, it seemed the perfect time to just try, one more time! I'm happy to report it was perfect! And accompanying it was cornbread. YUM.
So here goes, in the pot, put stew meat after you have tenderized it and peppered it well, then add, cut up potatoes, carrots, celery, onion and whatever else seems appropriate - then add a small can of tomato sauce, 2 T tapioca and a cup of water, and a packet of onion soup mix (a recent addition to this recipe).....season again with whatever, and cook. Toward the end of cooking it (about 5 hours) add a few dribbles of Kitchen Bouquet to color the gravy. Sometimes, in the past, I've served all of this over rice .
Now I must say, while this is cooking, especially the last couple of hours, it is hard NOT to lift the lid, but it does best if you limit the amount of times you do so.........
The raspberries were used to make a raspberry cobbler. I did find the recipe in this month's Southern Living and I think I'll try it rather then my tried and true cobbler recipe..........