Valentine's Dinner: Just 3 ingredients. Skip the busy restaurants and make a meal that melts in your mouth right at home.

Add the cubed beef stew meat to the bottom of a 4- to 6-quart slow cooker, spreading it into an even layer so it cooks uniformly.

Sprinkle the dry onion soup mix evenly over the beef, making sure most of the meat is lightly coated with the seasoning. This will build the base flavor and help create that dark, glossy sauce.

Pour the beef broth over the seasoned meat, gently stirring just enough to moisten the soup mix and distribute it through the liquid while keeping the beef in an even layer.

Cover the slow cooker with the lid and cook on LOW for 7 to 8 hours, or on HIGH for 3 1/2 to 4 hours, until the beef is very tender and easily breaks apart with a fork. During this time, the collagen in the stew meat will break down and enrich the sauce.

Once the beef is tender, taste the sauce and adjust with a small splash of water or additional broth if you prefer it slightly thinner, or remove the lid and let it cook on HIGH for 15 to 20 minutes to reduce and thicken if you want a more concentrated, clingy glaze.

Gently stir the beef tips in the sauce so every piece is coated and glistening, then serve hot over your choice of mashed potatoes, noodles, or rice, spooning plenty of the savory brown sauce over the top.

For a deeper, more complex flavor, you can brown the stew meat in a hot skillet with a small amount of oil before adding it to the slow cooker; this step isn’t required, but the caramelization will intensify the sauce. If you want a thicker, gravy-like consistency without changing the ingredient list, remove the lid during the last 30 minutes of cooking and let some of the liquid evaporate, or briefly mash a few pieces of beef against the side of the slow cooker to release starches and help the sauce cling. To lean more into a steakhouse profile, use a beefy onion soup mix and serve with a knob of butter melted over the finished beef tips. For a slightly lighter take, use low-sodium broth and pair with roasted vegetables instead of starch. Leftovers reheat beautifully on the stovetop over low heat with a splash of broth or water to loosen the sauce, making them ideal for an easy second-night dinner over toast or in a baked potato.