When the fall weather gets nippy I find myself craving a well made beef stew.  Now that I can’t have barley I look for other things to make my stew hearty and add flavor.  This recipe is my corruption of a roast recipe from Food Network.  I think of it as “spicy stew” and it is a refreshing take on beef stew. Chock full of chunks of veggies and lots of spice, it will warm your tummy and make your taste buds sing!  I know my picture is not the prettiest but it really is tasty and despite the long list of ingredients it goes into the pot in short order and comes out tender and flavorful.

Be sure to use a cut of beef that will stand up to a long cooking, chuck is best. I used some boneless beef chuck ribs, kinda fatty but they have great beefy flavor. Chuck stew cubes also will work for this recipe.

Parsnips are like sweet pale carrots.  I also like to use them in my pot roast veggies.

If you have some celeriac aka celery root use it in stead of the celery ribs.  It is hard to find and kinda pricy so I seldom spring for it.  It looks like a mutant potato, all bumpy which can make it a chore to peel.  

I added the carrots as carrots make any stew better, in my opinion.

You can start this stew in the afternoon and let it bubble away until supper time.  I served mine with a baked potato for a starch but gluten free noodles would also be great.   If you are avoiding carbs leave off the potato/noodles.  The gravy was phenomenal though, over my baked potato!

 

Spicy beef Stew
Ingredients

1 large onion, chopped
2 large yams/sweet potatoes, peeled cut into 1-2 inch pieces
2 parsnips, peeled and chopped into 1 inch chunks
2 celery ribs cut in fat chunks

1 cup of baby carrots, left whole

1.5 lbs boneless beef chuck ribs, trimmed of excess fat or cubed chuck steak

Salt and ground black pepper
1 tbsp. all-purpose gf flour or just white rice flour
1 (14-ounce) can diced tomatoes, plain or with added chili peppers

1 tbsp horseradish

2 tbsp. maple syrup
2 teaspoons chili powder

1 tbsp cocoa powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder

Directions

Place chopped onion, sweet potatoes, parsnips, celery root or celery and the baby carrots in bottom of slow cooker. Season beef all over with salt and black pepper. Rub flour all over beef. Place beef chunks on top of vegetables in slow cooker.

Whisk together tomatoes, maple syrup, chili powder, cumin, garlic powder, and onion powder. Pour mixture over beef.

Cover and cook on LOW for 7-8 hours or on HIGH for 4-5 hours. I did mine on high for just over 4 hours, perfect.

Remove beef ribs from slow cooker with tongs or a long handled fork and chop up and return to the stew, stir well and serve in a wide low soup bowl.  If you used chunks of chuck just stir and enjoy!