I really should name this recipe after my little girl, Kamea, because she loooooves it. Being a huge sweet potato fan as well as loving grass fed beef, this is right up her ally. My heart smiles when she says, “Mom, this is yummy in my tummy” or “Mom, this smells delicious!”
Here we go again with my beloved slow cooker. What can I say? It’s too dang awesome and easy to use not to have it regularly simmering away with healthy goodness.
In fact, I had planned on making this recipe after I came back home from a playdate one day. When I looked at the clock, I knew that I didn’t have to head out for the play date for another 15 minutes, so I challenged myself to throw it all together and have it cleaned up in that amount of time. That way I wouldn’t feel rushed to get home and get dinner going. That’s how easy slow cookers are. Mom, why did you never teach me about these? Turns out that I got it all done in only 11 minutes. Read that?! It took me only 11 minutes to throw together an awesome healthy dinner and have the clean up done, too. If you don’t have a slow cooker, what are you waiting for?
Plus, I adore it when I’m coming home after being gone a few hours and the heavenly smells hit you right when you step in the house. Slow Cooker food says, “Welcome Home.”
This recipe was served with a hearty slice of Paleo Bread. I used Elana’s Pantry Paleo Cooking book for the recipe, although you can find it on her site. I made a couple of changes. I used grass fed organic high vitamin butter oil in place of the organic coconut oil, I used USA birchwood xylitol (sometimes I use maple syrup or coconut nectar – I’ve made the recipe about a dozen times already) in place of the honey because I don’t usually like to cook my raw honey. And, finally, I cooked the paleo bread at a lower temperature because I was using my Breville Smart Oven which is convection. I looooove Elana’s books and recipes, and highly recommend them.
Sweet Potato Cinnamon Beef Stew (Paleo Gluten Free Slow Cooker)
Yield 4 servings
- 1 1/2 lb sweet potatoes, washed and chopped
- 1 zucchini, chopped
- 1 yellow bell pepper, seeded and chopped
- 1 lb grass fed ground beef or bison
- 2 lb cherry tomatoes
- 1 1/2 tablespoons Fleur de sel sea salt, more to taste
- 1/2 to 1 cup filtered water
- juice of 1 organic orange
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 to 2 cinnamon sticks (I usually throw 2 in)
- 4 pats of butter, optional (to put on before serving)
- I used my 7 quart slow cooker for this, and started by placing the sweet potatoes, zucchini, and yellow bell pepper inside.
- Add the grass fed beef by crumbling it on top of the vegetables with your hands.
- Blend the tomatoes, salt, water, and orange juice and pour the mixture on top of the meat and vegetables.
- Add the bay leaf and cinnamon stick(s). Give a quick stir. Put on the slow cooker lid and depending on how long you have will determine the temperature you set the slow cooker. I had all day so I put it on LOW knowing it’d got between 6 to 8 hours. If you’re in a hurry, cook it on HIGH for 4 to 6 hours.
- Two to three times while it was cooking, I opened the lid and stirred the pot. Even though this lets out heat, I was cooking it all day so it was okay to do so. Even if you are short on time and want to stir it, it’s usually fine to do. Just check the temperature of your meat with an awesome Instant Read Thermapen thermometer like this. I was so freaked out when I started cooking meat again for fear of serving under (or even over) cooked meat that I sought out the best thermometer I could find. This one definitely rocks. Well worth the price.
- Fish the cinnamon stick(s) and bay leaf out.
- Ladle the stew into bowls and serve with a generous pat of grass fed butter on top, if desired. I think butter with sweet potatoes and beef is awesome (especially for grass fed bison because it’s leaner than grass fed beef). Add more seasoning, if desired.