So I don’t have the best track record with the crockpot. Isn’t this the kitchen tool for hopeless bachelors? Like seriously, isn’t it the one vehicle for cooking food that you actually can’t f*ck up? Ummmm: so false. The first time I made Paleo chili – epic freaking fail. The good part: I was not making chili for company. The bad part: I thus had to consume a whole pot full of crappy chili, because I was not going to waste all that grassfed beef. Needless to say, I hung up my crock pot for a good 6 months after that experience – daunted, and well yes, defeated by the shear simplicity of it all. About a month ago though, I really wanted some chili, and I decided, you know what, why not – I’m giving that puppy another shot. (And this time I had two friends coming over so I really couldn’t have a repeat crappy chili incident.) Success! Well, at least, very edible chili ensued.

In an attempt to prove to myself that I could in fact conquer the crockpot, along with an intense desire to have beef stew, and a not so intense desire to hang out in my apartment while it cooked on the stove, I decided to give this recipe a whirl. I’m deeming it hearty and super solid. Crockpot – you are no longer the master of me. Take that bachelor, cooking appliance, and hello to putting a bunch of stuff in a pot and peacing out for hours on end only to return to delicious things. Currently, in fact, my apartment smells like scrumptiously roasting pork, of the soon to be pulled variety (from Civilized Caveman in case you were curious.) Love this thing!

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs beef stew meat
• olive oil
• 3 Tbs ghee
• ½ c plus 2 T almond flour
• 2 onions
• 8 oz mushroom (aka: a square pack)
• 4 large carrots
• 1 butternut squash
• 1 bulb of fennel
• ½ t dried parsley
• ½ t dried oregano
• ½ t dried thyme
• ½ t allspice
• 1 t onion powder (plus more for meat)
• salt
• a crazy amount of pepper
• 2 cups beef broth
• ¼ c red wine

How it’s Done:

Heat up a large soup pot or pan with several tbs olive oil. Put ¼ cup of almond flour in a big zip lock bag, along with salt, pepper, and onion powder – let’s go with a “solid” amount of all three (more so in regards to the onion powder and pepper, but you get the idea.) Put your stew meat in the bag and shake it like you mean it in order to coat all of the pieces of meat with the almond flour. Transfer stew meat into the pot (you may need to do two batches) and brown the meat on all sides. Shift the browned meat into the slow cooker.

If you are getting antsy while your meat is browning start peeling and chopping! Peel your carrots and cut them in thick pieces (like ½ inch thick) – skinny carrots make me sad in stew…Peel and chop your butternut squash. Chop up your fennel in sizeable chunks, and add everything into the slow cooker with your meat.

In the same pot that you browned your meat in, add your ghee, and sauté your onions. Once your onions start to get translucent, add in your mushrooms (both items are chopped, fyi.) Cook until the mushrooms begin to decrease in size and are cooked through. Add onions and mushrooms to your slow cooker.

Pour your red wine into your hot – and now empty – pot, using the liquid to get all the awesome brown bits off of the bottom of the pot. Pour the resulting kick-butt liquid into your slow cooker. Add the beef broth, the spices, and ¼ cup of almond flour into the slow cooker mix. Stir everything together.

Cook on high for 30 min and then turn down to low to cook for 5-6 hours, or until the meat is super, crazy tender.

Comsume! (Possibly with a rockin glass of red wine…)