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A few months back I was SO excited when I got some stew meat in my ButcherBox. Things like beef stew, pot roast, and traditional cheeseburgers were all foods that I did NOT grow up eating. I’m not sure if you remember or not, but in the 1990’s there was a huge marketing campaign against the consumption of red meat. And also natural fats that we know today as healthy. And eggs. In the 1990’s butter was out and margarine was in. And my mom followed all of this “professional” advice to a T. We only ate actual beef a few times a year, when we had cookouts or guests over. Every single other day of the year, it was ground turkey and ground chicken, and bread from my mom’s bread maker machine smeared with margarine. That fake yellow substance that is just one molecule away from being plastic. What a time to be alive. Not that I’m complaining about my childhood in any way, because in reality it was absolutely fantastic, but it’s so nice being an adult and making your own decisions about what you want to eat that day. Cake for dinner? I’ve done it. And now that I know that Kerrygold exists I can honestly say I’ll never (knowingly) eat margarine again for as long as I live.

You know what feels like a total boss move when you are an aspiring food blogger who is also working full time? Okay, almost full time. Furlough Fridays are the actual best. But back to the boss move. This past Saturday night, I threw all these ingredients into my slow cooker and then went to bed. But before I went to bed I also took five seconds to throw some oats and milk into my blender and stuck that in the fridge overnight too. That recipe is also delicious and you’ll see it here next week. So you know what happened when I woke up on Sunday morning? I had two delicious blog recipes ready to photograph in the beautiful morning sunlight. I was done in a flash and then I was off to enjoy my Sunday. Talk about making the most out of my weekend.

And what a fantastic weekend it was! The highlight was a new place in western Massachusetts that we checked out called the Keystone Arch Bridges. It’s not new at all, but it is new to us. Long story short, in the 1840’s it was decided that a railway was to be constructed around the Westfield River. This is a relatively mountainous region of Massachusetts, so very large bridges needed to be constructed to keep the trains high up over the water. The resulting bridges are absolutely incredible. You have to hike down to the river to get the best view, but the highest bridge is 70′ over the river. It’s so incredible and you really can’t capture the entire sight in one photo because you’re so close and they’re so big. All in all we had an incredible day checking out a new spot. If you’re interested in seeing more pictures of it, make sure you’re following along on Instagram – I have a story highlight called “Western MA” that shows all of the best pictures from our day trip!

thehungryhungryhiker

Classic Slow Cooker Beef Stew

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Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Slow Cooking Time 8 hours
Total Time 8 hours 40 minutes
Servings: 6 people
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: American
Ingredients Equipment Method

Ingredients
  

  • 2 lb stew meat
  • sea salt
  • fresh ground black pepper
  • 2 tbsp avocado oil
  • 2 tbsp ghee
  • 4 cloves garlic minced
  • 3 cups beef or chicken broth
  • 2 tbsp tomato paste
  • 2 tsp arrowroot flour/starch divided
  • 24 ounces baby potatoes halved
  • 4 carrots large, peeled and cut diagonally to ¾" long pieces
  • 1 yellow onion large, peeled and sliced
  • 3 tbsp apple cider vinegar
  • 1 tsp dried thyme
  • 1 tsp dried rosemary
  • 1 tbsp dried oregano
  • 2 bay leaves
  • fresh parsley chopped, for serving

Equipment

  • Slow cooker

Method
 

  1. Season the stew meat generously with sea salt and fresh ground black pepper on both sides.
  2. Heat the avocado oil in a large skillet or pan with tall sides over medium heat. Once hot, add the meat to the pan in a single layer, taking care to not crowd the pan. Brown on both sides, about 2 minutes per side. Use tongs to transfer the beef to the insert of your slow cooker. Repeat until all of the meat has been browned.
  3. Add the ghee to the skillet. Once melted, add the minced garlic and sauté 1-2 minutes until very fragrant and starting to brown. Add the broth and the tomato paste to the pan and whisk to break the tomato paste down. Add 1 tsp arrowroot starch and whisk to incorporate into the broth mixture. Cook for about 5 minutes, whisking occasionally, until the broth has noticeably thickened a bit. Turn off the heat.
  4. Add the potatoes, carrots, onion, apple cider vinegar, thyme, rosemary, and oregano to the slow cooker. Pour the broth mixture over and stir to incorporate. Stir in the bay leaves. Cover and slow cook on low 8-10 hours or on high 4-5 hours.
  5. Remove the bay leaves and discard. The broth mixture will likely be thin. Move the meat and vegetables to one side of the slow cooker. Add 1 tsp arrowroot starch to the side of the slow cooker with the broth and whisk to incorporate. Stir in the meat and vegetables and leave the slow cooker on low, uncovered, about 30 minutes more until the broth has thickened a bit. Serve warm with chopped fresh parsley on top and enjoy!