Sweet Potato Winter Stew

There’s nothing like a warm, homestyle stew waiting for you after a day in the snow or cooler temperatures!  We’ve made this stew with sweet potatoes/yams in place of the traditional potato and it is delicious!  Here in Canada there is the on going confusion between a yam and a sweet potato.  Usually, here in the grocery stores, the “Yam” that is sold is actually a sweet potato. A lot of times, the terms “yam” and “sweet potato” are used interchangeably, but in reality they are completely different vegetables. The yam is starchy and has a rough, brown exterior and it can grow very large! The sweet potato is a New World root vegetable, which has a softer, reddish skin and a creamier, orange colored interior. The vegetable we chose for this recipe is the one that is orange inside!

What I like about this stew is that you can quickly throw it together and let the slow cooker take care of the rest!  Then, you go out and play and when you return, supper is ready.

Today I used beef stir fry strips.  Butchers usually cut up beef and mark it as stewing beef that you can use, obviously, for stew.  I, however, always find this cut full of fat, gristle and often too big of a chunk and therefore have to spend time cutting out the gristle and fat and cutting smaller pieces.  Personally, I think the beef stir fry strips are genius!  This cut usually doesn’t have fat and gristle and more importantly it is already cut in strips so you just have to cut the strips into bite size pieces.  So much easier and quicker!

Heat the oil in a frying pan.  Add the steak spice and beef.  Brown the beef on both sides and then put it in the slow cooker.  I used my instant pot slow cooker setting for 3.5 hours.

Now for the easy part, add the rest of the ingredients, except the peas and cook till desired tenderness.  Once you have it put together, go move daily!  When you’re done moving, come home and enjoy this delicious stew, but there is one more step.  Add the peas from frozen to your stew once it’s cooked to desired tenderness.  They will thaw immediately. If you add the peas earlier, they will be mushier and adding them at this point keeps them more firm and green!  It’s up to you, but that’s how I like them.

Now for a creamier alternative in this stew, you can add whipped cauliflower!  It makes the stew a bit thicker, (without the flour) and creamier for sure! Check out our recipe for Whipped Cauliflower, an alternative option for mashed potatoes.

Above is a picture with the whipped cauliflower.  So good for you and delicious.

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Sweet Potato Stew

Comfort food for winter season - stew!

Course Dinner, lunch, Main Course, Soup

Cuisine American

Keyword beef stew, low fat, no potatoes, sweet potato

Ingredients

• 1 lb beef stir fry strips
• 1 tbsp avocado oil (or olive)
• 1 tsp montreal steak spice
• 1 medium sweet onion, chopped
• 3 garlic cloves, crushed
• 2 cups beef bouillon
• 2 cups sweet potato, chopped (colored orange inside)
• 2 tbsp tomato paste
• 1/3 cup red wine
• 1 large carrot chopped
• 2 ribs celery chopped
• 2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 tsp thyme
• 2 cups frozen peas, sweetlets are my favorite
• salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

1. Heat a frying pan and add oil. Once oil is hot, add steak spice and beef strips chopped in bite size pieces. Brown beef, remove from heat and add to slow cooker.

2. Next, add the remaining ingredients to slow cooker, except peas.

3. Cook on low for 4.5 hrs. or high for 3.5 hrs. Stir in peas when stew is at desired tenderness.

4. To create a creamy, thicker stew try adding our whipped cauliflower! Simply stir into stew and serve!