The Beefiest Beef Stew In the World

Good God in heaven....we had the most wonderful beef stew last night. We'd bought a couple of pounds of grass fed beef stew meat the other day at the Co Op. It was marked down because it was close to the sell by date so we grabbed it. I gotta say, it's hard to plan beef stew without things like onion, garlic, or potato, but it CAN be done, and done really well. I googled various AIP and low fodmap beef stew recipes, and this is what I ended up with:

Cynthia's Ridiculously Beefy Beef Stew

Auto Immune Protocol (except possibly cumin)/Whole 30/Low Fodmap/Paleo compliant

2 lbs grass fed beef stew meat

4 cups beef bone broth (made from grass fed bones)

3 medium carrots, diced fine

3 medium parsnips, diced fine

1 sprig fresh rosemary

2 bay leaves

1 1/2 t cinnamon

1 t ground cumin

1 t dried thyme

Himalayan pink salt, and pepper, to taste

Water

1 bunch curly kale

I dried the beef stew meat, salted it, and browned it quickly and heavily in a cast iron skillet in coconut oil, then tossed it in the crockpot. I'm not crazy about coconut oil in milder dishes, but in this it was fine. I quickly browned the carrot and parsnip in the same pan (in batches) and into the crock pot it went. Then I added four cups of beef broth, and then enough water to cover by 1-2 inches (things condense in my crock pot). I added a sprig of rosemary (it's early enough that the rosemary we brought in from the garden is still alive), and the other seasoning. Cook at low for perhaps 6-8 hours----depends somewhat on your crockpot. We waited until the next day and then put it in a pot on the stove and added the kale, cut into small pieces. 

It was really extraordinarily good. It was the broth that made it. You wouldn't know cinnamon was in it unless someone told you....it just tasted full and beefy in the best way. Of course, if I could I would have added garlic and onion and potato, but you know, we didn't miss it at all. I can't wait to have leftovers for lunch today.

Oh, and I thought the broth was the star of the show, but Ernie thought the kale was. Knock me over with a feather!