Tags
food, gluten free, grain free, health, Low carb, meatetarian, Paleo, quick easy recipe, recipe
For the last couple of days, I’ve been craving soup. Normally, I hate soup. What is soup anyway? It’s just very salty water or broth with some overcooked vegetables thrown in. I eat stew/soup once a year or less…but for some reason, I was really craving it! I decided to give it a try. This soup turned out well, it wasn’t as thick as I would like, but regardless, it was delicious and satisfied my cravings. The great thing about this soup is that it’s easy to make. You basically just throw all the ingredients in a crockpot and cook it on low for 6 hours or on high for 3 hours. I started “crockpoting” at around 5 pm. I went to school did some studying and came home at 11pm to unplug the crockpot. The soup was perfectly cooked.
In this soup, I use a half cup of sweet yams. Actually, it was less than half because I threw most of the yams out. Normally, I stay away from heavy starchy carbs like: sweet potatoes, yams, unripe plantain, squash, parsnips…etc, even thought they’re paleo. I eat them once every 2-3 months, and usually only a very small serving. The reason I decided to use this sweet yam was because it had been sitting in my fridge for over two months (I know that sounds disgusting but that part of my fridge is so cold that everything there just freezes). I had used half of the small sweet yam a couple of months earlier to get an energy boost after a two hour workout so I didn’t want to throw it out. If you’re someone who doesn’t eat sweet potatoes or yams, then eliminate it from the recipe. If you’re someone who eats them once in a while, then half a cup to one cup won’t kill you, providing you don’t eat it all in one day (best to eat after a workout). I also added my green peppers to the crockpot about 2 minutes before the dish was complete. I don’t like soft peppers (which is why I added them so late) but I still wanted them to have flavor. You can add them with everything else if you like
Remember when we made the Paleo Jamaican Stewed Chicken (link for recipe) and I told you to save the broth/stock in the fridge to use later? Well this is what I used for the broth of the soup. I used 1 cup of the stock from the stewed chicken and 1 cup of homemade bone broth. The reason you put the stock in the fridge is so that the fat from the stock can solidify and you can remove it (and throw it away like I did, or if you’re true paleo, use it for the soup or later for frying). You may wonder why I used a chicken broth for a beef soup. I did so because the stock from the Jamaican Stewed Chicken was actually so delicious. Additionally, the beef cooking for 6 hours gives the soup a beefy taste. I also didn’t add any salt to the dish. I try to follow a low sodium diet so I didn’t add salt because the stock from the Jamaican chicken already had salt from when we made it, also, the tomato paste (I used one teaspoon of low sodium tomato paste) already has sodium. The homemade bone broth soup didn’t have any salt. It was just made with fresh herbs. I’ll be putting the recipe for the homemade bone broth soon. If you want the soup to be more flavorful, use 2 cups of the stock from the Jamaican Stewed Chicken. If you don’t have enough, add salt. If you’re someone who doesn’t have homemade broth or even organic store bought broth, use water, but I warn, it can be a little bit bland. Add salt to your taste. I got the original recipe from Once a Month Meals and tweaked it a bit. Anyway, without further ado, here is the recipe.
INGREDIENTS
- 1 pounds beef stew meat, preferably grass fed
- 1.25 cups red onion, chopped (I actually just used 1 medium onion and half a large onion)
- 6 tablespoons low sodium organic tomato paste (I actually only used one teaspoon and the soup was still good, but I think you should use more)
- 2 cloves or garlic minced
- 2 Tablespoons thyme
- 1 cups carrots, chopped (I eliminated the carrots because I don’t like carrots)
- 2 cups celery, diced
- 1/2 cup sweet yam, plain yam, or sweet potato ( optional. the less you use the better if you’re trying to lose weight)
- 1 green pepper
- 2 whole bay leaves
- 2 Tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped
- 2 Tablespoons apple cider vinegar
- 1 teaspoons sea salt
- 0.5 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
- 1.5 cup Broth from Paleo Jamaican Stewed Chicken (Paleo Jamaican Stewed Chicken, so easy)
- 0.5 cup of homemade bone broth (without salt or with salt)/water/store bought broth (preferably organic)
- 1 tsp cumin
- Pinch dried rosemary
PREPARATION
- Wash all vegetables
- Rinse meat under cool water then juice a lemon/lime into meat (for sanitary reasons), then rinse again under cool water
- Chop all vegetables
- Remove the congealed fat from the Jamaican stock and toss it out (or use it in the soup)
- Combine all the ingredients(except pepper) and broth/stock/water except the pepper into the crockpot and mix. Note, you can add the peppers at this step if you like soft savory peppers.
- Cook on low for 6 hours or on high for 3 hours
- 5 min before the dish is complete, add the peppers so they can steam slightly and acquire flavor.
- Remove bay leaves before serving
- You can freeze this dish