Beef Stew With Squash And A Surprise Ingredient!

Total Time: 6 hrs 25 mins Preparation Time: 25 mins Cook Time: 6 hrs

Ingredients

• Servings: 6
• 1 lb beef chuck, boneless cut into 1 inch pieces
• 2 -3 garlic cloves, minced (i didn't have any so i used 1 tsp of granulated garlic instead)
• 1 -2 teaspoon cumin seed (grind them yourself or use already ground)
• 1 -2 teaspoon paprika (i like paprika so i used more along the lines of 2 tsp)
• 1 teaspoon coriander seed (grind them yourself or use already ground)
• 1 teaspoon oregano
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• salt and pepper
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 2 medium carrots, peeled and cut into 1 inch pieces
• 1 (15 ounce) can tomato sauce
• 1 butternut squash, peeled, seeded and cut into 1 inch pieces (about 1 pound)
• 1 (15 ounce) can green peas
• 1/2 cup green olives, stuffed with pimentos, cut in half
• 1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped

Recipe

• 1 if you have the time and inclination:.
• 2 - brown the beef in a large skillet until seared on all sides.
• 3 - you can also brown the onions if you are so inclined.
• 4 if you are like me and are trying to do this at the crack of dawn before racing out the door to the bus stop and then to work start here:.
• 5 plug in the crock pot.
• 6 toss in the chopped onions, garlic, carrots, squash and beef.
• 7 stir in all the spices except the fresh cilantro.
• 8 pour in the tomato sauce.
• 9 cook on low for 6 – 8 hours.
• 10 about 15 minutes before it is going to be served or as soon as you get home:.
• 11 add the peas, cilantro and the olives.
• 12 stir it all up and let cook another 15 minutes or so.
• 13 i served it over whole wheat couscous with a hunk of roasted garlic bread that jeff picked up on the way home. it was a hit – everyone decided it was a keeper and that the addition of the olives (the secret ingredient) was genius. i loved the way it added a nice salty counterpart to the sweet squash. if you wanted to you could also add a bit of chicken stock to the stew at the beginning.