Gluten Free Hungarian Beef Stew - slow cooker style

As I've mentioned in the past, I love love love when I find a wonderful and super easy gluten free slow cooker cookbook that also has fantastic recipes that taste great! How much better could it get? Really?

In the More Make It Fast, Cook It Slow: 200 Brand-New, Budget-Friendly, Slow-Cooker Recipes cookbook by Stephanie O'Dea I found this amazingly easy and loaded with flavor recipe for Hungarian Beef Stew. If you recall from previous posts, Stephanie O'Dea has a couple of cookbooks out whereby she makes everything gluten free, quick to prepare and simple because it all melds together in the slow cooker while you're off at work or running errands or doing whatever you need to do. Can't ask for much better if you ask me.

I will admit that in the past I had been hesitant about using the slow cooker in general. I was initially fearful that I'd burn the house down or something rediculous like that. In reality, the slow cooker is designed to only heat to a low temperature and cook the food over the entire day, thereby ensuring that the food is ready and waiting when you get home. The risk of burning the house down is really illogical and I was being overparanoid for no good reason as our electrical within our house is all up to code and safe as can be. 

I must say that in this instance I was sceptical but in a very different way;  because this recipe seemed almost too easy. Sorta like what your parents used to tell you "when something is too good to be true, it usually is". Well, in this case it was super easy, super fast to whip together and we gobbled it up and enjoyed the leftovers the next day too. I also got numerous compliments on how lovely my lunch smelled when I was eating it at work the following day.

You have got to try this recipe out. We served it with roasted acorn squash and it was amazing!

Hungarian Beef Stew (slow cooker style)

Ingredients:

3 pounds of stewing beef

combine in a food processor or blender:
2 green peppers, seeded
2 onions, peeled
2 garlic cloves, peeled
1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 cup water

Directions:
Use a 6-quart slow cooker. Put the meat into your slow cooker. Combine all the other ingredients in a food processor or blender, and pulse until mixed well and a sauce forms. Pour the sauce over the meat. That's it! Cover and cook on low for 8 to 10 hours, or until the meat chunks are super tender and can be cut easily with a spoon.

**Stephanie O'Dea wrote the following in her book:
" Ayalla, who writes at saltandpaprika.com, sent me this recipe. She serves it to her family with homemade biscuits and spinach salad. I loved how easy this stew was to make, and smiled watching my kids eat it up, bell peppers and all. This is a great technique to sneak in extra vegetables."

Like the recipe? Buy the recipe book!




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