I’m gonna be honest – this is gonna be a quick post…because after all, aren’t you mostly here for the recipe? At 7 months old, we’re still struggling to find a routine for Andy – mainly, he won’t sleep. Naps are like 30 minutes and he’s up a lot during the night. Mama tired, y’all. Any minute now he’s going to wake up…so, let’s do this thing.
I love tender chunks of beef. So, Beef Stew ranks pretty high in my book…but I like to defer for normal recipes and try new things. Barry thinks I should just leave good food alone, but I can’t help it. I always think, “I wonder how this would taste with yadda-yadda?” Sometimes it tastes great – sometimes it tastes like doo-doo and we end up eating a sandwich.
There is already a Crock Pot Beef Stew recipe on this blog, so I decided to change it up a little and make this one different. This one stars tomatoes and peppers instead of the traditional carrots and potatoes. Why? I found a bunch of peppers marked down in the produce buggy at Ingles.
The star of the show in this recipe is one of my favorite spice blends – jerk seasoning. If you’ve not tried the Jerk Chicken Hoagies yet, you might want to do that. It was before we switched to whole foods, hence the picture of the white bun. 😉
Jerk seasoning is a combination of hot and “spicy” spices – meaning pepper flakes and things like cinnamon spice. It’s good. I love it. If you don’t have any at home, check out The Dollar Tree…or even make your own.
I really, really loved this recipe. I ended up eating all the leftovers myself. Annie ate some of the beef pieces, but she’s not big on spicy food…yet. Barry enjoyed this dish, but he wasn’t too crazy about it. He likes his Beef Stew plain – he married a spicy wife instead. 😉
Every once in a while I make something that he’s not in love with, but I am. Then sometimes I make something that I’m like, “Eh. It’s okay.” But Barry will love that dish – so come back next week for a new favorite of Barry’s…but not mine. Ha!
Crock Pot Jerked Beef Stew
- 1 ½ pounds cubed stew beef
- 2 large green peppers, chopped in large pieces
- 3 celery ribs, chopped
- 14.5 ounce can diced tomatoes
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 1 cup beef broth
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1 ½ tablespoons Jamaican Jerk Seasoning
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch or arrowroot
- 1 tablespoon water
- Place beef in crock pot. I used my 4 quart.
- Salt and pepper beef as desired.
- Place veggies on top.
- Pour broth and soy sauce over all.
- Sprinkle with jerk seasoning and garlic powder.
- Cover and cook on low for 8 hours.
- Combine cornstarch and water. Stir into stew.
- Cover and let thicken, up to 30 minutes.
Yield: 4-5 servings
Haven’t tried the recipe but I HAVE had a little one who would NOT sleep….so I wanted to offer some support! My second baby was up all night and day. I’m not sure how either of us stayed alive, now that I think about it! Anyway, without getting into the particulars (I have found that every mom and baby has to figure out how to handle these things in the way that is best for them. Giving unsolicited advice usually adds to the stress rather than removing it, so I’ll spare you!) once she did start sleeping through, she ended up being the best sleeper, easy to put down and waking up cheerful. So, hang in there and I pray that your result will be the same! Thanks for great recipes and other info! Love your site!
He’s doing much better even since I posted this…but it was rough for 4 months. Mama tired.
Stacy – I just found your blog and am in the same place as you were. I am a couponing mom that is wanting to start buying more natural. We eat a lot of whole foods, but I am seeing that they are probably genetically modified. I am not sure what steps to take first or who has good info to follow. Thanks for all your information.
Shelby, if you want to look in my indexes, you might find some helpful articles. I know where you’re coming from…so you holler if I can help. 🙂
I am impressed that you are still posting with a baby that’s not sleeping alot. 🙂 Also, I had trouble with my babies sleeping and didn’t really find a solution. I read recently though that it can be physical (which I suspected with my babies but didn’t know what to do to help). ( I am sure it is not always physical.)I think it was mentioned on Modern Alternative Mama (or one of the affiliate sites). Sometimes magnesium oil helps. I think other solutions were offered as well. I wish I would have known that so I thought I would pass it on to you. 🙂
I read that. 🙂 I do take a magnesium supplement…so, not sure what the deal is. BUT, he is doing better already since I wrote that…I try to write in advance, so I wrote that post two weeks ago. 🙂
I have been temporarily banned from trying new recipes by husband! LOL! It makes him crazy that I constantly tweak recipes-just last night he said “Make this again-exactly like this. Don’t change it at all”. He is not picky at all but there was one recipe that he just couldn’t eat. And I really liked it! It was weird!
I think your husband and my husband have been talking to each other. lol
I feel for you. Our number 4 was up all the time like that. At 11 months we discovered he had a chronic ear infection and needed tubes. Once he had those in he went for sleeping only an hour at a time (at most 1 1/2 hours) to 4 hours at a time. Not sure if that is the issue with your little one. Mostly writing to let you know I feel your pain and will be praying for you.
I just had his ears checked this week…and they’re fine. Thanks for bringing that up!
I made a new recipe this week that everyone else loved, oddly, and I didn’t. Oh, well. I just ate mine and moved along.
That rarely happens here, but it happened twice in one week!