Instant Pot Vegetable Stew with Beef and Soup Spice Mix

It has come to my attention that I will have to start making my own broths (veggie, beef and perhaps chicken).  I get that companies want to keep their recipes secret (proprietary info) but that doesn't help those of us trying to steer clear of some very specific foods.  We need very specific labels.

I was in Sprouts earlier this week shopping for beef broth.  The only two options were these (all the others actually stated either "sugar" or "yeast" in the ingredients).

Upon further inspection, they do indeed have sugar ("organic caramel coloring").  And also worrisome is the ambiguous "flavor".  Flavor is not an ingredient.  Ha ha ha!  

So I called Sprouts corporate headquarters.  They said they can't give me the list of ingredients since it's proprietary.  I said I understand, and would they tell me if the list of ingredients included either "corn" or "yeast".

She said it does say "no corn, sugar, or tapioca".  In retrospect (and having since looked up what "caramel color" is), I find it interesting that they state "no sugar" since all the info I can find on caramel color (including "organic") comes from sugar sources but I guess that are some non-sugar sources... just other simple carbohydrates.

Anyway, she said she'd get back to me and say there was no yeast.

I have been thinking, however, that it just seems it will be easier if I start making my own broths.

For now/today, however, I went with what I had (which is the above mentioned packaged broths).

I'm also testing out a possible intolerance to something in the nightshade family so I'm using sweet potatoes rather than regular potatoes and I'm using black pepper rather than cayenne.  Oh and no tomato sauce.  I'm seriously hoping all these foods turn out to be safe... 'cause some of them (particularly cayenne) are going to be hard to live without.  But if those aren't an issue for you, use other regular potatoes, tomato sauce and cayenne.

BTW, I refer to this as "vegetable and beef stew" rather than "beef vegetable stew" because 9 ounces of beef divided into 6 quarts of stew is only 1.5 ounces of beef per quart... so about half an ounce of meat per serving.  It's more there for flavor than anything else.


Instant Pot Vegetable and Beef Stew

• 1 Tbl organic olive oil or vegan butter
• 9-10 ounces of some kind of grass fed beef
• 64 ounces of organic beef broth (or beef bone broth)
• 2 very large organic carrots, peeled and cut into large chunks
• 2 organic sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into large chunks
• 1 onion, peeled and cut into large chunks
• 2 large garlic cloves, chopped
• Handful of organic spinach
• 2 organic crookneck squashes
• 1 bay leaf
• Batch of stew spice (see below)
• (optional) Can of organic sugar-free tomato sauce

Here are the ingredients.  I ended up not having room for the zucchini, though.

I did not add any salt to the stew assuming the beef broth might be salty already.

I want to do as little work as possible so rather than cutting the meat in any way, I just slap that whole thing into the pot... and the veggies I cut into ginormous pieces.  Both of these things get sorted out in the cooking.

I did think about the fact that the spinach and squash will most likely be mush by the time this is cooked... and did I want to keep them separate and add them at the end?  No... that's too much work.

I turn the saute feature on for my Instant Pot (I have the 6 quart).  I add the oil (this time I used vegan butter) and when it started to sizzle I placed the steak that I had patted with salt/pepper/garlic powder into the Instant Pot.

While the meat is browning I start peeling the carrots, sweet potatoes, garlic and onion and cut them into very large chunks (the garlic I mince).  When the meat is browned on both sides I add some of the broth and use a wooden spoon to scrape the bottom of the pan.  I then turn off the IP and begin to add the rest of the ingredients.  Carrots, sweet potatoes, garlic, and onion first.

I rough cut the yellow squash and add it then cut the bottom stems off the spinach and add it (I don't cut the spinach up).  Then I add the rest of the beef broth, the bay leaf, and the spice mix (see below).

I turn the IP onto "manual" for 35 minutes.  I was going to do a 10 minute natural release but forgot how fast 35 minutes is and the IP was already at 38 minutes post cook time by the time I remembered.

My first taste impression was, "Hm... it's a little sweet."  I mean, not overly sweet, just it took me by surprise.  Then I remembered that this was the first time I'd ever used sweet potatoes rather than regular potatoes so that must be it.

It is really good and this recipe's a keeper.

As usual, when I eat soup I add a spoonful of miso to my bowl first...

... then I add a little warmed broth to mix it up, then I add 2-3 ladles of hot soup.

Soup and Stew Spice Mix

• ¼ tsp dried rosemary
• ¼ tsp celery seed
• 1 tsp onion powder
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1 tsp dried parsley
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• 2 tsp dried basil
• 10 grinds of black pepper

I do not add salt to this spice mix because if my food needs salt I can add it at the table.

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Have a recipe you’d like me to try out?  Let me know in comments.  So long as it’s gluten free, sugar free, yeast free, and corn free… I’ll have a look.  When leaving a comment, you may need to use the pull-down to change the selection from "Google Account" to "Name/URL" or "Anonymous"  Thanks!