Easy crockpot beef casserole

I know I’ve posted about it before, but I love my crockpot!* I love the fact that I can leave the house with a bunch of raw ingredients in a pot, and come home to a beautifully fragrant, perfectly cooked dinner (sometimes this happens when Bear cooks too, but the crockpot doesn’t leave as much mess for me to clean up afterwards!). As my crockpot is pretty basic and doesn’t have it’s own built-in timer, I like to use a wall timer so that I don’t come home to a dried-up, over-cooked, unrecognisable pile of mush.

So for those of you who’ve been asking for more crockpot ideas, here’s a really fast and simple recipe.

*I imagine that the crockpot is only going to become more and more loved once our little bubba enters our world, and my time and energy available for creating paleo delicacies decreases even further.

Easy crockpot beef casserole

2 onions
3 cloves garlic
500g blade steak
2 tins of chopped tomatoes in juice
2 carrots, chopped into chunks
2 capsicums, chopped into chunks (I used 1 green, 1 red)
3 small dried bay leaves
2 tsp dried herbs (I used 1 tsp of mixed herbs, 1 of oregano)

Place all ingredients into a crockpot and stir to combine. Cook on low for 6 hours, stirring halfway through if possible.

Serve with cauliflower mash (or cauliflower rice, kumara mash…whatever you fancy)

Accidental Brownie

This recipe doesn't come with any photos, sorry, because it didn't actually start out as a) brownie or b) for my blog! I was actually intending on making this recipe here. Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately), I quickly discovered that our new blender, as amazing as it is, isn't actually a good replacement for the dying food processor that I threw away. As such, all the nuts and dried fruit just ended up in a big solid lump around the blender blades. So I decided to improvise, add more liquid, and turn it into a brownie batter...and OMG, I think it was actually one of the best examples of paleo baking that I've come up with!

Ingredients

100gms 85% dark chocolate (melted)
1 cup (not packed) soft dates
1 cup of nuts (I used cashews and hazelnuts)
1/2 cup shredded coconut
2 tbsp coconut flour
1 tsp baking soda
3 eggs
3 tbsp Dutch cocoa
250 ml (1 cup) coconut cream

Basically, just throw all the ingredients into a blender and blend until the mixture becomes a smooth batter.

I then baked it at 180 degrees celsius, in a square cake tin lined with baking paper. I can't remember how long I cooked it for, sorry, but I think it was probably about 30 minutes. You'd want the top to bounce back when you push it gently.