Beef-Up Italian Stew-- Crockpot

This is an easy beef stew, not much chopping or assembly required.

Cook time: 8 hours in crockpot on low
Prep time: 15 minutes

Ingredients


Protein
2 lb of beef stew

Produce
1 medium onion
1/2 bag of carrots
8 oz of baby carrots
4 garlic cloves (I used around 3 tsp of minced garlic)
1 cup of chopped spinach
1/4 cup of chopped basil leaves

Seasoning, etc.
2 Tbs olive oil
1 tsp of rosemary
1 tsp of thyme
salt and pepper to taste

Canned
14.5 oz of chicken broth
6 oz of tomato paste

Fun Stuff
1 cup of red wine

Prep Work
Cut all of the vegetables into bite size chunks.
Tear up the spinach and basil. Weapon of choice: bare hands!

1. put everything in the crockpot
2. cook on low for 8 hours

If you'd like a thicker stew,  remove around 1/4 cup of the liquid and whisk 2 tbs of cornstarch until smooth.  Add this back into the crock and cook for 20 minutes.  I didn't thicken the stew and found it to be perfectly thick.

Nina-Body Options: this isn't too unhealthy of a recipe; however, you could leave the potatoes out. :) Even ninjas need some carbs.