Coming home to warm, delicious smelling food all ready to eat after a long winter’s day out and about is so comforting. This meal, like many slow cooker meals is healthy and tasty. My whole family felt invigorated and soothed when we ate it this during the frigid nights last week brought in by the arctic front that covered most of the United States. Temperatures below zero call for something hardy! Plus, my favorite thing? It was so easy to make. I just love my slow cooker!

~ Ingredients ~

2 ½ to 3 pounds beef stew meat, grass-fed & organic if possible
¼ to ½ cup dried nettle leaf
4 to 8 slices of astragalus root
28 ounce can or jar of tomatoes, if using canned be sure the lining of the can is BPA free
1 large onion, chopped
4 to 6 or more cloves of garlic, minced or 1 tbsp dried
6 to 8 carrots
4 to 6 potatoes, yams, sweet potatoes or a mix
salt and pepper
2 to 3 bay leaves
1 tsp. thyme
fresh herbs or greens to go on top if you wish.

~ Method ~

Place the stew meat in your slow cooker and start layering the ingredients on top. I don’t even cut up the carrots and potatoes, I just let them cook whole, makes it so easy.

Cook on low for 8 hours and serve!

We love to mash-up our carrots and potatoes together and then top with lots of butter and salt. My kids loved this meal so much that one of them even licked their plate to get all the sauce!

You can find out more about nettles and astragalus in my Materia Medica and purchase these great herbs online at Mountain Rose Herbs!**

**Please Note: This post contains affiliate links to Mountain Rose Herbs. Mountain Rose Herbs offers the best quality bulk herbs and supplies online. If you choose to use my affiliate link to purchase from them you will be supporting Mama Rosemary and all I do here. I will get a small percentage of your purchase however this does not in any way effect your purchase price. Thanks for supporting Mama Rosemary and happy herb crafting!