Beef Stew with Hazelnut Butter and Dates

I am three weeks in and feeling pretty good. I've lost about 8 pounds and my clothes are all fitting better.  I have also been working out a lot and trying to drink a ton of water.  I'm still craving some foods like pizza; however, I'm trying to keep my recipes as diverse as possible to not get bored/tempted.  I'm also planning to have my doctor re-test me on tomatoes when he's here on Valentine's day.  I sure miss tomato sauce....

This was a great recipe adapted from a similar recipe I found at http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=522102&adsqs=.

It was terrific after cooking in the crockpot and even better as leftovers the next day!

Beef Stew with Hazelnut Butter and Dates (adapted from Cooking Light)

Ingredients

2/3 cup coarsely chopped hazelnuts, toasted
Cooking spray
1 1/2 pounds lean beef stew meat, cubed
2 1/2 cups chopped onion
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper (I used cayenne)
3 garlic cloves, crushed
2 (14 1/2-ounce) cans fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth  (I used turkey broth)
2 1/2 cups (1/2-inch) cubed sweet potato
2 1/2 cups small red potatoes, halved (about 1 pound)
1 1/2 cups baby carrots, peeled  (I would add more)
1/2 cup whole pitted dates, chopped
2 cups water
1 1/2 cups frozen green peas

Preparation
Place hazelnuts in a food processor; process until smooth (about 2 1/2 minutes), scraping sides of bowl once.

Heat a large Dutch oven coated with cooking spray over high heat. Add beef; cook 5 minutes, browning on all sides. Reduce heat to medium-high. Add onion and next 5 ingredients (onion through garlic); sauté 7 minutes or until onion is lightly browned.

Add hazelnut butter and broth to pan; stir well, scraping pan to loosen browned bits. Stir in sweet potatoes, potatoes, carrots, dates, and 2 cups water; bring to a boil.

Transfer to crock pot and cook on low for 2-3 hours or until beef is tender and sauce has thickened.  Stir in peas; simmer 5 minutes.

Serve with bread and a green salad. 

NOTES:  The hazelnuts were more like hazelnut meal than butter; looking forward to trying that again.  The flavor was excellent in the stew.  Because I cooked it in the crockpot, I added some gluten free flour to the stew to help thicken.  Next time I would add more carrots and maybe another root vegetable.  If you want a more savory stew, lessen the amount of dates and add more garlic.