Slow Cooker Veggies and Orange Beef – Slow Cooking Thursday

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Slow Cooker Veggies and Orange Beef

2 pounds 3/4″ to 1″ beef or bison steak, fat trimmed and cut into 1/8″- 1/4″ slices

3 tablespoons gluten free reduced sodium soy sauce

3 oranges (preferably organic – you will be using some of the orange zest)

1 1/2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger

2 teaspoons cornstarch or arrowroot mixed with 2 tablespoons water

1-2 tablespoons oil, divided

1 clove garlic, minced

1 onion, cut in half and sliced thinly

2 green bell peppers, seeded and cut into 1/2″ strips the long way

1 red bell pepper, seeded and cut into 1/2″ strips the long way

1 orange or yellow bell pepper, seeded and cut into 1/2″ strips the long way

2  pounds bok choy, cut into 1″ slices

Toss beef or bison with soy sauce in a bowl and set aside.

Zest one orange. Juice the same orange.  You should have about 1/4 – 1/3 cup juice.  Combine juice and zest in a small bowl.  Mix in ginger.  Peel and section the other 2 oranges removing all the white membrane.  Cover oranges sections and refrigerate.

Heat a skillet over medium-high heat.  Add half of oil and heat.  Add half of beef to pan, quickly searing the meat. Don’t worry about cooking it through, you are just getting a nice sear on the outside of the pieces.  This will add a lot of flavor to the slow cooker.  Remove the seared beef to the slow cooker.  Repeat with the remained or the oil and beef.  Pour orange juice mixture into pan, and stir around, scraping up the browned bits in the pan.  Whisk in corn starch or arrowroot and pour mixture over beef in slow cooker.

Add garlic and onion to the slow cooker and stir to combine with the beef.  Add pepper strips, cover and cook on low 3-4 hours.  Add bok choy, stir, cover and cook 1/2 hour to 1 hour longer on low until bok choy greens wilt and bok choy white sections are crisp-tender.  Stir in orange sections.

Serve over rice.