Mediterranean Sausage and Spinach Stew

I think the key to being a creative Paleo cook, is to be adventurous in the kitchen and willing to expand your definitions of things. Growing up, my favorite stew was my mother's goulash. However, it was chock-full of potatoes. In lieu of potatoes, this time I opted for sausage, peppers, and spinach, I threw in ground beef for extra bulk, and mushrooms and onions for flavor.

Mediterranean Sausage and Spinach Stew

Eight nitrate free breakfast sausage links (cut into pieces)
1 pound ground beef
6 cups fresh spinach
1 bunch green onions
1 pound brown crimini mushrooms (sliced)
1 red pepper, chopped
1 large handful fresh basil
1 sweet potato (precooked & chopped)
Butter
Salt and Pepper to taste.

Brown the ground beef in a dutch oven or large pot on medium heat and remove to a covered bowl, then cook the onions until transparent and add to the ground beef. Saute the mushrooms in the butter for a few minutes (I add a bit of water to make them cook a little faster.) Add the ground beef and onions back in the pan, throw in the spinach and basil, and cover to steam the spinach--turn down the heat so that it is slowly cooking. Meanwhile, take the pepper and sausage and cook them in another pan until the sausage is no longer pink and the peppers are getting soft. Add this mixture to the ground beef mixture, and add in the chopped precooked sweet potato.
Mix everything together well and let it simmer for a couple of minutes to let the flavors meld, salt and pepper to taste. Voila!

The result:
Very edible! I think next time I will make it with Italian sausage--the fennel will go very well with the flavors of the spinach and pepper. I served it with scrambled eggs, but it would be excellent with salad as well.