In a large Dutch oven, melt coconut oil and lightly sauté onion and garlic.

Prepare your stew meat by sprinkling with garlic powder, sea salt, and fresh cracked pepper. Be sure to coat evenly on all sides.

As the onions and garlic are warming, heat up a skillet that you’ll use to sear the meat. As the skillet is warming, melt 1 tbsp of butter in the skillet (reserve the remaining tbsp of butter for the mushrooms).

Once the skillet is nice and hot (sizzling!), place stew meat in the pan and sear on each side for about 45 seconds. Remove from heat and add stew meat to Dutch oven with the onions and garlic.

Add 3 cups of the beef broth to the Dutch oven and turn to low.

Add cubed sweet potato, celery, and bay leaf to the Dutch oven. Stir to combine.

Using the sauté pan that you used to sear the meat, warm the remaining tbsp of butter and toss in the mushrooms, being sure to pick up any pan drippings. Turn heat to medium and warm mushrooms until they begin to soften (3-5 minutes).

While mushrooms are warming, take 2 tbsp of arrowroot powder and put into a small mason jar. Fill mason jar with remaining cup of beef broth. Screw lid on tight and shake vigorously until the arrowroot powder is dissolved.

Stir mushrooms with 1 tbsp of balsamic vinegar, making sure that they are all evenly coated.

Add arrowroot/broth mixture to the pan with the mushrooms and stir constantly until the broth turns into a thick gravy.

Once the mushrooms and gravy are thickened, pour the entire contents into the Dutch oven with the rest of the soup.

Bring the soup to a low simmer and simmer for 2 hours, stirring occasionally. Depending on the type of stew meat you’ve used, longer cooking times may be required to soften the meat. If the meat is tough, you probably need to simmer the stew longer.

Serve hot with large spoons!