Beef Burgundy Stew

1-1/2 lb stew beef, floured
Olive oil

1/2 t thyme
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 bay leaves
3 c Burgundy
1/4 c tomato paste

1/2 c water
2 c mushrooms, quartered
12 small red potatoes, quartered
6 medium carrots, 1″ pieces, or baby carrots
2 small onions, quartered
2 cans broth, 15 oz

Cornstarch in water (opt)
Salt and pepper (opt)

Brown the floured stew beef in a stock pot, it you haven’t already precooked it. Add thyme through tomato paste. Heat it up and let this simmer (or transfer to a crock pot) for at least 1-1/2 hours. About 30 minutes before you want to serve, add the water through the broth. Bring the mixture up to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 30 minutes. Thicken with cornstarch in water if needed. Add salt and pepper if needed.

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Beef burgundy stew

Ok, it’s a stretch to claim that this is Indian food, because I made it up as a way to use up some leftover sweet potatoes. But I used my own spice mix instead of “curry powder,” so I feel somewhat justified in claiming Indian inspiration

Replace the chicken broth with vegetable broth if you’d like, and you’ve got a great vegetarian meal! Serve with some good crusty bread, and it’s a filling meal too. This is easily a thirty minute meal as long as you are using pre-cooked sweet potatoes. Whenever I make them, I throw in some extras to make soup.

Lightly Curried Sweet Potato Soup

2 T canola oil
2 t curry powder or spice mix
2 stalks celery, thinly sliced
1 medium onion, coarsely chopped
3 – 4 medium sweet potatoes, cooked, peeled, and mashed
4 – 5 c chicken broth (or vegetable broth) and milk, in whatever proportion you want
1 T lemon juice
Salt and pepper

Cook oil and curry powder in a large saucepan over medium heat, stirring for a couple of minutes. Add celery and onion; toss to coat in oil and spices. Stirring frequently, cook for about 10 minutes. Add sweet potatoes and broth. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until the vegetables are very tender, about 10 minutes. Stir in milk (if using), lemon juice, salt and pepper.

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Sweet potato soup…lightly curried

Twelve delicious “classics” for you to master this year!  Food and Wine has a slide show with links to the recipes and techniques that you’ll learn in making these tempting dishes.  They’re not all quick and easy, but they all look worth the effort, especially the Beef Stew, shown above!

Image: Food & Wine

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Master the classics with Food & Wine

The least pleasant task in preparing this soup is coring the parsnips. I find it’s not too bad if you slice them lengthwise in quarters and then slice out the triangular shaped piece…don’t worry about getting every single woody fiber. The balsamic syrup seems like a bother to make too, but the flavor it imparts is out of this world. The soup is great without the syrup, but with it, you’ve gained a taste of heaven!

This amazing recipe is courtesy of Eating Well magazine.

Stirring in the syrup

Roasted Parsnip Soup

Makes 6 servings, generous 1 cup each

ACTIVE TIME: 40 minutes

TOTAL TIME: 1 hour

2 pounds parsnips, peeled and woody core removed
2 pears, peeled and cut into eighths
1 small yellow or white onion, peeled and cut into eighths
1 tablespoon canola oil
1 teaspoon salt, divided
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1 cup balsamic vinegar
2 1/4 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth or vegetable broth
2 1/4 cups low-fat milk

1. Position rack in lower third of oven; preheat to 450°F.
2. Toss parsnips, pears, onion, oil, 1/2 teaspoon salt and pepper in a roasting pan. Roast, stirring every 10 minutes, until very soft and starting to brown, about 40 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, boil vinegar in a small saucepan until syrupy and reduced to about 1/4 cup, 10 to 14 minutes. (Watch the syrup carefully during the last few minutes of reducing to prevent burning.) Remove from the heat.
4. Puree half of the parsnip mixture with broth in a blender until very smooth; transfer to a large saucepan. Puree the other half with milk until very smooth. Add to the saucepan and stir in the remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt. Reheat the soup over medium heat, stirring often, about 5 minutes. Gently reheat the balsamic syrup if it has become thicker than syrup while standing. Ladle the soup into bowls and drizzle with the balsamic syrup.

Image: Eating Well and Cyndi Lavin

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Roasted Parsnip Soup from Eating Well

I know, I know: there are as many ways to make turkey soup as there are cooks who make it! Well, I thought I’d just throw my hat in the ring and tell you how I do it…

Turkey Soup

Turkey carcass
Additional turkey meat, if needed
Lots of water
Onions, celery, carrots, shallots
Salt and pepper
Fresh tarragon (optional)
2 – 3 T turkey fat
1/4 c flour
Sour cream, milk, or half-and-half (optional)
Barley, rice, small pasta (pre-cooked)

Cover the turkey carcass with water and bring to a boil. Lower heat to a simmer. Continue to add water as it boils for a couple of hours, letting the broth get nice and rich. Remove from heat and refrigerate overnight.

Skim off most of the fat on the surface, and save some for mixing with flour later. Pick through the carcass, removing skin, gristle, and bones, and breaking up the turkey meat.

Chop the vegetables and add them to the soup. Season with salt, pepper, and herbs and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer soup. It will take about 20 minutes for the vegetables to soften.

Mix the turkey fat with flour, and whisk into the soup to thicken it slightly. Add dairy if you’d like it creamy.

To serve, ladle the soup over the rice or barley in each bowl. Don’t add the grains to the soup as leftovers will get soggy.

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Basic turkey soup

This is a great Once-A-Month-Cooking recipe that you can double, triple, or quadruple very easily. For extra speed in preparation, you can use one of those 1.25 oz packages of taco seasoning and a can of prepared chili. Usually, I would prefer that these things be homemade, but sometimes for OAMC recipes, we’ll make an exception!

Even if you don’t get into OAMC, this is a great recipe to make ahead, either early in the day or even a couple of days ahead.

Taco Soup

2 – 15 oz cans chicken broth
15 oz can diced tomatoes
15 oz can black beans, drained and rinsed
15 oz can chili mix (your favorite)
15 oz can corn
5 – 6 green onions, sliced
1.25 oz package Taco seasoning (or a mixture of chili, cumin, oregano, cayenne, paprika, garlic, and salt)

Monterey jack cheese, shredded
Sour cream

Mix all the ingredients except for cheese and sour cream and bring to a boil. Reduce heat a simmer for 10 minutes. Can be frozen for later. To serve, thaw and heat, and serve with cheese sprinkled on top and a dollop of sour cream if desired. You know you want them both!

Image: Cyndi Lavin

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Taco soup (OAMC)

This recipe appeared in the Nov/Dec 2008 issue of Eating Well magazine. The original recipe was written to serve 4, so I’m not sure why the online version was cut to 2. No matter, you can double this recipe and end up with the right proportions; just add a little more cornstarch.

I chose to use a leg cut instead of ground lamb, so I pre-cooked it for several hours in my crock pot. The meat fell apart and the little fat there was peeled right off by the time I was ready to assemble the stew. The added benefit was that I could use lamb stock instead of beef stock! I highly recommend doing this if you can manage it…not counting the time the meat was in the pot (and I was off doing other things!), this meal clocked in as a thirty minute meal easily.

Lamb, Fig, & Olive Stew for 2

8 ounces lean ground lamb, preferably leg
1 teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon minced garlic, divided
1 teaspoon herbes de Provence
1/4 cup dry red wine
1 14-ounce can reduced-sodium beef broth
2 teaspoons cornstarch
2 plum tomatoes, diced
1/4 cup chopped dried figs
2 tablespoons finely chopped, pitted green olives
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
1 teaspoon freshly grated lemon zest

1. Heat a large saucepan over medium heat. Add lamb and cook, breaking up with a wooden spoon, until browned, 4 to 6 minutes. Transfer the lamb to a sieve set over a bowl to drain; discard the fat.
2. Wipe out the pan; add oil and heat over medium-high. Add 2 tablespoons garlic and herbes de Provence and cook, stirring constantly, until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add wine and cook, scraping up any browned bits, until slightly reduced, about 1 minute.
3. Stir together broth and cornstarch in a small bowl. Add to the pan, increase heat to high, and bring to a simmer, stirring constantly. Add tomatoes, figs, olives and pepper and return to a simmer, stirring often. Reduce heat to maintain a simmer and cook, stirring occasionally, until the tomatoes have broken down, about 5 minutes. Add the reserved lamb and cook, stirring occasionally, until heated through, about 2 minutes.
4. Combine the remaining 1 teaspoon garlic, parsley and lemon zest in a small bowl. Serve the stew topped with the parsley mixture.

Image: Cyndi Lavin

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Lamb, Fig, & Olive Stew from Eating Well

I love Eating Well magazine! Not only are there amazingly tasty recipes, introducing me to food combinations I never thought of before, but they have also done all the excess fat trimming for me! Now I’ll admit, that sometimes I use the full fat products anyway, so it’s not their fault at all if I end up with an expanding waistline!

Anyway, we tried this Curried Carrot Soup recently, and if you’re a fan of Indian food, you’re going to flip over it. I used my own spice mix instead of “curry powder,” so mine turned out a bit darker.  Replace the chicken broth with vegetable broth if you’d like, and you’ve got a great vegetarian treat!

Courtesy of Eating Well magazine.

Curried Carrot Soup

Makes 6 servings, 1 1/3 cups each

ACTIVE TIME: 40 minutes

TOTAL TIME: 1 hour

EASE OF PREPARATION: Easy

3 tablespoons canola oil
2 teaspoons curry powder
8 medium carrots, peeled and thinly sliced
4 medium stalks celery, thinly sliced
1 medium onion, coarsely chopped
5 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth (my note – or vegetable broth)
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon salt
Freshly ground pepper to taste

1. Cook oil and curry powder in a large saucepan over medium heat, stirring, until fragrant, 1 to 2 minutes. Stir in carrots, celery and onion; toss to coat in oil. Cook, stirring frequently, for 10 minutes. Stir in broth. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until the vegetables are very tender, about 10 minutes. Remove from the heat; let stand 10 minutes. Lay a paper towel over the surface of the soup to blot away the oil that has risen to the top. Discard the paper towel.
2. Working in batches of no more than 2 cups at a time, transfer the soup to a blender and puree (use caution when pureeing hot liquids). Return the pureed soup to the pan, place over medium heat and heat through. Season with lemon juice, salt and pepper.

NUTRITION INFORMATION: Per serving: 133 calories; 8 g fat (1 g sat, 4 g mono); 4 mg cholesterol; 12 g carbohydrate; 5 g protein; 3 g fiber; 389 mg sodium; 383 mg potassium.

Nutrition bonus: Vitamin A (280% daily value), Vitamin C (15% dv).

1 Carbohydrate Serving

Exchanges: 2 vegetable, 1 1/2 fat

MAKE AHEAD TIP: Cover and refrigerate for up to 1 day.

Images: Eating Well

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Curried Carrot Soup

This is a great beef stew to have for Rosh Hashanah, when everything is to be round and/or sweet to start off the new year right. Shallots, thyme, butternut squash, and cranberries all help to make this a savory but slightly sweet stew. We like it anytime during the fall and winter.  So I thought I’d make it tonight to celebrate the first full day of Hanukkah!

Cooked in a crock pot, you’ve got a couple of alternatives for preparation: stew the squash for a long time and it will break down like tzimmes, making the broth thick and rich (well, at least it seems rich, but there’s no added fat!). Stew it for a shorter time and the squash chunks will hold their shape. It really is up to you…we like it both ways.

Beef and Squash Stew

3 t canola oil
2 – 3 shallots, chopped

1 – 2 lb stew beef, cubed small
1 T flour
1 t thyme
1 t sage
Salt and pepper

2 14 oz cans of beef broth (or homemade)
4 – 5 c butternut squash, peeled and cubed (I buy it frozen in bags this way!)
1/2 c cranberries (slightly sweetened are fine)

Saute the shallots slightly in a heavy skillet and set them aside. Brown the beef, adding the flour and spices after the pink is all gone. Saute for an additional minute. Add a cup or so of broth, and scrape all the browned bits from the pan. Pour it all, plus the shallots, into the crock pot.

Plan to let the meat cook on low for at least four hours; more is fine. Add the cranberries. If you would like the squash really soft and somewhat incorporated into the broth, add it now. Otherwise, add it about 30 minutes before serving.

Image: Cyndi Lavin

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Beef and squash stew

Guest author: Roslyn Franken
Website: Roslyn Franken

Roslyn Franken is a Healthy Living Counselor, Speaker, and Author of The A List: 9 Guiding Principles for Healthy Eating and Positive Living, helping people to lighten up their lives one bite at a time for a life of greater health, hope, harmony and happiness. Her Lighten Up counseling programs are done by telephone and email conveniently accessible world-wide. For more information, visit Roslyn Franken.

The following recipe is featured in Roslyn’s book!

Roslyn’s Sweet Potato Peanut Butter Soup

This soup is filling, comforting, nutritious and low in calories. It includes a number of spices that are excellent for digestion with antioxidant properties. You can experiment with different amounts, or omit spices that you aren’t fond of. It also contains garlic and ginger which have many healthful qualities as well. If you aren’t as crazy about garlic as I am, try putting in less. Start your meal with a bowl of this soup, or use it as a snack when you need a little something to fill you up, warm you up and bring you some well-deserved comfort.

1 large sweet potato, cubed

2 onions diced

1 tbsp light tasting olive oil

1 carton 900mL reduced sodium, fat-free chicken broth

4 cloves garlic crushed

1 tsp curry

½ tsp turmeric

½ tsp black pepper

½ tsp cumin

½ tsp coriander

28 oz can crushed tomatoes (low sodium if possible)

2 tsp finely grated fresh ginger

2 tbsp light peanut butter

Boil the sweet potato till tender, about 15 – 20 minutes. Drain. Mash potatoes, add the grated ginger, and stir well. Put aside.

In a large pot, heat the oil on medium high heat and fry the onions and garlic till softened.

Add the curry, turmeric, pepper, cumin and coriander and stir for 1 minute.

Add sweet potato and ginger mixture, and peanut butter.

Turn heat to low and allow to simmer for 20 minutes.

Freeze leftovers in individual serving size containers for quick additions to your lunches or for snacks.

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Roslyn’s Sweet Potato Peanut Butter Soup