Beef Stew

I posted about my Moroccan Chicken Stew a while ago but now I am going to give you the other half of that fun chilly weekend. Even though the weather seems unsure of where it is going I am still up for snuggling on the sofa with a warm cup of soup. This recipe is another one that I started on the stove but finished in the crock pot. For this one I decided to head out with some friends and leave dinner at home cooking for me while I enjoyed myself!

I just crave hearty stews like this once the temperature starts to go down. There is something about a cup of soup that just warms your whole day up. Luckily I haven't started to feel the winter sniffles and coughs but if you are this is a low maintenance way to enjoy some really tasty homemade soup. This soup was inspired by a new line of organic beef that was made available at my super market and was on sale... don't need to ask me twice!

Roasted Cauliflower and Red Lentil Curry

I love to use my Moroccan spice blend every time I roast veggies - especially cauliflower but this time I went a bit further. I decided to try my hand at a Indian flavored dish that using red lentils.  There were many recipes for dishes that were more like a stew with all the ingredients together in one pot but I decided to roast the cauliflower to maintain some of the texture of the dish. By not cooking the cauliflower in the lentil stew you have more distinct tastes and textures. Usually we don't eat to many Indian type dishes as curries are often a bit overpowering to me. In this dish  most of the ingredients retain their own flavors which is more pleasing to me. I also used some lemon to brighten up this dish.

I used chicken broth in this recipe just since we had an open container available but feel free to use water or veggie stock to make this recipe appropriate for vegetarians/vegans. If you would like to serve the dish with the roasted cauliflower I would suggest putting that in the oven before starting on the lentils - I usually roast at 400F  but feel free to use 350F if something else is in there! Just toss with some olive oil and a bit of spices into the oven for about 30-40 min depending on the size of the florets. If you aren't a cauliflower fan you could try adding rice or even a protein like grilled chicken or fish.

click through for the recipe 

Guest Post: Randy's Beet & Braised Beef Soup

Hi Readers - my friend Randy wanted to share a delicious recipe and some photos of a soup party they recently attended. She and her husband Mike are great friends and wonderful cooks so I am very excited to share this with you. If we are lucky we might even get another guest post from her on all the New Orleans eats they tried when on vacation to Jazz Fest!

now Randy will take it away.....

I consider myself blessed to have such an amazing group of friends, and a few of them happen to be just as obsessed with good food as I am. A few weeks ago, my friend Krissy had the awesome idea of hosting a soup party, and invited us all to bring our own brand for a potluck extravaganza.  The results were better than expected, and we all had a fantastic time preparing and sharing our soup-y goodness. I spent a few days getting ready for this event.  I searched the web and several cookbooks for a delicious-sounding recipe, and settled on one from www.epicurious.com for Beet and Braised Beef Soup. This recipe calls for beef short ribs, lima beans, and a colorful medley of fresh vegetables and herbs.

I found some beautifully marbled short ribs at my local grocery store, and knew I was heading in the right direction!  Gathering the entire assortment of produce required a trip to a specialty market for some of the harder-to-find (and probably out-of-season) items.  Once I had everything required, I returned home to pre-season the meat and soak the dried lima beans overnight.The next evening, my husband and I started chopping up a storm.  We were quite pleased with the beautiful mise en place sprawling across our counter tops. 

 

Lightened Up Cassoulet

Traditionally a French dish, cassoulets use a variety of rich meats to flavor a baked bean dish. This rustic dish is like many other baked bean dishes made around Europe - there are as many recipes as there are grandmothers out there! This dish is simple and easy to make - don't be scared by the long ingredient list. It works wonderfully as a lazy Sunday afternoon project when you have time to sit and wait for the flavors to combine perfectly. This will also work for slow cookers - so feel free to prep it in advance and come home to a delicious hot meal.

Generally, very rich meats like goose or duck are used as the main ingredient with additions of pork sausage and bacon to give flavor to the white beans. I decided to lighten my dish up by using chicken thighs and chicken andouille sausage. I do think that a bit of bacon would have been an excellent addition lending some of the smokey flavor that bacon is famous for to the dish. I also strayed from the original by using a mixture of red kidney beans and white cannellini beans which was more a decision based on my pantry supplies than tastes. I also didn't have any onions in my house...but I added some shallots to compensate.

 

Click through for the recipe! 

Mexican Chicken Stew and a give away!

Recently I have learned about an amazing new protein to use for dinner... boneless skinless chicken thighs! I know these aren't new but I have just always used chicken breasts. Since my resolve a few years back to get over my fear of raw chicken, I have come a long way. From only cutting partially frozen or cooked chicken to actually roasting a whole one, even if I did need help getting the giblets out! Now I have found out how tasty and delicious the thigh is especially when seasoned correctly. This dinner was made possible by one of my new favorite discoveries. Seasoning Rubs are such an easy way to add a lot of flavor with out many calories (careful though some rubs have sugar added)

Because the thighs are boneless, you can get this dinner done pretty quickly though I think that you would also be fine adapting this to a crockpot or dutch oven and letting the chicken cook down. Feel free to change the heat level of the dish by adding more or less hot peppers, my CSA just sent home a bag of the little hot ones and I couldn't resist them all cute colorful ...luckily they didn't over power things.

I was lucky enough to get a goodie bag of Goya treats from Foodbuzz Tastemaker Program that helped the make this dinner possible and want to share! Please leave a comment below and I will pick someone at random to win a prize pack with coupons and 2 recipe books containing some great easy dinners using Goya products.

8/21/10 - Boneless Crockpot Ribs

There are some nights that coming home and opening the fridge to create a masterpiece... and there are nights that you just want to come home to something warm to put in your belly and veg on the couch. With the end of summer rolling in this dinner is a perfect break from cooking, no matter if its too hot to turn on the stove or so cold that you just can't warm up. My favorite part of this dinner was that my boyfriend made most of it!

The recipe for the boneless ribs was simple as can be (ribs + BBQ sauce + 8 hrs in the slow cooker) however, it was the rice and beans that made this a meal. By using the juice given off from the rib, the rice is bursting with savory flavors. To keep things at least mildly healthy, I stuck with brown basmati rice instead of a more traditional white rice. Like all grains using brown, whole grains is much healthier than the white version which has been polished to have the color (as well as important nutrients) removed. While I don't think that this meal is ever going to win any awards simple, home cooking can be better than any 5 star restaurant some nights.