Almost all stew recipes call for coating the meat in copious amounts of white flour, and then to fry it in great gobs of fat. That pretty much unravels the nutritional benefits of the meat and veggies. And frying white flour creates acrylamide that is most definitely carcinogenic.
On top of that, beef stews generally contain a whole bunch of potatoes. While that might be fine to eat if you just lifted weights, it’s not such a good idea if you’ve got body fat to drop. But stew doesn’t really taste right without the potatoes. Turnips to the rescue! They’re white, they taste like potatoes in a stew, and almost all the carbs are from fiber.
One thing, though: stews take a long time to cook. You can get it into the oven in about 20 minutes, but it will need to cook for 2 to 2 1/2 hours. The good news is that you don’t need to watch it, stir it or anything else. You can drive to the gym, lift, and drive home, take a nice long nap, do work, or anything else while it cooks. Just be home in time to take it out of the oven.
Ingredients:
- 2 pounds boneless beef (chuck, shank), trimmed of visible fat and cut into 1″ cubes
- 4 tablespoons tomato paste
- 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
- 1 large yellow or white onion, chopped
- 3 medium turnips, cubed
- 5 large carrots, cubed
- 4 cloves garlic, chopped
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 teaspoon dry thyme (or 1 tablespoon fresh)
- 1 cup water
- 1 cup red wine
- 2 tablespoon olive oil
- Salt and pepper to taste (be generous)
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 300°F. Chop veggies and meat.
- Brown meat cubes in olive oil in a large Dutch oven (or some other heavy large oven-safe pot with a lid).
- Add remaining ingredients, and bring to a simmer.
- Place Dutch oven in oven and cook for 2 to 2 1/2 hours until meat is fork tender.
| Nutrition Facts from My Fitness Pal | |
|---|---|
| Servings 6.0 | |
| Amount Per Serving | |
| calories 385 | |
| % Daily Value * | |
| Total Fat 15 g | 24 % |
| Saturated Fat 5 g | 23 % |
| Monounsaturated Fat 3 g | |
| Polyunsaturated Fat 1 g | |
| Trans Fat 0 g | |
| Cholesterol 100 mg | 33 % |
| Sodium 247 mg | 10 % |
| Potassium 490 mg | 14 % |
| Total Carbohydrate 18 g | 6 % |
| Dietary Fiber 4 g | 16 % |
| Sugars 10 g | |
| Protein 36 g | 71 % |
| Vitamin A | 173 % |
| Vitamin C | 41 % |
| Calcium | 6 % |
| Iron | 7 % |
| * The Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet, so your values may change depending on your calorie needs. The values here may not be 100% accurate because the recipes have not been professionally evaluated nor have they been evaluated by the U.S. FDA. | |
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